The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999 Page: 326
559 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
whole territory west of the Rocky Mountains," while the Kentucky
Reporter noted that "territory enough to make four or five large states--
and the best land in America, is [thus] given up! The sale of all that
country in less than an age from this time, would have brought several
millions in the treasury!" Asserting that Texas was included in the
Louisiana Purchase, the Reporter concluded that the treaty "mutilat[es]
the richest and proudest plume to the brilliant cap of the illustrious
Jefferson." In describing public reaction to the treaty, the Niles' Register
could only conclude that "some of our citizens . . . are dissatisfied with
the southwestern boundary, and desire to possess the country to the Rio
del Norte [Rio Grande]."5
One of these citizens was Long, who in the spring of i819 began to
organize a filibustering expedition bound for Texas.' He first helped
gather a public meeting in Natchez to call for such a project. A company
of volunteers was then formed, the command of which was first offered
to Gen. John Adair of Kentucky, who declined, and then possibly to
James Wilkinson, who was in Natchez at the time. If the offer was indeed
made to Wilkinson, he declined also, for Long ultimately took the com-
mand. He had raised approximately $500,ooo, according to some reports
(undoubtedly an exaggeration), and had pledged much of his own estate
to the enterprise. The money was used in part to purchase supplies,
munitions, and arms. Meanwhile, recruits trickled into Natchitoches,
Louisiana, which served as the launch point for the expedition. By June
an advance party had gone ahead to the Sabine, taking a printing press
with them. Long left Natchez on June 17 with seventy-five men, including
W. W. Walker, his erstwhile business partner. The forces were to ren-
dezvous at a place about ten leagues (roughly thirty miles) beyond the
Sabine. In wishing them well, a writer for the St. Louis Enquirer offered
that "every friend of the western country, every man who wishes to see lib-
erty continue her march to the Pacific Ocean, must wish success to the
adventure in Texas." John H. Robinson, who in 1814 had led his own fili-
buster into Texas, also expressed his support for Long, asserting that
"our citizens have a right to migrate whithersoever they choose-and it is
beyond the power of the government to prevent them."7
5 Nashville Clarion, Mar. 16, 1819; City of Washington Gazette (date not given), quoted in
Nashville Clarion, Mar. 19, 181g; Kentucky Reporter (Lexington; dates not given), quoted in
Nashville Clarion, Apr. 6, Nov. 16, 1819; Nles'Register (Baltimore), Apr. 17, 1819.
6 Long has an entry in Johnson, et al. (eds.), Dictionary of American Biography, XI, 376. The best
treatment of Long's activities in Texas is in Warren's The Sword was Their Passport, 233-254.
Lamar's "Life of James Long," in Gulick, et al. (eds.), Lamar Papers, II, 51-134, is the lengthiest
study of Long, but it is dated and borders on hagiography.
7 Cardinal Goodwin, The Trans-Misszssppi West, 1803-1853. A Hzstory of Its Acquisztion and
Settlement (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1922), 57-58; Gulick, et al. (eds.), Lamar Papers, II, 57;326
January
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999, periodical, 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101219/m1/383/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.