No Man's Land: A History of El Camino Real

by Louis Raphael Nardini

The Gaines Military Road, 1827-1828

The Military Road or The Gaines Military Road, sometimes referred to as General Jackson’s road, connected the two most remote western outposts of the United States’ army, Fort Jesup and Fort Towsin. This last was located at the confluence of the Kiamechi River of Oklahoma and the Red River. The military road was nearly three hundred miles long.

In 1831 Fort Jesup came under the command of Brevet Brigadier General Leavenworth, with six companies of the Seventh Infantry. In 1832 the garrison was increased to two hundred ninety-six men and officers, and Colonel James B. Many again assumed command.

It was during the command of Gen. Leavenworth that some of the settlers or squatters that had moved into the area, some within a half-mile distance of the Fort, made themselves objectionable by selling whiskey to the personnel at Fort Jesup. In order that the sale of whiskey near the fort might be stopped the following order was issued:

Order No. 69

To all whom it may concern:

Having received instructions from General Leavenworth to take possession for the United States, for the purpose of supplying fuel for the garrison, of all public land within three miles of the flagstaff of Fort Jesup; all persons having a “donation or pre-emption” claim are hereby ordered to vacate the said premises immediately, or at the earliest possible date, otherwise they will be dealt with according to the law.

Signed: Francis Lee Acting Assistant Quartermaster U. S. Army

Fort Jesup, Louisiana, 7th November, 1831.

XVI
TEXAS AND INDEPENDENCE
1831-1836

James Bowie, David Crockett and Sam Houston were entertained at Fort Jesup by Colonel Many while en-route to cast their lot with the Texans. To greet these men in Nacogdoches were Thomas J. Busk, Frost Thorn, Adolphus Sterne, Charles S. Taylor, Henry Raguet, Doctor Irion, John Drust and William C. Logan, all of whom were to have a hand in winning the Texas independence.

The municipality of San Augustine was organized in 1833, and was the first town in Texas to be laid out on the American plan of forty-eight blocks, consisting of three hundred fifty-six feet with streets forty feet wide, and two lots in the center for the Courthouse.

The history of San Augustine dates back to the very earliest Texas history, with its location astraddle the El Camino Real, previously the Buffalo Trail and then part of the Caddo Indian trail system. Cabeza de Vaca passed this spot and later a scouting party of the Hernando de Soto expedition. The Ais (Ayist) Indians were there to greet the Domingo Teran Del Rios Expedition and then the Domingo Ramone Expedition. The Ais Indians of San Augustine were the first Texas Indians to establish trade agreements with the French, when in 1708 the Frenchman, Bejoux, began trading with them for horses.

San Augustine became a most important port of entry, second only to Galveston. It may very well be called the Cradle of Texas Independence for it is said that any man entering San Augustine, be he French, Spanish or American, became a Texan. Ninety percent of the men who engaged in the strife for Texas independence had walked the streets of San Augustine.

Fort St. Jean Baptiste Des Natchitoches.

Restoration of Colonial Natchitoches, Inc.
BUTLER & DOBSON, AIA
ARCHITECTS NATCHITOCHES

This interpretation of how Fort St. Jean Baptiste looked was drawn by the architects, Butler and Dobson of Natchitoches, for the Committee for the Restoration of Colonial Natchitoches, Inc.

It is my sincere hope that this restoration will be executed by the year 1964 when Natchitoches will in that year celebrate her 250th anniversary.

To the Frenchmen of that period, the title, Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches, meant that the Fort or Post was named for St. John The Baptist and that its location was among the Natchitoches Indians.

It was this Fort which St. Denis defended against the Natchez Indians in 1731.

Old Kitchen of Fort Jesup—only remaining building of the original fort

The progress of the struggle for Texas independence was watched with keenest interest throughout the United States, but the interest south of the Mason-Dixon line was greater as most of the Texas settlers came from the Southern states.

Louis Cass, the Secretary of War, on January 23, 1835, sent instructions to Major General Edmund P. Gaines, ordering him to move to a position nearer the western frontier of Louisiana, and to assume personal command of the troops near the Mexican (Texas) border. Blockhouses were erected to protect the supplies of the personnel of the camp. General Gaines took personal command of the troops there.

The Red River by the year 1835 had changed its course and taken the Bayou Rigolet de Bon Dieux as its main channel, leaving Natchitoches high and dry except during the spring and winter months. The river port of Grand Ecore then became the most important shipping port for the southwestern area of Louisiana and eastern Texas. The Texas trail now by-passed Natchitoches some four miles to the west, connecting it with Grand Ecore.

General Gaines wrote of the decaying condition of the buildings at Fort Jesup, and acquired a twenty-five thousand dollar appropriation for their repair through the help of Thomas S. Jesup, Quartermaster General of the United States, who had been given the honor of having Fort Jesup named after him.

General Gaines possessed a war-like nature and he nourished the idea of annexing Texas in one blaze of glory for himself. Further, he knew that President Andrew Jackson wanted Texas as a part of the United States.

Gaines, in a letter to Cass, stated that B. F. Palmer and William Palmer, living near Fort Jesup, had informed him that a Spaniard had arrived at the house of one of their neighbors, saying he had been commissioned by Santa Anna to go among the Caddos and other upper Red River tribes of Indians and stir them up into attacking the upper settlements of Texas. Gaines had sent Lieutenant Bonnel with Eusebia Cartinez, to gain the good will of the Caddos without success. But they were successful among the Indians further to the west of the Caddos. They learned that Manuel Flores, who had established at Spanish-Town between Fort Jesup and Natchitoches, won alliances with the Caddos.

Enclosed in the letter were communications from Henry Raguet, Chairman of the Committee of Vigilance at Nacogdoches and A. Hotchkiss, Chairman of a similar committee at San Augustine, both declaring that Indians had moved into the area along El Camino Real and requesting an investigation.

Cass was informed that the Alamo had fallen and many of the troops, including Fannin, were killed near Goliad on the Madina River and that Sam Houston was in full retreat toward the Louisiana border.

Gaines now received orders to use his own judgment about the affairs on the frontier, and that if he had to go into the Texas territory to insure the peace of the frontier, he could go no further than Nacogdoches.

Gaines was still at Sabine Blockhouse when word came that on April 18, 1836, Sam Houston had defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto Bay. Thus Gaines’ chance for glory was gone. However, he must be credited with a timely move, when a few weeks before he had ordered troops to Nacogdoches, thus spoiling the counterpunch attempted by Santa Anna to stir up the Indians. This, without a doubt, quelled the prospective uprising of the Indians.