The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 41, July 1937 - April, 1938 Page: 147
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Andrew Jackson and the Erving Affidavit 147
Did Houston believe "the day" near when, on August 18, 1832,
he wrote to a friend that it was now important that he be in Texas
personally where he
could look at matters with a view to the changes which are nec-
essary and must take place before long in that country, and
without which it can never be what it ought to be for the benefit
of those interested [ ?]. Several persons have said to me that I was
looked for, and earnestly wished for by the citizens of Texas. ....
The people look to the Indians in Arkansas as auxiliaries in the
event of a change-So I will pass that way, and see my old friends.
I will ride to the Hermitage this evening, and see the Old Chief
General Jackson.7
Why was there a demand in Texas for Houston's presence, and
a looking "to the Indians in Arkansas as auxiliaries?" Was it
because a number of recent emigrants to Texas were personally
acquainted with Houston's plan for the separation of Texas from
Mexico ?
On February 25, 1832, Jackson wrote the following remarkable
private letter to Butler, which seems to show that he planned to
seize Texas whenever a state of affairs should develop there similar
to that which had come about in 1810,-so conveniently for Presi-
dent Madison-in West Florida:
I am told Mexico will contend for the [boundary] line to run
up the East fork which they say is the Sabine, and call the West
branch by another name [the Neches], which we cannot agree to,
as it would take from us two populous counties. . . . I have but
little doubt but there will be an insurrection in Texas in less than
six months . . . people are emigrating to that country with a
view to this thing and it will be attempted shortly. The present
resources of Mexico will not be competent to reconquer and put
down this insurrection and regain the country, if once lost, and a
government composed of all kindred and tongues on our border,
plundering and murdering our good citizens at will, and exciting
the Indians to make war upon us, and on our borders,-this may
compell us, in self-defence to seize that country by force and estab-
lish a regular government, there, over it. This necessity I do not
wish to see, and would much deplore if it should occur. Therefore
it is we want to obtain a cession of that country for a fair con-
natorial chair of Tennessee .... McIntosh committed this secret to me."
Morrell, Flowers and Fruits from the Wilderness; or Thirty-Six Years in
Texas (Boston, 1872), 20-21. Author's italics.
?Houston to James Prentiss, Nashville, August 13, 1832, in Houston-
Prentiss MSS., in University of Texas Archives.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 41, July 1937 - April, 1938, periodical, 1938; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101103/m1/163/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.