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On the 2d of March, 1836, the delegates of the people of Texas in general convention at Washington on the Brazos declared their independence of Mexico. Their Declaration of Independence may be read in the appendix to Kennedy's History of Texas, vol. ii., and elsewhere. On the same day General Samuel Houston, the Texan commander-in-chief, issued a proclamation announcing that war was waging on the frontier, and Bexar besieged by 2,000 of the enemy, while the garrison was only 150 strong. "The citizens of Texas must rally to the aid of our army, or it will perish.. Independence is declared: it must be maintained. Immediate action, united with valor, alone can achieve the great work." But the immediate action was too late. Already Santa Anna and his forces were closing in around the fated little band in the Alamo at San Antonio; and between midnight and dawn on the morning of March 6 came the terrible assault described in the leaflet, from which not oue of the 180 Texans escaped alive, although before the last man died 500 of their assailants had fallen. No fiercer or more heroic fight was ever seen in America or in the world. The Texan force was under the command of William Barrett Travis, whose last letter, to the president of the convention at Washington, dated March 3, is given in Kennedy, vol. ii., p. 184. Its last words were: "The bearer of this will give your honorable body a statement more in detail, should he escape through the enemies' lines. God and Texas! Victory or Death!" Extracts from Almonte's Journal, on the Mexican side, are also given in Kennedy. Certain details of the massacre were supplied by Mrs. Dickenson, the wife of one of the mas sacred men, who along with a negro servant was spared.

The account of the battle in Yoakum's History of Texas should be consulted. In the large new History of Texas by Wooten a special chapter on the "Siege and Fall of the Alamo" is contributed by Seth Shepard, and this is of great value. Judge Shepard pronounces Captain Potter's account, printed in the present leaflet, "the most accurate account that has yet appeared." Captain Potter was, at the time of the siege, a resident of MataHe knew many of the leading Mexican officers personally, and his critical investigations were of such a nature that his paper has the value of an original document. It was first printed in the Magazine of American History, January, 1878, and is reprinted here by the permission of the publishers, Messrs. A. S. Barnes & Co.

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On the capitol grounds at Austin, Tex., stands a monument to the heroes of the Alamo, erected in 1891, with the inscription: "Thermopyle had her messenger of defeat: the Alamo had none."

PUBLISHED BY

THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass.

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No. 131.

The Discovery of the

Columbia River.

EDWARD G. PORTER.*

I. THE FIRST VOYAGE OF THE COLUMBIA.

Few ships, if any, in our merchant marine, since the organization of the Repub ic, have acquired such distinction as the "Columbia."

By two noteworthy achievements a hundred years ago she attracted the attention of the commercial world, and rendered a service to the Unit d States unparalleled in our history. She was the first American vessel to carry the stars and stripes around the globe; and, by her discovery of "the great river of the West," to which her name was given, she furnished us with the title to our possession of that magnificent domain, which to-day is represented by the flourishing young States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

The famous ship was well known and much talked about at the time; but her records have mostly disappeared, and there is very little knowledge at present concerning her.

The committee for the centennial observance, at Astoria, of the "Columbia's" exploit having applied to the writer for information upon the subject, in which they are naturally so much interested, he gladly responds by giving an outline of the facts, gathered mainly from private sources and illustrated by original drawings made at the time on board the ship and hitherto not known to the public.

This paper was first printed in the New England Magazine, June, 1892, the Oregon centennial year, under the title of " The Ship Columbia and the Discovery of Oregon," illustrated by original drawings made at the time on board the ship. Many of the facts were gathered by Mr. Porter from private sources, giving his account, the most careful and valuable which exists, a high original value.- Editor.

The publication in 1784 of Captain Cook's journal of his third voyage awakened a wide-spread interest in the possibility of an important trade on the northwest coast. În Boston there were a few gentlemen who took up the matter seriously, and determined to embark in the enterprise on their own account. The leading spirit among them was Joseph Barrell, a merchant of distinction, whose financial ability, cultivated tastes, and wide acquaintance with affairs gave him a position of acknowledged influence in business and social circles.

Associated with him in close companionship was Charles Bulfinch, a recent graduate of Harvard, who had just returned from pursuing special studies in Europe. His father, Dr. Thomas Bulfinch, lived on Bowdoin Square, and often entertained at his house the friends who were inclined to favor the new project. They read together Cook's report of an abundant supply of valuable furs offered by the natives in exchange for beads, knives, and other trifles. These sea-otter skins, he said were sold by the Russians to the Chinese at from £16 to £20 each. "Here is a rich harvest," said Mr. Barrell, "to be reaped by those who go in first."

Accordingly, in the year 1787, they made all the necessary arrangements for fitting out an expedition. The other partners were Samuel Brown, a prosperous merchant; John Derby, a shipmaster of Salem; Captain Crowell Hatch, a resident of Cambridge; and John Marden Pintard, of the well-known New York house of Lewis Pintard & Co.

