USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 11
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Provisional Government.
The other business of the consultation was to organize a provisional form of government, which, however, proved entirely inadequate and inept and almost resulted in the downfall of Texas. The consultation appointed Henry Smith, of the war faction, governor, and James W. Robinson lieutenant governor, and these were to co-operate with a coun- cil made up of one member elected by the delegates of each municipality. The powers of these two branches were conflicting, and harmony of action would have been possible only with most harmonious individuals, as was not the case. Sam Houston was appointed commander in chief of the to-be-created army of some eleven hundred men, his actions to be supervised by the governor and the council. Then there was appointed a commission of three, Austin being one, who were to proceed to the United States and negotiate in the interests of the state and particularly to obtain a loan, money being an absolute sine qua non of the continued existence and prosperity of the new government and the operations of its army.
The consultation, having declared Texas as the champion of re- publican government for all the states of Mexico, further compromised its actions for the individual rights of Texas by listening to the schemes of the dispossessed Mexicans and especially of certain citizens of Coa- huila who desired, after the invaders were expelled from Texas, to lead the victorious army across the Rio Grande and continue there the setting up of republican states-for the not disinterested and altruistic purpose of restoring certain large estates to the liberals who were most zealous
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in this agitation. This fatal "entangling alliance" took the form of an expedition to Matamoras, which was sanctioned before the adjournment of the consultation, and which destiny was to turn into a prime cause of the Alamo tragedy.
After thus adopting a scheme of administration and setting the wheels of the provisional government going, the consultation adjourned, with the intention of meeting on the following March I, but before that date it was superseded by an elected convention. Meanwhile the dogs of war had slipped the leash, and the second martial drama between Texas and Mexico was being played out.
The Gonzales Cannon.
In Gonzales was a cannon which had been loaned the citizens for protection against the Indians. The return of this was now demanded by Colonel Ugartechea, who sent a troop to bring it back to San Antonio. Every possible means was employed to delay the Mexicans, and in the meantime volunteers were flocking from all directions to resist this in- vasion. On October I, near Gonzales, occurred a sharp conflict between the Mexican soldiers and the Americans, in which the latter, using to great effect the very piece of artillery which was in dispute, routed the Mexicans, who fled ignominiously to San Antonio.
The news had already come that General Cos was on his way to San Antonio, and this diversion of the colonists at Gonzales enabled that general to land his force of five hundred men at Matagorda and without hindrance reach San Antonio in October. Thus the die was cast, and there could be no more thought or possibility of drawing back. Advo- cates of peace and the war agitators joined hands, and the war for the constitution of 1824 was begun. And there was no telling where martial fury would lead, it might even transcend its professed intentions and destroy all fragile bonds of federation and loyalty to the central govern- ment. Men were flocking from all quarters to the scene of action, and a circular by Austin proclaimed against the threatened military depotism and directed that San Antonio must be taken and the Mexican soldiers driven from Texas soil.
San Antonio Campaign.
The volunteers rapidly assembled at Gonzales, and Austin being appointed to command of the army, on October 13 began the march to San Antonio, encamping within eight miles of that city to await rein- forcements. In the meantime cheering news came from Goliad, where on October 9, Captain Collingsworth had surprised the Mexican gar- rison and, after a brief struggle, forced it to capitulate. Thus a large store of arms and other supplies fell into the hands of the patriots, and this event had the further effect of bringing to the active support of the revolutionists the last of the hesitating Texans. Enthusiasm was also being aroused across the Louisiana border, and two American compa- nies soon came to the assistance of their former fellow citizens. Early in November the Mexican post at Lipantitlan, near San Patricio, was captured by the Texans, and soon San Antonio alone remained to the enemy.
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From his camp on Salado creek, on October 27, Austin sent Colonel James Bowie and Captain James W. Fannin-two notables of Texas history-with ninety-two men to reconnoitre in the vicinage of San Antonio. Bowie encamped for the night near the old Mission Concep-
Mission Concepcion Skirmish.
cion, and when day broke he found himself nearly surrounded by four hundred Mexicans. The Americans were well sheltered by the river bluff, and the enemy's volley firing did no harm, but the wonderful skill of the Texas riflemen wrought havoc among the close ranks advancing against them. The Mexicans brought forward a field piece, but the Americans dropped the gunners as fast as they stepped to their places, and the gun was fired only five times during the engagement, being finally left in the hands of the victorious Americans. In this battle of Concepcion only one Texan was killed, while the Mexican forces were defeated and lost heavily in killed and wounded.
