395 ,F8 R8 LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO 1 CHftfrREN OF 2. bo. .^j 3. For books k; c/o -ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. This rather grotesque Ceremony cost the Colony several bottles of Rum. THE ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN, AT PRESENT A PLANTER IN TEXAS. FORMERLY A REFUGEE OF CAMP ASYLUM. BY JUST GIRARD. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH HEW YORK. OmOtSHATt, AHO CHICAGO. BENZIGER BROTHERS, PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SBK. 1 8 ?8, by BENZIOEB BROTHKM. CONTENTS. MOB INTRODUCTION 7 CHAPTER I. A Sketch of my Life up to the Date of my Landing at Baltimore, 17 CHAPTER II. The Tournel Family My Stay in Baltimore, . . .37 CHAPTER III. Troubles of the French Refugees Grants of Land by Con- gress Speculations of American Capitalists Proposed Settlement in Texas General Lallemand's Address and Petition to the Court of Madrid Silence of the Court Execution of the Plan Meeting of the Refugees at Philadelphia Monsieur Tournel's Views I decide upon throwing in my Lot with the Texas Settlers, . . -43 CHAPTER IV. Departure from Philadelphia Arrival at Galveston Tem- porary Stay on an Island The Pirate Lafitte The Rio Trinidad The Settlement of Camp Asylum First Troubles Military Organization of the Settlers Forts and Trenches Manifesto of the Camp Asylum Refu- gees Its Effect in Europe Subscriptions for the Refu- gees Occupations of the Settlers Monsieur Collin His Plans I give him a Letter to Monsieur Tournel Camp Life Amusements Treaty with the Indians General Lallemand chosen "Great Chief" Ball given to the Inhabitants of San Antonio de Bejar, . . .58 CHAPTER V. Sad Condition of the Colony Monsieur Tournel's Letter Treaty between Spain and the United States The Policy of the Two Governments Expulsion of the French from Camp Asylum Retreat to Galveston Sufferings of the Colonists Sickness Storm in the Gulf of Mexico and CONTENTS. rxc inundation of the Island Dangers Run by the Settlers Departure of the Sick for New Orleans I leave with some of the Settlers, intending to reach Louisiana by Land Fate of those who had gone by Sea Marengo County and Eaglesville, on the Tombeckbee Final Dis- persion of the Refugees of Camp Asylum, . . -77 CHAPTER VI. Journey from Galveston to the Headwaters of the Sabine My Costume Our Life on the March A Buffalo Hunt The New Mazeppa, .9! CHAPTER VII. A Sad Awakening I fall into the Hands of the Indians My Journey to the Comanche Village I am presented to the Great Chief A New Actor on the Scene Effect produced by my Decoration and my Standing as a French Officer I am constituted the Guest of the Tribe, 105 CHAPTER VIII. Michael Gournay, the Canadian Manners and Customs of some of the Indian Tribes, 125 CHAPTER IX. My Stay with the Comanches War Rejoicings Departure of the Warriors on the War-path I wish to leave the Village The Indians oppose my Wish Attack on the Village by a Body of Spanish Soldiers I go back to Louisiana with Gournay, ....... 136 CHAPTER X. We reach the Frontiers of Louisiana An Unexpected Meeting A Caravan of American Emigrants I meet the Tournel Family and Monsieur Collin New Scheme for Colonizing Texas, 154 CHAPTER XI. I join the Emigrants and return with them to Texas Our Settlement on the Rio Brazos The War of Indepen- dence The Prosperity of Texas, .... l6(i THE ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN Were related to us by the hero of the tale himself, on the occasion of his last visit to Paris. The interest we felt in them led us to hope that they would prove equally interesting to our young readers, and therefore we have worded them, as nearly as possible, in the Captain's own language. In order to render the tale more intelligible and more useful, we have thought it well to preface it by a short topographical and geological notice of Texas. INTRODUCTION. TEXAS* is bounded on the north by New Mexico, Indian Territory, and Arkansas, on the east by Arkansas and Louisiana, on the west and south by Mexico, and on the south- east by the Gulf of Mexico. The Red River is its northern boundary, the Sabine its east- ern, and the Rio Grande its western limits. Its shape is very irregular, but its extreme length from south-east to north-west is more than 800 miles, and its greatest breadth from east to west about 750 miles, including an area of 237,504 square miles. This country, inclining to the south-east, is divided into three distinct zones or regions : that of the mountains, that of the prairies, and that of the plains. The mountainous zone covers the north-western part of the State, and * It was once known as Fredonia, but its Indian name of Texas superseded the other. 8 INTRODUCTION. includes the Sierra San Saba, a spur of the Sierra Madre, which is one of the great moun- tain-chains of Mexico. Except toward their summits, which are barren and rocky, these mountains are covered with splendid forests of pine and oak, besides numerous shrubs, and broken by well-watered valleys that want nothing but the hand of man to make them yield their treasures readily. The prairie region is the intermediate part of the country, and its undulating surface of table- land reaches from the foot of the mountains to the banks of the Red River, the northern boundary of Texas. Here the vegetation is rich and abundant. The region of the plains follows the coast- line, but encroaches more or less on the in- terior; thus on the banks of the Sabine it is only forty-eight miles wide, while on the San Jacinto it is one hundred and twelve miles wide, and as much as one hundred and sixty on the Colorado. This zone is marvellously fertile. Texas is one of the best watered countries in the world. The rivers are so deeply sunk INTRODUCTION. 9 between high, rocky banks, that there is never any fear of those frequent floods which form swamps and perpetuate miasmal diseases. Like most North American rivers, they are full of rapids, which, however, it would be easy to re- move, should steam navigation be soon applied to all the watercourses. The principal rivers are the Rio Grande, which from its source to its mouth runs a course of nearly eighteen hundred miles ; the Rio Nueces (or Nut River), about three hundred miles long; the Rio San Antonio two hundred and fifty, and the Guadalupe two hundred and seventy-five miles long; the Colorado River (which takes its name from the red deposit left by the rains coming in contact with the oxide of iron of the soil) is about eight hundred miles long. To judge by the government surveys, this river is navigable a distance of several hundred miles. The Rio Brazos, called Rio Flores in the old maps, rises in the north-western part of the State and empties itself into the Bay of San Bernardo, after a course of five hundred miles. The Trinity River is at least four hundred miles long, though some explorers declare it is K iNTRODUCTION. more ; it is certain, at any rate, that steam- boats can go up stream two hundred and forty miles. It was on the banks of this river that the French endeavored to found a colony in 1818. They named it Camp Asylum. We shall have occasion to speak of it later on. The banks of the Trinity River are high and welt wooded ; building timber especially abounds, and the land on both banks is rich and fruitful. Lastly, there is the Sabine, the boundary between Texas and Louisiana, a river three hundred and fifty miles long, and navigable at all seasons for one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. The coasts are much cut up by bays studded* with islands and divided into lagoons. A little north of the mouth of the Rio Grande is the Laguna Madre, ninety miles long, and ending, at its northern ex- tremity, in the bay of Corpus Christi, which is forty miles from north to south by twenty miles from east to west. At the entrance of the bay is a long island called Isla del Padre. Farther north is the bay of Aransas, from thirty to forty miles long and sixteen wide The muddy, shallow bay of Espiritu Santo into which flow the San Antonio and the INTRODUCTION II Guadalupe, is partly formed by the island of Matagorda, which is ninety-six miles long and only ten wide. The bay of Galveston, into which flow the San Jacinto and the Trinity River, extends about thirty-five miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico in a direction nearly north. Ships drawing twelve feet of water can find easy anchorage in it. The coast-line is rounded off by the bay of the Sabine, so closed that it is almost like a huge lake, into which flows the river of that name. The island of Galveston, formerly San Luis, which extends across the entrance of this bay, is nothing but a sand-bank accumulated by the strong tides. It is forty miles long and four wide, and rises only twelve yards above thd, level of the sea. Its surface is covered with tall, rank grass, a few mimosas and cactuses, and some marine plants. On this sand-bank the new city of Galveston has lately been built ; it is an Episcopal See, and the most important seaport town in the State. The climate of Texas is delightful. The region of the plains is the hottest ; the temper- ature is about the same as in Louisiana, but infinitely healthier. The sea-breezes cool tho 12 INTRODUCTION. air a little in summer. As you proceed north- ward, the climate grows better still. In winter, from the i5th of November to the i5th of January, heavy rains fall incessantly, and moisten the earth to prepare it for the next ten months. Sometimes a little sprinkling of snow falls, but it never remains on the ground. The spring begins in February ; the summer in April, and lasts till the end of September. The three zones of Texas and the varied climates they afford are sufficient proofs of the existence of an equally rich and varied vegeta- tion. To the south and south-west are magnifi- cent forests, containing timber invaluable for ship-building. Among these trees, we may notice the oak, the Carolinas poplar, the ash, the cypress, the red cedar, the acacia, the chest- nut, the linden, the pine, the sycamore, the sumach, the maple, the cherry-tree, etc., etc. In the heart of the virgin forests rises the beautiful magnolia grandiflora, often reaching a height of a hundred feet. The gum-tree and india-rubber tree grow abundantly on the banks of the Colorado, but their produce has been hitherto neglected. Different varieties of the tea-shrub have been INTRODUCTION. 13 cultivated on the banks of the San Antonio ; they yield as good tea as that which comes from China. The mulberry grows well in Western Texas ; cochineal and indigo have been tried with success ; tobacco is of a superior quality, and the sugar-cane yields two harvests a year. The cotton-plant succeeds splendidly in Texas, and often grows to the height of five feet. This plant will doubtless become a source of great wealth to Texas, as it grows to a finer quality and more abundantly than on the most favored soils in the United States. An excess of its produce is the only danger to be feared. The sugar-cane of the Tahiti species yields saccharine matter four or five months after planting, and gives two harvests annually. Corn grows here to perfection, and the great prairies round San Antonio de Bejar are peculiarly suited to the cultivation of wheat. Mulberry, indigo, and tobacco have all been successfully tried, and among the forest-trees, the live-oak may be mentioned as one of the best for ship- building. The geological formation of Texas is very suitable for the raising of stock. The wide 14 INTRODUCTION. prairies, covered with thick grass for six months in the year, harbor numberless flocks, which ramble at will through the unenclosed pastures, with nothing but the mark of their various owners to distinguish them. If Texas has not mines of gold and silver, like Mexico, it has what is yet more impor- tant for civilization i.e., iron and coal. There are rich iron mines to the north of the Sabine, and all along the foot of the Ozark Mountains. The bed of the Rio Brazos yields iron ore, and the plains and canons between the Brazos and the Colorado, granulated iron. Iron and coal must contribute to the prosperity of Texas, where, as in the States, railway communication is becoming the only means of transport for passengers and merchandise. The great plantations and factories, and all the towns, whether old or new, or recently mapped out, are situated on the banks of the various rivers. There are Goliad, formerly Bahia, and Bejar, on the San Antonio, old Spanish towns, the latter of which retained its importance till very lately as an entrepot between Louisiana and Upper Mexico. But INTRODUCTION. 