The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923 Page: 273
324 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Memoirs of Major George Bernard Erath 273
the principal powers of Europe and by the United States. Eng-
land and France had begun to make propositions and to inter-
fere in our behalf for our independence to be acknowledged by
Mexico.
During these next five years up to 1841 the country on the fron-
tier progressed but little in settlement, and not at all from the
San Antonio River toward the Rio Grande. Even Goliad was not
occupied. A few hostilities with Mexico, carried on chiefly by
guerrilla parties, resulted usually in victories to our side. The
country had no means for carrying on war or paying soldiers.
We depended at first on donations and subscriptions from friends
in the States. The population was so small and resources so lim-
ited that taxation was impossible. Tariff regulations could not
go into force for some time. There was no revenue for the first
two years, and any one serving in civil or military capacity was
expected to do so on credit. Soldiers were promised a certain
amount of pay, and those enlisting before the first of October,
1837, received a claim of 320 acres of land for every three
months' service-to be located at their own expense.
In the fall of 1836 a battalion of rangers for the defense of
the frontier was raised of which I became a member. We were
promised twenty-five dollars a month and 1280 acres of land for
every twelve months' service; the government furnished ammuni-
tion and rations, but we furnished our own horses and arms; we
lived for the most part on game out of the woods. I have known
more than one man enlisting to give his whole claim for land and
money in advance for a horse, saddle and bridle, with which to
serve for it. Ammunition was the only thing furnished us, and
some beef now and then.
General Houston in due time saw what mischief the idle army
stationed about the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers might
produce; in the spring of 1837 he began to furlough it off; then
he called congress in the summer, and had the army discharged
early in the fall. Congress at that time passed bills over his
veto to issue paper money. The country became flooded with it
in paying off the soldiery the next year. It depreciated in the
year 1838 to two for one, in '39 to three for one, the next year
to four for one, and in 1841 to eight for one. It was set aside the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923, periodical, 1923; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101084/m1/279/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.