In Harm's Way

by Drew McGunn

  “Since the birth of our republic, we have been beholden to foreign creditors. Wars are ruinous, and our war with Mexico cost us the better part of eight million dollars. I’m pleased to say that within the next five years, we’ll repay nearly all our foreign debt, leaving most of our public debt held by the people of Texas.

  “How, you may ask, have we done so well at repaying our debts? At the end of our war with Mexico, we produced around twenty million dollars in goods, services, and produce. Six years later our population has doubled, and in eighteen forty-nine, we are projected to generate more than sixty million dollars. This year, more than one thousand manufacturers are doing business in Texas. They employ more than eight thousand of our fellow citizens. They produced more than fifteen million dollars in goods.

  “Our farmers have cultivated almost three million acres of farmland across eighty thousand farms at a total value of nearly one hundred million dollars. Nearly four hundred thousand Texians live on these farms.”

  Again, a standing ovation greeted Will’s numbers. “This year we imported ten million dollars’ worth of goods from the United States and Europe and exported more than five million. Our tariffs collected nearly two million dollars from this activity. Between property taxes and loan repayments to the Texas Land Bank, we received more than five million dollars. Also this year, we received one and a half million dollars from the United States as part of our treaty ceding the northern parts of California to them. In all, our coffers took in more than eight million dollars.

  “Against that, we spent around a million dollars on interest, five million on our defense, and the remainder on education, infrastructure, and diplomatic missions. As a matter of fact, we have diplomatic missions in the United States, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Prussia, Bavaria, Hannover, Russia, Spain, and the Papal States.

  “As we establish ourselves as a nation among nations, I hear talk from the diplomats who come calling that they would open up even more to us if we addressed the issue of the South’s peculiar institution. Although it may not seem so to some assembled here, Texas is not of the South; we are a people apart, neither northern nor southern nor entirely European.”

  Will glanced at the four members of Congress elected from farms and towns of the Cherokee and other civilized tribes. “Sometimes that means we bring part of our heritage with us, sometimes it means we leave it behind. When the people of Texas elected me to the office I now hold, I was open about my views on slavery as well as the direction the Republic should take. Now is the time to show the rest of the world that Texas is able to shuck off the vestiges of a system that devalues all of our labor, a system that has more in common with feudal Europe of old than the modern world we inhabit today.

  “As we put to rest the eighteen forties and welcome the new decade in a few weeks, it is time to put to rest slavery within our borders. Before Congress recesses for Christmas, I will offer a bill to Congress called the Free Birth bill, that every child born in Texas, without exception, after the first of January, eighteen fifty-two will be born free. Also, it will allow slaves the right to buy out their freedom or to have it bought on their behalf.”

  The hall erupted into pandemonium as most of the Republicans stood and applauded. Many Democrats stood and walked out. Will waited until the noise subsided before he wrapped up his speech. He couldn’t help worrying about the trouble the Democrats could create. In his own history, just the threat of loss of political power had caused the Southern Democrats to split the United States in the leadup to the Civil War. He prayed they wouldn’t try the same thing now in Texas.

  ***

  21 March 1851

  “Furthermore, by letting slavery die we poke a stick in Mexico’s eye, as they continue to practice peonage, which is hardly any better than slavery, even though they sit there in Mexico City and pat themselves on the back that the negro is in chains north of the Rio Grande while he is free in Mexico. By voting for this bill, we show Mexico we are more enlightened than they.”

  Will felt a hand on his shoulder and hear Juan Seguin’s voice, “Count on Francisco Ruiz to stir the pot. He hates Mexico with all the fervor of a convert.”

  Will dipped his head, agreeing. “Have we been able to peel any votes away from the Democrats?”

  Seguin collapsed in the chair next to his. “One from Harrisburg. The Neches Faction, as they’ve taken to calling themselves, are holding fast.”

  Will pursed his lips, the Neches faction represented most of the Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives. They took their name from the river running through the heart of Southern opposition to the Free Birth bill.

  He tuned back into Ruiz’s speech, “Texas should become a beacon of hope for both Mexico and the United States, showing them both how a nation can grow out of its worst excesses. That is why I urge my fellow Congressmen to vote for the Free Birth bill.”

  Will watched the next speaker to approach the dais. Thomas Rusk had commanded the militia in the late Mexican War. He had left that role after the war and been elected to Congress. A South Carolinian by birth, he was one of the Democratic stalwarts in the House.

  He drawled, “To listen to my colleague from San Antonio, you’d think Texas was on the brink of destruction. I was reading a bedtime story to my youngest son, about a hen convinced the sky was about to fall just because an acorn happened to fall on her head. My Republican friends sound much like that hapless chicken. To hear folks talk, you’d think slavery was some diabolical effort to hold some folks down. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Slavery has been with us since the time of Abraham and is ordained by the creator. It is part of our natural order. What would negros do if left to their own devices? They are ignorant of the outside world and unable to care for themselves without the benevolence of the white race. We have a duty to care for them and guide them to work fitting for their abilities. The best social structure for this is slavery.”

