James Long (filibuster)
| James Long | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 9, 1793 Culpeper County, Virginia, United States |
| Died | April 8, 1822 (aged 29) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Surgeon, filibuster |
| Known for | Leading several failed attempts to establish an independent republic in Spanish Texas |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long |
James Long (February 9, 1793 – April 8, 1822) was an American filibuster who led an unsuccessful expedition to seize control of Spanish Texas between 1819 and 1821.
James Long was born in Culpeper County, Virginia in 1793. He became a U.S. Army surgeon and served at the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. He married Jane Herbert Dent Wilkinson in 1815, settled in Natchez, Mississippi after the war, and served as a doctor at Port Gibson. In 1817, Long owned a plantation in Vicksburg.
Many American and French settlers of the American South were opposed to the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 that settled the border dispute between the United States and New Spain. It aroused such strong opposition in Natchez that prominent citizens planned a filibustering expedition to conquer Spanish Texas and placed Long in command. Long teamed up with José Félix Trespalacios, a Mexican who had escaped imprisonment for fomenting rebellion against Spanish rule in Mexico. The rhetoric surrounding their first expedition received a great deal of attention, and about 200 men including Jim Bowie and Ben Milam gathered in Natchez in early 1819 for the planned invasion of Texas. Long also attempted to recruit the French pirate Jean Lafitte and his men, but Lafitte turned him down. Several of Long's recruits were former French soldiers who had started and quickly abandoned a settlement in Texas known as the Champ d'Asile in 1818.
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