174 CAPTAIN COOK. 
And no information of the caravan 
having been obtained, a detachment of seventy 
or eighty men left, to return to Texas. 
The traders arrived soon after, escorted by 
about two hundred U. S. Dragoons under the 
command of Capt. Cook. Col. Snively with 
a hundred men being then encamped on the 
south side of the Arkansas river, some ten to 
fifteen miles below the point called the ‘ Ca- 
ches,’ he crossed the river and met Capt. 
Cook, who soon made known his intention 
of disarming him and his companions,—an 
intention which he at once proceeded to 
put into execution. A portion of the Tex- 
ans, however, deceived the American cap- 
tain in this wise. Having concealed their 
own rifles, which were mostly Colt’s repeat- 
ers, they delivered to Capt. Cook the worth- 
less fusils they had taken from the Mexicans ; 
so that, when they were afterwards released, 
they still had their own valuable arms; of 
which, however, so far as the caravan in ques- 
tion was concerned, they appear to have had 
no opportunity of availing themselves. 
ese facts are mentioned merely as they 
are said to have occurred. Capt. Cook has 
been much abused by the Texans, and accused 
of having violated a friendly flag—of having 
taken Col. Snively prisoner while on a friend- 
ly visit. This is denied by Capt. Cook, and 
by other persons who were in company’t the 
time. But apart from the means employed ~ 
by the American commander (the propriety 
or impropriety of which I shall not attempt 
