1. Claiborne’s 28 Aug. 1806 letter to Henry Dearborn reported that he had gone to Natchitoches in order to call the local militia into service, if necessary, against a Spanish force of about one thousand men that had crossed the Sabine River into territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. Consisting primarily of cavalry, the Spanish troops had advanced to within seventeen miles of Natchitoches but then retreated to fifty or sixty miles distance. Most of the American settlers in the area were perfectly willing to defend the territory against the Spanish, Claiborne wrote, but he could not say the same of the “ancient Louisianians,” or French inhabitants. He had hoped to consult with James Wilkinson at Fort Adams or Natchez, but the general was not to be found. Claiborne recommended that if the United States and Spain had not yet signed a treaty, four companies of militia cavalry be stationed on the Louisiana Territory frontier to augment the defense provided by the U.S. Army forces there. The enclosed copy of his 26 Aug. 1806 letter to the Spanish commander and governor of Texas, Simon de Herrera, condemned the invasion as potentially deleterious to the anticipated treaty negotiations, and complained of several other instances of “unfriendly” behavior by Spanish troops and officials. Claiborne also enclosed copies of letters to him from Constant Freeman, John Sibley, and Edward D. Turner (Rowland, Claiborne Letter Books description begins Dunbar Rowland, ed., Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801–1816 (6 vols.; Jackson, Miss., 1917). description ends , 3:383–90).