Dissension Between U.S.
Government and the Texas Republic
November 10, 1843 –
“Twas here that a
cry to God, wrested by human fiends from a brother man, fell unanswered,
echoless on the desert air. It was here
… that human beings, eight or ten, fell upon a friendless one, and for vile
pelf slew him! Here…was poor Chavez
deliberately murdered…I hear his spirit mourning in the midnight storm.”
So wrote an impassioned
Captain Philip St. George Cooke, 1st U.S. Dragoons, Company A, Ft.
Scott, Kansas of a violent incident along the Santa Fe Trail. This unfortunate occurrence and others have
raised eyebrows of concern in Washington D.C., particularly at the War
Department.
Open hostilities along the
Santa Fe trade route have caused much fear and trepidation to arise among
law-abiding traders using the overland route. Border disputes, rising violence and murder have become a mainstay of
travel. Guerilla bands have begun
attacking wagon trains, particularly those led by citizens of Mexico. Apparently, all this has been in response to
an incident last January where two hundred twenty-six Texans were captured,
marched to Mier Mexico, and imprisoned. Seventeen of them were subsequently executed in a lottery determined by
the drawing of an ill-fated black bean.
Adding to the hazards of
travel along the Santa Fe, a man claiming to hold a commission as Captain in
the Texan army, John McDaniel, organized a band of fifteen bandits. They joined forces with another Texan, Col. Warfield,
who with his own marauders had collected near the Cimarron River, south of the
Arkansas River.
Here is where the gathered
forces met Don Antonio Jose Chavez, the murdered Mexican trader referred to in
Captain Cooke’s journal at the commencement of this story. Chavez, reputed to be an upstanding citizen
from Mexico, had set out from Santa Fe in February with two wagons, five
servants, and fifty-five mules, carrying much valuable cargo. Due to the severity of the weather, many of
his mules perished. By April 10, the
caravan reached the Arkansas River where the Santa Fe Trail entered United
States territory. They were confronted
by the raiders led by McDaniel, who quickly overpowered them and confiscated
their booty.
After the dividing of the
spoils, some of the raiders returned to the Missouri frontier. However, the remainder of the party stayed,
and for two days held their captives against their will. Thereafter, without provocation, they
murdered Chavez in cold blood and threw him along with his baggage and wagon
over a ravine.
The band under Col.
Warfield further continued their guerilla activity by riding to the Mexican
settlement of Mora and burning it. In
days to come, they joined forces with Col. Jacob Snively, a freebooter
commissioned by the Republic of Texas. More battles ensued, leaving many citizens dead, wounded, or their
livelihoods destroyed.
Due to the increasing
violence along this overland trail, on March 15th of this year,
law-abiding traders who use this overland route petitioned the U.S. War
Department to furnish military escorts for their protection. The Mexican Minister Gen. Almonte also
requested escort for some Mexican merchants already in Missouri who feared for
their lives on their return trip.
By March’s end, the War
Department ordered armed military escorts out of Ft. Scott, Kansas. Under command of Capt. Philip St. George
Cooke, five companies of troopers were detached; their commission, to go forth
and protect both Mexican and American citizens along the Santa Fe trade route
as far as the territory of the United States extended to Santa Fe, Mexico.
The Republic of Texas also
has worried about the escalation of violence. For some time, they have been aware that contraband was being carried
from Missouri and Arkansas to various settlements set up along the Rio
Grande. Not only were revenue laws being
violated, but these predatory bands of Mexican citizens were preying on
innocents resulting in a great deal of theft and bloodshed.
Col. Snively was
commissioned to raise and lead a partisan command against the Mexican soldiers
and citizens perpetrating this violence, although he was strictly instructed
not to violate the sovereignty of the U.S. government.
With his one hundred men,
Snively took his line of march from the settlements high up on Red River, known
as Georgetown. He proceeded west, then
north until they reached the Arkansas River. Where north of the river was U.S. soil, to the south, it only extended
as far as the 100th meridian. They set up camp for the purpose of collecting a supply of buffalo meat.
It was inevitable at some
point that Snively and his forces would eventually meet up with the two hundred
dragoons out of Ft. Scott. They met
across the river from each other.
Captain Cooke immediately
dispatched Lieutenant Lovell to ascertain who Shively and his party were.
Assured that he would have
a free passport, Snively accompanied Lovell back across the river to talk with
Capt. Cooke. But instead of receiving
the expected courtesy, no alternative was given the Texans but to submit
unconditionally. Either he and his men
would “stack arms”, or the dragoons would “throw shells into the encampment…and
cut them to pieces.”
The dragoons quickly
crossed the river and formed a line of battle around Snively and his men. If they gave up and abandoned their mission,
they were told they would receive safe escort back to Missouri. If they did not, they would be turned loose
into the savage land with only one gun per ten men.
This action taken by Capt.
Cooke against Col. Snively and his men has outraged Texans. Considering it a national affront to their
Republic, believing that the way Snively and his men were treated was not only
inhumane but derogatory to their honor and dignity. Their demand of the Secretary of State is for
proper and speedy satisfaction and reparations. They also expect punishment for Capt. Cooke, as well as the Major
General by whose authority he acted. Anything less, by their words, would jeopardize the peace and unanimity
between the nations.
Capt. Cooke has voiced deep
regrets that Mexican as well as citizens of the U.S. have been so
affected. However this plays out for
Cooke, his very moving journal entry shows this 1827 West Point graduate to be
of a compassionate nature, with concern primarily for the welfare of innocent
citizens, no matter their political loyalty.
In August, all Mexican
frontier ports of entry along the overland were closed by order of Santa Ana.
One can only wonder if all
this is leading to a collision between the sovereignties.
A Court of Inquiry has been
set up, and investigations are under way.
