History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 26

HISTORY OF TEXAS.

busy settlement, which he named Campeachy.
October 9, 1819, this point was declared a
port of entry by the republic of Texas, which
had lately been proclaimed as such by the
leaders of another expedition into the country,
and Lafitte was made governor of the
place. This curious man soon afterward
hanged a refugee from justice, in satisfaction
of the United States authorities, and soon
after that again indorsed another man-one
of his own party-for committing the crime
of seizing property from a subject of our
Government; and for the latter the Government
sent an expedition against him, to
break up the Galveston establishment, fearless
of war with the Mexican government.
Aware of the determination of the Government
at Washington, Lafitte destroyed his
fortifications, paid off his men, and sailed
away forever from the shores of Texas. He
ever maintained that he made war only on
Spanish vessels. According to one account,
he gave a sketch of himself in the following
terms:
At eighteen years of age he was a merchant
at Santo Domingo. Having become rich, he
wound up his affairs, bought a ship and
freighted her with a valuable cargo, including
a large amount of specie. He set sail for
Europe, with his wife, was captured when a
week out at sea, by a Spanish man-of-war,
and robbed of everything he possessed. The
Spanish captain had the inhumanity to set
him and the crew ashore on a barren sand
key, with provisions for a few days only.
They were taken off by an American schooner
and landed at New Orleans, where his wife
e I a few days afterward from fever, conacted
from hardship and exposure. an despe
ation he joined some daring fell ws, and
they declared eternal vengeance against Spain.
-For fifteen years," said he, " I have carried

on a war against Spain. So long as I live I
am at war against Spain, but with DO "other
nation. 1 am at peace with all the world except
Spain. Although they call me a pirate,
I am not guilty of attacking any vessel of the
English or French."
The above sounds very much like a piece
of fiction, which any pirate might conjure up
to justify his nefarious career. Lafitte is described
as a stout, rather gentlemanly personage,
about five feet and ten inches in height,
dressed very simply in a foraging cap and
blue frock of a most villainous fit; his complexion,
like that of most creoles, olive; his
countenance full, mild and rather impressive;
his eyes small and black, which flashed in
animated conversation like those of an ugly
customer. His demeanor was courteous. He
was educated and gifted with considerable
talent for conversation. He continued to
cruise on the Spanish main for several years.
Occasionally he visited Sisal and the island
of Margarita, near the mouth of the Orinoco,
and finally died at Dilam, in Yucatan, and
was buried there.
POLITICAL CHANGES CONTINUED.
After thle fall of Napoleon, two refugees
from France, Generals Lallemand and Rigault,
concluded to try Texas as a place of
residence, although they received no reply
to their request for a permission to do so from
the Spanish court. In March, 1818, Lallemand,
with 120 settlers, sailed from New
Orleans, landed at Galveston bay and selected
a spot on the Trinity river about twelve-miles
above its mouth, and began to fortify the
post. These colonists issued a proclamation
that they had settled there to remain, earning
their livelihood by the peaceable pursuits
of agriculture and the chase, and would de.

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