[15]Natchitoches is about forty miles from the Sabine River in a direct line. The Neutral Ground, therefore, was about thirty-three miles wide. It extended southward to the mouth of the Calcasieu River. The choice of the Arroyo Hondo as a boundary was the revival of an old compromise. The French and Spanish commandants, as early as 1719, agreed upon the Arroyo Hondo as a convenient boundary between Louisiana and New Spain. This agreement was observed until 1762, when the whole of Louisiana west of the Mississippi was ceded to Spain. The Sabine River, by a state treaty (1819), was finally fixed as the boundary.
[16]Baron de Bastrop had been an officer in the army of Frederic the Great.
[17]Texas Scrap Book.
[18]Benjamin Milam was a native of Kentucky. He fought in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. In 1823 he received from the Mexican government, for services rendered in the deposition of Iturbide, one million of acres of land in Texas, which he sold to Baring & Co., London.
He also obtained from the government of Coahuila and Texas the exclusive right to run steamboats on the Colorado River. He was unable, however, to avail himself of this right.
[19]Robert Calder.
[20]General Burleson had remained in camp during the storming of the city. He entered on the 9th. (Official Report.)
[21]Horseshoe Bend.
[22]A man named Rose, who escaped by leaping from the wall.
[23]This battle, called by the Mexicans the battle of the Encinal del Perdido, began at one o’clock P.M.