Philip Nolan
In 1800 Nacogdoches was a loyal Spanish town, as was shown by the part it took in the suppression of Philip Nolan’s expedition. Nolan had been reared by General James Wilkinson, commander of the United States forces at Natchez, Mississippi. In furtherance of the schemes of Wilkinson and Aaron Burr (then Vice President of the United States), Nolan invaded Texas with a small band of adventurers, on the pretext of horse-trading. The population of the town were largely behind Lieutenant M. Musquiz and his Garrison, when they were ordered to pursue and arrest the little band. Musquiz and his men were accompanied by William Barr, of the trading firm of Barr and Davenport, who acted as interpreter between the Spanish and Americans. Lieutenant Bernardo D’Ortolan, a Frenchman by birth, was left in charge of the garrison here while Musquiz was on his expedition; during this time he conveyed titles to land to such settlers as applied for them.
Nolan was overtaken on the banks of the Blanco river, at the block house he had built, and in the ensuing engagement he was killed and the remainder of the expedition were captured and brought back to Nacogdoches. They were placed in the Old Stone Fort, from whence they were taken prisoners to Mexico; the sole survivor of the band, so far as history records, was Peter Ellis Bean, one of the most colorful and resourceful men Texas has seen.
Correspondence found in the possession of Nolan enabled Musquiz to discover various ramifications of the plot of Nolan, Burr and Wilkinson among the inhabitants in Nacogdoches. One of the local leaders was a Spanish woman, Gertrudis Leal, and her husband, Antonio Leal, who were tried for treason by Musquiz. The priest in charge of Mission Guadalupe, Padre Bernadino Vallejo, was also one of the conspirators, but the robes of St. Francis saved him from punishment for his part in the plot. Samuel Davenport was also found to be in some manner connected with the affair, but he was shrewd enough to escape being tried, as was also a man by the name of Cook, who then lived at Nacogdoches.
In the beginning of the new century the purchase of Louisiana by the United States from the French, in consequence of the Napoleonic upheaval in Europe, brought about a great change in the political and military affairs of Nacogdoches. There was great jealousy between the two countries, and a territorial dispute to be settled before the old status of somnolent peace could prevail. The Americans built Fort Jesup, west of Red River, near Natchitoches, and in 1806, Governor Cordero, with 1500 Spanish troops, advanced to Nacogdoches to meet the American threat across the Sabine. As a result of the negotiations of Governor Cordero and General Wilkinson, there was formed The Neutral Ground, a strip of territory lying between the Sabine and the Rio Hondo, over which neither government exercised dominion, and which consequently became the rendezvous of the lawless, until the settlement of the present boundary between Texas and Louisiana.