The Case of John Smith T

When I decided to write my book, The Lost War for Texas, I wanted to explore the shadowy origins of the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition. Most historians believed that the expedition was secretly organized by the Madison Administration through its special agent, William Shaler. However, my early research caused me to doubt this. Among the few historians who rejected this idea was J.C.A. Stagg, the editor of the Madison Papers. Certainly, I thought, if there was any documentary evidence, he would know it best. Further reading into the Shaler papers myself, I found no evidence for this theory and strong evidence against it. The William C.C. Claiborne Papers, furthermore, were practically awash with rumors and reports and secret correspondence that pointed to individuals related to the Aaron Burr Conspiracy as being active in promoting a filibuster. 

Letter from John Smith T. to Father Huerta

Subsequent research proved this to be true, but how exactly the Burr diaspora did this remains obscure. But as I was conducting research into this period for my book, I came across a secondary reference to a rather shocking letter from April 1811, in which an American promises to aid the Mexican Rebel cause. I was on the hunt for the originators of the filibuster, and here, it seemed, was the potential smoking gun. The letter was in Spanish, so I had it professionally translated. Here it is, in its entirety:

Natchitoches, April 29 [24?], 1811

Venerable Sir: [stricken] A few days ago I had taken the liberty of writing to you about some explanations regarding the project of insurrection. Up to now I have not received a reply, and the interests of all of the enemies of liberty and equal rights of all humankind believe that that is for the best; and for this reason I will reiterate [the explanations] to you in a second [letter], regarding this project. Born as I was in a free country, and having at an early time in my life learned the very good sentiments of liberty and independence, I feel interest for the good of my compatriots, neighbors, and brothers, who have come asking for relief and assistance. To help them, I am willing to provide this assistance in defense of their rights, liberty, and independence, and to throw off the yoke of slavery and oppression of their sovereign. Now is the time for you [stricken] to embrace thousands my offer. I will lead thousands of men in an uprising and place them around your banners, and help you to defend the cause that so justly you have begun to defend. The gods wish to protect you until victory is won, [but] you must with the utmost promptness abandon your King, who is undignified to rule you[r people], because he has surrendered his sovereignty to the tyrant Napoleon, having caused the spilling of so much blood in the heart of his Kingdom. No. No, it is not possible[!]  _^ ^{Your conscience} and the laws of nature demand justice. Honorable sir, since you are seen by the inhabitants of this country as a father and protector of the people; they will follow your protection and good counsel. Tell your children, then, these truths: that all men are born equal by divine and human law, since among us is life, liberty, and glory.

            When a government comes to oppress its subjects, they have the right to abolish it and establish, of their own free will, Laws that are in favor of humankind. Show the world in not allowing yourself to contribute to the oppression of the tyrants, let _^ ^{and encourage} [the people] to procure their liberty and independence with their lives, estates, and all they esteem. These sentiments spread spontaneously, spontaneously from the heart, born of [illegible] of those born of the heart that wants to rise up, and of your hearts too. I am confident that you will do me justice by believing in this offer that I make to you in defense of the just cause that you defend; I am a friend of truth and of the rights of men. If you so desire, you will count on me regarding this project, and you will inform me, as you would any other person (that you may wish to) about how things are in the Kingdom, since here there are a considerable number of men ready to march to your aid and defense; and if it were necessary to send more, more would come with the utmost brevity to unite with us. To the Reverend Father Huerta.   A certain Smith.

It is a copy.

This letter was pure dynamite. There was just one problem. The only name on the letter was "A certain Smith" ("Un tal Esmit" in the original Spanish). And yet, in the pages of Carlos Castañeda’s excellent work, "Our Catholic Heritage in Texas," the eminent historian miraculously pulls a full name "John F. Smith" out of a hat. Who was John F. Smith? He certainly appeared in no census records, or any others for frontier Louisiana, though it was certainly plausible he was there under the radar. Did Castañeda have access to another source? Sadly, his footnotes gave no clue to how he came up with the identification.

I had put aside the topic and then proceded to other issues. Eventually, I began looking deeper into the three Missouri traders who venture to Santa Fe, who seemed to be involved in the expedition or possibly in a separate parallel one. One of these was a Reuben Smith, and in researching his background, I came across his extraordinary brother, John Smith T. 

John Smith T.

Smith T - whose extra post-name initial stands for "Tennessee" - was a mining baron operating in Missouri in the early 1800s, where he was a bitter rival of Moses Austin, father of future Texas empresario Stephen F. Austin. Smith T. was a refined man - his portrait looks downright prissy. And yet, he was brutal, dirty, and had killed 15 men in duels. But most importantly, he had fingers deeply stained with the suspicion of involvement in filibusters. He was certainly an interesting character, and as I learned more about him, I thought, he would be an excellent candidate for my mysterioius "Certain Smith." The Castañeda "John Smith" was certainly an interesting coincidence, though the F. seemed very definitive and so was the fact that he was from Natchitoches, which was completely wrong for my Smith T., who lived in Missouri. That being said, the letter was written from Natchitoches, and it certainly seemed plausible that he had only been visiting.

Eventually, I stumbled upon a biography of Smith T which examined his brother Reuben's capture, and suggested that Smith T. had secretly made his way into Mexico to try to liberate him. This part of the story seems fanciful, but it seemed more likely an exaggeration rather than something made up out of whole cloth. Had he made his way to Nacogdoches and met with Father Huerta? He certainly would have gone as far as Natchitoches, where he could have written the letter to be smuggled in to the Mexican revolutionary priest.

But this was speculation, and there was no proof of a tie. So there I left the mystery for a whole two years while moving the book towards completion. Then, I came across the Hernandez y Davalos files in the Benson Latin American collection, which included a small number of original documents from the post-Battle of Medina period, when Mexican exiles and Americans tried to restart the failed filibuster. And there, I found it. It was the document that Castañeda must have used. In a list of "foreign officers" serving under Jose Alvarez de Toledo in 1815 was a curious name: Juan Sansitte. At first it baffled me. All the other names in the list I knew: they were verifiable members of the Republican Army of the North: Samuel Kemper, Henry Perry, Reuben Ross, etc. But here was an unknown Juan Sansitte, listed as a Colonel, no less, no small rank. Only when I came back to it on the third or fourth time did I see what had been right under my nose, was an initial after his name:

It actually said, "Juan Sansitte F."  Certainly, this "Sansitte" was Smith, and the "F" was the origin of Castaneda's "John F. Smith." And yet, it was at the end of his name, not the middle. And was it really an F? In cursive, it's hard to tell. Castaneda thought so, but all one had to do was look at the rest of the document, and there, three names below him, was "Josiali Taylor" - Josiah Taylor - proving the "F" was actually a T. In fact, looking at the signature proves how Toledo formed his "f" and his "t" in cursive, for it has both letters in it:

Thus, I was able to solve a mystery. Ultimately, I did not prove that Smith T. was the person who launched the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition of 1812: the sources do not prove this. But he did launch its predecessor, an attempted filibuster under Gutierrez's subordinate Jose Menchaca in 1811. He was also connected to the attempts to lauch a filibuster in 1815, thus making him a bookend of the whole period. He certainly was an extraordinary individual who would have been mentioned in any of the accounts of the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition in some way or form, so the evidence points to him either remaining apart from the expedition (perhaps due to some disagreement with other persons, like John Adair who were facilitating it), or he turned his attention away from Texas after Menchaca's failed filibuster and then re-engaged later on. Nonetheless, I was able to tie this fascinating frontier character to the filibuster period, with a little sleuthing.