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HISTORY OF TEXAS,
FROM 1685 TO 1892.
(IN TWO VOLUMES.)
- BY -
JOHN HENRY BROWN.
VOLUME TWO.
AUTHOR OF "TWO YEARS IN MEXICO," "EARLY LIFE IN THE SOUTHWEST," "THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HENRY SMITH, THE FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNOR OF TEXAS," " THE INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS," ETC., ETC.
L. E. DANIELL, PUBLISHER. PRINTED BY BECKTOLD & CO. ST. LOUIS.
Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1893, by JOHN HENRY BROWN,
In the office of the Librarian, at Washington, D. C.
CHAPTER I.
Santa Anna's March to the East - He crosses the Colorado and Brazos - Gen. Houston also crosses the Brazos - Events preceding San Jacinto and the Results.
With the foregoing explanation we now proceed with the narration of subsequent events.
The most authentic information as to the plans and move- ments of Santa Anna after the fall of the Alamo on the 6th, at least from a Mexican stand-point, was given in a pamphlet published after his return to the city of Mexico, later in the same year, by General Vicente Filisola, second in rank to. Santa Anna, and, after the capture of the latter, chief com- mander of the Mexican forces. He asserts that after the successes at San Patricio and the Agua Dulce (sweet water) and the fall of the Alamo shortly after, Santa Anna was greatly elated and convinced that the contest was virtually at an end, and that little else remained for him to do than to overrun and hold the country by sending troops to the chief points, as far as the eastern border and establishing garrisons thereon. On the 11th of March, Santa Anna dispatched General Ramirez y Sesma and Adrain Woll, with seven hundred and twenty-five men, to pass by Gonzales to San Felipe and thence to Harrisburg and Anahuac. This force was made up of the battalions of Aldama, Matamoros and Toluca, having two six-pounders and forty dragoons from the regiment of Dolores. On the same day he ordered Colonel Juan Morales to march for Goliad, to co-operate with Urrea; advancing from Matamoros, with the battalions of Ximenes (He-ma-nes) and San Luis, one twelve and one eight-pounder and one mortar. Learning from Ramirez y Sesma that General Houston would dispute the passage of the Colorado,
(3)
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
and from Urrea, en route from San Patricio, that Goliad was fortified and defended by five hundred men and fourteen pieces of artillery, he dispatched General Tolsa to re-inforce Ramirez with the battalion of Guerrero, the first battalion of Mexico and forty dragoons of Tampico. He also sent to Urrea, Colonel Cayetano Montoya, with the regular militia from Queretaro and Tres Villas, with a twelve-pounder.
The sanguine expectations of easy triumph entertained by Santa Anna were greatly strengthened when, on the 22d, he was advised of the surrender of Fannin at Encinal del Per- dido. On the 24th he ordered General Gaona, with 725 men, to Nacogdoches, via Bastrop and the old road. His force consisted of troops from Morelos and Guanajuato, twenty-four dragoons, fifty convicts and two four-pounders.
Filisola says that the confidence of Santa Anna was so great in the practical close of the contest, that these disposi- tions were made for permanent occupation of the country ; and that he actually made preparations to return to the capi- tal, with a portion of his force, leaving Filisola in chief command to perfect the occupation of Texas.
On the 25th of March, Santa Anna ordered Urrea (whose force consisted then of probably from 1,800 to 2,000 men) to scour all the country from Victoria to Galveston; and en- joined " that under his most strict responsibility, he should fulfill the orders of the government, shooting all the prisoners ; and as regards those lately captured (the 409 under Fannin ) he (Santa Anna ) should order the commandant of Goliad to execute them -the same instructions being given to Ramirez y Sesma and Gaona with respect to all found with arms in their hands and to force those who had not taken up arms to leave the country." 1
1 This was in fulfillment of the design formed on the return of Almonte from his visit to Texas in 1834, viz .: to rid the country to a large extent of its American population, stop further immigration and colonize the country with Mexicans, retired officers, soldiers and convicts.
