About a week after this occurrence I saw Manuel Flores at my house; he asked me if it was a fact that we were about to take him. I told him yes, it was a fact. Manuel Flores asked what they wanted to take him for; and I replied it was understood that he (Manuel Flores) was going to raise the Indians against the Americans, and that that was the reason they were going to take him. Manuel Flores then said, that previous to that time he had no idea of raising the Indians, but that now, since they had attempted to take him, he would do every thing in his power to raise the Indians against the Americans, and that all the people would know it in less than one month and a half. Ignacio Montalo was present when Manuel Flores said this. Manuel Flores asked me if Squire McDonald had any papers to take him. I answered no; but that the squire had authority in himself to arrest him. Manuel Flores was very

mad at this time, and said, that if they attempted to arrest him he would make use of his arms. Manuel Flores then left me, and went away. In a very little time after this Manuel Flores went away; and I understood that he had gone to the Caddoes.

I have seen Manuel Flores since he returned. He asked me if it was a fact that the people were going to take him. I told him yes; because he went to raise the Indians. Manuel Flores said that they were all lies that had been told; that he had not been to raise the Indians, but that he had good papers. I believe that Manuel Flores is guilty of attempting to raise the Indians; he appeared to be very much alarmed. I have known Manuel Flores ten or twelve years; he is a very great liar, and very mischievous.

JOHN MOORE, his X mark.

Sworn and subscribed to before me, at Iort Jesup, Louisiana, this 16th day of June, 1836.

ROBERT K. McDONALD,

J. P. for the parish of Natchitoches and State of La. Witness makes his mark as he cannot write.

J. BONNELL, Lieutenant U. S. army.

No. 5.

COATES BLUFF, May 13, 1836.

SIR: You will excuse this liberty, when you are made acquainted with the motives which induce it. Having been a resident among the Caddo Indians thirteen years, and six years of that time interpreter, and enjoying the full confidence of the Caddo chiefs, I can therefore with confidence assert to you facts that have very recently come under my observation, believing it will both serve humanity and the Indians among whom I have lived.

A Mexican or Frenchman named Manuel Flor, or Flores, an emissary of the Mexican Government, has been for some time past residing among the Caddo Indians, and by promises of large sums of money attempted to embroil the Indians in the war between the Mexican Government and Texas. This I know to be the fact, as he is commissioned by the Mexican Government for the purpose of exciting the Caddoes to war against the

Texians. The Caddo chiefs have requested me to write you on the subject. The emissary, Manuel Flor, or Flores, informed them that the American Government intended to exterminate them, as an inducement for their taking part now in the war between the Mexicans and Texians. The Cherokees of Texas, they also inform me, have attempted to make them take a part with them against the Texians. Manuel Flor, or Flores, for the last ten years past, has lived on or near the Spanish lake, not more than fifteen miles from Fort Jesup; and I think likely he has a family there now. Flores is now among the Caddoes. Your obedient servant,

Major General E. P. GAINES.

LARKIN EDWARDS, Late interpreter to the Caddo agent.

Segmond De Soto, O'Riley Coalton, Jose Valentine, and Andrew Valentine, are all well acquainted with the facts as stated above.

No. 6.

CAMP SABINE, (LOUISIANA,) August 24, 1836.

GENERAL: I have the honor to report that, agreeably to instructions, I have visited four of the Caddo villages or settlements, and saw about one hundred and twenty or thirty men of the different villages, with their families. They informed me that one of the chiefs and his band were out hunting, about the Cross-timbers, or Sulphur fork; I gave them a friendly talk, which is herewith enclosed, (marked A,) as also their answer, (marked B.) They appeared very much pleased with the talk you sent them, and promised to follow your advice, and said they wished you would send oftener. They appeared to be very peaceably disposed, and it is my opinion that they never were otherwise; and if they have committed some small depredations on the inhabitants, or their property, it was occasioned by the too free use of whiskey, which appears to be in great abundance in and about their villages. The head chief was under the influence of liquor when I arrived, and I had to wait until next morning ere I could talk to them. Nearly all their countenances denote the too free use of ardent spirits; and it is my opinion they think of little else. If liquor could be kept out of their country, or they kept from drinking it, I think there would be an end to depredations on their part. They appear to be a poor, miserable people, incapable of the smallest exertion, either as it regards living, or any thing else, except liquor. The country is beautiful; and if there were springs, it would be one of the best parts of the country I have travelled through. They have to use bayou water for all purposes.

