The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936 Page: 272
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
pelled to fight."43 Just before the unexpected battle at San
Jacinto Gaines was telling the Americans who were crossing the
Sabine to join the Texan army that the American boundary was
the Neches.4" Had the Texans retreated further and drawn Santa
Anna into the "neutral" territory Gaines would doubtless have
engaged the Mexicans.
It was almost the general belief of contemporaries that Jackson
deliberately intended through Gaines to bring on war with Mex-
ico to save the Texans; and in view of the circumstances above
seen it can hardly be doubted that such indeed was his secret
design, despite his many professions of neutrality and despite his
(rather unsuccessful) attempt to repudiate Gaines after San
Jacinto and shift upon Gaines the public odium which attached
to his own unneutral policy and instructions.4 Even Jackson's
mouthpiece, Blair's Washington Globe, defended Jackson's bound-
ary claim and instructions to Gaines very vaguely and evasively,
on May 12, 1836, while loudly denouncing as "pro-Mexican" and
"foreign in all its aspects" the public criticism of Jackson's policy
and conduct.
Gaines was justly wroth at Jackson's inconsistent conduct towards
him, not appreciating being made Jackson's scapegoat.4" The
President's anger at Gaines was not owing to the General's ad-
vance to Nacogdoches in June-July, 1836,47 but apparently to the
"Carson to Houston, April 14, 1836, in H. Yoakum, History of Texas,
II, 169 note; italics in Yoakum.
"Statement of Harvey Stafford, quoted in Mrs. Dilue Harris's "Remin-
iscences," in Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, IV, 168.
4Jackson's private conversations in April-May, 1836, before the news of
San Jacinto arrived, were full of indignation at Santa Anna and scarcely
veiled threats against Mexico. See Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 169-170;
Washington correspondents writing on April 14 and May 4, in El Correo
Atlantico (New Orleans), May 2, 30, 1836; New Orleans Bulletin, May
28, 1836. Cf. Correspondence of Jackson, V, 419.
"See Gaines' commentaries on Jackson's devious course: letter from
Natchitoches, September 2, in National Intelligencer, October 12, 1836;
letter written by one of Gaines' young officers, in Washington Globe,
April 5, 1837 (from Mobile Advertiser, November 11, 1836); Gaines to
Secretary Marcy, September 10, 1845, in Sen. Docs., 29 cong., 1 sess.,
No. 378, p. 40.
'Gaines explains his advance, under instructions, in the following let-
ter of July 18, 1836: "We expect to hear of some hard fighting in Texas
soon--I am still convinced that nothing but force, and that of a number
and description rendering it disposable and imposing, will preserve this
frontier and the disputed territory from assault." Quoted from the
Charleston Courier in tl Correo Atlantico, August 15, 1836. Cf. Gaines
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936, periodical, 1936; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101095/m1/298/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.