well, they had buried the texan dead already. there was no effort to bury the mexican dead. we don't know what they used the shovels for. they probably used them to build fort davis. but there was $12,000 in mexican silver. and they were dividing up the loot as they got here. now, all the history books that you read will say there was 12,000 silver pesos or $12,000 or $12,000 worth of silver. but until my friend greg demmic dug up this 1834 mexican 8 rials peace, we didn't know exactly what that was. the silver was well documented at san jacinto, as was the opium, bathe. but this is an 1834 8 reals piece from zack-techas. if you look at the feathers on the eagle. he's got all his feathers. all the pricks are still on the cactus. this was an uncirculated koint. it wasn't in somebody's pocket for two years. we think this represents part of the national treasury that santa ana looted from the zack techas

mint when he routed the rebellion against another state of mexico that was revolting against central rule. and when he did that he looted the men, used that money to finance his war into texas to crush the other rebellious state of texas, and presumably had $12,000 with him at the time of san jacinto. you know, for payment of the troops. so picture this battlefield. the cabinets walk around. they're divvying up this money. all the mexicans are laying dead. and robert triplett was all the way almost to the louisiana border. he was across the natchez river when he got the news from a passerby on the road that said hey, we've got this big victory, they captured santa ana. so he hightails it back to san jacinto. he's an agent for texas. he crosses the ferry. he's walking around san jacinto. and he runs into david g. burnett. and president burnett says triplett, i need to talk to you about that land. he goes i'm really getting a lot

of political heat for it, is there some way we can undo? he said what do you mean undo it? he said it's going to be really unpopular with the soldiers, can we just suspend it? and these are triplett's words. granted they're standing in the middle of san jacinto after a battle. and he says, "i was now prepared to proceed to new orleans and the president came to me to say that great excitement had been created in consequence of him issuing the grant for a section of land on galveston island and he wished to see if on some terms it could not be annulled." not good. "i replied i'd assign half of it to dr. neblitt," who'd gone to the united states," but the president seemed uneasy and said he would only want to temporarily suspend things and then things would get calm and he'd reissue it." he said i'll tell the cabinet, i'll reissue it under the table, don't worry about it. and he said are you sure? he said yeah, i promise. triplett had a weak moment. he saw the president of the mexican republic in chains. he saw all the dead.

they had accomplished their military objective. and he says, okay, i'll do it. bottom line, never trust the government. the texas government later sold that same tract of land to another group of investors within 60 days. the boundaries of both cells were within a tract that had been previously granted to juan insiguin by the state of cohuila and tequilas in 1832. messed up the title. now we're in the summer of 1836. the colored portions, these are the settled portions of texas. the mexican army had withdrawn. it was this uneasy peace. the united states didn't want anything to do with them quite yet. and these two guys show up. john kirby and augustus c. allen. the real estate speculators who founded the city of houston. they were in new orleans in

january of 1836. as a matter of fact, they were going to speculate in texas land. they passed on the loan. but they donated the texas warship brutus to the navy. so if you're going to speculate in land why not donate a warship to help take it from the mother country first? they had also been partners with robert triplett in a land deal in nacogdoches in late 1835, but triplett had bowed out of the deal and decided not to invest the funds because he didn't feel like he could clear title. so the allen brothers went down to galveston where they were planning to put their city and they looked at the tract of land and they looked at the title and they said, you know, you've got title to this and menard's got title to this and i don't think y'all are going to work it out. so they had to pass on putting their city there because of the problems associated with that loan. so then they go up to harrisburg. well, harrisburg was at a navigabna

navigable bend in the bayou where the turn in the ship channel is now. all the land was still there. and they wanted to buy that land from jane harris but they couldn't buy the land from jane harris because honest bob and william peter had still had a lawsuit against the estate and she didn't have clear title. so they went even further to the intersection of buffalo bayou and white oak bayou, bought two sections of land from the widow of john austin, and said we're going to put our city here. so then they sent an agent to new orleans, where sam houston was recuperating from his leg wound in the opulent home of william christie, who was the notary who drafted the loan documents, and said general houston, we'd like to name our city, our new city in your honor 1/4 wehono honor, and we'd like to pay you a $2,000 retainer for helping us to promote it. and he undoubtedly said something like where have you guys been all my life? so that's how the city of houston dame came to be where it

