The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 13, July 1909 - April, 1910 Page: 152
341 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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152
Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
colony.' From his position at Bexar he was able to keep the peo-
ple authoritatively informed of events in Mexico, and the wonder
is that he was not regarded as a spy by Ugartechea. September 8
he wrote Barrett2 that it had become evident that the government
was determined upon harsh disciplinary measures in Texas, and
that the people must submit or be prepared to resist. In connec-
tion with this letter Stephen F. Austin, who had just returned from
his long imprisonment in Mexico, gives his estimate of Gritten,
saying: "I place more reliance on what he says because he has
made so many exertions to affect an amicable reconciliation. . .
I think he has been faithful to the people here and fear that he will
get into prison."8
On December 11, the General Council, which was the legislative
branch of the provisional government established at the beginning
of the revolution, showed its confidence in Gritten by electing him
collector of the port of C'6pano, but Governor Smith declined to
sign his commission, declaring that he had always considered him
a spy.4 Nevertheless, Matthew Caldwell was at that very time writ-
ing to Smith in commendation of Gritten's general efficiency in the
commissary department of the army, and calling particular atten-
tion to a recent important performance of his in carrying ammuni-
tion to the Texan army while it was besieging Bexar.6
In March, 1836, he was working in the printing office of the
Telegraph and Texas Register, at San Felipe.' On the 25th of that
month a subscription was started soliciting land donations for the
government, and Gritten pledged a quarter of a league-one-fifth
of all that he had.'7 In July we find him acting as translator and
interpreter in the prize case of the schooners Comanche and Fanny
'Land Office Records, Vol. 16, pp. 329, 393.
'A .copy of the letter, 'certified by !Stephen F. Austin, is in the Lamar
Papers in the Texas State Library.
'Austin to Grayson, September 19, 1835 (copy). Austin Papers.
'Brown, History of Texas, I, 449. See also TxE QUARTERLY, V, 308,
note 2.
'Caldwell to Smith, December 19, 1835. Miscellaneous documents re-
lating to the Treasury, 1835-1836, in Comptroller's Department.
'Borden to Burnet, March 24, 1836. MS. in Texas State Library. Finan-
cial Affairs.
'A printed broadside, in the Texas State Library. Formerly file No.
351.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 13, July 1909 - April, 1910, periodical, 1910; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101051/m1/166/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.