  Will felt his jaw drop. While he’d heard such arguments before, it still amazed him men like Rusk believed it. Rusk continued, “Freeing the negro from his natural state makes no more sense than convincing yourself the sky is falling because of a single acorn. What order would President Travis want if he succeeds in freeing the lowly slave from the labor that gives him purpose? Does he see white women laying with negros? God forbid.

  “No, my friends, let us nip this foreign foolishness in the bud before it takes root. Rather than letting the good institution of slavery die, I say let the silly infatuations of abolitionists die. Join me in voting against the president’s bill.”

  Will was glad the short speech was over. As another Democrat approached the front of the hall, he motioned to Seguin, and they left.

  Later, after the bill had been debated, it passed the house by a vote of sixty-two to thirty-eight. Then it moved to the Senate.

  Several weeks later, Will sat in the Senate’s gallery, which looked much like the one in the house, separated from the Senators’ desks by a red velvet rope. Southern Democrats had spoken for two weeks, and the Senate stayed in session for the entire time. It was only after one of their number defected that the Senate was adjourned. The next day, Republicans arrived early and locked the doors. Because they had a quorum, they could legally conduct Senate business without the Democrats. They refused to allow Democrats back into the chamber until they agreed to a vote on the bill.

  Will listened to the roll call vote of the senators as they voted on his bill. With a lone defector from the Democrats, the bill passed twenty-five votes to fifteen. As the bill was read aloud, tears spilled down Will’s face. While thirty-thousand men, women, and children remained enslaved in Texas, no more would follow after the end of the year. He brushed away the tears. There was still a long way to go, but the first steps had been taken. He stood and shook hands with several Republican Senators. Tomorrow, he would sign the bill. For now, it was time to celebrate.

  ***

  The officer lifted the binoculars to his eyes
and stared across the river. A sentry stood next to a massive stone pier which anchored the railroad bridge to that side of the river. The pier rose high above the water to the bridge deck, where iron rails and wooden ties connected two countries. As the officer watched, another person on horseback rode up to the guard.

  From his place on the ferry, the officer could only imagine the conversation on the other side of the river. As the small craft cut through the water, the officer clutched his horse’s reins. He chanced a look behind, and his two traveling companions were whispering. He ignored them. Their excited words were nothing he hadn’t already gone over in his own mind.

  While it seemed an eternity, the ferry ride only took a few minutes before the officer led his own horse from the boat onto the river bank. The sentry remained beside the pier, leaning on his rifle, staring at him. The man on horseback was an officer, wearing the butternut brown of the Texian army. His shoulder boards revealed he was a colonel.

  The mounted officer leaned down and offered his hand, “General, I’m happier than a tick on a dog to see you. Colonel Gotch Hardeman of the Neches department at your service.”

  The officer looked Colonel Hardeman over and liked the Texian’s enthusiasm. “How much land does the provisional government control?”

  “Everything east of the Neches River for a couple of hundred miles. Are your men on their way?”

  As if to answer the question, a faint blast from a locomotive echoed across the river. “Of course.”

  A rumbling trailed the engine’s shriek, followed by an almost imperceptible vibration below the officer’s feet. He looked at his pocket watch. Fancy that, on time for once, the gray-jacketed officer thought. He was glad the train’s arrival didn’t contradict his confidence. Black smoke curled into the clear sky and what started as a slight tremor turned into a violent shaking as a locomotive thundered onto the bridge overhead. He could feel the ground vibrate beneath his feet as the train rolled across the Sabine into Texas. From every window, gray-clad soldiers hung out of the passenger cars waving at him as they sped by. A flag stuck out of one window, flying a single white star on a blue field.

  Allowing a faint smile to work its way onto his face, the officer snapped off a salute to the men on the train as they receded down the tracks toward Beaumont.

  “Nice flag y’all got there,” Hardeman said.

  “Borrowed from the old West Florida Republic. The lone star seemed appropriate, don’t you think?”

  Hardeman nodded. “It’s a short ride into town, won’t you and your companions come with me? Officers of the provisional government are meeting there. We’ve been waiting for your arrival before reclaiming territory held by that abolitionist, Travis, and his supporters.”

  The officer swung into his saddle and joined Hardeman as they wended their way from the riverbank to the road. They passed by a farm. He saw a woman and her children working in the field. When he commented on it, Hardeman said, “We’re mobilizing our militia. Once fully organized we’ll have between eight and ten battalions.”

  They had traveled less than a mile when the officer noticed a horseman racing toward them from the west. They drew up and waited for the rider. When he reached them, he skidded to a stop, throwing up a cloud of dust, and shouted, “Colonel, the telegraph line has been cut to the west. We can’t get or send any messages from anything west of Liberty County.”

  Hardeman swore before turning to the officer, “General Beauregard, it has started.”

  The Southern Cross Convention: A Short Story

  The people of the Republic of Texas, in Convention assembled, on the 13th day of August, A.D., 1851, declare the frequent violations of the Constitution of the Republic of Texas by the Travis administration and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the people of Texas, fully justify the declaration of the new provisional government of the people of the Republic of Texas. The people of the Republic of Texas, understanding their rights must be secured by the union of Texas to the United States, authorize a commission to entreat with members of the United States Government and delegations of certain states to facilitate the union between Texas and her sister states.

