“Zoe, Nacogdoches and
King Henri”
How this painting of Zoe, the town of Nacogdoches and a man named Jean Henri tie together is somewhat convoluted; however it is my story and I am sticking to it.
Yesterday, I thought I had finished this portrait of Zoe, the beautiful Florida panther that lives at PrideRock Wildlife Refuge near Terrell, Texas. This morning I can see that her chest needs to be gradually darker down to her paw. I have been working on this painting now for several weeks. Her face and eyes are life size in the painting. I spent the better part of two days studying her eyes and trying to figure out how to paint them with transparent watercolor.
I had not previously realized just how many different colors are in her eyes. At first glance, her eyes are green, however look at them closely and you will find the following colors: black, white, grey, blue, blue-green, yellow, green, tan, dark red, brown and dark-brown.
Last week I had to put this painting aside to pack up my art work and go to Georgetown, Texas, to have a booth in their art festival last weekend. During the weekend, our daughter, Karen and I stayed with Yvonne Ratcliffe, a family friend who lives in Austin, Texas. After going to bed at night and before falling asleep, I like to read, so I borrowed her book, Coronado’s Children by J. Frank Dobie, to read. Since I was so tired each night after being in the booth at the art festival all day, I would quickly fall asleep and I did not get to finish the story of a lost gold mine.
When I returned to Houston on Monday of this week, I tried to find my copy of Coronado’s Children; however, the space for this book was vacant on the shelf among my other books by J. Frank Dobie. Standing there disappointed and wondering about where the book might be, I happened to see a book nearby my collection of Dobie books that caught my attention. Its name was Texas: The Beginning 1519 – 1834 by William Edward Syers. I didn’t remember reading this book, so I started looking through it and became fascinated with the stories.
Tomorrow, I am going to Nacogdoches, Texas , on my first painting trip with the other members of the Geriatric Art Society (GAS). In this book are the historical stories of why Nacogdoches, the first town in Texas, is there. I was especially fascinated by one of those stories of a little known event of a man who would become a king of an Indian village that changed the course of history for Spain, France, Mexico, Texas and The United States of America. The basic story is as follows.
Along about 1686, the Spanish monarchy had heard, I suppose through their European spies, that France had built a fort somewhere along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico between present day Florida and Vera Cruz, Mexico. Spain wanted to claim all of the land north of the Gulf of Mexico and was fearful that France may be a step ahead of them to claim this land. So orders from the Spanish monarchy were sent to their forces in Mexico to find and destroy this French Fort.
Thus started one of the largest searches, both on land and by sea, that was ever conducted in the Western Hemisphere. It would take four years to find the French fort.
During the third year of this search, a military patrol, led by the Spainsh Captain, Alonso de Leon, accompanied by a monk, left the Spanish fort at Monclova, Mexico, to search northeast into present day Texas. They crossed the Rio Grande River somewhere south of present day Eagle Pass, Texas.
Following Indian trails northward for a few days they soon were approaching an Indian village. They were astonished to see about a thousand Indians lined up in European military formation before the village. Captain de Leon asked to be taken to their chief. The Indians took the captain and his patrol to a large house covered with buffalo hides near some springs guarded by forty bowmen.
Upon entering the large house they saw European style furniture and a white man sitting on a throne. This “Indian King,” upon seeing the Spanish monk with Captain de Leon, immediately got off his throne and bowed on his knees before the monk, and said “I am French.” His name was Jean Henri. Captain de Leon told the Indian King that a large Spanish army was approaching and convinced Henri to surrender. Captain de Leon took him back to Mexico .
That Indian village was located at present day Los Moras Springs, Brackettville, Texas. Fort Clark was built there about 1852 and occupied by the army until after World War II. The base commander during the 1930s , General Jonathan Wainwright, had a very large swimming pool made for the soldiers using the springs to keep the pool with fresh water.
After World War II, the base was closed down and the buildings were sold. My dad bought a number of those building and I went there with him and his crews to demolish the buildings to get the lumber. I went swimming many times in that swimming pool. I remember going down a slide there so many times that I wore out the seat of my swimming trunks and had to walk back to my dad’s office with my butt showing. General Wainwright later became our commander in the Philippines that had to surrender to the Japanese.
Grilled in Mexico, the Spanish considered Jean Henri insane; however they got enough information from him to send out another military patrol the next year to find the French fort. They found the fort on Lavaca Bay south of present day Victoria, Texas. They found the fort empty with the bodies of only three people, all recently killed by Indians. The Spanish burned the fort and reported their findings to Spain .
Confirmation that the French fort was real shook up the Spanish and they changed their plans to immediately start building missions and forts in present day Texas and connect them with a road back to Mexico called El Camino Real. The end of this road was at the missions they built at Nacogdoches in present day northeast Texas .
I would love to know the unknown story of just how the Frenchman, Jean Henri, became separated from his countrymen at their fort on Lavaca Bay and then became an Indian King several hundred miles away at the Los Moras Springs.
My trip tomorrow to Nacogdoches to be with my new friends in the Geriatric Art Society to do watercolor paintings next week now has a whole new meaning to me.
By the way, getting back to the painting of Zoe, do you think I should do anything with her chest area, or just leave it alone and not run the risk of fouling up the painting?
Cheers,
Acree
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