Anglo American
Colonization of Texas
Chapter 8
Filibusters
• Interest in Texas Grows
among Anglo Americans
– The United States won it’s
independence from Great
Britain (England) in 1783
– Americans began moving
west to settle new lands
• Some of these new settlers
were Filibusters
– An adventurer who engages
in a private rebellious
activity in a foreign country
•
Phillip Nolan
–
“Captured wild horses” in
Texas and sold them in the
U.S.
– Spain grew suspicious of
him and told him not to
return in 1800
– He ignored the warning
– In 1801 he was killed in a
battle with Spanish soldiers
near present day Waco
Filibusters
• Neutral Ground Agreement
– In 1800 France reclaimed the
Louisiana Territory from Spain
– In 1803 France sold the Louisiana
Territory to the United States
– To avoid conflicts over the new
border Spain and the US
compromised
– The Agreement created a neutral
zone between Arroyo Hondo River
and Sabine River
• Stopped border clashes between
US and Spain
• Created a shelter for outlaws
•
Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition
–
–
–
Bernardo Gutierrez was a
supporter of Father Hidalgo
Augustus Magee was an exUnited States soldier
Together they invaded Texas, in
1812, with a small army and
declared it independent of Spain
•
•
•
They captured Nacogdoches, La
Bahía, and San Antonio, but
Magee died in the fighting
The force was eventually
attacked and defeated at the
Battle of Medina by Spanish
General Joaquin de Arredondo
Nearly all where killed
Filibusters
• Adams-Onís Treaty
• Pirates
– Louis Michel Aury
• Pirate who lived on Galveston
Island
• He agreed to help the few
survivors of the Gutierrez-Magee
Expedition attack Mexico
– They were unsuccessful
– Jean Lafitte
• While Aury was away Lafitte
took over Galveston Island
• He pirated Spanish and later
American ships in the Gulf of
Mexico
• The US Navy eventually drove
Lafitte from Texas
– In 1817 Spain was angry
because the U.S. had entered
Spanish Florida while
fighting Native Americans
– In 1819 the problem was
resolved by the Adams-Onís
Treaty
• Spain gave Florida to the U.S.
• Set the eastern border of Texas
at the Sabine River and the
northern at the Red River
• U.S. gave up all claims to
Texas
Filibusters
• James Long
– Led an expedition into Texas
in 1819 to declare Texas
independent from Spain
• Long’s forces were defeated
at Nacogdoches and a second
unsuccessful attack against La
Bahía ended in Long’s capture
• Long was imprisoned in
Mexico City and shot in 1822
– Long was the last to lead a
major filibuster into Texas
• Jane Long
– When James Long was killed he
left behind a child and his
pregnant wife
– Jane survived the winter of 1821
alone
• She fought off a Karankawa
attack
• She also gave birth to a daughter
– In the spring of 1822 Jane returned
to the U.S. but she would return
– Today she is known as the
“Mother of Texas” because she
was one of the first pioneer
women in Texas History
• Moses Austin
Empresarios
– In the late 1700’s Moses Austin
moved his family from the U.S. to
George Morgan’s Colony in
Spanish Missouri
• He started a lead mine and
became very wealthy
– In 1803 Missouri became part of
the U.S. through the Louisiana
Purchase
– In 1819 a financial panic hit the
U.S. and Moses Austin lost his
fortune
– Moses Austin presented his idea to Texas
Governor Antonio Martínez
• He wanted to bring Anglo settlers to
Spanish Texas
• Governor Martínez said NO!
– Spain did not trust Austin because of the
recent Anglo Filibusters
– Austin prepared to return to the U.S. when
he met and shared his idea with Baron de
Bastrop who was an influential citizen of
San Antonio
• Baron de Bastrop arranged another
meeting with Martínez
– This time Martínez agreed to send
Austin’s request to a higher authority
• Austin remembered the success he
experienced living in Spanish
– Expecting approval from Spain, Moses
Territory and decided to try
Austin began the long journey home
starting over in Texas
• On the way Moses Austin was robbed and
– Moses Austin traveled to San
developed pneumonia
Antonio, Texas in 1820
• He made it home but was in bad shape
• Approval
Empresarios
– When Moses Austin arrived
home he learned that Spain had
given him permission to settle
300 Anglo families in Texas
• Moses Austin would never
bring settlers to Texas
– The pneumonia he
developed was killing him
• Moses Austin’s dying wish
was for his son Stephen F
Austin to carry out his dream
• Stephen F Austin
– Was 27 years old and living in
Arkansas, where he was pursuing a
legal career
– When he learned of his fathers
dying wish he traveled to Texas to
meet with Governor Martínez
– Governor Martínez legally transferred
Moses Austin’s Land Grant to Stephen F
Austin in 1821
– Next Stephen had to choose the best
location for his colony
• Austin chose a location between the Lavaca
and San Jacinto Rivers
–
–
The area had good soil and lots of rain
Stephen Austin’s first settlement on the
Brazos River would be named San Felipe de
Austin
– SFA then traveled to New Orleans to begin
recruiting colonists
• Austin required all colonists to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pledge their loyalty to Spain
Become Catholic
Have good character
Be able to provide for themselves
Be willing to accept hard times
Empresarios
• The Old Three Hundred
– The name given to the original
300 families to move to Austin’s
Colony
• Jane Long
• Jared Groce
• Robert M Williamson
– “Three-Legged Willie
• Cost
• Early Problems
United States
– Austin purchased a boat (The Lively) to
transport colonist to Texas
• The Lively brought the settlers to the
Brazos instead of the Colorado River
– Some frustrated colonists returned to
the U.S.
– Drought
– Attacks by the Karankawas
Texas
– The cost of land in the U.S. was • Despite these problems Austin’s
$1.25 per acre
Colony prospered
– Austin offered land a 12.5¢ per • In 1822 Austin faced his biggest
acre
challenge yet
2
– Austin learned
that Mexico had gained
3
• Land
it’s independence from Spain 1
– Farmers receive 177 acres
– Ranchers receive 4,428 acres
– Austin’s land grant had been issued by
Spain not Mexico
Empresarios
• Mexico City
– Stephen F Austin made the
1,000 mile journey to Mexico City
in hopes of securing his land grant
• Austin would remain in Mexico
City for an entire year
– While there he learned to
speak Spanish and gained the
trust of Mexican officials
• Empresario Austin
• “The Father of Texas”
– The nickname given to Stephen F
Austin because he was the first and most
successful empresario
• Other Empresarios
– Green DeWitt
• 2nd most important Empresario
• Founded town of Gonzales in 1825
– Martin de Leon
– Stephen F Austin was made an
• Settled Mexican families in Texas
empresario (land agent) by the new
• Founded town of Victoria in 1829
Mexican government
• G.T.T.
– Austin received additional land
– Became a common sight in on doors
– Austin’s colonist’s where
across the U.S. in the 1820’s
exempted from paying taxes
• It stood for Gone To Texas
– Colonists were given homestead
– By 1830 the Texas population had
rights
grown to 20,000
Texas Population
20,000
18,000
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Population
1800
1830