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to East Texas after his visit to the Mexican military headquarters at Matamoros, Texan authorities kept a ranging company of about twenty men[66] from Bastrop under Captain Micah (Mike) Andrews out on scouting duty to the west. Six weeks later, about mid-May, Manuel Flores, who had been active in stirring up the Indians in East Texas in 1836, and Juan Bautista Soto, accompanied by thirteen Mexicans and eleven Indians,[67] carrying arms to the conspirators in Texas, sought to pass along the frontier to contact the "Northern Indians." The second in command of this party was ensign Juan de la Garza.[68] Flores' official capacity was "commissioner" from the commander at Matamoros to the discontented Indian and Mexican elements in Texas. He had apparently been at Matamoros late in February 1839, to confer with the military commander there.[69] A passport was issued for his passage to Texas on March 9th,[70] but he did not proceed on his expedition until the latter part of April. On May 14 Flores' party crossed the road between Seguin and San Antonio, but made the mistake of committing several murders, thereby attracting attention to their movements. A party of surveyors, who were out working between Béxar and Seguin on the morning of the 14th, hearing the report of firearms near their camp, returned to it to find the camp abandoned. They took up the trail that they found, and 66. The Muster Roll for Captain Micah Andrews' Rangers for March 10-June 10, 1839, shows twenty-eight names. It is not likely that all of these would be on scout at the same time. See Muster Roll, Captain Micah Andrews' Rangers, March 10-June 10, 1839, in this work, Appendix [Ed: p. 551]. 67. Passport issued by Valentín Canalizo, Brigadier General of the Mexican Army and Chief of the Northern Division, to Don Manuel Flores et al., Matamoros, March 9, 1839, no. 7, copy, Army Papers (Republic), ms. endorsed: "translation by Mr. [S. P.] Andrews from an original found on Manuel Flores. N. Amoy C[hief] C[lerk]"; Passport issued by Vicente Flores to Manuel Flores, a Commissioner with the friendly Indians, Matamoros, Feb. 2, 1839, to carry the necessary arms for his defence, as well as all the Indians of the friendly tribes then in Matamoros, no. 8, ibid. 68. Valentín Canalizo to Ensign Juan de la Garza, Matamoros, April 19, 1839, copy, ibid., ms.; see also United States Congress, Senate Executive Documents, 32nd Cong., 2d sess., vol. III, no. 14, pp. 34-35. 69. Valentín Canalizo to Manuel Flores, Headquarters, Matamoros, Feb. 27, 1839, United States Congress, Senate Executive Documents, 32nd Cong., 2d sess., vol. III, no. 14, pp. 31-32; Valentín Canalizo to Vicente Córdova, Headquarters, Matamoros, Feb. 27, 1839, in ibid., pp. 33-34. 70. Passport issued to Don Manuel Flores and Don Juan Bautista Soto by Valentín Canalizo, Headquarters, Matamoros, March 9, 1839, in ibid., p. 36. |