in escaping from their guards. They lost several of their number, but one hundred and ninety-three men remained of the ill-fated expedition, and they started on their return to Texas. Unfortunately their commander, Captain Cameron, led them into the mountains instead of continuing on the road to Monclova, and worn out by hunger and thirst they finally surrendered to their pursuers. One hundred and seventy-six captives heavily fettered were taken back to the hacienda del Salado, where one-tenth of their number were condemned to be put to death. "No time was lost," says Bancroft. "The same evening one hundred and fifty-nine white beans and seventeen black ones were placed in an earthen crock, and the prisoners made to draw one consecutively, a black bean signifying death. Cameron was made to draw first, but escaped the fate it was hoped would fall upon him. Three-fourths of the beans were drawn before the urn yielded up the last fatal lot; then the irons were struck off the victims, and at sunset they were led forth to die. Seated upon a log near the eastern wall, they were blindfolded and then fired upon until they ceased to breathe."

This massacre provokes our indignation, which is increased by the brutal execution a month later of Captain Cameron. The prisoners were sent to Perote, where already were Colonel Fisher and General Thomas Green. The latter succeeded in escaping with a few men, and the remainder of the captives were released in September, 1844, by Santa Anna. The Mier expedition was even more unfortunate than that of Sante Fé.

James W. Robinson, who had been lieutenant-governor of Texas in 1835, had been captured at San Antonio and was a prisoner at Perote in 1843. He persuaded the Mexican authorities that the Texans could be induced to unite again with Mexico, and he was appointed a commissioner for that purpose. His plan failed, as he probably expected, but he succeeded in obtaining his freedom.

The Texans undertook in 1843 another expedition which ended in failure. It was that of Colonel Jacob Snively, who

endeavored with one hundred and eighty men to intercept some Mexican traders, on their return from Missouri to Sante Fé. In May, 1843, Snively camped on the right bank of the Arkansas river, twenty-five miles below the crossing of the Sante Fé trail. Unfortunately for him, the Mexican traders were accompanied by about two hundred United States dragoons, commanded by Captain Philip S. Cook, who claimed that the Texans were on United States territory and broke up Snively's party. He took all their guns, except ten, which he left for them to protect themselves against the Indians. The government of the United States afterward paid for the guns taken by Cook.

An armistice was agreed upon in 1844, through the mediation of England, by commissioners from Texas and from Mexico, but President Houston would not ratify it, as Texas was mentioned as being a part of Mexico. Santa Anna, therefore, announced that Mexico had renewed hostilities. Nothing was done, however, on either side, and the war came practically to an end. Texas had conquered securely its independence from Mexico and was soon to form part of the American Union.

CHAPTER XXIII

CREATION OF THE LONE STAR STATE-THE CIVIL

WAR

AFTER Texas won its independence of Mexico, it was a foregone conclusion that, with so large an American population, the republic would be finally annexed to the United States; but the fierce agitation over the extension of slavery and the desire to avoid war with Mexico delayed action on the part of the American government for a number of years. The great majority of the Texans desired to join their fortunes with those of the Americans, and this desire grew as time passed. In their advocacy of annexation they were greatly aided by the purpose of the Southern Democrats to extend the range of slavery, by the threats of Mexico against the United States, and finally by the intervention of Great Britain in the affairs of the Texan republic. The attitude of the Southern Democrats was that Texas had been unwisely sacrificed in the treaty of 1819 with Spain, and that it should be re-annexed to the United States in order to maintain the balance between the slave-holding and the free States, which balance was necessary for the preservation of the Union. Many of the Whig abolitionists of the North, on the other hand, maintained that the annexation of the vast slave-holding territory of Texas should be regarded as equivalent to the dissolution of the Union.

In the meantime, Mexico was carrying on a guerrilla war with Texas, and in 1842 the latter country appealed to the United States, Great Britain, and France, inviting them to intervene jointly to put a stop to Mexican aggressions. Great