By Jim Warren

Fort Lipantitlan, Texas
December 21, 1850

Dear Mom,
Well, here we are at Fort L (I'll use up all my ink if I try to spell out Lipantitlan every time). We got here in the afternoon after leaving Ft. Merrill at first light. We are supposed to meet some citizens here, but there is no sign of them yet. The Sgt. said they were supposed to be here when we arrived, but they aren't. We are going to make camp and send out scouts while we're waiting.
Although this is called a fort there is not much left to show for it. There are only a line of palings that may have been a palisade and a few scattered pieces of broken crockery and now and then a musket ball. It has only been occupied sporadically by various forces since the Texas independence conflict in 1836. Valentin said his father was in the Mexican Army and was stationed at Ft. L for a while during his tour. He says the fort was originally established in about 1830 by Gen. Manuel de Mier y Teran, military commander and inspector of the interior provinces of the east, who was stationed in Matamoros. He had completed an expedition to establish the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico in 1829 and establishing Ft. L was one of his first recommendations to the Mexican government. One of the important functions of the fort was to relay mail between Matamoros and La Bahia (Goliad). There was apparently a band of Lipan Apaches living in the vicinity and the name of the fort means "land of the Lipans" in the Aztec tongue.
The present town of San Patricio is located about two miles downstream and across the river. It was established also in 1830 by a group of Irish immigrants who settled on the empresario grant of James McGloin and John McMullen. Things seem to have been pretty quiet around the fort until 1835 when the citizens of Texas rose up in rebellion against Mexico. In October of that year one of the earliest battles of the Texian conflict was fought at Ft. L when a band of Texians under Maj. Ira Westover was sent to capture the fort. When the Texians arrived the main body of Mexican troops was not there, but was out looking for the Texians! Well, the fort was occupied by the Texians for a day, then they started back to La Bahia and ran right into the Mexican troops returning. They had a good fight and the Mexicans reoccupied the fort, and the Texians went back home after throwing two of the Mexicans' cannons in the river so they couldn't be used against them -- at least not right away!
The next year, after the battle at San Jacinto, the retreating Mexican Army stopped at Ft. L for a few days in May in 1836. When they abandoned the fort, Valentin's father said they dumped two cannons in the river also.
I guess the fort was abandoned then until 1839, when a group of men who wanted to secede the four northern states of Mexico and form a new country called the Republic of the Río Grande started a little revolution along the Río Grande. They sent a fellow named Canales up to Texas to try and get the Texas government to help their cause. The governor turned them down, but a few volunteers were interested and Canales had them to camp at Ft. L until he was ready to return to the conflict.
Again in 1842, the fort was attacked by a Mexican army in anattempt to take Corpus Christi. As luck would have it, the Texians prevailed and the Mexicans went back to Mexico. Off and on since then, Ft. L has been used by U.S. troops on a temporary basis. Some of the locals say that Gen. Taylor's army had a hunting camp here in 1845 to provide deer meat for his troops in Corpus Christi.
The property is presently owned by Mr. Nicholas Bluntzer, who bought it in 1849. So there you have a history of a little fort way down here in Texas where we'll be camping for a few days while we look for hostile Indians.
I've got to quit now and help set up our tent or I'll have to sleep in the open tonight. I'll write again when I can and you do the same.

Your son,
Henry

Fort Lipantitlan, Texas
December 28, 1850

Dear Mom,
Well, I never thought I would be happy about getting sent on a scout the week before Christmas. All the way over here we were all complaining about how we would be camping in the field while the men back at Ft. Merrill were all sitting around the fireplace, singing carols and nipping at whatever they could sneak in from the sutler's store. We figured they would have fresh beef and the baker would put a little sugar and cinnamon in the bread for the holidays. I know Capt. Plummer has been saving a big bag of hard candy for the enlisted men because I found it one day when he sent me to his quarters to find a bottle of ink.
Well, we were all pretty much down-in-the-mouth about the whole thing, but you will never guess what happened! On Christmas Eve we were sitting around the fire, fixing to warm up some cured beef and hard bread, when the sentry hollered that somebody was walking around in the brush. About the same time, we heard a big ruckus and saw a big fire over at Bluntzer's house. Well, we figured the hostiles were attacking and set the house on fire, so we were just about to grab our guns and go to the rescue when two young boys popped out of the brush hollering, "Don't shoot, Mr. Soldier!" Well, it was one of the Bluntzer boys and a neighbor and they said the Mr. Bluntzer had sent them out to invite us all over to his house for Christmas Eve party! Can you believe that! Here we are in the middle of nowhere looking for hostile Indians (and hoping not to find any), and we get invited out for Christmas! Only in Texas, I say!
Well, needless to say, we threw our beef and biscuits back in the commissary box and nearly ran over the two boys headed for the party. The Sgt. left four guards with the camp and promised them we would spell out every hour so no one would get left out of the good times. Was that some elegant party! We had roast venison and turkey, fried catfish and chicken (it's the first fried chicken I've had in two years), and a basketful of hot tamales. I can't even name all of the cakes and other sweets they fixed, but we tried a little of all of them.
They didn't know we were going to be camping here so they couldn't have planned ahead, but they even had presents for all of us. The ladies must have down in their trunks to find stuff. They came out with neck scarves, handkerchiefs, smoking pipes and tobacco, and lots of socks. I got a pair of deer skin gloves that Mr. Bluntzer made himself. They are as soft as silk. We felt kind of bad in not giving any gifts in return, so a bunch of us slipped back to camp and ransacked our belongings. We managed to come up with something for each of the young people -- belt buckles, pocket knives, spurs, candle lanterns, etc. Luckily I had a halter with me that just finished making out of horse hair. I gave it to Mr. Bluntzer and he seemed might pleased with it. I thought it was a pretty good job, but Valentin said he had seen better.
I'd better quit now. This letter will be so heavy the mail rider might turn it back. I had a wonderful Christmas this year and I hope all of you did, too. I miss everybody a lot so write and tell me all about your Christmas.

Your son,
Henry

(Jim Warren is an archaeologist living in George West.)