ยท
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
While in this mood Santa Anna also issued an order that the whole brigade of cavalry, under General Andrade, with all the artillery at headquarters and a large amount of prop- erty, should be put in readiness to leave San Antonio, on the first of April, for San Luis Potosi. But his infatuation was of short duration. Filisola, through Almonte, the confiden- tial aide of the chief, remonstrated in urgent terms, against such of these orders as assumed decisive victory to have been won. A communication from Ramirez y Sesma, from the Navidad, on the 15th, so strengthened the position of Fili- sola, that Santa Anna abandoned his intention of returning home and countermanded the order for the return of Andrade, the dragoons and the artillery. He issued new orders com- manding Gaona to abandon his march for Nacogdoches and to move from Bastrop on San Felipe, on the line of Ramirez. He directed Urrea to pass the Colorado at Matagorda and advance upon Brazoria; and resolved to command the main, central, column in person. On the 29th he dispatched Colonel Amat in advance on the road to Gonzales en route via Beason's on the Colorado, to San Felipe, with the battalion of zapadores (sappers) and the battalion of Guadalajara, with two eight- pounders, two four-pounders and a howitzer. Santa Anna and Filisola, with their staffs, escorts, etc., followed on the 31st.
Ramirez y Sesma was in command of the most advanced column, on the Navidad, about thirty miles west of the Col- orado, on the 20th. Thus is presented the positions of the various wings of the Mexican army at different points from the 21st to the 31st of March.
Between the 17th and the 20th, General Houston moved down the Colorado, on the east side, from Burnham's to Bea- son's, the latter being a few miles below the present town of Columbus. Ramirez y Sesma, although he reported to Santa Anna on the 15th, that he was on the Colorado, was in fact on Rocky Creek, a tributary of the Navidad and fully twenty miles west of the Colorado.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
March 20th, Houston's scouts, under Captain Henry W. Karnes, defeated the scouts of Sesma on Rocky Creek, killing one and capturing another. The scouts of Houston, under Karnes, within two or three days, had several successful skirmishes with those of Sesma.
On the 22d Captain Henry Teal joined Houston with a company of regulars ; and on the 23d some munitions and supplies were received. On the same day Ramirez y Sesma approached and encamped within three or four miles of the Colorado River.
In a letter to General Rusk, first Secretary of War (newly elected ) on the 23d, General Houston explains the situation. He says : " For forty-eight hours I have not eaten an ounce, nor have I slept. I have had no aid or assistance but from my friend Hockley, who now fills your former station." He complains of the deserters who left the camp and spread con- sternation as they traveled east, and he deplores the retirement of the new government from Washington to Harrisburg, as calculated to increase the panic.
Satisfied that Santa Anna's main army would follow Ra- mirez y Sesma on the central line, General Houston fell back to the Brazos and encamped on Mill Creek, above San Felipe, from which, on the 29th of March, he wrote Secretary Rusk saying : " On my arrival on the Brazos, had I consulted the wishes of all, I should have been like the ass between two stacks of hay. Many wished me to go below, others above. I consulted none - held no councils of war. If I err, the blame is mine. I find Colonel George W. Hockley, of my staff, a sage counsellor and true friend. My staff are all worthy, and merit well of me. There was on yesterday, I understand, much discontent in the lines, because I would not fall down the river. If it should be wise for me to do so, I can cross the river at any time and fall down to greater ad- vantage and with greater safety. I hope to-day to receive ninety men from the Red-lands. I cannot now tell my
1
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
force, but will soon be able. The enemy must be crippled by the fights they have had with our men. I have ordered D. C. Barrett and Edward Gritten to be arrested and held subject to the future order of the government. I do think they ought to be detained and tried as traitors and spies. For Heaven's sake do not drop back again with the seat of government.1 Your removal to Harrisburg has done more to increase the panic than anything else that has occurred in Texas, except the fall of the Alamo. Send fifty agents, if need be, to the United States. Wharton writes me from Nashville, that the ladies of that place have fitted out, at their own expense, no less than two hundred men. If matters press upon us, for God's sake let the troops land at Galveston Bay, and by land reach the Brazos. Let no troops march with baggage wagons or wagons of any kind."
From his camp on the Brazos on the 31st, General Houston wrote Secretary Rusk as follows: "The enemy could have been beaten at the Colorado. My intention was to have attacked him on the second night after the day on which Fannin's destruction was reported by (Peter) Kerr, but for that news and the march of strong re-inforcements, probably arriving that night to the enemy. Previous to that the troops were in fine spirits, and keen for action. * * I have somewhere between seven and eight hundred effective men. Two nights since, when it was reported that the enemy were on this side of the Colorado, the people of San Felipe re- duced it to ashes. There was no order from me for it."
