San Antonio de Bexar: A Guide and History Page: 96
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SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR.
crossed the Mississippi at Rodney, and Red river at Alexandria, and came through
bottoms in Louisiana where the high-water marks in the trees stood far above our
carriage-top, but the roads were good there when we passed. We crossed the
Sabine, a sluggish, muddy, narrow stream, and stood upon the soil of the Republic
of Texas about New Year's day 1838.
"January 7th, 1838, we occupied an empty cabin in San Augustine, while the
carriage wheel was being repaired. This was a poor little village principally of
log cabins, on one street, but the location was high and dry. We laid in a supply
of corn and groceries here and pushed on through Nacogdoches, to the place of
Colonel Durst, an old acquaintance of Mr. Maverick. . . . There we met
General Rusk. . . . We now had to travel in occasional rains and much
mud, where the country was poor and sparsely settled and provisions for man and
beast scarce. We, on advice, selected the longest but the best road, namely, the
one leading by the way of Washington, high up on the Brazos. From Washing-
ton we went to Columbus on the Colorado, and thence about due south towards
the Lavaca River. Now came a dreadful time. About January 26th we entered
a bleak, desolate, swampy prairie, cut up by what are called dry bayous, and now
almost full of water. This swamp, covered by the "Sandy," Mustang and head
branches of the Navidad, was fourteen miles wide. . . . Every step the
animals took was in water. We "stalled " in five or six of the gullies and each
time the wagon had to be unloaded in wind, water and rain, and all the men and
animals had to work together to pull out. The first "norther " struck us here, a
terrific, howling north wind with fine rain, blowing and penetrating through
clothes and blankets. I never before experienced such cold. We were four days
crossing this fourteen miles of dreadful swamp. The first day we made three
miles and that night my mattress floated in water. No one suffered from the
exposure, and Mr. Maverick kept cheerful all the while. Our provisions were
almost gone when, on the 30th, we crossed the Navidad, stopping at Spring Hill,
Major Sutherland's place. Mr. Maverick now went on to see if it was safe to take
us to San Antonio, and visited other points with a view to settling, especially
Matagorda, where he owned land.
"At Major Sutherland's boarded Captain Sylvester, from Ohio, who had
captured Santa Anna after the battle of San Jacinto. I attended a San Jacinto
ball at Texana on April 21st. Here, too, I met old 'Bowles,' the Cherokee
chief, with twelve or thirteen of his tribe.
"After tea we were dancing when Bowles came in dressed in a breech cloth,
anklets, moccasins and feathers and a long clean white linen shirt which had been
presented to him in Houston. He said the pretty ladies in Houston had danced
with, kissed him and given him rings. We, however, begged to be excused, and
even requested him to retire. . . . He stalked out in high dudgeon, and our
dance broke up. Bowles told us of President Houston living in his Nation, and
that he had given Houston his daughter for a squaw, and had made him a big
chief.
"June 2nd we set off for San Antonio de Bexar, in those days frequently
simply called Bexar. ..... June 12th, late in the afternoon, we reached camp
again, and were loading up to move two or three miles further to a better camp-96
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Corner, William. San Antonio de Bexar: A Guide and History, book, 1890; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143549/m1/148/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.