314

Edward Bailey.

Letter by a Texan shipping merchant hoping to avoid "Mexican cruisers" shortly after the Battle of Gonzales.

Velasco, TX, 19 November 1835
Autograph Letter Signed as "E Bailey" to Amaziah E. Baker of San Felipe de Austin, TX. One page, 10 x 7¾ inches, with address panel on verso without postal markings but marked "By Mr. Cochrane"; mailing folds, seal tear in margin, minor dampstaining.

  • Notes: This letter was written six weeks after the Battle of Gonzales, the first battle in the fight for Texan independence. Edward Bailey, a dry goods merchant from Washington-on-the-Brazos, here strategizes with a mercantile partner to get a shipment and the payment through the Gulf to New Orleans, with the Mexican Navy patrolling the coast:

    "I got my money all exchanged for a draft on New Orleans, for if we should be taken by any of the Mexican cruisers, the money would be all lost. I have therefore broken open your seals and taken a draft of Mr. Cochran for eleven hundred doll's of yours, so if we fall into their hands, you can call on him. I hope it will meet your views." A postscript reads: "Remember me to your wife and all our my friends. We have been cast away, and shall have to wait a few days for the schooner which now lies in the river. E.B."

    The letter was written from the coastal town of Velasco, which had been the scene of the opening shots for Texan independence in 1832, and which served as the new republic's acting capital in 1836. It later merged into the town of Freeport. Bailey's 25 September 1835 letter discussing the events leading up to the Battle of Gonzales appears on the website of the Bullock Museum, and the signature is a close match. 
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