Welsh Journals

INSURRECTIONS IN TEXAS AND WALES: THE CAREERS OF JOHN REES A Welshman in Texas: John Rees Goes to War BY a decree of the General Congress of Mexico on 3 October 1835, the federal constitution of 1824 was annulled and the states of the union were reduced to departments of the central government.1 Skirmishes between the so-called 'Anglo-American' settlers in Texas and the troops of Mexican President Antonio L6pez de Santa Anna had occurred in late September and early October, and news of the action of the General Congress confirmed the settlers in their determination to resist a régime which they considered repressive in intent. The initiative was taken by the several Committees of Safety and Vigilance which had been set up in the larger Texan settlements. On 6 October the committees in San Augustine and Nacogdoches, near the frontier of the United States, appointed Sam Houston as commander-in-chief of the armed forces in that area, and resolved 'that said Houston be required to issue procla- mations, and call for recruits'. Two days later Houston issued his first proclamation. 'The time has arrived', he declared, when the revolutions in the interior of Mexico have resulted in the creation of a Dictator, and Texas is compelled to assume an attitude defensive of the rights and the lives and property of her citizens Volunteers are invited to our standard. Liberal bounties of land will be granted to all who will join our ranks with a good rifle, and one hundred rounds of ammunition.2 The committees sent Adolphus Sterne of Nacogdoches as their agent to New Orleans. At a meeting held in the town square on 13 October, Sterne made known the need for soldiers in Texas, and promised rifles to the first fifty volunteers.3 Two companies were raised which became known as the New Orleans Greys. The Second Company of the Greys was commanded by Captain Robert C. Morris, a Louisianan. The volunteers-or, while still on U.S. soil, the 'emigrants'-were for the most part inducted into „ J W. Kennedy, Texas: the Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas (2 vols. London, 1841), II, 111-12. A. W. Williams and E. C. Barker (eds.), The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863 (8 vols., Austin, 1938-43), I, 304-5: Department Orders, Nacogdoches, 8 October 1835; J. H. Brown, History of Texas, from 1685 to 1892 (2 vols., St. Louis, 1892-93), I, 363-64. H. Yoakum, History of Texas from its First Settlement in 1685 to its Annexation to the United States in 1846 (2 vols., New York, 1856), II, 22-23. In H. Ehrenberg, Texas und seine Revolution (Leipzig, 1843), p. 7, the date of the meeting is given as 11 October.