Title: TSHA | DeWitt's Colony
Headings: DeWitt's Colony
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DeWitt's Colony
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Content: The jefe político at San Antonio ordered De León, with the aid of the La Bahía garrison under command of Rafael A. Manchola -who happened to be De León's son-in-law-to seize the contraband. Fueled by Kerr's suspicions that Oldivar had been bribed by De León, rumors spread that De León and Manchola were out to kill Anglo-American settlers as far as the Colorado River and that the Mexican empresario would return with DeWitt's head tied to his saddle. With little incident, however, De León and Manchola seized the contraband, as well as the colonists' guns, and arrested DeWitt, whom they took to La Bahía for trial. Apparently Austin's intervention finally quieted the matter, but not without irreparable damage to the De León-DeWitt relationship. Complicating the effects of the boundary dispute and the illegal trade controversies, the Mexican government's suspicion of foreign settlers increased after the Fredonian Rebellion in December 1826 at Nacogdoches. Although DeWitt colonists condemned the incident and drew up resolutions proclaiming their loyalty to Mexico, many Mexican officials made no distinction between the Anglo-Americans of DeWitt's colony and those of Haden Edwards 's Prompted no doubt by De León, who was also forbidden to settle within the ten-league coastal zone, the captain general of the Provincias Internas, Anastasio Bustamante, mindful of the possibility of recurrence of smuggling on the Lavaca River and suspicious that DeWitt was trying to relocate his colony, ordered Saucedo in San Antonio to remove DeWitt from Old Station in August 1827. Upon learning of the order, many colonists threatened to resettle in Austin's colony, so DeWitt applied for an extension, which was granted until December 1. Governor José María Viesca extended the date to June 1828. DeWitt probably was not intending to relocate his colony, since he had sent a party to Gonzales in January 1827 to build a fort, though the work had to be stopped because of Indian hostilities between the Comanches and their enemies, the Lipan Apaches and Tonkawas. Nevertheless, the fort was completed by April.