On my return, about eighteen miles from the last village, I turned to the west, from the road, and rode to the Sabine. About twenty-four miles came to a beautiful lake, about half a mile from the river; it abounds in fish and alligators. I examined the country around, and found it nearly surrounded by swamps; I found small springs in its neighborhood, of good water. I next visited a place occupied about fifteen years since by a Spaniard by the name of Jose des los Santoz Coza; it is the most beau

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tiful place for a garrison I have ever seen; and, in my opinion, one of the most healthy. It is about four or five miles from the Sabine; it is a high hill, which admits of a view of the surrounding country on every side, except that of the river, which is a small slope, timbered by large pines, and no undergrowth; in front is a small prairie of about thirty or forty acres, which is watered by a fine large spring on the south side of the hill; the water is cool, and fine tasted. I was informed by the inhabitants that the nearest house was about five miles from it, on the river Sabine, below, about fifteen miles from the main Grand Cane settlement. About fifteen miles farther on my return, I stopped at the house of a Mr. De Soto, an old inhabitant of that country, who informed me that the Red river was only three miles from his house; and that it was his opinion (as well as mine) that a road could be cut through from the river to the place above named, with ease, in about twenty-five distant. I endeavored to ascertain distances from and to several places, but was unable. The distance I travelled from this place, according to my own calculation, is about one hundred and fourteen miles.

Mr. Doyle was of great service to me. He has not only taken minutes of what was said to the Indians, and their answer, but has made a fair copy, for which he has my sincere thanks, and I hope your approbation. I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, your obedient servant,

Major General E. P. GAINES,

B. RILEY,
Major United States army.

Com'g R. W. W. department, Cump Sabine, La.

A.

FRIENDS AND BROTHERS: I have been sent to see you by your great father, General Gaines, who has been sent there by your great father at Washington, to do justice to the red as well as the white man.

He has heard that you have done wrong, and wishes you to do better. It makes his heart sore to hear of your bad conduct. He has heard that the most of you are very fond of whiskey, and sell every thing that you can to obtain it, which makes him very sorry indeed.

Would it not be better if you would sell your horses and cattle for good property, and necessary articles for your families? Should there be any one present who has sold either his horses or any of his property for the sake of obtaining whiskey, I would like to know, when he gets sober, if he does not feel as if he had done wrong. I wish to say to you all, if any person comes into your villages or settlements with whiskey, to send them away. Those white men who sell you whiskey are very bad men. They come here to take your lives; not to kill you with knives or guns, but to destroy you with whiskey. I think you would do much better without it. When a man drinks he has no sense; he is a fool; he says and does things which he is sorry for afterwards. This is the case with the white as well as the red man.

Your great chief, General Gaines, has sent me here to give you good advice, and wishes you to follow it. He wishes you, when you sell your

furs and peltries, to lay out your money to a good advantage, and not for whiskey; but purchase necessary articles to cultivate your land, and buy your wives and children clothes. How bad you must feel when you have spent all your money for liquor, to have your wives and children crying around you for something to eat, and in a state of starvation, without your being able to relieve their wants.

Follow my advice, and every one will respect you; and when you die, the Great Spirit will receive you with pleasure.

If any one does you injustice, your great father, General Gaines, wishes you to make your complaints to him; he will do justice to you, as well as the white man.

