1841 Day and Haghe Map of the Republic of Texas (Illustrating Conflicting Borders)

An 1841 map of the Republic of Texas by Nicholas Doran Maillard, who hated Texas and Texans pretty much more than anything. Despite Maillard's feelings toward Texas, the map by Day and Haghe is a truly remarkable work unique in addressing Texas's boundaries and claims. It also notes with detail American Indian settlements throughout and offers notes and annotations on fortifications, terrain, mines, and more. Significantly, and progressively for the time, much of the land beyond coastal Texas is defined as the 'Territory of the Texan Indians'.

Texas Borders Defined

As the subtitle suggests, the map employs color coding to indicate the 'political, conventional, and natural' boundaries. More than any other cartographer, he restricts the 'true' boundaries of Texas to 'Territory absolutely in possession of the Texans', a comparatively narrow strip of land south of Austin and extending along the Gulf Coast from Corpus Christi to the Sabine River. Other color coding defines the line of the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, Spanish boundaries, Mexican boundaries, and other boundaries claimed by Mexican states.

The Map

This map was compiled by the excellent British firm of William Day and Louis Haghe to accompany Doran's history of the Republic of Texas, a work known more for its vitriol towards Texans than historical facts. Nonetheless, as Streeter pointed out, 'The map is the best feature of the book, for among its classifications shown in colored lines are the political boundaries of Texas under Spain and the territory now 'absolutely in the possession of the Texians'.' And indeed, in the words of Dorothy Sloan, this 'is one of those strange anomalies in today's Texana market, in that the map is probably worth more than the book.'

Maillard's Vitriol

Nicholas Doran Maillard was a British barrister who moved to Texas in 1840, settling in Richmond. He immediately began editing the Richmond Telescope. By all reports, Maillard was popular in Richmond, whose citizens, impressed with his education, fine British manners, and mixology skills, welcomed him heartily. It remains unclear what happened to Maillard in Texas, but he left by 1841, apparently bitter with hatred towards all things Texan, feelings that come across clearly in his 1842 book, The History of the Republic of Texas (London: Smith, Elder, and Co.). Some modern commentary on his verbiage we could not resist quoting:

• Basic Texas Books, 134: 'The most vitriolic denunciation of the Republic of Texas [comprising] a compendium of everything bad that could be claimed about Texas and Texans of those times.'
• Graff, 2663: 'Texas cut down to size a difficult feat even in 1842.'
• Streeter, 1422: 'Though this account of Texas has little value as a history because of Maillard's extreme bias, it should be included in Texas collections as an example of what can be said about Texas by one who hates it.... What wounded Maillard's ego during the six months in 1839 he spent in Texas is not known, but it has caused him to characterize Texas (p. 206) as 'a country filled with habitual liars, drunkards, blasphemers, and slanderers, sanguinary gamesters and cold-blooded assassins' and more to the same effect. Stephen F. Austin is referred to, at page 30, as 'the prince of hypocrites,' and James Bowie, at page 104, as 'monster'.... Incidentally, at page vi, Maillard speaks of himself as 'an impartial historian.'

Some have speculated that his anti-Texan stance may have been motivated by British financial concerns. At the time, the Mexican government was deeply in debt to British bankers and investors. Much of this debt was secured by land in what is modern-day Texas. If Texas successfully seceded from Mexico, Mexico could in turn default on its debt with impunity.

Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas was a short-lived nation established in March of 1836 when it ceded from Mexico. Following the independence of Mexico from Spain, the American Stephen Fuller Austin led a group of 300 Empresarios to settle Texas, near Austin, where they received a grant from the Mexican government. As more Americans moved to Texas, resentment and strife began to build between the American settlers and Mexican authorities. This and other factors ultimately led to the Texan Revolution in 1835 and the declaration of Texan independence in 1836. Texas remained an independent republic until it joined the United States 10 years later in 1846.

Texas Borders

The borders of the Republic of Texas were in dispute from the earliest days of the Texan Revolution. The Republic-claimed borders followed the Treaties of Velasco between the newly created Texas Republic and Mexican leader, Antonio López de Santa Anna. The treaties established an eastern boundary following the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty between the United States and Spain, which established the Sabine River as the eastern boundary of Spanish Texas and western boundary of the Missouri Territory. The Republic's southern and western boundary with Mexico was more nuanced. Texas claimed the Rio Grande del Norte as its western and southernmost border, while Mexico argued for a boundary much further east at the Nueces River. When Texas was annexed into the United States, the agreement followed the Republic claimed boundary, thus absorbing Mexican claimed territory as far west as Santa Fe. This escalated already existing tensions between the United States, the former Republic of Texas, and Mexico, ultimately triggering for the Mexican-American War (1846 -1848).

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn and engraved by Louis Haghe (1806 - 1885) and William Day (1797 - 1845) following the first-hand accounts of Nicholas Doran Maillard, who lived in Texas from 1841 - 1842. It was included with copies of, The History of the Republic of Texas (London: Smith, Elder, and Co.). We note no separate examples of the map in the OCLC, but the book is represented in several institutional collections. It is scarce to the market.