is. henry smith and sam houston searched for solutions to the debt problems of texas. he said, well, how did we do, henry in henry smith prepared this report. he said, well, we had $850,000 in military expenses, $157,000 civil expenses, 605,000 audited claims. we've got $1,612,000 in outstanding debt after the war. well, what did we bring in? we've got $1569 and our own paper back. he said, well, how are we going to do that? so what smith did, what he did was say why don't we call in all this outstanding debt, let's consolidate it into a fund. first he wanted to raise taxes. he said let's raise taxes. let's invoke a property tax, a tax on billiard halls, let's bring in some revenue. $375,000 ought to be enough to pay it. and he said we're going to consolidate all this debt. and they brought in about $771,000. they put it into the

consolidated fund of texas. it was paying 10% interest. which gave these people breathing room. the government kicked the can down the road. they increased the debt of the company. that was a success. two days afterwards they brought out a $500,000 issue of star money at 10% interest to pay the bills. they raised the debt ceiling from a million six to 2.1 million. it added $120,000 in interest onto the republic's bills each year. that was the beginning of a series of debt increases. they did that as a five-year global credit pandemic called the panic of 1837 hit. it was a credit crisis that popped real estate values, depressed the currency, brought on a multiyear economic depression. the government resorted to printing excessive amounts of money to spend their way out of it. if you want to find out how this ends, you'll have to get a copy of my book. it's called "the paper republic." and thank you for letting me share that with you.

[ applause ] >> we have time for a couple questions. if anybody has them, please wait for the microphone. >> yes, sir. >> james. all of this paper was going around representing money. >> right. >> in addition, there was a first-class awarded to nerve texas before march 2nd of 1836. now, there was a gigantic sell-off of these things in san antonio between 1837 and 1835. texanos sold off tens of thousands of these head rights for anywhere $500 to $1,000. my question is what were they getting in exchange for these? what was the medium of exchange

for these head rights? >> they were gold. gold or silver coin which was coming out of new orleans. the problem was -- and this is -- >> it's a lot of money. >> well, it was and it wasn't. the other 90% of the texan loan, the other $800,000 of the 200 grand, that never got advanced because the lenders in new orleans didn't accept the compromise. they decided they didn't want to subordinate the locations. and what aggravated that was that after the war so many of the soldiers had their head right certificates but didn't have money or the time or the inclination to travel to pay a surveyor to do the title fees, to do the recording, actually claim the land. so they would sell it for whatever they'd get. some of those were sold for, you know, five, ten cents an acre for whatever hard money they could get. and that began to flood the market with those head right certificates. and that was the death of the remainder of the texian loan because though guys didn't want to pay 50 cents per acre to get that land if they could buy a

head right certificate from a soldier who signed it over for less and also had priority of location. >> one more? one more question? >> yeah. >> that looks like it. thank you. one more. >> yes, ma'am. >> this question is not exactly about your paper money. but the picture of sam houston under the tree with the shattered leg and antonio la pez de santa ana standing there. have you ever read where he, santa ana, wore leg irons? in any book have you ever read where he was placed in leg irons? >> he was placed in chain in bresoria when he was confined as a prisoner of war. >> the reason i'm asking, there's a man buried in comanche county de leon cemetery, campbell, got on the great website of the state of texas

archives, he was paid $5 for making one set of leg irons for antonio la pez desanta ana. >> when he was in prison in bresoria in 1836 i have a picture of the tree that he was chained to in chapter 6 of my book. >> okay. i'll buy your book. thank you. >> thank you very much, jim bevill. we now have a break time. please, there is some food left in our exhibit hall. please visit our exhibitors and come back in ten minutes. thank you. >> i think everybody's having trouble with the light here, which you can see but it doesn't carry very far. you want to test it?

on tomorrow morning's "washington journal" associated press economics writer darryl kravitz on new consumer bureau financial protection rules for the mortgage industry. then sean spicer of the republican national committee and brad woodhouse of the democratic national committee discuss rick santorum's withdrawal from the presidential race. and what issues are most important in this year's campaign. and after that our spotlight on magazine series continues with military analyst bing west. looking at his recent article on afghanistan. plus your e-mails, phone calls, and tweets. "washington journal" live tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. april 15th, 1912. nearly 1,500 perish on the ship called unsinkable. >> once the lookout bells were sounded, the lookout -- once the lookout sighted an ietbergceber