After this encouraging victory the Americans moved up to the east side of San Antonio across the river, and laid siege to the town. Their camp was north of the Alamo, in the vicinity of the river ford (near the Brewery). The majority of the men were eager to storm the place, but the fortifications were strong and there were no siege guns to reduce them, so Austin hesitated to risk so many lives in an assault. The tedious siege operations were continued for a month without result, and discon- tent was brewing among the men, who wished for quick action that they might return to the homes that so needed them. The ranks were rapidly thinning by desertion, although new recruits also kept arriving. In order to carry out his duties as commissioner to the United States, Austin resigned the command in the latter part of November, and was succeeded by Colonel Edward Burleson.
There were occasional skirmishes to vary the monotony-among them the famous "grass fight," in which the Americans once more proved their superiority over greater numbers. Finally a general assault was ordered, and then was countermanded because the enemy were supposed to have been informed, by a deserter, of the proposed attack. This in- creased the chafing of the ardent patriots. Just then, however, infor- mation came that the Mexican garrison was weaker than was supposed, and, taking advantage of this opportune juncture, Colonel Ben Milam dramatically stepped before the commander's tent and, waving his hat, called out, "Who will go with me into San Antonio?" This coup d'etat fired the enthusiasm of every soldier, and three hundred at once placed themselves in readiness to storm the town.
Milam Leads the Assault.
Early on December 5th the intrepid band forced its way into the town. Then for three days followed continuous fighting,1 in which the
1 "In about a week Ben Milam called for volunteers to go into San Antonio and take it. . The nights were dark. We did not go by the open streets or roads, but we went through the old adobe and picket houses of the Mexicans, using battering rams made of logs ten or twelve feet long. The stout men would take hold of the logs and swing them awhile and then let drive endwise, punching
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Americans seized one building and one position after another, using their rifles from every coign of vantage from rooftop to basement, for- cing entrance with crowbars, breaking down partition walls or fortifica- tions with artillery or by main strength, dislodging the Mexicans by fierce and determined onslaught-a conflict in which individual skill and bravery were the winning factors. On the night of the 8th Cos started a counter movement across the river to attack Burleson's camp, but in the confusion rumors of treachery, desertion and complete rout became current among both soldiers and citizens, a panic ensued, and on the following morning General Cos negotiated for surrender, and two days later the terms of capitulation were signed. Cos was given a guard of soldiers and ordered to take the hated convict troops beyond the Rio Grande, while the other Mexican soldiers were allowed to keep their arms and remain in Texas or return home, as they should choose.
December 14, 1835, Gen. Burleson sent his report to the governor. Accom- panying it was a report of F. W. Johnson, colonel commanding as successor to Milam, describing the storming of the town. (Published in Telegraph and Texas Register, December 26, 1835.)
The first division of the storming party, according to this report, took pos- session of the house of Don Antonio de la Garza. The second division took pos- session of the house of Veramendi. "The last division was exposed for a short time to a very heavy fire of grape and musketry from the whole of the enemy's line of fortification, until the guns of the first division opened their fire, when the enemy's attention was directed to both divisions. At 7 o'clock [December 5] a heavy cannonading from the town was seconded by a well directed fire from the Alamo, which for a time prevented the possibility of covering our line, or effecting a safe communication between the two divisions. In consequence of the 12-pounder having been dismounted, and the want of proper cover for the other gun, little execution was done by our artillery during the day." The night was spent in strengthening the position and extending trenches. At dawn on the morning of the 6th, "the enemy were observed to have occupied the tops of the houses in our front, where, under cover of breastworks, they opened through loopholes a very brisk fire of small arms on our whole line, followed by a steady cannonading from the town in front, and the Alamo on the left flank." The Americans' first division advanced and occupied a house to the right of the Garza house, and in making trenches but otherwise little progress was made during that day.
"At daylight of the 7th, it was discovered that the enemy had opened a trench on the Alamo side of the river, and on the left flank, as well as strength- ening their battery on the cross street leading to the Alamo." Their fire from these positions was silenced about II o'clock. "About 12 o'clock Henry Carns of Captain York's company, exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy, gallantly ad- vanced to a house in front of the first division, and with a crowbar forced an entrance, into which the whole of the company immediately followed him, and made a secure lodgment. . At half past three o'clock, as our gallant com- mander, Colonel Milam, was passing into the yard of my position [Johnson's, in the Veramendi house], he received a rifle shot in the head which caused his instant
holes in the walls through which we passed. How the women and children would yell when we knocked the holes in the walls and went in. It was dark; and by daylight all the men were sheltered in these houses. We had dug our way through the houses until we were opposite the portholes in the barricades on the streets. We had holes punched in the walls so that we could see how to shoot. The guns in these barricades were pointed down the street, and we were on each side in the houses. They could not turn the guns around so as to shoot at us, but we could shoot at them over the walls of the barricades, and when one of them crossed in front of a porthole we shot at him. We moved our cannon into a street so as to knock down some of the barricades, and the fire of the Mexican cannon dismounted it."-S. R. Bostick, in Tex. Hist. Assn. Quarterly, Vol. V.
