But he found them in a state of suffering destitution.

They had been unfortunate in their choice of location, and were enduring an existence barer than the one they had left, without any of its redeeming features.

Colin gave them all he had, and left them with promises of future aid.
Then he went to New York.

When he arrived, there was an intense excitement over the struggle then going on in the little republic of Texas.

He found out something about the country; as for the struggle, it was the old struggle of freedom against papal and priestly dominion.