15 the principal towns are on the brazos, the Colorado, and the Buffalo Bayou. Here are San Felipe de Austin, the cradle of Texan in- dependence, a town of six thousand inhabitants ; Houston, a city only twenty years old, but which is a standing witness of the growing prosperity, civilization, and luxury of Texas ; Austin, the capital of the State, built on the banks of the Colorado, and which is now ahead of all the present settlements, and will soon be- come one of those cities, on a large scale and of beautiful proportions, which distinguish the States of North America. Among the other important towns, whether old or new, we may mention Bonham, Castro- ville, Corpus Christi, Crockett, Fredericksburg, Hortontown, Indianola, Marshall, Nacogdo- ches, Palestine, Richmond, Washington, Vic- toria, Liberty, etc. The Texans divided their republic into thirty- two counties when they first proclaimed their independence, but the present number of coun- ties is one hundred and twenty-four. When the French refugees came, forty years ago, to found the colony of Camp Asylum, there were ifc INTRODUCTION. not in all Texas ten thousand inhabitants, of European descent. At present, there are nearly four hundred thousand. PARIS, 1858. NOTE. The population of Texas, according to the census of 1870, was eight hundred and eighteen thousand eight hundied and ninety-nine. TRANSLATOR. CHAPTER I. A SKETCH OF MY LIFE UP TO THE DATE OF MY LANDING AT BALTIMORE. I WILL speak but briefly of the first years of my life, and come to the point when circum- stances occurred which made it advisable for me to leave France and seek a new home in America. I was born at Paris in 1792, and was only seven years old when I had the misfortune of losing my mother. My father soon married again, and his new wife made me feel my loss more keenly still by her unkind conduct towards me. She absolutely hated me, and to please her my father sent me to school at St. Germain ; for any school in Paris would have 1 8 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. been, to my step-mother's mind, too much of a substitute for home. I remained at school ten years, during which time I saw my father only two or three times, and was never allowed even to come to Paris. You see that I learned very early what it is to be an exile. My education, such as it was, was finished in 1809. Napoleon I. was then in his greatest glory, and, like most young men of my age, I dreamed of nothing but military honors, so that when my father asked me, on my leaving school, what calling I should like to choose, I unhesi- tatingly said, " I wish to be a soldier." He was quite willing, and I enlisted the very same day. Next morning he took me to Versailles to join the depot for recruits for my regiment, and, having recommended me to my immedi- ate officer, he thrust into my hand a purse con- taining twenty gold pieces. He embraced me affectionately enough, and left me to myself. I never saw him again. His coldness cut me to the heart, and tears started to my eyes as I saw him go ; then 1 vehemently anathematized my step-mother for having deprived me of my father's love. But at last my home sorrows were forgotten in the ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 19 new life, the varied occupations and constant drill of our camp. In a fortnight I was sent off with a detachment of recruits to join the main body of my regiment in Spain. I remained in the Peninsula until our army was forced to evacuate it, and when I returned to France I had been promoted to a lieuten- antcy, after going through every step leading to that grade. Though my father had evinced so little af- fection for me, I nevertheless kept him au con- ran t of my successive promotions. His answers to my letters were short and cold, and only one that which I received on my promotion to the rank of commissioned officer was differ- ent from the rest Then, for the first time, he wrote affectionately and warmly, as became a father, I was deeply touched, and wrote back :o tell him how his unexpected kindness filled my heart with love and gratitude ; but, alas ! he died before my letter reached him, and the sad news was communicated to me by the family solicitor, who wrote to me on business, asking my instructions as to the division of the property and my step-mother's dowry. Thus 2O ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. I only learned to know my poor father just as i lost him forever. Other troubles soon crowded upon me. The Anglo-Spanish army followed closely at our heels, and invaded the southern provinces of the empire, while the rest of the allied Euro- pean forces overran the northern and eastern departments. After a last stand against the English under the walls of Toulouse, we learned the news of the emperor's abdication, the fall of his dominion, and the re-establishment of the Bourbon dynasty. I soon after heard from official sources that I had been placed on the half-pay list. This was a blow that destroyed every hope of my heart, for I was fit for no career but the army. I .had no home ties, no interest, even, to keep me in France, and my first idea was to leave a country which, according to my political opinions, I could no longer serve, and from which I could not expect any consideration Filled with these thoughts, I went to Paris to take possession of whatever my parents might have left me, and to make arrangements for a de parture for the New World. In my ignorance and impatience, I thought ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. II that all I should have to do would be to pre- sent myself at the solicitor's office and take immediate possession of my share of the inher- itance ; but I had reckoned without my host, or rather without my step-mother, who was such an adept at intrigue that the winding up of our family affairs was spun out over the space of ten months. All was not yet definitively settled, when we were startled by the news of Napoleon's landing at Cannes, his entrance into Grenoble, and his march on Lyons. I gave up my projects at once, joined a few comrades, on half-pay like myself, and rushed to meet our emperor. We met him at Chalons, in the midst of a goodly army and an enthusiastic population, who hailed him as a deliverer. We accompanied him to Paris, and a few days later I formally took service under him as a captain. I was so happy at this new turn of affairs that I even sho\ved my- self most accommodating towards my step- mother, accepting proposals which a fortnight before I had peremptorily declined, and con- senting at last to take but a third of what in reality was my own. My mother's fortune, of which my father had retained the use after his 22 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. second marriage, came to sixty thousand francs, while my share of my father's personal property was about twenty-eight or thirty thousand francs. I consented, however, to be put off with thirty thousand, all told, and gave a receipt for that sum, twenty-five thousand of which I left with my solicitor, taking five thousand to equip myself and to celebrate with my comrades the return of our beloved emperor. We believed in nothing less, for at least two months, than in the most brilliant success. We should, doubtless, again begin that series of wonderful military expeditions which for twenty years had made Europe tremble and proved the superiority of our arms. I saw myself in imagination performing a heroic part in this drama of future conquests and unchecked suc- cesses, decorated with the successive degrees of the cross of the Legion of Honor, wearing the bullion epaulets of a colonel, then the starred ones of a general, and, who knows ? wielding one day the baton of a marshal of the Empire ! Amid these golden dreams, the campaign opened. My regiment was luckily engaged in ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 23 the very first battles; at Fleurus we bravely carried a position no less bravely defended by a Scottish regiment. I had pushed on first with my company, and for a moment we were surrounded by the brave Highlanders; the next, our regiment came to our rescue. But the emperor himself had noticed the feat, and, during the review that followed the battle, he called me to him, and gave me a decoration with his own hand. It is impossible to tell you how delighted, how proud, I was that day ! My dreams were beginning to come true, and from that moment I never doubted the entire realization of them. The wakening was abrupt and terrible. The iatal day of Mont Saint Jean came upon us, scattering our bright hopes and plunging me into a worse despair than had been mine six months before. I followed the army of the Loire in its retreat, and when it was dis- banded, my thoughts turned again to my orig- inal plan of emigrating to America. Passing through Orleans, which was then in the hands of the Prussians, I got into a quarrel with some of the German officers in a res- taurant ; a duel would have been the conre- ^4 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. querce, had not the French police interfered and ;arried me off to prison. I must say that n*j tdversaries, the Prussian officers, did their bf t to obtain my release, but the royal officials r jitefully brought me before the police court, ipon a charge of illegally wearing the cross of the Legion of Honor. I had already sworn to the circumstances under which I had re- ceived this decoration. After a month of pre- cautionary imprisonment, I was released, as having acted without malice, but I was recom- mended Jienceforth not to wear the cross illegally given me by the usurper, and no " brevet " of which could be found on the records of the chancery of the Legion of Honor. This prohibition to wear a decoration so well deserved, and received from the very hands of the founder of the order, was more galling to me than an imprisonment of months or years could have been. But what could I do ? The country was in a ferment, there was violent ill-will on the part of the government against all those who had in any way been connected with Napoleon's return from Elba, or who had helped to uphold his falling throne. Labadoyere and Marshal Ney had just been ADVENTURES OF A 1'KKN' !! < 'APTALN. 