Headquarters, 8th Military Department Corpus Christi, Texas
ORDER No 2.
Headquarters, 8th Military Department
Galveston, Texas, Nov. 7, 1848
The following points now occupied by the companies of volunteer service, will be occupied as follows by the four companies of the 2nd Dragoons now in the Department:
- One company Conner’s Station, on Richland Creek, east of the Brasos.
- One company at Rose’ Station, on the Boscha river, west of the Brazos.
- One company at McCulloch’s Station, six miles east of the Colorado, and about fifty miles above Austin.
- One company on the Medina River, at a point ten or fifteen miles above the Castroville.
1. The Headquarters of the Regiment will be established at either of the above points to be selected by the commanding officer. Lt. Col. Fauntleroy will proceed with as little delay as possible with the four companies, from which point they will be detached to their different stations.
II Capt. Eastman, with his company 1st Infantry, will proceed to, and take post at the German town of Fredericksburg, on the Pierdenals, a branch of the Colorado, and about eighty miles north-east of San Antonio.
The two companies, 1st Infantry, Eubanks and Scotts, now en route from San Antonio, will proceed to Austin and there await further orders.
III. Every effort will be made by the different coming officers to cultivate a friendly understanding with the different tribes of Indians near their respective posts. Great discretion and vigilance must be used in printing any depreciation by either the inhabitants or Indians upon each other.
The Indians will be required to remain north and west of the line connecting the different posts above established— except on friendly visits to the post for the purpose of trade.
IV. Capt. Blake will muster out of service the different companies of volunteers without delay, going if necessary to the different posts.
By order of Maj. Gen., Twiggs:
W.T.H. BROOKS, A. A. A. Gen.
After the execution of the above order No. 2, which we publish, and without the employment of other troops, the Indian frontier of our State will not have adequate protection. A rough glance along the line will best illustrate this, beginning on the right, as indicated in the order, the establishment of a military post at the point now occupied by Capt. Conner will leave open and exposed to the incursions of the Kickapoos, Wisutas, and other tribes, all settlements from the station of Coffee’s Bend, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles on Red River. These settlements are continuous, but in their infancy, and call for the fostering hand of the general government, and until within the last two years have been harassed, attacked, and exhausted by Indian depredations. For some tamest, they have enjoyed security, and this beautiful and valuable portion of Texas is beginning to develop its resources. It will be lamentable if a mistaken policy or a parsimonious hand should check our cut off the prosperity which now exists with this industrious and energetic population.
The execution of the order with vigilance and activity, will cover the settlements from Conner’s to McCulloch’s station, near the east bank of the Colorado. A company of infantry to be stationed at Fredericksburg, can give a nominal protection only, expect to the inhabitants in the its immediate vicinity. The flourishing settlement on the Llano, containing from three hundred to five hundred souls, and at this time protected by a company of mounted volunteers, commanded by Capt. Highsmith, will be thrown back upon its own resources, and left at an isolated sport to struggle with the thousand apprehensions, to say nothin of their real dangers. This settlement is forty-five miles above Fredericksburg. A white scope of the country containing space settlements on each, the Colorado, Onion Creek, Rice Bloanco, San Marcus, Guadalupe, Cibolo, Coletto, San Antonio, etc., is, by this arrangement, left open to marauding parties. It is a stock raising country and the presents inducements to predatory bands: recent tragic scenes, fresh in the memory of all, have been acted here. The position of the country here spoken of needs guarding. We would next invoke aid for the very exposed inhabitants of Puehe Vandenburg and Johns villages, which would be without any practical substantial advantage to the drawn from a small command to be station twenty miles above Castroville. We will at present only advert to the trade with Mexico by the Presidio and Lorado routes, remaking that it will require the notice and the assistance of military forces.
Our fellow citizens of San Patricio and Corpus Christi have high claims to the notice and help of the Government. At both places, they are going armed for purposes of self-defense. And after having been bruised and scathed by the brunt of two wars, are now equally the prey of Indians, Mexicans, and renegade whites. It is high time they were redeemed from this condition, and a good company of mounted men would, emphatically, give them “aid and comfort.” Even now Mustangers, Indians, and other nameless parties pay them unceremonious visits. The Oso, Agua Dulce, Santa Gertrudis, San Fernando, etc.: invite the settler, if lawless men were driven from their lurking places. We respectfully, and in the kindest spirit, ask the attention of the military men, in charge of the state frontier, to these and other collateral points.
The above comments are from the Western Texan, published in San Antonio. The proximity of the editor to many of the points alluded to hold renders him good authority. But with regard to Corpus Christi, we must inform him, that although we are entitled to a company of rangers or dragoons, we are not the sort of people to put up with the “unceremonious visits” of which we speak.