At this time, Colonel Burleson, Colonel Sherman, Don Lorenzo de Zavala and Colonel Mirabeau B. Lamar were with
1 President Burnet's object in locating the government temporarily at Harrisburg, as stated by himself, was to be at the most accessible interior point of navigation, in order that supplies and men could be received from New Orleans and communication kept open with the United States - reasons potential in themselves - yet the effect seems to have been depress- ing in the interior. Beyond this effect, the movement seems to have been a judicious one.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
General Houston. In Erastus (Deaf) Smith and Captain Henry W. Karnes, Houston had efficient and daring scouts.
General Rusk, Secretary of War, on the 6th of April, joined General Houston on the west bank of the Brazos and remained with the army, David Thomas acting as Secretary of War, pro tem.
On the 12th and 13th, by means of a yawl and the steam- boat Yellowstone, General Houston crossed from the west to the east side of the Brazos, which was very high and diffi- cult of passage, and pitched camp at Groce's Retreat, near the present town of Hempstead. On the 13th he wrote Acting Secretary of War David Thomas, as follows : "Taunts and suggestions have been gratuitously tendered me; and I have submitted to them without any disposition to retort either by unkindness or imputation. What has been my situation ? At Gonzales I had three hundred and seventy-four efficient men, without supplies, not even powder, balls or arms; at Colorado, seven hundred men, without discipline or time to organize the army. Two days since, my effective force in camp was five hundred and twenty-three men (aggregate). I had authorized Captain Martin (opposite Fort Bend ) to detain a force of at least two hundred men. I had sent to the bottom, opposite San Felipe (under Capt. Mosely Baker ) one hundred and fifty men, and had reason to expect that the attack would be made and an effort made to cross the river at San Felipe, or at the point at which I was, as the prairie at the latter point approached nearer the river, and the bottom was better than any other on the river. The cannonade was kept up at San Felipe until yesterday morning, and as the river was very high and it was reported to me that the enemy were preparing rafts at that point, I had every reason to suppose that they intended to cross there if possible."
That the enemy did not cross the river at San Felipe is owing to the deadly fire from Baker and his gallant riflemen
.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
from the opposite bank. This caused them to move thirty miles below to Fort Bend, now Richmond. General Houston in the same letter says : " It was impossible to guard all the river passes for one hundred miles, and at once concentrate the force so as to guard any one point effectually, unless . where the main body might be stationed. An invading army marches with everything necessary to conquest. I could at once have fallen back on Harrisburg, but a wish to allay the panic that prevailed induced me to stop at the Brazos, con- trary to my views of military operations. I had assurances of re-inforcements by remaining on the Brazos of which I will say nothing at present. When I assured the department that the enemy should not pass the Brazos, I did not intend to convey the idea that the army or myself possessed the powers of ubi- quity ; but that they should not pass through my encampment."
On the 11th the General ordered all the troops at Washing- ton and above that place to join him by forced marches and on the 12th he directed those below to do likewise.
Santa Anna reached Gonzales on the second of April. The river was swollen, involving the necessity of crossing on a raft. Leaving Filisola to cross the main body as rapidly as possible, Santa Anna with Almonte and his staff, and a strong escort on the 3d, continued on the route and arrived at the Atascosita crossing of the Colorado on the 5th. On the 6th, with the divisions of Ramirez y Sesma and Tolsa, he moved towards San Felipe, reaching that place on the 7th. General Woll, with a battalion, was left at the Colorado to construct rafts for the passage of Filisola and the main body of the troops with him.
It should be stated also that General Andrade, with a lim- ited force, had been left in command of San Antonio and never came east of that place.
The swollen condition of the Brazos and the unknown strength of Baker's party opposite San Felipe, caused Santa Anna to abandon his design of crossing there.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
From Almonte's journal it is shown that on the 9th Santa Anna took the choice companies of Guerrero, Matamoros, Mexico and Toluca and fifty of the Tampico cavalry and moved down the country in search of a crossing over the river. He took the road leading to and down the San Bernard. On the 10th, on a farm at the Fort Bend and Egypt crossing of the Bernard, they found twenty barrels of sugar and five hundred fanegas (1,250 bushels) of corn. Thence, learning there was a small force ( under Captain Wylie Martin ) at Fort Bend on the old Fort road, they took the road to that place. At half-past 9 p. m. they halted, but at 2 a. m. they renewed the march " on foot," as Almonte states, " from the President down to the soldiers, leaving the baggage and cavalry for the purpose of surprising the enemy ( who defended the crossing) before daylight. We did not succeed, as we found the distance double what we supposed it to be. Day broke upon us at a quarter of a league from the ferry and frustrated our plan. We then placed the men in ambush."