25 shot. The lives of the Bonapar cists were in danger, and those who had been lucky enough to escape the decree of proscription had gladly exiled themselves, in hopes of better times. My resolve was soon taken. I left Orleans, spent just time enough in Paris to get my money together, and, having procured a pass- port, took my passage for England. In London I met many of my comrades in war and in misfortune, especially the colonel and two other officers of my old regiment. The former, as soon as he heard of my affair at Or- leans, offered to write me a certificate, signed by himself and his brother-officers, setting forth, on the testimony of eye-witnesses, how my gallant conduct at the battle of Fleurus had been recognized and rewarded by the emperor himself. " This will perhaps supply the place of the missing ' brevet/" he said, " and may even help you to obtain it some day. At any rate, you can wear your decoration in safety here ; no one will dare dispute your right to do so." I thanked him and gratefully accepted his offer. He was right ; for this affidavit has helped me to obtain, since the Second Empire, 26 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. the regular brevet granted to all members of the order of the Legion of Honor. Perhaps it may amuse you to see how much importance I attach to a bow of red ribbon, and you may think me foolish not to have given up such baubles after forty years' sojourn and citizenship in a republic where these distinc- tions are unknown. Well, there you arc mistaken, for I think all the more of my dec- oration, not only because it is a glorious souvenir of my early life, but because it has been the means of securing me the friendly offices of many a savage tribe, and of heighten- ing very considerably the esteem and love in which I am now held by my republican neigh- bors. We took our passage on the first ship that sailed for the United States. The colonel, how- ever, could not accompany us, as he wished to go straight to New Orleans, where he had some relatives living. Our ship was bound for Bal- timore. For my part, I had no preference and would have gone to New York, Boston, or New Orleans as soon as to Baltimore, but we should have had to wait another month for the ship chat went to Louisiana, and I confess ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 2/ that I was in a hurry to leave the shores of Europe. We had a smooth passage, and landed safely at Baltimore, in the month of April, 1816. I had begun to study English during my stay in London, and continued to do so during the passage, as I was sure that a knowl- edge of English would be indispensable in the United States ; but though my friends and I had made some little progress, I fear we should have felt very homeless on our arrival in Balti- more, had we not found there a little French colony which another revolution had stranded in that city. They had formerly been colonists of San Domingo, and had been driven from that island by the negro insurrection in 1 794- 95, and had then sought shelter on the hos- pitable shores of the Union. Most of them were in needy circumstances very few comfortably off, but one and all re- ceived us most cordially and proffered us the most hearty welcome. We were only ten in all six officers, two officials compromised in the Lavalette affair, and two employes of the War Department, whose political creed had ren- dered them objects of suspicion to the French 28 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. Government. After a whispered consultation, ten of the principal colonists came forward, and each took one of us immigrants home. A lucky chance, or, I should say, a special providence, gave me as a host a certain Mon- sieur Tournel, formerly a rich planter of San Domingo, now a small hardware merchant in Baltimore. To him and his prudent advice do I owe it that I escaped the lamentable fate which overtook the greater number of my comrades in exile and adversity, and later on I owed to his kindness in admitting me to his family circle all the prosperity and happiness which are now mine. Before I go on with my story, I must give you a sketch of this truly patriarchal family, by which I was welcomed, on my arrival in the New World, not merely as a guest, but rather as an old friend, nay, even as a brother. CHAPTER II. THE TOURNEL FAMILY MY STAY IN BALTIMORE. MONSIEUR TOURNEL was a man about forty, of medium height and good proportions ; his complexion was of that creamy pallor peculiar to the West Indian Creoles, for his family, of French origin, had been one of the oldest set- tlers in the island of San Domingo. They had owned the richest and largest plantations until 1 794, when the revolt of t he blacks entirely swept away their fortune ; the negroes burned their crops and sacked their house, nay, even massacred his mother and sister before his very eyes. He himself was wounded in defending his father, whom he succeeded, however, in rescuing alive from their hands. They both reached the coast, threw themselves into the first boat that they found, and cruised about un- til picked up by a Spanish ship, which carried them to Havana. Here they remained three years, hoping that 30 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. France would re-conquer San Domingo, and that they themselves would be restored to their former position. The disastrous ending of General Leclerc's expedition soon blasted their hopes, and Monsieur Tournel, senior, unable to bear the shock of repeated mishaps, fell ill and died, leaving his son alone in the world. While at Havana, they lived on a small sum that the elder Tournel had managed to save from the wreck of his former possessions. It was the equivalent of his wife's diamonds which, stored in a small casket, had been easily secreted and carried off, and which the widower had subse- quently sold. The money had been deposited at a bank, and Tournel, accustomed to the lux- ury and recklessness of a Creole's life, had un- thinkingly drawn all he wanted without fore- seeing the destitution that might come, and reckoning, as he did too confidently, on the chance of regaining his possessions. After his death, his son received from the ->anker an account of his father's expenditures, with the intelligence also that not a dollar of their former little capital remained to him. Was" the account a correct one ? The poor youth had no means of verifying it. Here he was, utterly ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 3! penniless and friendless, in a foreign land ! How should he live ? He had never worked, nor learned any profession ; his education had been neglected, as was often the case with the chil- dren of rich Creole colonists. But he would not despair ; he was twenty, and at that age, with perseverance and honesty, failure is im- possible. He first offered his services to some Havana planters as an overseer, but he was found too young for such a post ; besides, this place rather belongs to a colored than to a white man. He next tried to get into a merchant's office, but he had not been brought up to trade> and knew nothing of book-keeping ; here, too, he was foiled. At last he heard that a ship had touched at Havana and needed sailors ; he im- mediately applied and was accepted. It proved to be a whaling ship from Balti- *more,'bound for the fisheries of the Pacific. It is needless to tell you what hardships he under- went in this rough calling, which he followed for nearly four years ; besides, the narrative of his adventures would carry me beyond bounds. After a last cruise, when the crew were paid 32 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. off and the ship sold to another owner, Mon- sieur Tournel sought a temporary holiday, and thought of investing the twelve thousand francs he had made in his different expeditions, in some less dangerous venture than belonged to a seafaring life. He had made the acquaintance, during his frequent home-comings to Balti- more, of a French family, formerly settled in Acadia, and who, when that province was made over to England, had been, with all the French settlers of that neighborhood, sent into the then English colonies of America. This family, although for more than thirty years in- habitants of Baltimore, had kept up the tra- ditions of the mother-country and the accents of the mother-tongue. The likeness of their fate to his had drawn Monsieur Tournel into intimacy with them. He had first made fast friends with the eldest son, who was a sailor on board the whaleship ; then he had married his friend's sister, and again gone to sea, until he had amassed a modest capital, just sufficient to start a little shop. His wife was as steady, saving, active, and shrewd as himself. She had not brought him much as a marriage portion ; but these qualities are in themselves better than ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 33 a rich dowry and a love of luxury and idleness, which are too often the characteristics of Creole women. With the small capital at their joint disposal they had opened a little hardware shop ; Mon- ieur Tournel took good care not to run into my hare-brained speculations, but advanced slowly and surely, until at my arrival in Bal- timore I found him at the head of a comfort- able competency. I have already said that I was welcomed by him as a brother and a friend. When he introduced me to his wife and his moth- er-in-law, who since her husband's death had lived with her married daughter, they received me with such cordiality that I soon found my- self quite at home. The children smiled on me ; the youngest came up and kissed me, while the eldest, a girl of fourteen, held out her hand and blushed, and William, a boy of twelve, took my hand in his and shook it heartily, ac- cording to the American fashion. I had hardly been in the house an hour before the little boys of eight and ten years were mounted one on each *nee, and William, who sat by me, was looking with curiosity at my cross of the Legion 34 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. of Honor (I now wore it fearlessly), and asking me a thousand questions. " Did you know the Emperor Napoleon ? and was it he who gave you this cross ?" " Yes, my boy." " Were you often in a fight ?" " Yes, very often." " Oh ! you must tell us all about it." " I will, with pleasure." This innocent familiarity was very refreshing to me. Madame Tournel would fain have sent the children away, for fear of their prattle tir- ing me, but I opposed her wish, not through mere politeness, but with real meaning. In- deed, I, who had never known the joys of home, and who scarcely remembered my moth- er's caresses, was touched and delighted beyond measure at receiving these innocent marks of brotherly affection, which made me find, as it were, a family and a home three thousand miles away from my own native land. These happy beginnings continued the same during all my stay, and you will learn in the course of this tale that my union with this family was only strengthened by the lapse of time. Nevertheless, the next day but one after ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 3$ my arrival I nearly quarrelled with my host, and this was the subject of the dispute : The prettiest room in the house had been assigned me, and a servant had been placed, at my orders, to bring my tea, coffee and choco- late every morning. I breakfasted comforta- bly at eleven, and took luncheon at four ; then only at night did I join the family at their even- ing meal. It was my only opportunity for see- ing my hosts, whom their business always kept in or about the shop, which was distant some hundred yards from the house. I did not intend to take advantage of such lavish hospitality beyond a few days at the most ; my own sense of what was right wouldn't have allowed me to do so. I still had about twenty thousand francs left, and could provide for myself until I should have found suitable employment. One evening, after dinner, I spoke of this to Monsieur Tournel, and begged him to settle some definite price for my board and lodging, if he still consented to let me live in his family. I had scarcely begun than he started in surprise ; then his looks met mine, as though he had not quite seized my meaning ; pnd when at last he could not help understand- 36 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAFTAlS. ing me, a flush rose to his cheeks, he was silent for a minute or two, and then said, in his usual serious and firm tone of voice : " If you knew me better, I should be inclined to think that you were insulting me. Know, monsieur, that I learned what hospitality was in my father's house, and that, had I possessed the fortune that was once ours, my house should have been open not only to you, but to all your comrades ; indeed, I should not have allowed any one else to interfere with my right to harbor you all. Now that circumstances make it impossible for me to exercise fully a right which is as sacred as a duty to me, seeing that it is misfortune that has driven you from our common country, would you try to take from me the pleasure of exercising it within the narrow limits of my power ?" The earnest tone of his voice showed that no answer was possible that did not coincide with his wish. I saw that I should only hurt him by insisting further, so I managed to make good my excuses by telling him that I had never doubted his generosity, and, had I been utterly penniless, would have accepted his Vindness at once, and opened my heart to him. ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 37 But, I added, since I still have something of my own to depend upon, I thought it wrong to take advantage of an asylum which might with more propriety have been used in favor of some of my less fortunate comrades. " And your resources," he answered with a smile, " amount, as I think you told me, to twenty thousand francs, something like four thousand dollars, as we reckon here ?" " Yes, that is it." " And do you know that four thousand dol- lars in the United States do not count even as four thousand francs do at home ? You would easily get through that sum in a year, and that without spending any thing out of the way. Take my advice and keep your money till you really want it, or rather put it in the State Bank of Maryland, where you can draw it as you want it, either in instalments or all at once." " I thank you with all my heart," said I, " and 1 accept both your generous offer and your kind advice with the deepest gratitude. Still 1 cannot be idle forever ; I should feel more in my own way than in yours could I do so; and, since you are kind enough to take an interest 38 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. in me, I wish you would point out some occu- pation which will enable me to earn my living honorably." " Who wants you to be idle ?" he answered. " Idleness is more looked down upon in the United States than anywhere else ; indeed, in this country it is unknown. From the highest to the lowest, every man works. The thing is to find some occupation that will suit you ; but the first step will be to learn English thor- oughly, for without that I see nothing open to you. You already know something of the language, and will easily learn the rest ; you might take lessons with my children, who have a master that comes here regularly every day, and as my wife and I will henceforth speak English to you, you will have the opportunity of learning the language practically. Once you know enough to be able to speak fluently, I will take you to a club where you will be heartily welcomed, and where you will catch the polishing you require in the English lan- guage." I reiterated my heartfelt thanks to my kind host, and promised to abide by his advice. ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 39 " Very well," he said, " that is settled. But 1 am going to ask a favor from you, and it is this : that while we thus learn English together, you will give an hour's instruction in French to my children, who have never learned their mother-tongue grammatically. You may have noticed that they speak it with a bad accent And use obsolete expressions ; this comes from the fact of their mother, and especially their grandmother, belonging to one of those old Norman settler's families that colonized Canada and Acadia, and who have kept not only a strong Norman accent, but certain expressions and turns of speech that date as far back as Louis the Thirteenth's reign in France, or even Henry the Fourth's/' I eagerly caught at this proposal, which en- abled me, though only in an infinitesimal de- gree, to cancel my obligations towards my gen- erous host ; I Was glad to think that this proof of confidence showed that I was not considered quite a useless and ornamental personage, and henceforth felt rehabilitated in my own esteem. I entered on my new duties the next morning and got on admirably. I cannot say the same 40' ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. for my pupils, although their father whether from indulgence or from inability to be judge in such a cause thought that his children made remarkable progress. Thanks to these various interests and occupations, time passed quickly. We had no lessons on Sundays, as also no busi- ness, and I always accompanied the family to high mass at the Cathedral, for Baltimore has ever been one of the most Catholic cities in the Union, and was at that time the only Epis- copal see in the country. My. religious education had been very much neglected, and I had never given religion a thought during my military life. Often had I heard my comrades laugh at it and denounce it as an invention of priests and old women, and I had found it more convenient to echo their silly sarcasms than to inquire into the truth of these statements. I had never set foot in a church, except when sent there on military duty, as sometimes happened; and when I first went to the Cathedral at Baltimore, it was chiefly through curiosity and a desire to please the Tournels, who, I saw, evidently expected me to accompany them. ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 41 I followed the mass rather listlessly, but was all attention when the sermon began ; not, I must say, through respect for the truths uttered by the preacher, but through a wish to under- stand every word he pronounced, that I might know by experience what practical progress I had made in English. My experiment proved successful, for, with the exception of a sentence or two whose meaning escaped me, I could understand every word he said, and repeat the substance of his discourse when we reached home. Every one congratulated me on my rapid progress ; Madame Tournel especially was quite delighted, as she piously attributed to a feeling of religion the great attention I had paid to the sermon, and was rejoiced to find herself mistaken as to the indifference with which she had secretly taxed me. This success encouraged me, and I renewed the experiment every following Sunday until I soon understood the Christian orator thoroughly, and could re- peat in English, or translate into French, what I had heard in church. But this exercise of memory had a far more important result than I had anticipated, I not only learned English, 42 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. but began to understand a great part of the doctrine and discipline of the Church, and if I was not converted on the spot, seed was nevertheless implanted in my heart which was destined to bear fruit in good time. I had still, however, cruel trials to go through before that time. CHAPTER III. TROUBLES OF THE FRENCH REFUGEES GRANTS OF LAND BY CONGRESS SPECULATIONS OF AMERICAN CAPITALISTS PROPOSED SETTLE- MENT IN TEXAS GENERALS LALLEMAND AD- DRESS A PETITION TO THE COURT OF MAD- RID SILENCE OF THE COURT EXECUTION OF THE PLAN MEETING OF THE REFUGEES AT PHILADELPHIA- MONSIEUR TOURNEL's VIEWS 1 DECIDE UPON THROWING IN MY LOT WITH THE TEXAS SETTk'-ERS. I HAD now been six months in Baltimore, and they had certainly been the happiest of my life. Those who had landed with me, though less fortunate than myself, had yet little to complain of, but the refugees who had gone to New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, or to other Northern cities of the Union, had not been so lucky. Among them were some of the most famous men of the old Imperial Guard, such as Marshal Grouchy, Generals Clausel, Vandemne, Lefebvre, Desnouettes, 44 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. Rigaud and the two brothers Lallemand, Colo- nel Gaubert, and many other superior officers no less distinguished by their military prowess than by the nobility of their character. Unable to take to civil pursuits, they spent their time in vain efforts to gain an honest livelihood, or in unavailing regrets for a father- land that had in some sort repudiated their help. The subaltern officers were even worse off, and at last all combined to present a peti- tion to Congress, praying that land might be granted them to clear, swamps to drain, or any work of a kind which they were fitted to under- take. Congress awarded them one hundred thousand acres on the Mobile and Tombeckbee rivers, with the right of founding a settlement, each soldier to receive a piece of land propor- tionate to his military rank. Money was needed for the first necessities of the colony ; but our countrymen, when they had reached America, had found themselves utterly desti- tute of the barest necessaries of life, so that after a few months' stay in the principal cities of the Union, they had not only not emerged from their penniless condition, but had con- tracted fresh pecuniary obligations towards the ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 45 persons who had harbored them. Those rich cities of the North had not been as hospitable to them as Baltimore to us ; but worse was yet to come. Seeing them thus utterly destitute, a few shrewd capitalists proposed to the immigrants to pay their debts for them, and even lend them a little money, on condition of their giv-- ing up to them all claims on the land granted them by Congress. The Frenchmen had no choice ; necessity was their law, and the bar- gain was concluded. What was the result ? Seven eighths of the new owners of the colony, instead of being Frenchmen, as had been in- tended, now turned out to be Americans ; the plan of the settlement was thus abruptly changed, and the generals and superior officers who had a little money to invest in agricultu- ral undertakings found themselves alone as strangers among strangers. They had ex- pected to be surrounded by men of their own nation, and thus to taste some of the joys of home ; but even this illusion was taken from them, as they now found neighbors whose lan- guage and customs were quite foreign to their own. 46 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. ' It was then that Generals Lallemand (the two brothers) and a few other enterprising officers proceeded to reconnoitre and explore the neighboring provinces, with a view to another settlement that might answer the pur- pose which they had contemplated at first Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, seemed to offer the requisite advantages for a new colony. The soil was fruitful, the climate fine and healthy ; a few tentative settlements were made, and the plan was decided upon. Texas was at that time a bone of contention between the Court of Spain and the United States Congress. The rights of the former seeming more solidly established than those of the latter, the brothers Lallemand drew up a petition addressed to the Court of Madrid, and forwarded it through the Spanish Legation at Washington. It was to this effect : " That it was their intention, as also that of the other French refugees in America, to found a colony in Texas ; " That since royal proclamations had invited colonists of all classes and nations to settle in the provinces of Spanish America, His Catholic ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 47 Majesty would doubtless see with pleasure a new settlement made in a desert land which only required industrious inhabitants to be- come one of the most fruitful and prosperous countries in the world ; " That the members composing the proposed colony were ready to recognize and do homage to the Spanish Government, to pay the legal taxes, and support their settlement by their own labor ; but they craved permission to live under their own laws, to be independent of any Spanish governor, and to organize their own military system ; " That, providing the Court of Spain would grant their petition, it might depend on their loyalty and their services, if required ; " That in case their petition was rejected, they w r ould then hold themselves at liberty to use the right which nature grants to every man, and which none may dispute, of clearing and working vast tracts of unpeopled wilder- ness ; " That their rights in this regard were far better than those of the Spaniards themselves at the time of the Conquest, for while these had come to take by force a free and inhabited 48 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. country, they, on the contrary, only came to cultivate barren deserts ; " That, in short, come what would, they had determined to settle in Texas." The Generals Lallemand received no answer to this petition, and, judging from the arbitrary and threatening tone which they had infused into it, probably did not expect an answer. It was hardly to be supposed that Spain would have willingly welcomed a French military colony made up of old Bonapartist veterans on the extreme frontier of Mexico, whose population had long been striving to shake off the yoke of the mother-country, and whose ef- forts would very naturally appeal to the na- tional sympathy or antipathy of the French. The two generals, nevertheless, were unremit- ting in their efforts to carry out their plan. They first secured the consent of Congress, who ratified the alienation of the land origi- nally granted to the French settlers on the Mobile River, the emigration of the colony to Texas, and its establishment on that disputed territory. It even promised, if necessary, to waive its rights on the territory chosen by the French settlers. ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 49 Armed with this declaration, the Generals Lallemand appealed to all the French refugees scattered over the Union, and called a mass meeting at Philadelphia, to lay before them their intentions, their hopes, and the proposed means for a speedy realization of their dreams of success. I hastened to answer this appeal, and was accompanied by all of my comrades who had remained in Baltimore, for a few had gone to New Orleans. Monsieur Tournel and a few other old refugees from San Domingo wished to be of the party, for the generals had called upon them as well as upon us. I was rather astonished when my friend told me of his intention to join us. " What !" I exclaimed, " you who have a snug little business ready in working order in Baltimore, would you run the risk of leav- ing it to go and clear land in Texas ?" " Why not ?" he answered, with a laugh ; but, resuming his usual grave demeanor, he added, " I wish, at any rate, to acquaint myself with the details of Messieurs Lallemand's plan and their prospects of realizing it. If the plan seems a sound one to me, and has a reasonable chance of success, I shall be too glad to embark in this 50 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. undertaking, but 1 need. not therefore leave my business in Baltimore. I can trust it to my partner, my brother-in-law, while I myself go to Texas and take up once more a planter's life, for which I was born and which I have always preferred to any other. Circumstances alone forced me to become a shopkeeper, just as they forced me to be a sailor ; but I am no more made for climbing the rigging than I am for standing behind the counter. What I like, what I want, is an open-air life : the direc- tion of plenty of men working in fields covered with cotton or sugar-cane ; rides of many miles from one factory to the other ; harvesting, and the sale of the harvest to some Liverpool or Havana ship-owner. Such are my dreams, and long ago I should have bought a plantation in Louisiana had I had the wherewithal. I wished to settle in some country where French was spoken and understood, and that is the reason why I never would buy land in Vir- ginia, or the Carolinas, or any other State peo- pled solely by Anglo-Americans. That is why this Texas plan holds out a bait for me ; the country is quite as fruitful as Louisiana and a great deal healthier. I have been there twice ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 51 during my seafaring life : we sailed up the Colorado and the Rio Trinidad, and I had an opportunity of noticing the beauty of the scen- ery, the fruitfulness of the soil, and the varied nature of the products. It is truly an earthly paradise ; but as my eyes feasted on the beauty of this land and I breathed its sweet, perfume- laden atmosphere, I could not help thinking sor- rowfully of all this fertile tract given over to wild beasts, or to a race of men more wild and untamable yet. If this wilderness is now abou/ to be peopled by Frenchmen who are honestly determined to make the most of its rich re- sources, I shall be too happy to join them, to work with them ; and while I hear my native tongue spoken around me, and see nearly the same crops cultivated as I cultivated myself in San Domingo, I shall believe myself trans- ported to my own home and the days of my happy youth." " I am delighted to hear of this," I said, " and only hope that your dreams may be real- ized ; for although I looked forward with great pleasure to a reunion with my old brother- officers, still I could not think of my separa- tion from you without a thrill of pain, I can- $2 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. not tell you how happy I should be to see you too take part in this great undertaking, this foundation of a new France, which will em- brace in one pale all exiles from the mother- country." " Nay," said Monsieur Tournel, with a smile, " we must not judge of this too sanguinely. This plan in theory is as welcome to me as it is to you, but its realization requires a perse- verance and a unity of views seldom found among so large a body of men. So, as I told you already, I do not mean to decide till after much reflection, and when I shall be morally certain of the success of the undertaking." We started accordingly for Philadelphia. General Dominic Lallemand, the younger of the two brothers, received us with great hearti- ness on our arrival. He had just married one of the nieces and heiresses of Stephen Girard, at that time the richest merchant in the Unit^ ed States. Monsieur Girard had himself been a San Domingo colonist, and had been driven from his home by the negro insurrection. Monsieur Tournel only knew Girard by name, but he knew him to possess great business tal^ ents as well as a thoroughly honest and high- ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 53 minded nature. He was anxious to consult him on the undertaking headed by his nephew, and was sure that as a countryman of his he would give him sound and reliable advice. Monsieur Girard, however, was in New York at the time, and was not expected home for a month. The French refugees flocked in from all sides, and soon reached the number of four to five hundred. In several consecutive meetings the general explained his plan, and promised to defray the expenses of those emigrants who should consent to go. The Comte de Sur- villiers (the King Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of the emperor), who was at that time in Philadelphia, fully approved of the plan of colonizing Texas, and contributed a large sum of money towards the incidental expenses of the expedition. The general's eager and enthusiastic manner quickly won to his side all the subaltern offi- cers, but among the generals, Rigaud alone acquiesced in the idea, the others declaring the whole thing immature, hazardous, and ill- timed. For my part, I was enthusiastically in its favor, and quite reprobated the generals' 54 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. opinion. I immediately put my name on the list of those who were ready to leave at once, and only regretted that our departure could not take place the very next day. Monsieur Tournel ravely and coolly tried to make me see things in a more reasonable light. " Without quite agreeing with some of your generals, who think the undertaking a folly, I yet think that we should not act too precipi- tately, else we might be disappointed. Gen- eral Rigaud, who believes in the plan, would almost induce me to accept his presence as a guarantee of success, being as he is an old colo- nist of San Domingo, and therefore more fitted to judge of such a question and its chances of success. But I should have been glad if he had been the first to start with a few old fami- lies, old colonists who would have chosen proper spots for cultivation, and open the way for those who, having less experience, might easily make mistakes in the beginning of agri- cultural pursuits, to which they are less used than to a military career." " I should be quite of your opinion," I an- swered, " if we were in a position to proceed with so much method, which in an undertak- ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 55 ing of this kind is certainly the surest gauge of success. But how can the greater number of our men wait to take such precautions? I do not speak of myself, who, thanks to you, have not squandered my little all, but of my comrades, who are nearly all of them absolute- ly penniless or sunk in forced idleness, which, except eating the bread of charity, is the most tormenting thing that can gall the human soul. Nothing is left them but a speedy de- parture for a land where their fate will be changed, or where, if their condition is not bettered, at least their noble efforts to leave their present irksome condition will be heard of and appreciated." " You are right," said Monsieur Tournel, after a few moments' thought ; " if I were placed in the same position as the generality of your comrades, I should act as they are acting ; but you, who, as you said a little while ago, have got something left, and, I might add, friends who will be sorry to see you go, why are you in such a hurry ? are you very anxious to leave us?" " How can you think it !" I cried ; " I have found under your hospitable roof more than 56 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. mere shelter ; I have found a family, for I look upon you as my father, your wife reminds me of my mother, your children are my brothers, and the memory of your kindness will never leave me to my dying day. Still I could not live forever with you, and if I put off my de- parture any longer I shall but render the in- evitable separation more painful still. Be- sides, I have promised my old comrades in arms to be of their party, and th6y are all bound for the first ship that sails ; I cannot break my word. But I hope we shall all meet you there some day, for you do not mean to give up your plan of joining us in Texas, do you ?" " No, indeed I shall not give it up, and it- was for that reason that I wished you to wait till I went ; but if you are bound to your old friends, of course you cannot break your word, and you shall not find me the man to advise you to do such a thing. After all, now I come to think of it, perhaps it is best so : you sol- diers will march in the van and be our pio- neers, and when you shall have securely got possession of the territory, agriculturists will follow peaceably in your wake to cultivate it." While the preparations for our departure ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 57 were being made at Philadelphia, I returned to Baltimore with Monsieur Tournel to take leave of my friends and settle my own affairs. I wanted to draw all my capital and take it with me, but, according to Monsieur Tournel's ad- vice, I only took five hundred dollars to pay my part of the expenses of the journey and of the equipment of the ship. I left the rest in the bank. " You have enough for the present," said my provident friend, " and will find the rest all safe when you happen to need it, and then you will see how wise is the old saw, ' You should always leave one pear on the tree in case you might be thirsty again.' " It was not without heartfelt emotion, nor without a promise to meet them again as soon as possible, that I left the kind and excellent family of my host. CHAPTER IV. DEPARTURE FROM PHILADELPHIA ARRIVAL AT GALVESTON TEMPORARY STAY ON AN ISL- AND THE PIRATE LAFITTE THE RIO TRINIDAD SETTLEMENT OF CAMP ASYLUM- FIRST TROUBLES MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF THE SETTLERS FORTS AND TRENCHES MANIFESTO OF THE CAMP ASYLUM REFU- GEES ITS EFFECT IN EUROPE SUBSCRIPTION FOR THE REFUGEES OCCUPATIONS OF THE SETTLERS MONSIEUR COLLIN HIS PLANS I GIVE HIM A LETTER TO MONSIEUR TOURNEL CAMP LIFE AMUSEMENTS TREATY WITH THE INDIANS GENERAL LALLEMAND CHOSEN " GREAT CHIEF" BALL GIVEN TO THE IN- HABITANTS OF SAN ANTONIO DE BEJAR. GENERAL LALLEMAND had chartered a schoo- ner, which was provisioned for four or five hun- dred men. The cargo consisted of six guns, six hundred muskets, four hundred sabres, and twelve thousand pounds of powder, bought partly with the voluntary contributions of those ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 59 among us who yet had funds of their own, and partly with a donation of the king, Joseph Bonaparte. The emperor's brother had dis- tributed, over and above his public gift, several sums of money intended to pay the debts of the subaltern officers, and free them from all annoyance. Thus was the ex-King of Spain solicitous for the honor of the French name, for he would not even have it said that the exiles had left debts behind them. Our craft was an American schooner called the Huntress, and her cargo, as we have al- ready hinted, seemed rather fitted for a military raid than for the settlement of an agricultural colony. We left Philadelphia on the 1 7th of Decem- ber, 1817, and on the i5th of January, 1818, we anchored off Galveston, our chosen rendez- vous. We landed our stores on the island, and made a temporary camp, where we deter- mined to await the arrival of General Lallemand the elder, who was at New Orleans buying agricultural implements, plants and seeds, pro- visions of a miscellaneous kind, etc. The island of Galveston, which now bears an im- portant city, and is the Episcopal See of Texas, 60 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. was