The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922 Page: 133
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Journal of Lewis Birdsall Harris, 1886-1842 133
until we made our way out into the Gulf without a pilot and on
the morning of the 17th I found myself for the first time on the
broad Gulf but the water was still muddy. 18th the water be-
gins to look blue but we had a calm nearly all day towards evening
the wind blew fresh and we began to make real headway. 19th
I came on deck in the morning and met a splendid scene, the
waves ran high and we were tossed about like a feather on the
broad deep all day, the wind blew hard and I sat up in the stern
of the vessel in the moonlight until late at night and watched the
effects of the moonlight on the mighty waves, and thought of the
many past scenes and the friends I had left and the happy days
I had spent with them. Would I ever see them again. would I
ever reach my dear Mother and brother in that land now may be
in the possession of that ruthless enemy. I would occasionally scan
the sea to see whether the Venus or any of her tribe were after us,
but nothing in sight. We went along merrily, the wind blew hard,
some times we were tossed high up in the air on a huge wave and
then sunk down in the trough of the sea as though to hide us from
-our enemies. The water was sometimes thrown all over the vessell
and looked like liquid fire. I finally turned in. Next morning the
20 we saw land which we supposed was Galveston but it proved
to be high Island Toward evening as we ran along the coast we
saw sails ahead which proved to be vessels in Galveston When we
got near enough we fired three guns and saw a Steam Boat in the
bay coming towards us but she soon altered her course and went
in an opposite direction very much to our disappointment and the
captain fearing we would get in the breakers had to alter our course
and run back some distance when we anchorod.
21st. [April] Early in the morning I was awakened by the
racket on deck and hurried up to ascertain the cause; Two sails
were pointed out to me in the distance and the Capt. of the vessel
was very much excited. We were in rather a fix We did not know
whether Galveston was in the possession of friends or enemies, we
thought the two armies must by this time have had a decisive battle
but in whose favor it had terminated we had no means of knowing.
If we were in a quandary, when we saw the two vessels making
towards us the Capt. was in consternation when another hove in
sight and soon after another, completely cutting us off. Who or
what they were we did not know. One was certainly made out to
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922, periodical, 1922; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101082/m1/139/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.