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The Veramendi house is still standing, its facade marred by advertisements and a tin awning. The Zaguan, or entrance hall, is one of two belonging to the eighteenth century left in the city. The other is that of the Alamo. Some ten years ago (1890) the Veramendi doors were covered with a coat of green paint and marked with the words "These doors have swung on their pivots since 1720." I have not been able to verify this date. The consensus of opinion among those in a position to know would make it about ten years later. Just beyond the entrance fell Milam. Yoakum says, "Milam was buried where he fell," but local tradition says it was under a group of fig trees on the slope to the river, and that his remains were afterwards removed to the old Protestant cemetery, now Milam Park, where he still sleeps-if not exactly under the stone erected to his memory, certainly within twenty feet of it. (Mrs. E. B. Cooley, 1900)
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death." Late in the evening the Texans forced their way into and "took possession of the house of Don J. Antonio Navarro, an advanced and important position close to the square." At 9 o'clock on the following morning another advance was made, into the "Zambrano row," leading into the square. The party at this point was reinforced during the evening, and, news of the arrival of Mexican reinforcements having been received. at half past ten in the evening, "Captains Cook and Patton, with the company of New Orleans Grays, and a company of Brazoria volunteers, forced their way into the priest's house in the square, although exposed to the fire of a battery of three guns and a large body of musketeers. Immediately after we got possession of the priest's house, the enemy opened a furious cannon- ade from all their batteries, accompanied by an incessant volley of small arms against every house in our possession and every part of our lines, which continued unceasingly until half past six o'clock, A. M., of the 9th, when they sent a flag of trice, with an intimation that they desired to capitulate."
In this storming of San Antonio fell two Texans, the intrepid Ben Milam being one of them, while twenty-six were wounded. The Mex- ican loss was much larger. By the middle of December Texas was again free from the Mexican military, the citizen volunteers had dis- persed to their homes, and only small garrisons remained at the most important posts. Had vigilance been thenceforth the order of the hour in Texas, Mexican depotism might never again have set its iron heel on this side of the Rio Grande and the pages of history might not have been blotted by atrocities and horrors worthy of the darkest ages.
Actions of the Provisional Government.
But while armed patriotism is thus winning glorious victories and driving its enemies from the land, what is being done by the constituted authorities, to whom has been solemnly committed the direction of the affairs of state? The provisional government of Texas during these perilous times was sadly deficient in statecraft, self-control, tact, and wisdom for handling the multifarious internal and foreign difficulties pressing for settlement, and their actions throughout are a sad com- mentary on the fact that a people may be brave and diligent and yet suffer much through inefficiency and lack of harmony among their leaders.
It must be borne in mind that during this critical period the Texans were not affluent. They had been established in the country hardly ten years, and like all frontier agricultural communities their prosperity was of gradual attainment. The few rich colonists gave liberally to the cause of liberty, and the other citizens gave all they had-which was service in the field, and in the meantime during their absence their crops wasted and their families came near to destitution. Money for the immediate needs of the administration and for the support of the army was there- fore the most emphatic need, and was the main object sought by the commissioners to the United States.
But all this while the heads of the government were quarreling among themselves, and when harmony and effective co-operation should have characterized all branches of the state, the governor and the council were at dagger points. The climax was reached when the council de- posed Governor Smith and placed the lieutenant governor in his chair. But even then the contention continued, paralyzing the actions of both sides, and no practical relief was afforded the country. Furthermore,
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the apathy of the government stole over the people, and while the dark storm clouds of a crushing despotism formed ominous on the southern horizon, among citizens and officials in Texas there appeared hardly a sign of preparation against the day of Santa Anna's wrath.
In fact, instead of strengthening the outposts and reinforcing the weak garrisons and placing its own environs in a state of defense, the impotent council of Texas placed the seal of its sanction upon the hair- brained scheme for sending the expedition across the Rio Grande to capture Matamoras, thus draining the country of the very soldiers needed to defend the borders. It is true that this movement was only an ex- tension of the plan of campaign as defined at the meeting of the con- sultation, but this enterprise was merely the sad degeneration of a once noble idea, and its mainspring seems to have been not so much the win- ning of independence and restoration of liberty as the spirit of adventure and scheming ambition. Also, the volunteers from the United States and the most radical of the war party were restless after the San Antonio victory and were eager to extend the conquest, and this circumstance aggravated the confusion and discontent with the supine government.
In such difficulties Sam Houston, the commander in chief of the army of Texas, could do nothing toward organizing and equipping the regular army and placing the country in a state of defense, and despite his protests the council ordered men withdrawn from the posts to swell the invading expedition and by vesting the command in other leaders really superseded Houston as the head of the army.
