Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 15 of 894

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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

almost impossible to form a true conception of the
extreme desolateness of her situation.
In the midst of a region little known by whites,
the only human beings she could expect to see were
the savage Carancahua Indians, who might be
tempted to return to their old haunts on the island,
now that Lafitte had deserted the place, or other
Indians who might approach from the Trinity.
Whenever they came near enough to cause her to
dread an attack, she had presence of mind to fire
off the cannon, and give other indications that the
fort was occupied by a formidable force. There
were times when, not daring to go out by day, Kian
would visit the beach at night, in order to get
oysters, which were often their only article of
food. Great was the rejoicing when, during that
severe winter of 1820-21, which converted the bay
into a sheet of ice, Kian found numbers of benumbed
or frozen fish beneath the icy surface, and,
with Mrs. Long's assistance, a hole was cut, and a
good supply obtained and packed in the brine of
mackerel barrels. The cold was at this time so intense
that the ice was strong enough to bear the
weight of a bear which calmly pursued its way
across the bay, unmolested save by the barking of
Mrs. Long's dog, '" Galveston."

At length the period of lonely waiting drew to
a close. One day there came a Mexican from
San Antonio, sent by Gen. Palacios, bearing
a message; but how different were the tidings
from those for which the devoted wife had fondly
hoped!
The tragic manner of Gen. Long's death in
the city of Mexico is well known to readers of
Texas history, but none can ever know the shock
which his young wife experienced at this rude
awakening from her long dream of a happy reunion.
Some weeks later a second messenger came, provided
with mules to convey her and her little family,
consisting of two girls (an infant having been born
during her sojourn at Bolivar) and the faithful servant,
to. San Antonio. Here she was treated with
marked distinction by the Mexican government, as
the widow of a patriot and a hero.
Her long life of widowhood, intimately bound up
with the history of Texas, came to a close, at the
age of eighty-two, on the 30th of December, 1880,
at Richmond, Texas, where her son-in-law, Judge
Sullivan, and granddaughter still reside. Her
Spartan qualities became the legacy of Texians, for
historians have concurred in bestowing upon her
the worthy title, " The Mother of Texas."

--The
Cherokee Indians and Their Twelve Associate Bands Fights
with the Wacos and Tehuacanos-1820
to 1829.

A little before 1820, dissatisfied portions of the
great Cherokee tribe of Indians, who had, from the
earliest knowledge we have of them, occupied
a large, romantic and fertile district of country,
now embraced in East Tennessee, Western North
Carolina and the upper portions of South Carolina,
Georgia and Alabama, began emigrating west of
the Mississippi. Before the close of that year a
portion of them reached and halted temporarily on
Red river, in the northeast corner of Texas. The
larger portion located in the valley of the Arkansas,
between Little Rock and Fort Smith, and there
with annually increasing numbers, remained a
number of years, until the main body yet remaining
in the loved land of their fathers, under treaty
stipulations with the United States, began their
final removal to the magnificent territory now belonging
to them; a migration occupying a number
of years, and not completed until 1837. In that
time those along the Arkansas joined them. Those
coming down to Red river also received accessions,
for a number of years, from the different
migrating bodies, including small colonies from
twelve other partially civilized tribes.
Very soon, perhaps before the close of 1820, and
certainly in 1821, they explored the country south
of them and began locating in East Texas, in what,
from that time till their expulsion in 1839, was
known as "the Cherokee country," now embracing
the county of Cherokee and adjoining territory,
where they and their twelve associate bands, gradually
established homes, building cabins, opening
farms and raising domestic animals. Some joined
them as late as 1830 and '31. In 1822 when