This triangular situation bred distrust and antagonism that at last broke out into open warfare, and threw the country into the wildest disorder, in what is known as the Fredonian War in 1826. The coup of Edwards was at first successful, and he and his followers were able to seize the “Stone House” and fortify it; but the citizenship of Nacogdoches and the surrounding country was not behind the movement, and it was doomed to failure from its inception. The Fredonian rebellion resulted in many of the prominent citizens of the town being expelled in 1827—among whom were John S. Roberts, Haden and Benjamin Edwards, Adolphus Sterne and Martin Parmer. The Mexican general, Ahumada, who occupied Nacogdoches upon this occasion, was a genuine diplomat, and with the assistance and advice of Stephen F. Austin, who came to Nacogdoches with Ahumada, soon had the old town peaceful again. However, the man whom Ahumada selected as comandante here proved to be an unfortunate choice, and Colonel Jose de las Piedras soon aroused the hostility of the American settlers with his high-handed, arbitrary methods, as was the case with Col. Bradburn at Anahuac. [Illustration: Adolphus Sterne Home Where Sam Houston was baptized. Standing at corner Lanana and Pilar street. See page 22.] The Battle of Nacogdoches For the real cause of the Battle of Nacogdoches, we must go back to Bustamente’s Law of April 6, 1830, forbidding further immigration from the United States, while permitting Europeans to come in unimpeded. Juan Antonio Padilla had been appointed as commissioner general for granting land titles in East Texas, assuming his duties on January 1, 1830. Upon the passage of the law of April 6th, Padilla was unwilling to enforce its provisions, and in the latter part of April he was ordered by Don Ramon Musquiz, political chief in Bexar, to be imprisoned and suspended on a trumped-up-charge of murder. An outbreak was prevented in Nacogdoches only by prompt action on the part of Col. Piedras, while the people of Ayish Bayou and the Palo Gacho met and passed resolutions of an inflammatory nature. Stephen F. Austin refused to cooperate in this opposition and thus for a time the trouble was delayed. The military force in Nacogdoches was doubled during 1830, and passports of all immigrants going through Nacogdoches for Austin’s colony, which was exempted by Bustamente’s Decree, were required to be signed by Austin in person.