The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 137

De Witt's Colony.

ber, 1830,1 and in January, 1831, he repeated the appeal. He
claimed that the Tawakanas must pass by Gonzales on their way to
attack Victoria and Goliad. He therefore asked that a detachment
of soldiers be sent, and he promised that, if a cannon could be lent
the people of the town, they would return it whenever the authori-
ties at B6jar asked for it.2
In reply, Musquiz told De Witt that he might have an un-
mounted cannon that was at Bejar, and on March 4, 1831, a wagon
was sent for it.' This six-pounder was destined to assume, later
on, an importance greater than its calibre seemed to justify. Mus-
quiz, at the same time, also urged the principal commandant to
send to the colony a detachment of twenty-five or thirty men, in
order, not only to prevent Indian hostilities, but also to facilitate
traffic between B6jar and San Felipe and to prevent contraband
trade.' After some correspondence between the principal com-
mandant, the general commandant, and some of the local com-
mandants, Balboa, an officer from the third company of Tamauli-
pas, was sent with fifteen men." On August 18, the detachment,
then under the command of Remigio Pisafia, was attacked by a
wandering band of about nine Comanches. A corporal and a
soldier were killed and thirteen horses were captured." Shortly
afterward the detachment was withdrawn.
The difficulty the colonists had in obtaining help from the gov-
ernment was so great that they probably never asked for it again.
It was well, perhaps, for the colonists that they were left to de-
fend themselves alone, for the Mexicans were usually as unfor-
tunate in dealing with the Indians as the colonists were success-
1 See above, p. 133.
'January 7, 1831 (Bexar Archives).
8 De Witt to Ram6n Musquiz, March 4, 1831. Bexar Archives.
4Musquiz to Elosua, January 12, 1831; Elosua to Musquiz, March 19,
1831. Bexar Archives.
"June, 1831 (see above, p. 133. Principal commandant to political
chief, March 19, 1831; principal commandant to Jos6 Manuel Barbe-
rena, commandant of Guadalupe, April 10, 1831, and May 31, 1831; Bar-
berena to principal commandant, May 19, 1831; and J. M. Guerra to prin-
cipal commandant, June 9, 1831. Bexar Archives.)
e Remigio Pisafia, commandant of the detachment at Gonzales, to An-
tonio Elosua, August 18, 1831; Barberena to Elosua, August 21, 1831;
principal commandant- to general commandant, August 26 and September
10, 1831. Bexar Archives.
' Barberena to Elosua, Setpember 22, 1831. Bexar Archives.

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