These six gentlemen subscribed over $50,000, dividing the stock into fourteen shares, and purchased the ship “Columbia," or, as it was after this often called, the "Columbia Rediviva." She was built in 1773 by James Briggs at Hobart's Landing, on the once busy little stream known as North River, the natural boundary between Scituate and Marshfield. One who sees it to-day peacefully meandering through quiet meadows and around fertile slopes would hardly believe that over a thousand sea-going vessels have been built upon its banks.

The "Columbia" was a full-rigged ship, 83 feet long, and measured 212 tons. She had two decks, a figure-head, and a square stern, and was mounted with ten guns. A consort was provided for her in the "Washington" or "Lady Washington" as she was afterwards called, a sloop of 90 tons, designed especially to collect furs by cruising among the

islands and inlets of the coast in the expected trade with the Indians. These vessels seem ridiculously small to us of the present day, but they were stanchly built and manned by skilful navigators.

As master of the "Columbia," the owners selected Captain John Kendrick, an experienced officer of about forty-five years of age, who had done considerable privateering in the Revolution, and had since been in charge of several vessels in the merchant service. His home was at Wareham, where he had built a substantial house and reared a family of six children. The venerable homestead may still be seen, shaded by trees which the captain planted. For the command of the sloop a man was chosen who had been already in the service of two of the owners, Messrs. Brown and Hatch, as master of their ship "Pacific" in the South Carolina trade. This was Captain Robert Gray, an able seaman, who had also been an officer in the Revolutionary navy, and who was a personal friend of Captain Kendrick. Gray was a native of Tiverton, R.I., and a descendant of one of the early settlers at Plymouth. After his marriage, in 1794, his home was in Boston, on Salem Street, where he had a family of five children. His great-grandson, Mr. Clifford Gray Twombly, of Newton, has inherited one of the silver cups inscribed with the initials "R. G." which the captain carried with him around the world. His sea-chest is also in good condition, and is now presented by his grand-daughter, Miss Mary E. Bancroft, of Boston, to the Oregon Pioneer and Historical Society for preservation among its relics.

Sea Letters were issued by the federal and state governments for the use of the expedition, and a medal was struck to commemorate its departure. Hundreds of these medals — in bronze and pewter were put on board for distribution among the people whom the voyagers might meet, together with a much larger number of the new cents and half-cents which the State of Massachusetts had coined that year. Several of these medals and coins have since been found on the track of the vessels, among Indians, Spaniards, and Hawaiians. A few in silver and bronze are preserved in the families of some of the owners.

Neither pains nor expense were spared to give these vessels a complete outfit. The cargo consisted chiefly of the necessary stores and a good supply of hardware-useful tools and uten

sils

to be exchanged for furs on the coast.

There were also numerous trinkets to please the fancy of the natives, such as buttons, toys, beads, and necklaces, jew's harps, combs, earrings, looking-glas-es, snuff, and snuff boxes.

The writer has full lists of the officers and crew. Kendrick's first mate was Simeon Woodruff, who had been one of Cook's officers in his last voyage to the Pacific. The second mate was Joseph Ingraham, who was destined, later on, to be a conspicuous figure in the trade which he helped to inaugurate. The third officer was Robert Haswell, the son of a lieutenant in the British navy, who for some years had lived at Nantasket (now Hull).

Haswell was an accomplished young officer and kept a careful record of the expedition, from which much of our most accurate information is derived. He was also a clever artist and made some of the sketches of the vessels, which are here reproduced for the first time. Next to him was John B. Cordis, of Charlestown. Richard S. Howe was the clerk; Dr. Roberts, the surgeon; and J. Nutting, the astronomer or schoolmaster, as he was sometimes called. Mr. Treat shipped as furrier, and Davis Coolidge as first mate on the sloop.

On the 30th of September, 1787, the two vessels started on their long voyage. Many friends accompanied them down the harbor, and bade them farewell.

The owners had given each commander minute instructions as to the route and the manner of conducting their business. They were to avoid the Spaniards, if possible, and always treat the Indians with respect, giving them a fair compensation .in trade. The skins, when collected, were to be taken to Canton and exchanged for teas, which were to form the bulk of the cargo back to Boston.

They had a good run to the Cape Verde Islands, where they remained nearly two months for some unexplained cause. The delay occasioned much discontent among the officers, and Woodruff and Roberts left the ship. At the Falkland Islands there was no wood to be had, but plenty of geese and ducks, snipe and plover. They lingered here too long, and Kendrick was inclined to wait for another season before attempting the passage around Cape Horn, but he was induced to proceed; and on the 28th of February, 1788, they resumed their voyage, Haswell having been transferred to the sloop as second mate. They soon ran into heavy seas; and for nearly a month they

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