Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 255 of 894

INDIAN WA1S AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

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Matagorda Bay, which they looted and then burned
to the ground, massacring those of the inhabitants
who failed to make good their escape in boats
moored along the shore. The raiders then took up
the line of march on their return. The news
spread like wildfire and pursuing parties were
organized, one of which was led by Col. Caldwell.
A short distance from Victoria, twenty-five volunteers
came ul) with the Indians and had a skirmish;
but, witli this exception, they managed to make
their way unmolested to Plum creek, where, three
miles southwest of the present town of Lockhart,
they were attacked on the 12th of August by a
force of about one hundred and eighty men, commanded
by Gen. Felix Huston, Col. Ed. Burleson,
Capts. Ward, Bird and others, and defeated with
considerable slaughter. This was one of the last
of a series of bloody conflicts in Southern Texas,
and was such a chastisement of the Comanches, that
they remained comparatively quiet for a number
of years thereafter.
After the capture of San Antonio by the Mexicans
under Gen. Adrian Woll, in 1842, Col. Caldwell
hastily organized a regiment, composed of the companies
of Capt. Childress, of Bastrop, and Capt.
Cooke, of Austin, and hurried to the appointed rendezvous
at the front where he joined the force
(about 2,000 men) commanded by Col. Ed. Burleson.
In a few days Brig.-Gen. Somervell arrived
on the ground and assumed( command. Scouts
soon brought in information that the enemy,
after holding San Antonio a few (lays, had rapidly
retreatel. Col. Caldwell remained with the troops
as long as they were kept in the field. Later, he
participate(l in the Somervell expedition, designed
for a retaliatory invasion of Mexico, and, after the
regular disbandlment of Somervell's force on the
Rio Grande, returned hlome.
The extra session of the Ninthl Congress that met
at Washington on tlhe Brazos on the lCtli of June,
1815, gave its consent to the joint resolution of tile
Congress of the Unitedl States, providing for the
annexation of Texas and to the convention of sixtyone
delegates calld(1 by 1'resident Anson Jones, to
meet at Austin, on the 4th of July and speak the
voice of Texas on the main issue. Col. Caldwell
was elected a delegate to this convention. It met
at Austin on the (day appointed and adjourned on the
27th of August, after ratifying the terms of annexation
and framing a constitution for the proposed
State, which was duly ratified by a vote of the people.
The constitution of 1845 was one of the best
that Texas has ever had.
Col. Caldwell's knowledge of the philosophy and
practice of law anti the principles that underlie free

government and his natural breadth of mind and
philanthropic spirit, enabled him to render invaluable
service in this body, and to leave the impress
of his labors upon the organic law that it framed
and submitted to the people.
His next public service was as a member of the
Texas Senate in 1857-8. Here lie was intimately
associated with George M. Pasehal, Lewis T. Wigfall,
Jesse Grimes, Bob Taylor, Hlenry McCulloch,
John MI. Borroughs, M. D. K. Taylor, Lott, Stockdale,
and a host of otlier men of great and brilliant
abilities then in the prime and hey-day of their
fame and Col. Caldwell easily moved to the front
among them as a man of unusual force of mind and
undoubted purity of purpose. HIe exercised an influence
second to none in the committee rooms and
on the floor of the Senate and played a prominent
part in the important legislation enacted at tliat
session.
From this period the gathering clouds of sectional
hatred, that shortly after the foundation of the
government first began to rise above the horizon of
the American Union, rapidly overcast the entire
political sky and threatened a storm that would
destroy the grand fabric that the fathers of 1776
rearedl with the hope that it would endure to afford
an asylum for the oppressed, serve as a model for
patriots in other lands to aspire to, and bless mankind
tbrougli all coming ages. The South was an
agricultural country. It considered that undler the
tariff laws in force it was being bled to enrich New
England manufacturers. The Democratic party
brought about the Louisiana and Florida purchases.
forced the annexation of Texas and supported the
Mexican war an(d carried it to a successful issue.
One of tlhe opponents of that war went so far as to
say lie lJolped the solliers of Santa Anna would welcome
our army "' with bloody lhands, and hospitable
graves." Thus the I)emocratic party ha(l extended
the territory of the Union from ocean to ocean.
Thei Soutli was solidly I)emocratic and contendedl
tlat its citizens should have the right to go into any
of ihe territories of tle Unitedl States with their
slaves, which were recognized as property at the
formation of and by the compact of Union. Then
the fugutive slave laws were trampled undler foot
and men wlio went in pursuit of their slaves mobbed.
Conflicts in Kansas, the John Brown raid,
and other events, tende(l to intensify public excitement
on both sides of Mason an(d Dixon's line.
Threats of secession grew louder and (leeper and,
when the news of the election of Mr. Lincoln
swept over the country, it was attempted and both
sides prepare(l for war
the North determined to
prevent the extension of slavery, preserve the