The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 583
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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to ask forgiveness for actions which they still believed to be right
and honorable; some were evading certain arrest and probable
imprisonment; others, like General Joseph Shelby, who cere-
moniously buried his battle flags in the Rio Grande, crossed the
border toying with the idea of serving in the armed forces of Max-
imilian; still others, because of loss of wealth and destruction of
property back home, looked to Mexico as a land of opportunity
and promise. Many prominent Texans helped swell this tide of
immigration. Judge O. M. Roberts, former Chief Justice of the
Texas Supreme Court and future governor of the state (1878),
was an active colonization agent. Ex-Governors Edward Clark
and Pendleton Murrah (who died in Monterrey) made the south-
ward trek as did Generals William P. Hardeman and A. W.
Terrell. Also numbered among the migrants were State Treasurer
C. H. Randolph and ex-Senator W. S. Oldham who had repre-
sented Texas in the Confederate Congress. Settlements were made
in various parts of the country but the most significant one was
located some seventy miles from Vera Cruz, in the Corboda dis-
trict, and was named Carlotta in honor of the Empress.
The entire affair proved short-lived. Caught up as it was in the
conflicting currents of American-French diplomacy and Imperial-
ist-Juarista bickering, the colony's demise was hastened by the
many difficulties which plagued it from the beginning. Lack of
adequate capital, the necessity to adjust to a new type labor situ-
ation, and the incessant wrangling which led to fights and law-
suits were aggravated by the inroads of disease and the devasta-
tion of repeated bandit raids. The knockout blow, however, was
the withdrawal of French troops in the spring of 1867. As Mar-
shal Bazaine's forces boarded their transports, all security van-
ished. The Juarista regime, claiming that Maximilian had had
no authority to grant lands, displayed active hostility toward the
colonists, who, in the face of such discouraging results, began
their homeward trek seemingly convinced that the uncertainties
of military reconstruction were preferable to the uncertainties
of Mexican rule.
This unsuccessful colonial venture offers a fertile field to those
who enjoy the risky business of extracting "lessons" from history.
To the author, the most striking lesson seemed to be the futility583
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/633/?rotate=90: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.