The Red River by the year 1835 had changed its course and taken the Bayou Rigolet de Bon Dieux as its main channel, leaving Natchitoches high and dry except during the spring and winter months. The river port of Grand Ecore then became the most important shipping port for the southwestern area of Louisiana and eastern Texas. The Texas trail now by-passed Natchitoches some four miles to the west, connecting it with Grand Ecore. General Gaines wrote of the decaying condition of the buildings at Fort Jesup, and acquired a twenty-five thousand dollar appropriation for their repair through the help of Thomas S. Jesup, Quartermaster General of the United States, who had been given the honor of having Fort Jesup named after him. General Gaines possessed a war-like nature and he nourished the idea of annexing Texas in one blaze of glory for himself. Further, he knew that President Andrew Jackson wanted Texas as a part of the United States. Gaines, in a letter to Cass, stated that B. F. Palmer and William Palmer, living near Fort Jesup, had informed him that a Spaniard had arrived at the house of one of their neighbors, saying he had been commissioned by Santa Anna to go among the Caddos and other upper Red River tribes of Indians and stir them up into attacking the upper settlements of Texas. Gaines had sent Lieutenant Bonnel with Eusebia Cartinez, to gain the good will of the Caddos without success. But they were successful among the Indians further to the west of the Caddos. They learned that Manuel Flores, who had established at Spanish-Town between Fort Jesup and Natchitoches, won alliances with the Caddos. Enclosed in the letter were communications from Henry Raguet, Chairman of the Committee of Vigilance at Nacogdoches and A. Hotchkiss, Chairman of a similar committee at San Augustine, both declaring that Indians had moved into the area along El Camino Real and requesting an investigation. Cass was informed that the Alamo had fallen and many of the troops, including Fannin, were killed near Goliad on the Madina River and that Sam Houston was in full retreat toward the Louisiana border. Gaines now received orders to use his own judgment about the affairs on the frontier, and that if he had to go into the Texas territory to insure the peace of the frontier, he could go no further than Nacogdoches. Gaines was still at Sabine Blockhouse when word came that on April 18, 1836, Sam Houston had defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto Bay. Thus Gaines’ chance for glory was gone. However, he must be credited with a timely move, when a few weeks before he had ordered troops to Nacogdoches, thus spoiling the counterpunch attempted by Santa Anna to stir up the Indians. This, without a doubt, quelled the prospective uprising of the Indians. TREATY WITH THE CADDO INDIANS