The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 37
294 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Communistic Colony of Bettina.
upon Kriewitz then touched him under the table with his foot.
Kriewitz was then handed a piece of paper and pencil, and he wrote
back that he was Kriewitz, but that he could not hold open com-
munication with them now; that on the journey back to the In-
dian camp he would try to get away. He went back with the sav-
ages as far as Comanche Spring and escaped, and lay hid in New
Braunfels three days while the Indians came to look for him. They
came to our own room; and here I saw Santana for the first time.
But as far as the treaty went, they kept that to the letter, and
later they visited our settlement as they had stated at the time of
the treaty. We also were faithful to the compact.
After the sick had recovered, we set out for Fredericksburg,
stopping a few days at Comanche Spring, later Meusebach's farm.
Kriewitz was our guide, and as he rode ahead of us, one could not
have told him from an Indian. Having again spent several days
in Fredericksburg we set out for our tract, Kriewitz again being
our guide.2 Of course, we had to move very slowly; and, when we
arrived at the Llano, we hunted a ford for three days. The best
one finally proved to be but a few yards from our camp, where we
had to lift the wagons four feet upon a rock in the bottom of the
river by the aid of windlasses, and this work took us from morning
until night.
The Llano then was a beautiful stream, as clear as crystal, and
known in our party as the "Silvery Llano." One could see the
bottom at the deepest places. The whole country was covered with
mesquite grass as high as the knee, and abounded in buffalo and
deer.
On the other side we came to a big live-oak; and here we
camped. Putting our wagons in a circle, we constructed a big tent
in the centre, planted our cannon, and put out a guard. Feeling
perfectly secure in our fortified camp, we celebrated that night
until 3 o'clock. A bowl of punch was prepared, and we sang our
favorite songs, while those who could performed on musical in-
struments of which we had a whole chest. We gave Lebe Hoch,
United States ! Lebe Hoch, Texas ! For we were all good patriots.
This was in the early part of September, 1847.
We built a huge structure of forks and cross beams which we
covered with reed-grass. It was forty feet long and twenty-two
2See his own account in Entwicklungs Geschichte, p. 117.-R. K., JR.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900, periodical, 1900; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101015/m1/45/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.