[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 105 (Friday, June 22, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                          JAMES AND JANE LONG

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 22, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Texas has a proud history, and the 
names of Texas heroes--Sam Houston, Juan Seguin, and, my hero, William 
Barrett Travis--are still remembered and venerated by Texans. Two names 
that are often unjustifiably left out of this group are James and Jane 
Long.
   A veteran of the War of 1812, Dr. James Long was a doctor living in 
Natchez, Mississippi, in 1819. In that year, the United States and 
Spain agreed on the Adams-Onis treaty, in which Spain relinquished 
control over Florida and the United States rescinded claims to the land 
west of the Sabine River in Texas.
   Long and his friends didn't like that they no longer had access to a 
land they considered their birthright. They decided to take action.
   Dr. Long proposed the establishment of Texas as an independent and 
sovereign nation. Together with eighty of his friends, as well as his 
wife, Jane, and their newborn infant, Long rode to Nacogdoches. By the 
time his group reached the Texas settlement, they were over 300 strong. 
Internal resistance and uncertainty had plagued Spanish Texas, and so 
Long's party easily took control of Nacogdoches.
   They then gathered for a solemn convention. On June 23, 1819, under 
the heat of the Texas sun, the group proclaimed Texas a free and 
independent nation and elected Dr. Long as its first president. They 
became the first to champion the Lone Star. Indeed, the Lone Star 
featured prominently on their flag, which adopted the 13 red and white 
stripes of the American flag and placed a single star in the top left-
hand corner.
   The fate of Long's new Texas Republic was cruel and short-lived. 
Spanish forces, upon hearing of Long's presence in Nacogdoches, marched 
east from Bexar (modern-day San Antonio) and drove Long's forces out, 
killing his brother in the process. Long traveled with his young family 
to New Orleans, and, determined not to give up on his dream, attempted 
to stir up support for a second expedition. He found a willing partner 
in Don Felix Trespalacios, and in 1829, the two departed by sea, bound 
for the Texas coast.
   After landing at a place they named Point Bolivar, in honor of the 
South American revolutionary, Long took forces inland while 
Trespalacios sailed onward to spread revolution elsewhere. When his 
forces took La Bahia, however, Spanish troops struck back and forced 
their surrender. Long became a captive and traveled to Mexico City to 
await his fate. Amid mysterious circumstances, Long was shot and killed 
while in Mexico City, leaving his young wife and two children alone to 
fend for themselves at Point Bolivar.
   Texas women are fiercely courageous, and Mrs. Long was no different. 
Though she was just twenty-one years old, she was determined not to 
become a victim of her own circumstances. She fended off would-be 
Indian assailants while wintering in Galveston Bay, and in the spring, 
she traveled on horseback with her two young children and an enslaved 
woman to Bexar and then to Monterrey, hundreds of miles across the 
open, rugged Texas landscape. She was determined to bring her husband's 
murderer to justice, but even her indomitable spirit could not overcome 
a turbulent political climate. Unsuccessful but not unbowed, she rode 
back to Mississippi with her children. She later made her way back to 
Texas, settling at Richmond near the coast, and died on Texas soil in 
1880.
   Mr. Speaker, James and Jane Long are vital to the history of Texas. 
These two individuals helped sow the seeds of independence in the minds 
of Texans. Members of Long's expedition, in particular Ben Miram and 
Jim Bowie, later played integral roles in winning Texas independence 
from Mexico. While their contribution has often been overlooked by 
history, their names should live beside those of Houston, Seguin, and 
Travis as true Texas heroes.
   And that is just the way it is

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