at that time only a barren, sandy wilder- ness, wholly without resources of its own. We built cabins of reeds and of the spars we found on the island, and dug a deep trench round the camp to protect it against the aggressions of the mainland Indians, or, in case of need, against the pirates, of whose disposition toward us we were yet ignorant, and who inhabited that part of the island in which they stored their booty. The pirates were under the leadership of Lafitte, a French sailor who had distinguished himself during the war of the Empire by the number of prizes he had captured from the English. Since peace had been proclaimed in Europe, he had offered his services to the revolted Spanish colonies, and under their flag, and in the name of freedom, pillaged every Spanish craft that he fell in with. These fili- busters, for such indeed they were, were gath- ered from among all the nations of the earth, and seemed determined to put in practice the traditions of the buccaneers of old. They gave themselves up to the most shameless debauch- ery and disgusting immorality, and only their chief, with his extraordinary strength of limb ^VENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 6l and his indomitable resolution, had the slightest control over their wild and savage natures. Thanks to him, the pirates became harmless neighbors to the exiles, with whom they often interchanged marks of political sympathy, crying amicably, " Long Live Liberty !" On the 20th of March, 1818 (this date is memorable), General Lallemand and a hundred more emigrants from New Orleans at last appeared before Galveston. He found his old comrades, though wearied, by no means dis- couraged, and eager to go on in their perilous undertaking. On the 24th we took to sea again in ten large boats bought from the pirates. One of them, carried out to sea by a strong under- current, was swamped, and of her crew of six men, only Monsieur Chenet, formerly an in- fantry lieutenant in the Old Guard, was saved. It was a gloomy omen of the many misfortunes that awaited us ! We ascended the Rio Trinidad undc/ the guidance of some Indians with whom we had already established friendly relations, thanks to a few bottles of rum and some knives and muskets. These Indians, who hated the Span- 62 ADVENTURES Of A FRENCH CAPTAIN. iards, had a kindly remembrance of the French, whom they had known in the neighboring State of Louisiana. They seemed glad to be able to do us a service. After several days we landed on an immense uninhabited plain, sev- eral leagues in extent, and surrounded by a belt of woods down to the very edge of the river. A fruitful soil, an abundance of tropical plants and flowers, a river as wide as the Seine, but full of alligators, a sky as pure and a climate as temperate as that of Naples such were the advantages of the place we had chosen, and which we now christened " Camp Asylum." Our first days here were not devoid of hard- ships. The colony was obliged to protect itself against wild beasts and reptiles, especially the rattlesnakes, which abound in those parts, while, as if to make things worse, the boats bringing the stores from Galveston to Camp Asylum were delayed on the road, so that we suffered all the torments of hunger for a whole week. At last the boats came safely to land, and the Choctaws and other tribes poured in to visit the camps. We Frenchmen are light-hearted beings, and soon merriment and hope regained the upper hand amongst us. We began tc ADVENTURES OF A FRFNCH CYPTAIN. 63 oelieve in ourselves once more, and proceeded to organize our settlement. Three divisions \vere formed infantry, cavalry, and artillery, for we thought nothing but a military government could be trusted to endure. Fortifications were built to protect the camp against the in- roads of the Spaniards or Indians. They con- sisted of two little forts, called respectively Fort Napoleon and Fort Lallemand, each surrounded by a trench two yards deep, and communicating with one another by means of a covered way that effectually protected all the ground over which our settlement had spread. While busy with these preliminaries, we often met in council before Generals Lallemand and Bigard to hear and discuss divers propositions as to our organization. Nothing was allowed to become law before we had all deliberated upon it. One of the first measures proposed was the publication of a manifesto setting forth our peaceable intentions, and our wish to open friendly intercourse with all our neighbors. This manifesto, translated into English and Spanish, was sent to the United States and to Europe, where it was copied into all the papers of the day. Here is an abstract of it : 64 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. "CAMP ASYLUM, TEXAS, May u, 1818. " Gathered together by a series of similar misfortunes, which have first driven us from our homes and then scattered us abroad in va- rious lands, we have now resolved to seek an asylum where we can remember our misfortunes in order to profit by them. We see before us a vast extent of territory, at present uninhab- ited by civilized mankind, and the extreme limits of which are in possession of Indian- tribes who, caring for nothing but the chase, leave these broad acres uncultivated. Strong in adversity, we claim the first right given by God to man that of settling in this country, clearing it, and using the produce which nature never refuses to the patient laborer. "We attack no one, and harbor no warlike in- tentions. We ask peace and friendship from all those who surround us, and we shall be grate- ful for the slightest token of their good-will. We shall respect the laws, religion, and customs of our civilized neighbors ; we shall equally re- spect the independence and customs of the Indian tribes, whom we engage not to molest in their hunts or in any other exercise peculiar to them. We shall establish neighborly rela- ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 65 tions with all such as shall approach us, and also, if possible, trading relations. Our be- havior will be peaceable, active, and industri- ous ; we shall do our utmost to make ourselves useful, and to render good for good. But if it should appear that our settlement be not re- spected, and that persecution should seek us out, even in the wilds in which we have taken refuge, no reasonable man will find fault with us for resisting it. We shall be ready to de- vote ourselves'to the defence of our settlement. Our resolve is taken beforehand. We are armed, as the necessity of our position requires that we should be, and as men in similar cir- cumstances have always been. The land we have come to reclaim will either witness our suc- cess or our death. We wish to live here honor- ably and in freedom, or to find a grave which the justice of man will hereafter decree to be that of heroes. We have the right, however, to expect a more fortunate result, and our first care shall be to deserve general approbation by laying down the principles by which we mean to steer our bark. " We shall call the new settlement Camp Asylum. This name, while it reminds us of 00 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. our misfortunes, will likewise express the ne- cessity of providing for our future, of establish- ing new hearths and homes in a word, of creat- ing a new Fatherland. The colony, which will be purely agricultural and commercial in princi- ple, will be military solely for its own protec- tion ; it will be divided into three companies, each under a chief, who will be bound to keep a register of the names of those forming this com- pany. A general register, compiled from the three partial ones, will be kept, at the central de*pot of the colony. The companies will each be gathered together in one place in order the bet- ter to avoid attacks from the outside, and to live peaceably under the eye of authority. A code of laws will be drawn up at once, which will secure personal liberty and the immunity of property, repress injustice, and maintain peace among the good, while it will make void the plans of the evil." This proclamation made a great noise in Europe, and, above all, in France, exciting the admiration of the liberals and the sneers of the opposite party. The Minerva, a fortnightly review of the day, immediately opened a sub- scription list for the settlers, A hundred ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 67 thousand francs were subscribed, of which not a penny ever reached us. In addition to this, there was the wrong produced by the sale of a pamphlet, by Monsieur Shiritiar, published by Ladrocat, which went through two editions, and was intended for the benefit of the refu- gees. Before the close of the subscription, Camp Asylum had been already broken up, and its members scattered to the four winds of heaven. What became of the money is a question that still remains unsolved. While party spirit in France now aided, now abused us, the people's poet, Beranger, sang of us in these words : " Noble wrecks of honor's field Cultivate the field of shelter." What were we actually doing in distant Texas? Far from cultivating our fields, we were, alas ! only digging trenches, and this bar- ren work occupied the whole four or five months of our stay in Texas. We had no men among us with a taste for, or skilled in, agricul- ture ; above all, we had not men enough to under- take any thing on a large scale, so that we were unable to do any thing seriously tending toward 68 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. a permanent settlement. It is true that a few of the San Domingo colonists had joined our number, but many of them, either through in^ capacity or laziness, had long vegetated at Charleston or Mobile, and having only joined us in the forlorn hope of bettering themselves, were in such absolute destitution that, far from being any help to us, they were only a burden. Others had been employed by rich Americans on their sugar or cotton plantations in Louisi- ana or the Carolinas. The few of this category who had answered our appeal were indeed competent to direct profitable undertakings, but we lacked hands for the work, and most of these men, having assured themselves of the impracticability of our plan, left us at once and returned to their former employers. I had made friends with one of these, who had known Monsieur Tournel at San Domingo. His name was Collin ; he was manager of a plantation forty miles from New Orleans, and on the shores of the Mississippi, belonging to a rich Louisianian, himself of French extrac- tion. His employer, who took a great interest in our undertaking, had not only con- sented to let Collin join us, but had promised, ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 69 in case of our possible success, to furnish negroes, mules, and implements, on condition of receiving a reasonable share of the profits of the new plantations. Collin said to me one day, after a deliberate survey of the ground and a patient examination into our resources : " I do not believe that there is under the sun a richer and more fruitful soil than this, and it would be a pity if through the incapacity of the settlers these advantages should be lost. I am convinced that something can be done, and I do not mean to give up the undertaking altogether, as many of my colleagues have done, believing in the impossibility of success. I shall go home to my employer, and if I suc- ceed in finding a capable and honest partner, I shall return with means to make a proper settlement. If you like to join us, there is plenty of room for three to grow rich on such an enterprise as I have in my mind's eye." I told him that I should very much like to do so, and at the same time recommended Monsieur Tournel as a fit partner. He acqui- esced in my views, saying that Monsieur Tour- nel was a prudent man, perfectly well suited to /O ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. embark in such a partnership. He told me, moreover, that he would go direct to Baltimore and see Tournel in person, before he returned to his employer in Louisiana. I did my best to encourage him in this resolution, and gave him a letter for Monsieur Tournel, in which I begged my friend to give ear to Collin's pro- posal, and perform his promise to meet me as soon as possible. " Up to this," I