The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 191
456 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
work was carried on with the somewhat vacillating support
of the civil authorities.
The present volume is concerned more than previous ones
with international relations. France, in 1763, ceded western
Louisiana to Spain and thereby made the Mississippi River
the boundary between Spanish and British (later United States)
territory. Chapter One therefore describes the efforts of the
Spanish administration to adjust its frontier policies to the
new territorial situation prior to the restoration of Louisiana
to France in 1800. Following the purchase of Louisiana by
the United States in 1803 the international boundary again
shifted westward to the indefinite borders of Texas, and Spanish
officials in Texas and their superiors in Mexico were concerned
with the defense of the frontier against encroachment by the
Anglo-Americans. One of their earlier plans was to strengthen
relations between San Antonio, Texas, and Santa Fe, New
Mexico, and this led to a surprising number of exploring jour-
neys between the two settlements; but the explorations were
barren of political or economic results, and the geographical
information accumulated by them was buried and forgotten.
These activities are described in Chapter V and are traced on
a useful folding map at the end of the volume. The more spec-
tacular contacts with Anglo-Americans and their government
are epitomized in Nolan's activities and the Burr-Wilkinson
intrigues which led to the semi-official Neutral Ground under-
standing in 1806. As to Nolan, Professor Castafieda does not
solve the mysterious object of his last expedition into Texas-
if, indeed, there was a mysterious object-but he promises an
independent monograph on Nolan later. The narrative of events
leading to the Neutral Ground agreement adds little to previous
studies of the subject.
The principal plan for combating Anglo-American encroach-
ment was counter-colonization. Sometimes local and superior
officers were agreed on the plan; sometimes they were at cross
purposes. The chief result was the settlement of Salcedo on
the Trinity River in present Houston County, near Midway,
and the establishment of San Marcos de Neve, near present
San Marcos. Neither could have interposed any real opposition
to Anglo-American infiltration even if the officials had been
always in agreement. Professor Castafieda frequently speaks
of a "flood of immigrants" and of a "wholesale immigration191
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944, periodical, 1944; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146054/m1/209/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.