On the 11th they were still in ambush, when a passing negro, from the east side, was captured. He conducted them to the canoe in which he had crossed, a little below the ferry, in which, unperceived, they crossed, by which time the cavalry arrived and took possession of the houses. Martin, however, had previously crossed to the east side and kept up a fire at the Mexicans till the Cazadores under Bringas crossed at the lower ford, and were about to assail him in the rear. He then retired. An order was at once sent to Ramirez y Sesma to join Santa Anna. On the 12th Santa Anna wrote Urrea at Matagorda, repaired the boats, took possession of Thompson's ferry, a little above, and received dispatches from Ramirez and from Victoria. On the 13th Ramirez arrived with his division. "Many articles were found," and dis- patches arrived from both Filisola and Urrea.
" On the 14th," says Almonte, " we crossed the river early
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
with our beds only, and provisions for the road. At three in the afternoon, we started from Thompson's ferry." His notes state that they arrived at Harrisburg on the 15th and Lynchburg on the 16th. In this movement Santa Anna had with him between eleven and twelve hundred men, re-inforced on the morning of the battle (the 21st) by Cos, with five hundred more.
Within a day or two after Santa Anna left Fort Bend, on the 14th, Filisola, with the main army, arrived there and assumed command. General Gaona, having come by way of Bastrop, had joined him. Woll remained with a few hundred men at the Atascosita crossing of the Colorado and a small force of observation remained at San Felipe.
Urrea had left a battalion under Colonel Alcerrica, at Matagorda, and with his chief force (probably twelve hun- dred men), was approaching Filisola by way of Brazoria, and Filisola states he had under him (after all the re-inforcements had gone to Santa Anna) four thousand and seventy-eight men.
The following constituted the strength of the Mexican army of operations :
Under Filisola
4,078 men.
Santa Anna. 1,600
Woll, at the Colorado 400
Alcerrica, at Matagorda 200
Andrade, at San Antonio 400
66
At Victoria.
150
At Goliad .
150
Various small bodies
500
Total
7,478 men.
This is believed to have been very nearly the strength of the Mexican army when Santa Anna left the Brazos on the 14th of April, after a loss in killed and wounded at the Alamo, Goliad, Refugio and elsewhere of about fourteen hundred
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
and fifty, showing his original force to have been about nine thousand.
As soon as General Houston learned that Santa Anna held both banks of the Brazos, he realized the condition existed for which he had hoped - a condition that would enable him to fight and whip the enemy in detail, far from his base of supplies, in a country where defeat would be crushing. Houston had improved the delay by organizing his forces into regiments commanded respectively by Colonels Edward Burleson and Sidney Sherman; Lieutenant-Colonel Millard, who commanded the infantry proper, Captain Henry W. Karnes, of the cavalry, and Captain .Isaac N. Moreland of the artillery. He had received various supplies of ammunition, munitions and re-inforcements; but was sorely disappointed at the meagerness of the latter largely caused by apprehension of Indian uprisings in east Texas. This delayed the coming of several hundred men. The General also complained in repeated communications that refugees from his camp, flying to the east, had spread consternation throughout the country. He also felt great anxiety in regard to a disaffected, or tory, element east of the lower Trinity and dreaded their commu- nication with the enemy.