ahead, they struck the bells in the crow's nest three times, ding, ding, ding, which is a warning saying there's some object ahead. it doesn't mean dead ahead. it means ahead of the ship. and it doesn't say what kind of object. what the lookout then did after he struck the bell, he went to a telephone in the nest and called down to the officer of the bridge to tell them what it is that they saw. and when the phone was finally answered, the entire conversation was "what do you see?" and the response was "iceberg right ahead." and the response from the officer was, "thank you." >> samuel halpern on the truths and myths of that night. sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern. part of american history tv this weekend on c-span 3. martin luther king is a man, of all the people that i've met and talked with and spent time with over the years, is the man that i most -- the american

individual that i admire most of all. of all of them. for me he is my personal hero. why? because martin luther king put his money where his mouth was. [ applause ] >> his career spanned over 60 years. cbs's mike wallace died this past weekend at age 93. watch any of his almost 50 appearances in the c-span video library, including his interviews with iranian presidents rafsanjani and ahmadinejad. the c-span video library. every c-span program since 1987. all this week in primetime here on c-span 3 it's american history tv. tonight, a look at the 1830s texas revolution between u.s. settlers and the mexican goveme. and we return now to a symposium with author stephen hardin looking at the life and career of sam houston and his military strategy during that conflict.

this is 35 minutes. >> thank you. we're going to get started again. we're finally getting to the blood and guts of the thing. it is my pleasure to introduce dr. stephen hardin. dr. hardin is a professor of history at mcmurray university in abilene. he's the author of "the texas rangers," the award-winning "texian iliad," "the military history of the texas revolution." "the alamo 1836: santa ana's texas campaign." and "texian macabrar:p the melancholy tale of a hanging in early houston."

additionally he's the editor of the book "lone star: the republic of texas 1836 to 1846." and is the author of more than a dozen scholarly articles enjoyed by readers on both sides of the atlantic. recently "texan iliad" earned the distinction of being a basic texas book by mike cox, who updates that list now. when not teaching in the classroom dr. hardin can be seen on a&e network, the history channel, nbc's "today" show. he's known for his readable style of history. he's an inductee of the texas institute of letters, an admiral in the texas navy, a member of the western writers of america, a fellow of the texas state historical association, and was a historical adviser for the 2004 john lee hancock film "the alamo." the chronicles of higher education examined his work on that film in a feature article.

he lives in abilene with his wife debra and children walker and savannah. his presentation today is what was houston thinking, understanding houston's bizarre behavior during the texas -- during the san jacinto campaign. please welcome dr. stephen hardin. >> thank you, bobby. when governor perry was kind enough to name me an admiral in the texas navy, i informed my wife, debra, that henceforth i expected her to call me admiral. i won't tell you what she called me. but it wasn't admiral. there we go. when sam houston first booted his horse across the red river on december 2nd, 1832, he had

but one object in mind, and that was to west texas from the mexican republic and append it to the united states. notwithstanding pledges of allegiance to mexico, houston remained an american expansionist, a protege of andrew jackson, and a political operative. while many will find this a remarkably bold assertion, there is abundant documentary evidence to support it. and once one comprehends that houston's predominant aspiration was to add texas to the federal union, such knowledge does much to decode his behavior during the san jacinto campaign four years later. okay. let's look at the evidence. this is a letter, an 1832

letter, from john wharton. and he is writing houston back in the united states. "i gave dr. branch t. archer of virginia a letter of introduction to you. dr. archer has been in texas for upwards of 12 months, is intimately acquainted with matters and things there, and is in the confidence of all their leading men. he is of the opinion that there will be some fighting there next fall." now, this is 1832. and he's saying we're expecting to break away as early as next year. "and that a fine country will be gained without much bloodshed. he is very desirous that you should go there and believes that you can be of more service than any other man" -- let's see.