Some of the white men are complaining to your great father, General Gaines, of the bad conduct of the Caddoes. He has heard about your stealing, and doing every thing bad that comes to your notice. I hope to be able, when I return to your great father, General Gaines, to tell him you will do better, and that the reports are not true.

He has also heard that some of your nation intend joining the Texian or Mexican army. This he forbids most positively; and if you follow his advice, he will respect and like you forever.

You gain nothing by going to war. You are a small nation, in comparison with others, and if you are killed, your wives, children, and connexions, will be miserable. He wishes you always to be peaceable, and not to go to war. He will always like you, and always be with you, as well as the Great Spirit.

The Great Spirit did not send you here on this earth to kill each other, nor did he send you here to be trampled upon like a worm; but when you are imposed upon, report the case or cases, as they may be, to your great chief.

He wants to know whether or not any of your people have gone to war, and if any of the whites are on your lands, or trouble you.

I take all I say down on paper, as well as what you say, in the presence of the Great Spirit; and I will take it to our great chief, General Gaines, who sent me here to see you all, and give you good advice, which he wishes you to follow.

I hope what I have said you will attend to, and that it will remain at the hottom of your hearts. And I must again request, when the whiskeysellers come amongst you, to send them away, but not hurt them, and dissuade your men from trading with them.

I am sorry to see so few of you here. I wish you to tell all I say to the Caddoes who are not present, and all the red-skins around you.

I repeat again, you must not go to war across the Sabine, or with any of the whites on the frontier, but remain peaccable, and endeavor to be respected; and your great father says if you do not be peaceable with the whites, he will take means to make you.

Brothers: I wish the Great Spirit may watch over you, and follow the advice your great father, General Gaines, has sent you, and then you will be happy. If any person comes here to persuade you to go to war, do not listen to them, but let them know that you intend to be peaceable, agreeable to their great father's advice, General Gaines.

I would like to know of you if any people have been persuading you to go to war, and also if Manuel Flores, or other persons, have been amongst you, and trying to persuade you to go to war.

B.

The first and second chiefs being present, the first chief replied as follows:

We wish to live in peace with the whites, and do not want to go to war; we wish you to tell our great chief, General Gaines, we do not wish to go to war. We respect him, and will follow his advice, and look up to him as our father. We, and all my nation, try to work and do as well for our families as we can, and wish to be peaceable with all the "whites." We have never fought against the "whites," nor ever had any disposition to do so. We are obliged to go to the prairies to kill buffaloes occasionally to support our families.

I wish it to be made known to our great father, that the whiskey-sellers make us miserable by coming among us; by their trading among us they make us very poor.

We do not wish to fight for the Texian or Mexican armies, but be peaceable.

What the white people have told you concerning our going to war or committing any depredations whatever on the whites is false.

Some Indians visited us some time ago from Texas, and invited me to their country, but I declined going. I believe they wanted me to go to war in their country. My conscience would reproach me very much to leave my own country, where we were all raised together, to fight against people who never injured us.

All of our children have been raised in this country with the Americans, and we consider ourselves their brothers and best friends, and we like them very much.

You asked me if Manuel Flores has been amongst us persuading our nation to go to war: he has not. I met him in the prairies some time ago, and he asked me to use my influence with the nation, and persuade them to go to Texas. I told him I would not go.

We are very glad to see you, and it gives us pleasure to see you come amongst us, expecting that your advice and good talk will be a benefit to the nation.

We wish you to give us a recommendation that we can show to the people who may come among us to give us bad advice, and also an assurance to them that we are peaceable.

We must again say that we are glad you have come among us. I think it will do great good to the nation.

I wish our great chief, General Gaines, would send some one to talk to us very often, and advise us how to act.

I will endeavor to persuade the men of my nation to follow the advice you have given us. If any new whiskey-sellers come amongst us we will advise you of it; and also if any one come here to persuade us to go to

war.

The first chief of the nation's name is "Ta-Sha, or the "Wolf," the second "Saw-ne-Naut," or the "Father of children."