The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 72
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
wire, copper and iron pots, ribbons, coats, bells, needles, belt
buckles, ramrods, hats, and various kinds of cotton goods,
tobacco, and occasionally rum.15 Indians preferred red, yellow,
and bright blue materials for their clothing, large iron pots
instead of copper pots, wire that was fifteen hundredths of an
inch in thickness, and muskets made in France or England
rather than those made in Spain.e
While Spanish authorities were exhausting all means of main-
taining the allegiance of the Indians, American traders were
active among the tribes. Most enterprising among the border
Indians was Dr. John Sibley, American Indian agent. In the
contest for control of the Indian trade, Americans were gaining
the advantage. Spanish authorities feared the success of
American traders because, they claimed, ". . . under the guise
of establishing trade relations with our Indian tribes, Americans
are invading our territory with evil designs.""7 Furthermore,
they feared the enterprising Americans because of their
". .. energy, agility, sobriety, and courage."s And, while the
Americans had a well-organized Office of Indian Affairs with
factories for every group of Indians in the nation, the Spaniards
had only the House of Barr and Davenport, and a few individual
traders and trappers, to supply the Indian trade.'" Furthermore,
Barr and Davenport and all Spanish traders were bound by
numerous trade restrictions and by the general prohibition of
trade with Louisiana. The importance of the House of Barr
and Davenport, the trading firm that furnished articles of
Indian trade to the Spanish government in Nacogdoches and
San Antonio, can readily be perceived.
The House of Barr and Davenport was organized by Luther
I5Report, 1809, filed with Translations, Bexar Archives, March 1-20,
1807, p. 133.
16Manuel de Salcedo to Nemesio Salcedo, April 2, 1809, MS., Bexar
Archives. For a list of Spanish weights and measures with equivalents in
English, see Haggard, Handbook for Translators of Spanish Historical
Documents, 71-78.
17Antonio Cordero to Bernardo Bonavia, April 23, 1809, MS., Bexar
Archives.
18[Manuel de Salcedo] to Bernardo Bonavia, April 2, 1809, MS., Bexar
Archives.
19Among the Spanish traders were Pedro Engle, Francisco Cadena, Juan
Silvestre, Jos6 Maria Capelo, Marcelo Soto, and Peter Brady. - Dionisio
Valle to Antonio Cordero, October 3, 1805, MS.; Antonio Cordero, December
27, 1805, MS.; Antonio Cordero to Francisco Viana, October 2, 1807, MS.;
Francisco Viana to Antonio Cordero, September 22, 1807, MS.; Peter Brady
to governor of Texas, May 10, 1807, MS., Bexar Archives.72
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/83/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.