Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 340 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
291
found them in a miserable hut and in a pitiful cc
dition. They were emaciated by disease and wat
and without money. Tears of joy streamed frc
their eyes when they beheld us. After a few da
rest I continued my errand to charter a boat.
had a letter of introduction to Stephen F. Aust
and Sam Williams from a merchant in Ne
Orleans to whom our ship had been consigne<
which I presented to Mr. Austin's private secr
tary, Mr. Austin and Mr. Williams being absen
From him I received a letter of introduction i
Mr. Scott, the father-in-law of Mr. Williame
From Mr. Scott I finally succeeded in chartering
small vessel for $100.00 for three trips, an
immediately returned to Galveston, landing on th
bay side opposite the camp four weeks after I ha(
left it. I found the passengers of the old ' Sabin' ii
good health and spirits. They had spent thei:
time in hunting and fishing. Those who could no
shoot were employed to drive the deer to th4
hunters. There were deer by the thousands. ]
left the next day with the first cargo of passengers,
including my wife, her parents and Caroline
von Roeder. After a stormy trip we arrived on
the evening of the same day at Mr. Scott's place,
where we were hospitably treated. The next day
we reached Harrisburg, where I succeeded in
renting a comfortable house, intending to remain
there until all the passengers had arrived from the
island. The last passengers did not arrive until
the winter of 1835, though had I hired another small
sloop from Capt. Smith in Velasco, which also
made three trips. The winter of 1836 was unusually
severe."
This, it seems, ended the eventful and lengthy
voyage from the old country to Texas, of which
only the main incidents are given, to show the difficulties
and many privations to which Texas emigrants
in those early days were subjected.
Robert Kleberg, by reason of his superior education,
was the only one among those early German
colonists who could make himself understood to
the few American pioneers who inhabited the
interior, and acted as spokesman for the rest.
Indian tribes, both savage and civil, swarmed
through the country, and it was necessary for the
colonists to explore and settle the country in communities
for self-defense. This condition of things
is apparent from the narrative, which relates-"To
the place which had been settled upon by
Louis and Albrecht v. Roeder we now repaired,
leaving the ladies and children in Harrisburg, under
the protection of one of the gentlemen We had
formed a partnership with the view of assisting each
Other to cultivate farms and build houses for each)n
head of a family in our party, and we were to work
it, in good earnest to break up land and fence it, and
tm to build houses, as it was our intention to move the
ys balance of our party from Harrisburg to our new
I settlement as soon as we could erect houses, but
in not being accustomed to manual labor, we proceeded
w very slowly. There was an Indian tribe, the
d, Kikapoos, encamped on our land about a mile from
e
our camp, who furnished us with game of all kinds,
t. which the country afforded in abundance. The
o squaws were very useful to us, as they would bunt
3. and bring in camp our oxen and horses when they
a strayed off. We rewarded them with ammunition
d and trinkets, which we had brought with us for that
e purpose.
d "We had supplied ourselves with everything necn
essary to commence a settlement in a new country.
r We had wagons, farming implements, all sorts of
t tools, household and kitchen furniture, and clothe
ing which we had brought with us from Germany.
I Early in September, 1835, we'had finished building
two log houses, one of them had even a floor and
ceiling, as we had sawed by hand the planks from
po3t-oak trees. We had also inclosed and planted a
field of ten acres in corn and cotton, and we now
moved the members of our party who had remained
at Harrisburg to our settlement, with our wagons
and teams. Such of our goods, for which we bad no
room, or no immediate use, we left at the house
which we had rented at Harrisburg. Among the
objects we left was a fine piano, belonging to my
wife, many valuable oil paintings and engravings,
music books, etc., all of which fell a prey to the
flames which consumed Harrisburg during the war,
which followed in the following spring."
Many were the privations and severe the task
which these early settlers had already undergone in
permanently settling in the adopted country, but
their trials had only begun; the furies of war
threatened to devastate the settlements of the colonies,
and Santa Anna was marching his minions
into Texas to destroy the constitutional liberty of
her people, and Texas patriots, though few in number,
bore up her flag to rescue it from thralldom.
Among them we find Robert Kleberg and his
brother-in-law and compatriots. Albert and Louis
von Roeder had participated in the sanguinary
storming of San Antonio and returned to their settlement
near San Felipe, when in the spring of
1836 occurred the massacre of Goliad and the fall
of the Alamo. Texas independence had been proclaimed,
Santa Anna was preparing his march of
conquest to the Sabine, when the young Republic,
under her noble leader, Sam Houston, was making
her last patriotic appeal to her bravest sons,in whose
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/340/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.