Thus with a governor and the council at cross purposes and render- ing null each other's acts, with a powerless commander in chief, the citizens in a state of lethargy, and with the military diverted to bootless filibuster, Texas lay dulled and stupefied, requiring the fearful sting of the Alamo massacre to rouse her into a writhing agony of action.
CHAPTER XIV.
ALAMO AND GOLIAD-DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
When the ordinary American speaks of the revolution he usually means thereby the war in which the freedom of the American colonies from British misrule was won. But not so with the old-time Texan, who, indeed, takes due pride in the great war waged by his colonial fore- fathers, but his revolution was the memorable struggle in which the yoke of Mexican domination was forever removed and Texas became a free and sovereign state. Therefore in Texas history the revolution of '76 yields precedence to the revolution of '36, and thus in another noteworthy respect the state is unique among her sister commonwealths of the Union.
The Texas revolution proper opens with two tragedies. For, al- though the events recorded in the preceding continued almost without lull through to the final movement for complete independence, there was, during the formation of the storm cloud and before it broke, a change of spirit in Texas, and while hitherto the fight had been made, nominally at least, for the constitution of 1824, now the complete separation of Texas from Mexico became the patriotic slogan, and the independent wave so long gathering force now swept entirely across the colonies and became irresistible. But to give definiteness to this sentiment and forge it into a burning and unconquerable determination on the part of every citizen patriot, it was necessary that the army of the enemy should break its fury upon the unprepared country and by two horrors unparalleled in American annals, fire every Texan with raging vengeance and furnish him a battle cry potent against all tyranny and oppression in "Remember the Alamo."
In command of the garrison at San Antonio at the beginning of 1836 was Colonel Neill. His force had been drawn upon to strengthen the Matamoras expedition, and he was in no wise able to withstand an attack in force. In fact, Santa Anna had already taken the field against the rebellious Texans, and with an army of some six thousand was marching northward toward San Antonio. Troops were also sent to re- inforce Matamoras against the intended invasion, and the Rio Grande border was crossed and Texas soil felt the tread of the conqueror's army before anything like adequate preparation could be made for resistance.
From San Antonio there went to General Houston appeals for re- inforcements and information concerning the approach of Santa Anna. But Houston's hands were tied by the actions of the government, and there was also little eagerness this time among the citizens to enlist to repel the foe, so that the recruiting of the army went very slowly. About the middle of January the commander in chief dispatched Colonel Bowie with a small troop, with instructions to Neill to destroy the fortifications
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and retire with the artillery. But there were no means of transporting the cannon, and it was decided to remain in the town, although there were hardly eighty men in the garrison. Governor Smith later sent Colonel Travis with an additional force, and on the departure of Neill for home Travis assumed command of the post, having not more than one hundred and fifty men under him. On February 23, Santa Anna's army took possession without resistance of San Antonio, Travis with- drawing his men across the river and taking his final stand in the old Alamo mission.
The Alamo Fortress.
The place known as the Alamo contained the usual buildings of a mission and was also strongly fortified. On the north of the church was a large walled convent yard, on the west side of which was situated the convent itself, a long and narrow, two-storied building, divided by par- titions into rooms which were used for barracks. Then to the west of the convent and also extending some distance north and south was the square or plaza of the mission, rectangular in shape and enclosed with strong walls of masonry several feet thick. From the southeast corner of this square ran a diagonal stockade across to connect with the church.
This was the scene of the Alamo siege. It was invested by the army of Santa Anna on February 23, and for a week was bombarded without effect, the Texans using their limited supply of ammunition only when the enemy came in range, and then with telling effect. On March I thirty- two men under Captain J. W. Smith arrived and made their way through the enemy's lines into the fort. Thus there were, according to the best estimates, one hundred and eighty-three men to hold this fortress, of two or three acres in extent, against five thousand Mexicans led by a bloodthirsty tyrant. Among the heroes destined to shed their life blood in this place were the well known names of Travis, who had been throughout one of the most eager and consistent of the advocates of Texas independence; Colonel Bowie, a grizzled veteran of many a frontier battle; Davy Crockett, pioneer statesmen, hunter and soldier; and J. B. Bonham, of South Carolina, besides many others of not less dauntless courage.
At the beginning of the siege Travis sent a letter to his fellow citi- zens which deserves a place in every Texas history, and shows the spirit that animated the patriots who during this trying struggle offered their lives in the achievement of Texan independence. The letter runs as follows :
Commandancy of the Alamo, Bejar, February 24, 1836.
To the people of Texas and all Americans in the world :
Fellow citizens and compatriots-I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for twenty-four hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has de- manded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid with all dispatch. The enemy is re- ceiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself
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