  ***

  Early September 1851

  His leg twinged as he hurried down the gangplank. Moving fast always hurt his game leg, but the other passengers behind him forced Jason Lamont to hustle along. Once on the dock’s wide wooden planking, he leaned on his cane and looked behind him. More than a dozen tall-masted ships were either docked or rode at anchor in the deep-water harbor. Mobile was the largest port in the Gulf of Mexico after New Orleans.

  He watched slaves transferring cotton bales from the dock onto a ship. No doubt bound for Liverpool or New York, he thought. He turned away from the bustle and left the dock. Twenty thousand people called Mobile home, and it seemed to the planter from South Carolina that they were all streaming one way or another in the streets.

  Lamont made his way along the harborside to a small coastal schooner, moored alongside one of the docks. The stars and stripes hung aft of the ship lazily. Several men were already aboard.

  “Mr. Lamont, I was afraid you’d not be able to travel in the midst of the harvest season.”

  Lamont glanced up the walkway at the man addressing him. The goateed man mopped at his forehead as he waited to Lamont to step onto the ship’s deck. “Mr. Rhett, nothing short of the very survival of our institutions would drag me away from my fields during harvest season.”

  He leaned on his cane, as he adjusted to the rocking motion of the small, double-masted boat. “The news out of Texas is such news. I’m gratified to see such an ardent supporter of Southern rights onboard.”

  Rhett colored at the compliment. “I feel like you, that it is my duty to attend this convention. If anything can be done to aid our fellow countrymen, then we must be about it.”

  A deckhand removed the wooden planking between the schooner and the dock and a voice called out, “Weigh anchor!”

  Inch by inch, the boat drifted away from the dock until the crew raised the sails. As the coastal schooner slid across the waters of the bay, he said, “How reliable is the news from Texas? A provisional government with the right views almost sounds too good to be true.”

  Rhett mopped his brow as he gripped the railing. “The provisional government from Texas has sent representatives. We’ll be able to ascertain whether they are a going concern when they speak.”

  “I’d love nothing better than to see William Travis deposed. His presidency in Texas is a dagger to the heart of our economic interests.”

  Rhett chuckled, “I’m sure that cane you carry has nothing to do with the animus you feel toward the Texian president.”

  Lamont’s face turned red. Rumors had trickled out of the South Carolinian capital in the aftermath of Travis’ attack on his plantation. Even though he had buried the evidence tying him to the kidnapping of Travis’ son, word had seeped out that his injury was tied to Travis’ rescue. A lesser man might have quaked at the scandal, but Lamont weathered the curious stares in the years following Travis’ attack, and life had continued.

  “I wouldn’t know,” he replied, “What did General Travis do to you for your newspaper to brand him an enemy of the South?”

  Rhett tipped his head, acknowledging Lamont’s retort. “An abolitionist winning the presidency of a slaveholding republic was enough for me to direct my pen against William Travis.”

  Lamont smirked at the newspaper editor. “Seems to me that’s enough for any of us.”

  ***

  The next day

  Lamont felt the irony at eating in the hotel’s restaurant called the Texas as he scooped up a forkful of eggs. The large circular table was crowded with other delegates, also eating. He barely tasted the eggs as he strained to listen to the delegate from Louisiana, on the opposite side of the table.

  James De Bow used a napkin to clean his eyeglasses as he said, “Containment, gentlemen. That’s the risk posed by the government in Au
stin. If President Travis is allowed to put down the provisional government of Texas and continue to push a policy of abolition, we’ll be contained and cut off from the west.”

  Lamont set the fork down and leaned forward. De Bow continued, “Despite the Cass administration in Washington being sympathetic to keeping harmony between South and North, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have sent abolitionists to fill their states’ Senate seats. As a matter of fact, the bonds of union that have held our southern states to their northern brethren are coming undone and finding common ground is becoming harder with each passing year.”

  A man sitting next to De Bow said, “But Henry Clay and Daniel Webster have always kept their radicals reined in. Surely our union is safe.”

  De Bow used a piece of bacon as a pointer. “Not so. Calhoun is more than a year in the grave and Clay and Webster are not far behind. The men rising to prominence in the north resent the horse trading their elders have done to keep the delicate balance between our regions. Northern congressmen have reintroduced a bill to admit Wisconsin as the fifteenth free state. Twice before we’ve defeated it in the Senate. But for how much longer? More than a quarter of a million people live there already. Denying Wisconsin statehood is a last-ditch effort on our part to maintain the status quo in the Senate.”

  He ate the piece of bacon before continuing, “If Travis can defeat the provisional government in Beaumont, the South is cut off. Apart from buying Cuba from Spain, there’s no place to grow. With each passing year, territories north of the Missouri Compromise line will petition for statehood, and we’ll be drowned by free states, even in the Senate.

  “When that happens, they’ll begin to pry slave states away from us. First, it will be Delaware, and then either Kentucky or Maryland. Before we know it, there’ll only be seven or eight slave states left. When that happens, the free states will force through an amendment to the constitution, outlawing slavery. When that happens, our economy and our way of life will die.”