wrote, " our settlement is altogether military and not agri- cultural, but it is quite capable of protecting the agriculturists who may come out to us. This assured safety is one of the most indis- pensable conditions of the success of a rural and industrial colony. Your example will de- termine others, and your experience will direct us in a road for which our former education and habits have till now unfitted us." I ended by asking him to draw all my money from the Maryland Bank, that it might serve as my contribution to the funds of our new settlement. Monsieur Collin left us the first week in June, promising to write as soon as possible. I felt very lonely after his departure. We tvere all getting weary of inaction, and our ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. /I camp life was insufferably monotonous. We hardly allowed ourselves even the pleasure or excitement of a hunt, though game was abun- dant, and if we did, it was with the greatest circumspection or in large parties, as it was feared that the Comanches or the Pawnees would not have scrupled to scalp isolated in- dividuals had any one ventured out alone with his gun. The camp was as severely guarded as it might have been in the days of the Empire. The battalion officers were but common officers according to their real grade, and the captains were lieutenants or sub-lieutenants for the nonce ; those in their turn had become non- commissioned officers, while the quartermasters, sergeants, and other inferior officers had become privates. This was, to say the least, a disagree- able state of things. As we had very little special knowledge outside our profession, we took to drill and military manoeuvres as a pastime, after our work in the trenches was done. We had one com- mon mess, and bivouacked as it we were in an enemy's country, except the generals, two or three superior officers, and the -women, for whom we had built large and not uncomfort- 72 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. able cabins. A large fire was kept up all night to frighten away wild beasts, and round this we each spent part of the night, telling and listen- ing to all kinds of tales. We called the fire the Palais Royal, and the gossippers the hum- ming-birds. (The arcades of this building in Paris are the resort of all the loungers and gossippers of the town.) The French mind is always the same, under all circumstances, grave or gay ! Sometimes General Lallemand would join the circle and entertain the veterans gathered under his sway with some scraps of his last conversations with the great emperor. Often, under the influence of the general's eager talk, his hearers would indulge in the wildest dreams and imagine the most impossi- ble combinations. At such times the settle- ment of Texas seemed far enough from their thoughts. They were eager to serve under the Mexican flag and help that countiy to throw off the Spanish yoke, after which they could easily persuade the Mexicans to give them a fast sailer, with which they would storm the island of St. Helena, carry off the emperor in triumph, and crown him Emperor of Mexico. . . . Thus, indeed, the burning imaginations ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 73 of these brave men would run away with them to that degree that it would be impossible to keep pace with their vagaries. But even these amusements were inter- wrought to disguise from us the growing precariousness of our position. General Lalle- mand then thought of giving us an entertain- ment of his own invention. He had just concluded a treaty of alliance with the Indian tribes the Choctaws, the Comanches, and others whose names I have forgotten. These tribes, some of which had been rather hostile to us at first, had gradually understood our peaceable intention, and often visited us now, selling us fruit and game for an equivalent in brandy or beads, etc. The treaty was solemnly ratified We were armed cap-a-pie to do honor to the chiefs, who had donned their most ceremonial costume. They had added to their majestic red blankets helmets with nod- ding feathers, wampum belts, tin necklaces and breastplates, rings hanging from their necks, cars, and nose, and, disgusting to relate, their favorite trophies of scalps hanging from their girdle. Some idea may be formed of their 74 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. strange appearance when I say that besides this paraphernalia, their faces, arms, and chests were painted in odd patterns and staring colors. A great deal of rum was distributed during the ceremony, and the Indians gradually got excited ; their native gravity of demeanor gave place to eager protestations and warm declara- tions of esteem and good-will, and at last, in their spurious enthusiasm, they chose General Lallemand as their "great chief." He made no objection to accepting the dignity, and allowed himself very seriously to be invested with the appropriate insignia of his new honors. This rather grotesque ceremony cost us many bottles of rum, which the Indians daily came in to drink in honor of their new allies and brethrea A few days later we enjoyed another enter- tainment, which we relished better than the Indian farce. We gave a ball on the occasion of Mademoiselle Bigard's birthday (the gen- eral's daughter), and invited the principal inhabitants of the neighboring town of San Antonio de Bejar, formerly the capital of the province. Every one, men and women, came ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 75 at our call. The gathering presented the most motley array of whites, half-breeds, and even Indians; this crew seemed to me a burlesque representation of the principle of equality. Our guests spoke nothing but Spanish, but as we had nearly all served in the Peninsula, we knew Spanish pretty well, and found no trouble in understanding them. This ball was followed by two or three more, only less crowded. These gatherings were not mere pleasure parties ; they also served a diplomatic end. The Texans of Bejar, Bohio, and Goliad, as of some other neighboring set- tlements, had long been dissatisfied with the Spanish yoke, which they had twice unsuccess- fully endeavored to shake off. Beaten and conquered, they had seen this country given up to the tender mercies of Spanish garrisons quartered at Nacogdoches and other places. When we came among them, the Texans hoped that we should at least prove useful auxiliaries, and they gladly took the opportu^ nity of making acquaintance with us, to learn our intentions and see if they could depend upon us. These friendly relations soon raised 76 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. suspicion in the minds of the Spanish authori- ties, and the Texan colonists received peremp- tory orders to cease their intercourse with our camp, under heavy penalties in case of dis- obedience. CHAPTER V. SAD CONDITION OF THE COLONY MONSIEUR TOURNEL'S LETTER TREATY BETWEEN SPAIN AND THE UNITED STATES THE POLICY OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS EXPULSION OF THE FRENCH FROM CAMP ASYLUM RETREAT TO GALVESTON SUFFERINGS OF THE COLONISTS SICKNESS STORM IN THE GULF OF MEXICO AND INUNDATION OF THE ISLAND DANGERS RUN BY THE SETTLERS DEPARTURE OF THE SICK FOR NEW ORLEANS 1 LEAVE WITH SOME OF THE SETTLERS, INTENDING TO REACH LOUIS- IANA BY LAND FATE OF THOSE WHO HAD GONE BY SEA MARENGO COUNTY AND EAGLES- VILLE ON THE TOMBIGBEE FINAL DISPER' SIGN OF THE REFUGEES OF CAMP ASYLUM. HERE we were once more left to ourselves, without amusements or occupations, without news either from Europe or from the States. To cap all, many fell sick, either of home-sick- ness 01 through their unaccustomed hardships and labors in this tropical clime. ?8 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. We looked sadly and despondingly for the return of our comrades, which would have cheered us and given us new strength where- with to fall to work and clear and cultivate our fields, but, like Sister Anne in the tale of " Blue Beard," we saw nothing coming. After a weary month, there came at last a boat sent by the pirate Lafitte, bringing us provisions of a different sort from what we had, and a ^rge collection of European and American news- papers, besides letters. I got a letter from Monsieur Tournel, in answer to that which Monsieur Collin had taken to him from me. I need not say how I devoured it ; I was in hopes of finding in it an echo of my own pleas- ant anticipations, but there was instead nothing but disappointment in store for me. I have never forgotten the following passages : " Monsieur Collin has executed your com- mission and dwelt at length upon the plan of a threefold partnership of which I am to be a member, and which is to undertake a settle- ment in Texas. The idea has always been pleasant to me, and I was glad to see it adopted by a man of so practical a nature as Monsieur Collin. I had begun to think seriously ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 79 of his proposal and to calculate upon the means of carrying it out, when we were startled by most unexpected news. An article in one of the American papers gave out that a definitive treaty had been entered into by the United States and Spain, regulating the exact limits of their respective possessions. The Sabine River was henceforth to become the boundary between Louisiana and Texas, and the American Government formally gave up all claims to the latter province. " It follows that Camp Asylum is now in the midst of Spanish territory, and is at the mercy of the Spanish Government, while no clause of the treaty stipulates for the slightest immunity of the French refugees. They are not even mentioned, and the document would lead one to suppose that they were non-existent. Nevertheless, I am persuaded that it is they alone who have been the cause of this new treaty, and that although your name is pur- posely omitted in the terms of the alliance, a secret article has been prepared, which will serve to give you over to a hard fate. " It is known that your settlement, far from increasing by the influx of new bodies of im- 80 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. migrants, is daily dwindling into insignificance, and becoming less and less capable of resist- ance. Spain will send a sufficient force to dis- lodge you, and the American Government will officially notify you that, being out of their juris- diction, they can do nothing to protect you ; but that if you will return within the frontiers, they will give you land to clear at a proper distance from the Spanish settlements. " In a word, my dear friend, your settlement of Camp Asylum is doomed, and jthere is no hope of even a reprieve. You will ask me how can the United States Government so disgrace itself as to give up to Ferdinand VII. unof- fending exiles whom it has sworn to protect ? " Know, then, that diplomacy ignores senti- ment and is based upon interest, and that our young American Republic follows in the wake of the selfish old monarchical diplomacy of Europe. " Allow me to suggest that your chiefs are also somewhat to blame in the matter. They have found a suitable place for a colony ; why could they not occupy it quietly without rous- ing the ill-will and suspicion of the Spanish authorities ? But, instead of that, they address ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 8l a blustering note to the Court of Madrid, and, in spite of the ominous silence of the court, boldly carry out their plan and hardly reach their destination before they again publish a manifesto through whose fair words runs a thread of subdued hostility. Either they should not have perpetrated a ridiculous boast of this sort, or they should have been fully prepared to make it good. " Any man of common-sense would have fore- seen what has happened in consequence. The noise produced by the manifesto in Europe, the formation of a military colony on the fron- tiers of a country already disaffected toward Spain, roused the suspicion of Ferdinand VII.'s government. They saw in your presence an additional thorn in their side, and have taken speedy measures to get rid of you. " The lands on which you had settled were claimed both by Spain and the United States. Negotiations had long been pending on the subject; Spain now hastened to clinch them, and has obtained, whether by commercial