Colonel Lee to General Scott.
Headquarters Department of Texas,
San Antonio, March 6, 1860.
San Antonio, March 6, 1860.
Colonel: Reports from the posts in the northern part of Texas give frequent information of depredations upon the settlements. These have become more numerous and daring since the necessity has arisen for withdrawing a portion of the force on that line to place it on the Rio Grande.
During the last months outrages have occurred in the immediate neighborhood of many of the posts, several of which are occupied by cavalry. In some instances Indians have been overtaken and punished, in others they have escaped, from the nature of the ground, the obliteration of the trail, or other causes beyond the control of the pursuing party.
The horses of the 2d cavalry have become so reduced by constant service, exposure, and scarcity of food and grass, that they fail in the pursuit and sometimes perish. The marauders are generally in small partles, and sometimes on foot.
On the night of the 3d of February the animals of residents in the immediate vicinity of Camp Colorado were driven off
On the night of the 17th of February the mule-yard at Camp Cooper, over which a sentinel was posted, was broken in and the whole herd driven off. Twenty-three of the animals were recovered by a party sent at daylight in pursuit, but the remainder, forty mules and three horses, were not overtaken. The force at the post was so much reduced by scouts then out that the detachment sent under Lieutenant Lowe, adjutant of the regiment, was principally composed of the band.
The following night all the animals from the Indian agency, two or three miles distant from Camp Cooper, were stolen ; and Major Thomas, as you will perceive in his report, which is herewith forwarded, is under the impression that the thieves were not Comanches. Bent’s Fort, where it is conjectured the stolen animals have been sold, is above Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas.
On the same evening on which the animals from the Indian agency were stolen, 18th of February, a citizen residing within two miles of Fort Mason was shot, within one hundred yards of his house, by three Indians on foot. The commanding officer did not hear of the attack till next morning, when he endeavored, for three days, to discover the trail of the assassins, but without effect.
I have noticed these cases as the most recent, and to show the audacity of the marauders.
There is but one company at Camp Cooper, which is too small a force, in my opinion, for the position. But, until some of the companies can be withdrawn from the Rio Grande, I see not prospect of reinforcing it, unless the commanding general of the army should think that the two companies of the 1st cavalry at Fort Washita could be used for that purpose.
There are two companies of the 1st cavalry and one of infantry at Fort Arbuckle, and I have no means of judging of the importance of the troops at Fort Washita, and am therefore unwilling to remove them. On the Rio Grande there are three companies 2d cavalry, three companies 8th infantry, and three companies 1st artillery; should the quiet of that region be again disturbed, it will be necessary, in my opinion, to send there another company of cavalry.
The troops in the department are posted over a long line of frontier, and yet, from the paucity of their numbers, are unable to protect the settlements.
The best method of preventing the inroads of the Indians is to send a strong body of troops into their country, which would have the effect of recalling them to their women and children; but there is not at this time within the department a force available for the purpose.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
During the last months outrages have occurred in the immediate neighborhood of many of the posts, several of which are occupied by cavalry. In some instances Indians have been overtaken and punished, in others they have escaped, from the nature of the ground, the obliteration of the trail, or other causes beyond the control of the pursuing party.
The horses of the 2d cavalry have become so reduced by constant service, exposure, and scarcity of food and grass, that they fail in the pursuit and sometimes perish. The marauders are generally in small partles, and sometimes on foot.
On the night of the 3d of February the animals of residents in the immediate vicinity of Camp Colorado were driven off
On the night of the 17th of February the mule-yard at Camp Cooper, over which a sentinel was posted, was broken in and the whole herd driven off. Twenty-three of the animals were recovered by a party sent at daylight in pursuit, but the remainder, forty mules and three horses, were not overtaken. The force at the post was so much reduced by scouts then out that the detachment sent under Lieutenant Lowe, adjutant of the regiment, was principally composed of the band.
The following night all the animals from the Indian agency, two or three miles distant from Camp Cooper, were stolen ; and Major Thomas, as you will perceive in his report, which is herewith forwarded, is under the impression that the thieves were not Comanches. Bent’s Fort, where it is conjectured the stolen animals have been sold, is above Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas.
On the same evening on which the animals from the Indian agency were stolen, 18th of February, a citizen residing within two miles of Fort Mason was shot, within one hundred yards of his house, by three Indians on foot. The commanding officer did not hear of the attack till next morning, when he endeavored, for three days, to discover the trail of the assassins, but without effect.
I have noticed these cases as the most recent, and to show the audacity of the marauders.
There is but one company at Camp Cooper, which is too small a force, in my opinion, for the position. But, until some of the companies can be withdrawn from the Rio Grande, I see not prospect of reinforcing it, unless the commanding general of the army should think that the two companies of the 1st cavalry at Fort Washita could be used for that purpose.
There are two companies of the 1st cavalry and one of infantry at Fort Arbuckle, and I have no means of judging of the importance of the troops at Fort Washita, and am therefore unwilling to remove them. On the Rio Grande there are three companies 2d cavalry, three companies 8th infantry, and three companies 1st artillery; should the quiet of that region be again disturbed, it will be necessary, in my opinion, to send there another company of cavalry.
The troops in the department are posted over a long line of frontier, and yet, from the paucity of their numbers, are unable to protect the settlements.
The best method of preventing the inroads of the Indians is to send a strong body of troops into their country, which would have the effect of recalling them to their women and children; but there is not at this time within the department a force available for the purpose.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. Lee,
Brevet Colonel, Commanding Department.
Brevet Colonel, Commanding Department.
Colonel L. Thomas,
Adjutant General, Headquarters of the Army,
City of New York, N. Y.
Adjutant General, Headquarters of the Army,
City of New York, N. Y.
A dispatch in Difficulties on Southwestern Border, House Documents, Volume 126; Volume 128, United States House of Representatives, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1860
During the 12 years following the Mexican-American War there were present on the frontiers of Texas and Mexico many factors that tended to create disturbances. The topography of the country, the sparsity and general character of its population, the lack of an extradition treaty and of sufficient national authority, wild Indians of uncertain abode, the Mexican tariff system, all caused friction and gave encouragement to lawlessness which not only retarded the development of the region but often threatened to interrupt friendly relations between the two republics. [Border Troubles along the Rio Grande, 1848-1860, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 2 (OCTOBER, 1919)]