On the 15th he ordered Captain Wylie Martin, who had retired from Fort Bend before the Mexicans, after a gallant defense, to conduct the fleeing families to Robbins' ferry on the Trinity; and on the same day took up the line of march from Donoho's in the vicinity of the present town of Hemp- stead, for Harrisburg, on Buffalo Bayou. The whole country was flooded with the waters of overflowed streams - from which the Mexicans suffered in common with the Texians - and travel over all the coast country was exceedingly difficult. It was especially so on the route selected by General Houston, the soil partaking of the nature of quicksand, and containing many quagmires, or in Texas parlance " boggy " places. Just before starting, a negro prisoner arrived in camp, bear-
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
ing a message from Santa Anna to General Houston, saying: " Tell Mr. Houston that I know where he is, up there in the bushes ; and as soon as I whip the land thieves down here, I will go up there and smoke him out." General Houston also sent on the same day, Captain Jacob H. Sheppard to have a talk with the Cooshatties, on the Trinity, and secure their neutrality, if not their aid. He succeeded in the former with a partial promise of the latter, doubtless with a mental reservation to wait and declare for the victors, which they did. On leaving, Captain Sheppard asked : " Where shall I find you, General?" To which the latter replied : " Tell all the people you see, Captain, that I am determined to fight at the first chance; and if I should meet with a reverse I will be sure to make noise enough for you and the Indians to follow me." 1
General Houston crossed the prairie on the 15th and en- camped at the ranch of Mrs. McCurley, at the edge of the tim- ber, on Spring Creek. By a forced march the army reached the east side of Buffalo Bayou, opposite Harrisburg, about noon on the 18th. It must be understood that from the course of that stream, from north west to southeast, the lines of march of Houston and Santa Anna threw them on opposite sides. There Houston rested till the next day. Karnes and Deaf Smith were sent across to reconnoitre. President Burnet and the cabinet, on the approach of Santa Anna, sailed down to Galveston Island, narrowly escaping capture at Morgan's Point, where several volleys were fired into the little boat, in which were also Mrs. Burnet and her two little children.
About dark Smith returned with two prisoners, one a scout and the other a bearer of dispatches from Filisola to Santa Anna. This was a most opportune capture, giving General Houston his first information that the Mexicans had been at and burned Harrisburg, that they had gone down the west
1 This is from Captain Sheppard's written statement.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
side of the bayou and the San Jacinto, into which the bayou emptied, and Galveston Bay, into which the San Jacinto emp- tied, all within the compass of a few miles ; and, above all, that Santa Anna in person was in command of this advanced division of the Mexican army. General Houston's most earn- est desires could not have been more fully gratified than by these revelations. He well knew that in passing down Santa Anna had been compelled to pass Vince's bridge, over Vince's bayou; that the maintenance of the bridge was necessary to communication with Filisola at Fort Bend, and that in case of defeat, that bridge would furnish the only avenue of escape for the Mexicans.
On receipt of this gratifying intelligence, General Houston at once determined to cross the bayou early next day and seek Santa Anna below. His orders were issued accordingly, in- cluding the preparation of rations for three days, and the repairs of a boat two miles below.
On the morning of the 19th the troops were paraded and General Houston addressed them in perhaps the most elo- quent and soul-stirring speech of his life. He concealed noth- ing. He told them where the Mexicans were, and that Santa Anna was in command; that they would now cross the bayou and confront him, whether two or five to one; and declared that the time had come when they would take the hazards and trust in the God of battles. He said that if any were present who shrank from this issue, they need not cross the bayou. He said that some must perish, but it was glorious to fall in such a cause, and that their slogan would be: "Remember the Alamo ! Remember Goliad !" and their motto : " Vic- tory or death," for there would be no chance of retreat. But, said he, " There will be no defeat ! Victory is as certain as God reigns. I feel the inspiration in every fiber of my being. Trust in the God of the just and fear not ! " 1
1 Lying on my blanket at the foot of the San Marcos mountains, in June, 1841, with Judge Patrick Usher and John S. Menefee, both of whom heard this speech, and surrounded by several older men, Judge Usher described
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
General Rusk, Secretary of War, followed General Houston in a burst of eloquence that added intensity to the resolve of the men to triumph or perish.
Not a man able to walk but clamored to cross the bayou, and sick men wept at being left. To secure sufficient men to guard the camp and take care of the sick and the munitions of war, a draft had to be resorted to. In no other way could a guard be obtained, and every man so left felt personally aggrieved. They were as truly heroes as their more fortunate fellows who participated in the battle.
The main body of the army crossed the bayou two miles below Harrisburg, during the forenoon of the 19th, and con- tinued the march through the succeeding night till a late hour, when a halt was called for a short time for rest. Houston, buoyed by the zeal of his men, was searching for Santa Anna, to fight him before the main body, under Filisola, could re-inforce him. It was the golden opportunity for which he, keeping his own counsel, had hoped and maneuvered. His correspondence with those at a distance establishes this fact. This letter, written before he crossed the bayou, re- veals his purposes :
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