"any other man. he left for virginia today. and should you fall in with him, i expect that he will put you in the notion of and usefulness. and whenever they are ready for action, i will be with them. and he was. interesting. you can let mr. jackson and our friends such as you wish see this letter. do i need to tell you who mr. jackson was? all right. well, that's one piece -- well, i'll tell you -- well there's john a. wharton and there's old branch t. archer. that's not the only piece of the evidence. on his way to houston -- or on the way to texas, houston rode in the company of elias rector. and when they parted ways north

of the red river, mr. rector wanted to give houston a present. and the only thing he had to give him was a razor. houston, elias rector said, i wish to give you something before we separate and i have nothing that will do as a gift except my razor. rector, said houston, i accept your fine gift and mark my words, if i have luck, this razor will someday shave the chin of a president of a republic. now, this is before sam houston has ever set foot in texas. and he's already thinking about becoming president of a nonexistent republic. now, this is a letter to his friend james prentice. my opinion is that it would be of vast importance to have persons there, texas, who could

look at matters with a view to make changes, to make changes, which are necessary and must take place before long in that country and without which it could never be what it ought to be for the benefit of those interested. several persons have said to me that i was looked for. well, we know who that was. and earnestly wished for by the citizens of texas. dr. dillard, a highly respectable gentleman, was one of the numbers. the people looked to the indians on the arkansas river as auxiliaries in the event of a change. he's being kind of coy here. so i will pass that way and see my old friend. i will ride -- he's still in the united states when he write this is -- i will ride to the hermitage this evening and see the old chief, general jackson.

salute our friends. so, again, he's not in texas yet but he's already speculating that if the change comes about, he can enlist indians north of the red river to come and help the text -- texans fight. now, he's not even being coy here. he's in texas now and he's writing his old friend, president andrew jackson. i am in possession of some information that will doubtless be interesting to you and may be calculated to forward your views if you should entertain any, touching on the acquisition of texas, by the government of the united states. that such is a measure desirous of the population of the province i cannot doubt.

the mexican rulers have not honesty and the people have not intelligence. and of course, sam houston is a paradigm of honesty. you will no doubt do ample justice to the motives which prompts this communication to you. and i should censure myself if i were to conceal from you the knowledge of any facts which would enable you during your administration -- during your administration to acquire texas. so houston wants to acquire texas on jackson's watch. during his administration. if it is in accordance with the policy of the united states, if you want it, i want to make it happen for you. it is probable that i may make texas my abiding place.

in adopting this course, i will never forget -- and that's houston's emphasis, that's not mine -- i will never forget the country of my birth and he never did. so let's recap. there's old hickory himself. okay, houston arrived in texas intent on fomenting the evidence. john wharton, a prominent member of the war party, invited houston to texas and wrote openly of an anticipated rebellion as early as june 1832, according to albert pike who overheard the chin comment, houston spoke of becoming president of a republic before he had even set foot in texas. houston consulted with his political mentor, andrew jackson, then president of the

united states and an expansionist, who was at least aware of houston's intentions as early as 1832. houston wrote of enlisting indians in u.s. territory as auxiliaries in the event of a change. president jackson named houston his envoy to the pawnee and comanche tribes. and most compelling, houston wrote president jackson describing conditions inside mexican texas that could, if properly managed, promote the acquisition of texas by the government of the united states. he's no longer even trying to be coy. given the contents of these documents, there's no doubt that houston had committed himself to fomenting rebellion in texas, a

rebellion which would culminate in texas becoming part of the united states. right. let's fast-forward four years. it's march 1836. houston's long-anticipated change had begun with the "come and take it" fight at gonzalez. early in december, a texan volunteer army forced the surrender of mexican general martin perfecto decost and his centralist force in san antonio de bexar. in february 1836, a vengeful antonio lopez santana splashed across the rio grande at the head of an army numbering some 7,000. on february 23rd, he arrived and laid siege inside the alamo. on march 1st, texan delegates arrived to attend a convention held in the town of washington.

wasting no time, they declared independence the following day. on that exact day, sam houston issued a proclamation that made its way through the anglo settlements. at first, this appears innocuous enough but close inspection reveals some odd inconsistencies. since delegates did not confirm houston as commander in chief of the army until march 4th, this march 2nd proclamation appeared more than a little presumptuous or at least peremptory. still, it was typical of houston's large and in charge style. if one reads the body of the document, houston's intent seems clear. and let's do that. war is raging on the frontier

bears the siege by 2,000 under the command of general sesma. reinforcements are on the march to join with the besieging army. by the last report, our force was only 150 men. the citizens of texas must rally to the aid of our army or it will perish. let the citizens of the east march to the combat. the enemy must be driven from our soil. our dissolution will accompany their march upon us. independence its declared. it must be maintained. immediate action united with valor can alone achieve the great work. the services of all are forthwith required in the field, sam houston, commander in chief of the army. okay, not what you would expect.