The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 141
456 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Life of General Don Manuel de Mier y Terdn
or affecting that province for a period of four years and longer.
These either emanated from him or from suggestions and
recommendations which he made to various government
officials. The life of Mier y Teran, from 1828 to 1832, is the
Mexican side of the complicated story of Texas-Mexican rela-
tions for the same period.
Another result of this inspection which should be noted
is Mier y TerAn's contribution to the early maps of Texas.
In a letter to Stephen F. Austin, May 15, 1828, Ram6n Musquiz
mentioned the general's plan to make a topographical map of
the department."" In the Bexar Archives collection of The Uni-
versity of Texas Library is a manuscript map by Mier y Teran
showing the region from Nacogdoches to the mouth of the
Sabine. This map doubtless was made after his two expedi-
tions from Nacogdoches late in 1828. The comparative inac-
curacies of the Sabine Lake region coupled with his statement
to Austin that his ideas of the coast of Texas were not based
on actual observations69 help to bear this out. As far as availa-
ble sources reveal, it shows the only portion of Texas which
was mapped by the boundary commission.0
A letter from Mier y Teran to the new Minister of War,
Francisco Moctezuma, will serve far better than a summary
to show what ideas the head of the boundary commission had
gathered concerning Texas and its inhabitants as a result of
his minute inspection:
The Commander of these states [i. e., de la Garza,
Commander of the Eastern Interior Provinces] has
told me that North American troops have gathered on
our frontier, and that the old intention of invading
Texas is again suspected. Therefore, it seems op-
"6The Austin Papers, II, 39.
69Mier y Teran to Austin, Matamoros, March 12, 1829, in The Austin
Papers, II, 181-182.
70In 1829, Stephen F. Austin made a map of Texas in an effort to
ingratiate himself with the Mexican government and to advance the inter-
est of his colony. It was made without an earlier map or sketch of Texas
to guide him, and except for some notes furnished by Mier y Teran, was
entirely original. Copies of this map published by H. D. Tanner, Phila-
delphia, 1837 and 1840, bear the following notation: "The latitude and
longitude of Saltillo, Monterey, Laredo, Bexar, Nacogdoches and the point
where the boundary line leaves the Sabine are from the observations of
General Teran of the Mexican Army." Mier y Teran to Austin, March
12, 1829, as cited; Austin to Ram6n Musquiz and Lorenzo de Zavala, July
23, 1829, Ibid., 235-236; E. C. Barker, The Life of Stephen F. Austin,
284-285. Copies of the map are in the Archives of The University of Texas.141
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944, periodical, 1944; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146054/m1/159/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.