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Federalists Seek Support in Texas

few Caddo Indians and some half dozen Mexican Centralist soldiers, acting perhaps as observers. Casemiro, one of the Comanche chiefs, was reported to be ravaging Laredo and its vicinity with some two hundred warriors.[49]  It was reported that Lazo was forced to recognize the independence of Texas before he could remain at Béxar, which he did; and he also declared that Mexico would recognize it if the federal system was re-established.[50]

Before the arrival of the Federalist leaders at Béxar, the Texan military commander at that place had been instructed by Lamar's administration to inform Canales "that personal protection was all that he could expect from us." The Texas government, wrote Secretary of State, Abner S. Lipscomb, would not recognize him in any official character whatever; if there were an invasion it would not permit any other flag than its own on this side of the Río Grande; and in that event, if he and his dispersed followers took part against the invaders, it must be under the Texas flag, and under the orders of Texan officers.[51]

At Béxar, Carbajal contacted General Luciano Navarro and solicited his assistance in the Federalist cause, which for the next year or so came to be confined principally to the departments of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, and Coahuila. Navarro, availing himself of the opportunity to use Colonel Karnes as an emissary, passed Carbajal's "confidential communication" on to President Lamar at Houston "for whatever purposes may be suitable to the Republic." Wrote Navarro, "Karnes will be able to give you a more detailed explanation of their contents."[52]  Karnes, who commanded a regiment of volunteers on the frontier, reached Houston on August 21 with news that the Mexican states adjacent to Texas had declared themselves independent of the central government, so it was reported, but the President, declared Ashbel Smith that evening, "has not been apprised of it."[53]

Karnes' object in going to Houston was to gain permission to in-



49. Ibid.; El Ancla (Matamoros), June 12, 1840.

50. Reports of Mexicans at San Antonio. El Ancla, June 12, 1840.

51. Abner S. Lipscomb to Gen. James Hamilton, in Europe, [dated:] Galveston, Jan. 6, 1840, in Texas Congress, Journal of the House of Representatives, Fifth Congress, Appendix, pp. 281-283.

52. Luciano Navarro to Mirabeau B. Lamar, Béjar, Aug. 9, 1839, in Lamar Papers, V, 304.

53. Ashbel Smith to Col. Barnard E. Bee, City of Houston, Aug. 21, 1839, in Ashbel Smith Papers, ms.

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AFTER SAN JACINTO: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841
Joseph Milton Nance, 1963