East Texas Historical Journal Volume 11 Issue 1 Article 1 3-1973 ETHJ Vol-11 No-1 Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ethj Part of the United States History Commons Tell us how this article helped you. Recommended Citation (1973) "ETHJ Vol-11 No-1," East Texas Historical Journal: Vol. 11 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ethj/vol11/iss1/1 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the History at SFA ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in East Texas Historical Journal by an authorized editor of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. OLl'l\<E Xl Inn NUMBER I EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFIOERS Ralph Goodwin, President .. Commerce Robert S. Maxwell, First Vice-President Nacogdoches Maury Darst, Second Vice·Presidenl Galveston M.rs. Tommie Jan Lowery. Secretary Lufkin D.DUXlTOBS Term Expires F. I. Tucker. .. Nacogdoches 1973 Lee Lawrence ... .. Tyler 1973 Mrs. W. S. Terry .. .JeltE'rson ............ 1974 Ralph A. Wooster . Beaumont .1974 John Payne, Jr. Huntsville 1974 Mrs. E. H. Lasseter ... Henderson .. .1975 Ralph Steen Nacogdoches 1975 Maury Darst ... .... Galveston 1975 EDITORIAL BOARD Allan Ashcralt Bryan Robert Glover . Tyler Ralph Goodwin Commerce Frank Jackson Commerce Archie P. McDonald. Edltor-in..chle[ Nacogdoches Mrs. Charles Martin Midland James L. Nichols ..... Nacoldoches John Payne, Jr... Huntsville Ralph A. Woosler .. Beaumont MEMBEBSIUP PATRONS contribute to the work of the Association $100 or more, payable II desired over a period of five years. SUSTAINING MEMBERS contribute to the work of the Association $50 or more, payable if desired over a period of five years. REGULAR MEMBER. pay .,6 dUM! annually. STUDENT MEMBERS I,ay 54 due. onnually_ A student enrolled in high school or college Is eligible for membershill. P. O. Box 6223. NACOGDOCHF:S. TF:XAS 75961. SFA Stallon $3.00 per copy to nonmem\)('rs. $2.00 per copy to m(>mher.... Vol. Xl, No. 1 Enst Te"tfts Itistol'lcul A..soclatlon EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNAL \ Volume XI Spring, 1973 No. I CONTENTS THE ELUSIVE EAST TEXAS BORDER by Thomas F. Ruffin ......... Page 3 SLAVEHOLDING IN HARRISON COUNTY. 1850-1860: A STATISTICAL PROFILE by Randolph Campbell ......... Page 18 BRIDE OF THE FOREST By Ava Bush Page 28 CONFEDERATE DIPLOMACY AND THE TEXAS-MEXICAN BORDER, 1861-1865 By Thomas Schoonover ..... Page 33 MARGIE E. NEAL: FIRST WOMAN SENATOR IN TEXAS by Walter L. Harris . Page 40 SAM RAYBURN AND THE RULES COMMITTEE CHANGE OF 1961 by James Smallwood Page 51 EAST TEXAS COLLOQUY by Bobby H. Johnson Page 57 BOOK REVIEWS Page 60 NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS P.O. BOX 6223 SFA STATION 75961 Archie P. McDonald, Editor BOOK REVIEWS 1) Monroe & McIntosh, The Papers of Jefferson Davis: Volume I 1808-1840. by Allan C. Ashcraft 2) Weaver, Correspondence of James K. Polk: Volume I, 1817-1832. by Haskell Monroe. 3) Scarborough, The Diary of Edmund Ruffin: Volume I, Toward Independence, October, 1856 - April, 18(iJ, by Ralph A. Wooster. 4) Eighmy, Churches in Cultural Captivity: A History of the Social Attitudes of Southern Baptists. by Jerry M. Self. 5) Fontana, Look to the Mountain Top: Contemporary Authors Reveal Our Trne Indian. Heritage, by Charles R. McClure. 6) Current & Scully, Pueblo Architecture of the Southwest, by Wilb"ert Love. 7) Glubok, The Art of the Old West, by Mrs. E. H. Lasseter. 8) Glubok, The Art of the Southwest Indians, by Mrs. E. H. Lasseter. 9) Reese & Kennamer, Texas, Land of Contrast: Its History and Geography, by Carolyn Parker. 10) Pickrell, Pioneer Women In Texas. by Stanley E. Siegel. 11) Day, Black Beans & Goose Quills: Literature of the Texan Mjer Expedition, by Marilyn McAdams Sibley. 12) Curtis, John Hemphill: First Chief Justice of the State of Texas, by Cooper K. Ragan. 13) Miller. The Public Lands of Texa'. 1519-1970. by Lind" E. Pack. 14) Davidson, Still Rebels, StjlJ Yankees, and Other Essays. by Philip D. Jordan. 15) Bearss, A Louisiana Confederate: Diary of Felix Pierre Poche, by Henry C. Dethloff. 16) Kerby, Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863-1865, by Douglas G. Tomplait. 17) Wood, Texas Coastal Bend: People and Places, by Nancy Head Bowen. 18) Gibson, Old Angelo. by David McComb. 19) Haltom, The History of Nacogdoches County, Texas. by Carolyn Koch. 20) Isaac, A History of the Charters of Beaumont, Texas, 1838·1947, by Ann Elizabeth Heslop. 21) Fitzhugh, Irish Flats: A Ghost of San Antonio's Past, by Ava Bush. 22) Smith, Cattle Tral1s to Trenches: The Story of a Cowboy, by Frank H. Smyrl. 23) Jackson, Wake Up Dead Man: Afro-American Worksongs from Texas Prisons, by Robert V. Haynes. 24) Roller, Perspectives in the History of Science and Technology, by Sylvia W, McGrath. 