or other concessions I know not (since this be- longs to the secret part of the treaty), the with- drawal of the equivocal claims of the United 82 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. States on this part of Texas, and the standing that the Sabine River shall henceforth be the boundary between the two powers. " Should you complain of this arrangement as a violation of the right of sanctuary, the American Government might easily reply thus : ' In what have we violated your right ? We offered, and still offer, to protect and harbor you, but only within the limits of our own States, not beyond our frontier. We did not wish or urge you to go to Texas, and your position as political exiles, sacred as it may be, cannot be used as a pretext for involving us in quarrels with our neighbors and allies.' " Such is the position of affairs ; illusion is no longer possible, and the end will be attained by the time this letter reaches you. Let your generals know of this, if they have not already learned it, so that they may take the measures requisite under these circumstances, and, above all, may not offer a useless resistance, the re- sponsibility of which would lay wholly at their doors. " As for yourself, my dear friend, pray make haste to return to us ; we can easily find some suitable place for you, the hardships you have ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 83 undergone having disposed your friends more than ever in your favor. Monsieur Collin is still here, and cannot leave for Louisiana for a few days to come ; he and I often speak of you. When he talks to me about Texas arid of the resources of that beautiful country, I cannot help regretting the failure or, let me say the adjournment of our hopes ; for, despite what has taken place just now, I do not de- spair of seeing our plans realized one of these days. But, in order to succeed, we will go to work differently from the unlucky founders of Camp Asylum." " P. S. Under these circumstances I did not deem it advisable to draw your capital from the bank, and, accordingly, I send you a small loan of two hundred dollars, which we can settle for on your return to Baltimore." The newspapers accompanying this letter confirmed the discouraging news which it held. It was now known all through the camp ; many of us had learned it through their correspond- ents, and, indeed, our generals had known it some days before, but had preferred to hold their tongues about it until it should be more definitely corroborated. As Monsieur Tournel 84 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. truly said, the end was near at hand. Our In- dian allies and some inhabitants of Bejar came during the day to tell us that a Spanish detach- ment was already on its way to attack us. It consisted of twelve hundred infantry, three hun- dred cavalry, and several pieces of ordnance. It was rapidly nearing us. We had only two hundred men capable of bearing arms ; the rest were sick or disabled, but, notwithstanding this disparity of numbers, we determined to repulse the foe, to fight them gallantly or die like Frenchmen, as General Lallemand pithily ex- pressed it. The Spanish general, however, whether prevented by secret orders from tak- ing the initiative, or determined to draw a cor- don round us, merely camped his troops within three days' march of our camp, and waited till disease and discouragement should undermine our not very formidable body. This man- oeuvre could not but be successful in the long- run, and the Spanish general soon reaped its consequences. Meanwhile no help came either from Europe or from the United States, and we could not fight an enemy that seemed determined not to attack us, and then we, on the other hand, were ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 83 too weak to attack. We were obliged to beat a retreat, which we accomplished in good or- der, experiencing no molestation at the hands of the Spaniards, and no remonstrances from the Indians, who, with supreme indifference, witnessed the departure of their " great chief," General Lallemand. The boats that we had were enough to take us down the river Trini- dad as far as the island of Galveston, where we established ourselves for the second time. The island, or rather sand-bank, was not as healthy as the shores of the river we had left behind us. We had scarcely landed when all the evils of those tropical climates scurvy, dysentery, and fever broke out amongst us, and gradually assumed a very serious character. General Lallemand was solicited by the Great Council, composed of twenty-four members, to go to New Orleans to buy medicine and pro- visions, as well as to beg for help. He left the following day with two aides-de-camp. Many of our number would have been too glad to ac- company him, but there was only room for a few passengers, and we were obliged to restrain our impatience. The general kindly took our correspondence with him, and I took advan- 86 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. tage of this opportunity to write again to Mon- sieur Tournel. A few days after the general's departure an awful calamity visited us. It was autumn, and the equinoctial gales were blowing ; storms are very frequent in the Gulf, of Mexico in that season. A fearful hurricane swept over the' sea on the s8th of September, lashing the waves mountain-high and driving them over the island, so that our camp was speedily under water to the height of eight or nine feet. As the flood increased on the shore, we retired in- land to the more hilly portion of the island, where two solid log cabins had been built. For three days and three nights we sat in these cabins entrenching ourselves against the fury of the elements. Our danger was imminent, and we owed our safety only to our unremit- ting efforts in keeping aloof, with oars and poles, the trunks of uprooted trees and spars of wrecks which the water flung up against our cabin. At last the storm subsided, the sea re- tired, and we were no longer in danger of drowning, but our slender resources were gone forever ; our food and powder had all been swept away. ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 8/ The pirate Lafitte again came to our aid, but all he could do was of little permanent good to us. Misfortune and idleness had done their work, and sowed dissension in our midst to such a degree, that I believe, had this state of things lasted much longer, we should have quarrelled among ourselves. After two months of agonizing suspense, we received news from General Lallemand to the effect that all hope of founding a colony in Texas was at an end, but that Congress had offered to give us a grant of land in Alabama, on the Tombig- bee, and that we had better make haste and join him (the General) at New Orleans. To leave our present shelter was sooner said than done, though every one was delighted at the idea of leaving the island. We required some means of transport, and this was just what General Lallemand had forgotten to send us. The pirate Lafitte came to our help once more. He sold us a small craft, unfortunately so small that it would only hold the sick ; as for those in good health, it was settled that they should await the return of the little bark, unless they preferred starting for Louisiana overland, in which case Lafitte offered to take 88 ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. them across to the mainland, which was only four miles distant. Many of us, and myself among the number, gladly caught at this plan. We should have had to wait at least a month before we could expect the ship back from New Orleans, and even then all could not have been stowed on board at once. We should have been com- pelled to draw lots to see who would have the chance of being first, and, for my part at least, I infinitely preferred the risks and fatigues of an overland journey to the dismal prospect of two or three months' stay in this ill-fated island. About sixty of our number adopted the same determination, but as Lafitte could not take us all across at once, and as, besides, such a numerous caravan might have attract- ed too much attention on the part of the Spanish authorities, we settled to leave in two distinct bands, at some days' interval between the two. I started with the first detachment, which numbered twenty-five men. Thanks to La- fitte's friendly relations with the Indians of the coast, we were able to procure horses and guides to take us to Nacogdoches, a military ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. 89 post not far from our old settlement of Camp Asylum. But before I come to the history of my journey, I must tell you briefly what became of our comrades who had started by sea, and of those whom we left on the island of Galveston. The first, after a rough passage of more than a fortnight, landed at New Orleans, where the yellow fever was then raging. They had scarcely left the ship when nearly all fell victims to this terrible disease. The rest arrived in the same city a month afterward. Some of them were cut down by the " black vomit ;" others found opportunities of procuring a passage back to France, and a very few started together for the Tombigbee, where it was expected that a new attempt would be made to found a colony. The ill-success of the Texan undertaking made General Lallemand shy of joining a new one, and, accordingly, General Lefebvre- Desnouettes took charge of the ne\vly- organized expedition. The settlement was called the State, or, rather, county of Maren- go. The ground-plan of a country town was laid out, and the place called Eaglesville, its principal streets being called after the gO ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. battles which refugees had helped to win. The town barely had any existence, save on paper. Most of the Frenchmen who settled in Maren- go County chose rather to live at Alabama and other hamlets of the neighborhood, and as soon as they could go home, they hastened to get rid of their land at the lowest prices, to pay their passage to France. The few who remain- ed longest went home after the revolution of July, 1830. It is long since the memory of Camp Asylum has disappeared ; the present generation scarcely knows its name. I now return to my own rather eventful journey. CHAPTER VI. JOURNEY FROM GALVESTON TO THE HEAD- WATERS OF THE SABINE MY COSTUME OUR LIFE ON THE MARCH A BUFFALO HUNT THE NEW MAZEPPA. OUR journey as far as Nacogdoches did not present a single interesting incident. We had chosen this route because two of our asso- ciates, formerly of San Domingo, had travelled this way when they had come from Louisiana to join us at Camp Asylum. Besides, we needed for such a long journey many things which we could only get at Nacogdoches, and, lastly, we wished to cross Texas as peaceable travellers, and were anxious to procure a safe- conduct from the Spanish authorities, that we might not be molested until we reached the frontier. The Spanish commandant made no diffi- culty what ever, but granted us a pass on condi- tion that we would only stop two days at Na- cogdoches. This short time scarcely sufficed 9? ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN. for our shopping, for our costumes were wo- fully dilapidated, and we also needed horses or mules to carry our baggage. Our Louisianian friends suggested our putting on the cos- tume of the country, as our French uniforms, or rather the remains of what had been uniforms, might draw unpleasant attention upon us. This dress was also much more suitable for travelling, and so we took this sensible advice, each one equipping himself, on his own account, in garments similar to those worn by the Mexican hunters and voyagers. I was able to procure a full and new Mexi- can suit, as I still had the greater part of the two hundred dollars sent me bv Monsieur j Tournel. I remember my strange costume well. It consisted of a dressed buckskin hunting shirt, which was of a pale yellowish color, and whose cut resembled the tunic of the ancients far more than any modern article of dress. It was carefully sewn and even embroidered. There was a kind of hood attached to it, which hood, as well as the front of the tunic, was adorned with long fringes, while a pair of scarlet gaiters, called " save-alls," protected my ADVENTURES OF A FRENCH CAPTAIN.