The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, July 1966 - April, 1967 Page: 28
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the law was not clear concerning already existing contracts which
were in the process of completion, so he wrote his superior officer
for instructions.21
While the colonel was waiting for a reply, the caravan of fifty
immigrants which had been following Major Robertson finally
arrived at the Brazos on November 12, 1830, and turned its
covered wagons off the B6xar-Nacogdoches Road to camp down
the river in the temporary structures which the Mexican garri-
son had recently abandoned. Early the next morning Major
Robertson rode up to Tenoxtitlan, filed with Colonel Ruiz a
formal report on the status of his colonization project, and asked
for permission to settle the families in the colony.22
That request set off a chain reaction of official correspondence
which produced repercussions in cities as far distant as Matamoros
and Leona Vicario (as Saltillo was then called). Three months
later the answer came booming back:
Give orders to the effect that neither Sterling Robertson nor
any other North American family shall be allowed to settle in
Tenoxtitlan. ... 23
... Turn them over to the Military Commandant of the Town
of Nacogdoches so that he may transport them without fail to the
other side of the Sabine. ...24
To those peremptory commands Ruiz blandly replied that the
families had never actually reached his post, that he had no idea
where they were, and that the horses at his garrison were in such
a "fatal" condition that it would be useless to try to find the
immigrants.5
Apparently, the fifty immigrants were never rounded up and
escorted beyond the Sabine. They lived for a time in the former
Mexican quarters on the Brazos and then moved to permanent
homes in other parts of Texas. The heads of families included:
21Francisco Ruiz to Elosua, October o30, 183o (MS., Spanish Archives, General
Land Office, Austin), Vol. 54, PP. 279-279 verso.
22Sterling C. Robertson to Ram6n Mdsquiz, November 13, 1830 (MS., Nacog-
doches Archives, Archives, University of Texas Library), Vol. 53, PP. 7-9.
2"Mier y Terdn to Elosda, December 31, 183o (MS., Spanish Archives, General
Land Office, Austin), Vol. 54, pp. 286-286 verso.
2"Mdsquiz to Elosda, February g, 1831, ibid., 285-285 verso.
"sFrancisco Ruiz to Elosda, March 4, 1831, ibid., 291-291 verso.
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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/m1/42/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.