25) Travis, Madison Cooper, by Staley Hitchcock. 26) Kinch & Procter, Texas Under A Cloud: Story of the Texas Stock Fraud Scandal. by James M. Smallwood. EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNAL 3 THE ELUSIVE EAST TEXAS BORDER by Thomas F. Ruffin During its short life. the Republic of Texas was plagued with boundary problems with Mexico and also with the United States. One of the most troublesome spots was the north-south line that ran - or to be more accurate, supposedly ran - between the Red and Sabine Rivers in .East Texas. In 1838, the Texas Secretary of State complained: The country through which the line will pass is now rapidly settling by an active and entcrprizing population, whose condition is rendered unpleasant and embarassing (sic) by the uncertainty which exists in regard to the true boundary. While such a state of things continues this Government cannot enforce its revenue laws, neither car it make suitable preparations for the defence of that frontier•.• Confusion prevailed. Settlers, and even entire communities, had no way of determining whether they were in the United States or in the Republic of Texas. Red River County, Texas was caught in the turmoil, exercising jurisdiction over territory claimed by Miller County, Arkansas and Caddo Parish, Loui'liana. Only a joint survey of the boundary line by the two nations would resolve the many problems, but such was not forthcoming llntil 1841. In the meantime, the United States, on its own, surveyed the frontier extensively, claiming the area as American soil. But this only servcd to complicate matters. Many of those living on the surveyed lands continued to owe their allegiance to Texas, and one resident became a member of the Texas Congress. Tempers flared occasionallY, but only one military encounter developed. In November, 1838, the Texas Militia"under Major General Thomas J. Rusk, crossed the border into Caddo Parish while pursuing a band of Indians. Briefly "OCCUpying" Shreveport, the Texans almost precipitated a break in relations between the two nations.2 'When the 1841 joint survey finally settled the boundary dispute, the Republic of Texas was the clear winner. Caddo Parish, Louisiana gave up over 450 square miles while Arkansas lost an entire county. The boundary difficulties were not a recent development. Going back to the 1700's there had never been a clearly defmed line separating Spanish Texas and French Louisiana. Later, when Texas and Louisiana were both under Spanish control, no boundary was necessary. When Louisiana reacquired Louisiana, it was to "the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it••.',3 The line was just as vague in 1803, when the United States purchased Louisiana.4 In 1804, the Louisiana Purchase was divided into two regions. That Palt north of the thirty-third parallel (which approximates the present Louisiana-Arkansas state line) became the Louisiana District; that part to the south, the Orleans Territory. The latter It was ''to extend west to the western boundary of said cession•..• " a ~escription which Thomas F. Ruffin is from Shreveport, Louidana and is president of the North Lounana Histomol Association. 4 EAST TEXAS HISTORICAL JOURNAL provided little clarification.5 Hostilities appeared imminent along the border in 1806, but were averted when General James B. Wilkinson, the ranking officer in the American Army, and Lieutenant Colonel Simon De Herrera, in the service of the , Spanish king, agreed on a "neutral zone" between the Rio (or Arroyo) Hondo - a short, non-descript stream near Natchitoches - and the Sabine River.6 The boundary question remained far from solution when the Orleans Territory became the State of Louisiana in 1812. Nevertheless, the new state proceeded to describe its western boundary as running along the Middle of the Sabine River <Ito the thirty-second degree of north latitude - thence due north ... :'7 Although two Congressional Acts - the Enabling Act8 and the Act of Adrnission9 - acknowledged these same western limits, the United States continued to observe the neutral zone. It was not until 1819 that Spain and the United States signed a treaty establishing the boundary. The line was to run along the Western bank of the Sabine River "to the 32d degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo, of Natchitoches, or Red River... :'10 As this new line was to run due north from the point where the thirty-second parallel hit the western bank rather than where it hit the middle of the Sabine River, it was relocated a few feet west of the boundary line originally claimed by the state of Louisiana. Moving an unmarked line, however, had little effect. Although the two nations had reached an agreement relative to this stretch of international boundary, a joint Spanish-American survey would be required to mark the actual line.