The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903 Page: 157
401 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The African Slave Trade in Texas.
157
thousand. One of these expeditions was conducted by a man named
Shepard, of whom nothing else is known. "The people of Texas,"
says Captain R. M. Potter, U. S. A., a writer well acquainted with
early Texas, "though not zealous against the practice, were not in
favor of it.'
Though there is no available documentary evidence that this
desultory traffic continued after annexation, many old Texans re-
member that Africans were frequently sold in the State, even down
to the late fifties. The best authenticated-and perhaps the last
tradition of importation during this period occurred in 1856. In
the spring of that year the United States War Department began
some experiments to test the efficiency of camels as pack-animals
for posts on the southwestern frontiers, and a small cargo were
landed at Indianola, Texas, for service at Camp Verde, about sixty
miles northwest of San Antonio. Shortly after this, another ship
appeared at Indianola, claiming to have on board a lot of camels
for sale to private individuals; but it is asserted that interested
parties were aware that the cargo really consisted of Africans. I
have talked with men who claim to have seen some of the negroes
that were purchased from this vessel. The camel ruse seems to have
been pretty well understood in Texas, and the people probably ex-
pected similar ventures to follow; for ex-Governor F. R. Lubbock
tells us in his "Memoirs" that in 1858 two ships anchored at Gal-
veston under suspicious circumstances, and were at first "thought
to be slavers watching for an opportunity of secretly landing their
human freight. But they turned out to be laden only with camels;
at least no evidence appeared that they had any African negroes
aboard to sell as slaves."2
The subject threatened to become a platform issue with the dem-
ocratic party in 1859, as is evident from a circular published by
Heon. John H. Reagan, in April of 'that year.3 He had learned that
an effort was making "to interpolate on our platform of principles
declarations in favor of filibustering and the reopening of the slave
trade," and that an attempt would be made to defeat him in his
candidacy for Congress, on account of his opposition to these two
propositions. Defending himself, he said: "In reference to the
magazine of American History, VIII 161-62.
2Lubbock, Six Decades in Texas, 238. The italics are mine.
3Texas Republican, April 22, 1859.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903, periodical, 1903; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101028/m1/161/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.