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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 3320140, member: 57463&quot;]Although Republic of Texas “red backs” are well-known to collectors, the pay warrants for the Texian navy and marines are truly scarce. I bought two and donated them to the Brigadier General John C. L. Scribner Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry. Of course, I made scans for myself. I also began assembling images of other notes in this series. Heritage Auctions has the best library of online sales catalogs listing many of these. I found a few others, as well. Of course, I also got books from the UT Austin library about the Texian Navy; and I visited university’s Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. I found online resources from the Texas State Historical Association and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. From those repositories, I began building a spreadsheet to correlate the names from the backs of the pay warrants to their places in the history of the Texian Navy.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]880239[/ATTACH]</p><p>“Remember the Alamo!” encapsulates the story of Texas independence. The easy narrative is that the 185 defenders bought time for the government to form an army with which to defend itself. In fact, Texas was created, secured, and maintained by its navy. Therein lies a bitter irony. Sam Houston disliked the Navy because it spoiled his plans for annexation to the United States. Houston wanted to plead for federal Washington’s protection but the Navy kept scoring wins against Mexico.</p><p><br /></p><p>From the outset of the war for independence, the land victory at San Jacinto (April 21, 1836) was made possible by the Texas flotilla which deprived Gen. Antonio López Santa Anna of supplies. On March 3, 1836, the <i>Liberty </i>captured the <i>Pelicano</i>. Her cargo was manifested from an American firm, J. W. Zacherie of New Orleans. But inside the barrels of flour and other trade goods were concealed military supplies. The <i>Liberty </i>later seized another American ship, the <i>Durango</i>, which was also carrying military stores under a false manifest. Deprived of materiel and food, the Mexican army was forced to forage, ultimately allowing the Texians to advance on an unprotected staging area. There, at San Jacinto, they captured Gen. Santa Anna.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]880238[/ATTACH]</p><p>As the same time, Mexico was torn by its own on-going constitutional crisis of federalism versus centralism. Yucatán won its independence from Spain in 1823 and joined the Mexican federation as a state. But Santa Anna (“the Napoleon of the West”) wanted a centralized government. In 1841, Yucatán declared its independence from Mexico. The Texian navy was only too happy to help out. The tens of thousands of silver pesos that supported the Navy while it was away from Texas came from rebel governments at Yucatán and Campeche. In addition, those engagements forced the attentions of the Mexican army and navy away from Texas.</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, President Sam Houston could not succeed himself and the next chief executive was Mirabeau Lamar. He supported the Navy. But Texas was broke. Her first paper money was immediately discounted by 50% on the streets of New Orleans. By 1841, as the legislature authorized ever more expenditures, the Texian dollar was down to 16-2/3 cents, when it was accepted at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>On his own authority, Mirabeau Lamar then authorized the issue of over $100,000 in emergency warrants, mere promises. All dated April 23, 1841, the notes read<b>: “The last Naval Appropriation being inadequate to satisfy the claims of the Officers, Sailors and Marines of the Texian Navy, the holder of this Certificate or his Assignee, will be entitled to FIFTY DOLLARS upon its presentation at the Treasury out of the first Appropriation made by Congress to meet said claims.” </b>Notes were printed three to a sheet, one fifty and two twenty-fives. They were immediately passed out to the men at Galveston. Some were turned in at Austin where they apparently were honored and cancelled. When Sam Houston was re-elected on December 21, 1841, he repudiated the debt.</p><p><br /></p><p>As artifacts the warrants document a history that is somewhat different from the official narratives. Pres. Lamar told Pres. Houston that he could not retrieve the notes because they had all been given out. But we know of uncut sheets that were cancelled without being redeemed. I believe that the notes shed some light on the mutiny aboard the <i>San Antonio </i>when it was docked in New Orleans on February 11, 1842. My research continues ahead of a more formal publication.</p><p><br /></p><p>(As a closing comment, Sam Houston is not highly regarded among all Texans. The main thoroughfare in the state capital is Lamar Boulevard. The road from the north into town is named for David Burnet, Lamar’s vice president. Houston Street is a half-mile long residential secondary between Burnet and Lamar.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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