The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 73
728 p. : maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
of time the government of the United States formally acknowledged
the claim of Texas.
An expedition was fitted out in Texas to capture a train from
Missouri while on our soil. It took a position on the Arkansas
River, within our limits, and was awaiting the coming of the train.
This force was disarmed by Capt. Philip St. George Cooke, United
States Army, by the practice of perfidity upon the commander, by
an invasion of Texas, and other high-handed and despotic acts.
It is needless to inquire who originated the idea of sending a
force into the region, now known as the Panhandle, to capture
a large train while on its way to Santa Fe. Col. Jacob Snively, a
surveyor by profession and an officer of the Republic of Texas,
became the advocate and the leader of the movement.2 He obtained
a formal permission or commission to raise and organize the force
required, signed by Sam Houston, President of Texas, and at-
tested by George W. Hill, Secretary of War. Accompanying this
document were instructions, with the same signatures attached.
Col. [Hugh F.] Young was a member of Col. Snively's command,
and saw and read these papers at various times. It is probable
the originals have been destroyed by the burning of the capitol
2Jacob Snively was a German who came to Texas early in 1836 to survey for the
Mexican government. He went on to fight in the revolution and, afterward, to
work for the Texas government as paymaster general, secretary of war, and adju-
tant and inspector general. He was still adjutant and inspector general when he
asked President Sam Houston for permission to raid Mexican trains rumbling over
Texas-claimed territory on the Santa Fe trail. On the expedition, and afterward,
several of his men called him a coward and deemed him incompetent. Young,
though, thought him an extremely honorable and capable man; so did other mem-
bers of the enterprise such as Moses Wells and R. P. Crump. Yet, judging Snively
strictly on his performance as commander of the expedition, one must criticize
him for lack of daring, for a basic inability to innovate. He had none of the
shrewdness and flexibility so necessary to command, successfully, a retaliatory force
which must develop and change its strategy as events dictate. John Henry Brown
was probably right in describing Snively as "an exceedingly conservative" man.
Had a less rigid commander led the expedition, it might have had a greater effect.
After the expedition, Snively headed west to hunt gold in California; he soon
became an inveterate gold hunter and searched for it fruitlessly for the rest of his
life. On a gold expedition into Arizona in the spring of 1871, he died from an
Apache arrow near the settlement of Vulture. John Henry Brown, History of Texas
from z685 to z892 (2 vols.; St. Louis, 1893), II, 287-291. For additional biographical
data, see "Biographical Information Sheet," which Senator Carl Hayden of Arizona
sent to Harriet Smither (Archives, Texas State Library); Comptroller's Military
Service Records (Archives, Texas State Library). After the expedition, T. C. Forbes
and Gilbert Ragin wrote an article about it which impugned Snively and published
the piece in the Northern Standard (Clarksville), September 14, 1843. In reaction
to that article, Moses Wells, R. P. Crump, Hugh F. Young, and others wrote a
defense of Snively which the Northern Standard carried in the issues of Sep-
tember 21 and 28, 1843.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967, periodical, 1967; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101199/m1/91/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.