USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 12
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as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country. Victory or Death.
WILLIAM BARRET TRAVIS,
Lt. Col. Comdt.
P. S. The Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn. We have since found in deserted houses eighty or ninety bushels and got into the walls twenty or thirty head of beeves.
TRAVIS.
For a week the siege went on, each day the position of the garrison becoming more critical. Three days before the end Travis sent to the president of the convention the last official report of the siege.
Commandancy of the Alamo, Bejar, March 3, 1836.
Sir : In the present confusion of the political authorities of the country, and in the absence of the commander-in-chief, I beg leave to communicate to you the situation of this garrison. You have doubtless already seen my official report of the action of the 25th ult., made on that day to General Samuel Houston, together with the various communications heretofore sent by express. I shall therefore confine myself to what has transpired since that date.
From the 25th to the present date, the enemy have kept up a bombardment from two howitzers (one a five and a half inch, and the other an eight inch), and a heavy cannonade from two long nine pounders, mounted on a battery on the opposite side of the river, at the distance of four hundred yards from our walls. During this period the enemy have been busily employed in encircling us with entrenched encampments on all sides, at the following distances, to-wit: In Bejar, four hundred yards west; in Lavillita, three hundred yards south; at the powder house, one thousand yards east by south; on the ditch, eight hundred yards north- east; and at the old mill, eight hundred yards north. Notwithstanding all this, a company of thirty-two men from Gonzales made their way into us on the morning of the Ist inst. at 3 o'clock, and Colonel J. B. Bonham, a courier from Gonzales, got in this morning at II o'clock, without molestation. I have so fortified this place, that the walls are generally proof against cannon balls; and I still continue to intrench on the inside, and strengthen the walls by throwing up the dirt. At least two hundred shells have fallen inside of our works without having injured a single man; indeed we have been so fortunate as not to lose a man from any cause, and we have killed many of the enemy. The spirits of my men are still high, although they have much to depress them. We have contended for ten days against an enemy whose numbers are variously estimated at from fifteen hundred to six thousand men, with General Ramires Sezma and Colonel Batres, the aide- de-camp of Santa Anna, at their head. A report was circulated that Santa Anna himself was with the enemy, but I think it was false. A reinforcement of about one thousand men is now entering Bejar from the west, and I think it more than probable that Santa Anna is now in town, from the rejoicing we hear. Colonel Fannin is said to be on the march to this place with reinforcements, but I fear it is not true, as I have repeatedly sent to him for aid without receiving any. Colonel Bonham, my special messenger, arrived at La Bahia fourteen days ago, with a request for aid; and on the arrival of the enemy in Bejar ten days ago, I sent an express to Colonel F., which arrived at Goliad on the next day, urging him to send tis reinforcements-none have yet arrived.
I look to the colonies alone for aid; unless it arrives soon, I have to fight the enemy on his own terms. I will, however, do the best I can under the circum- stances ; and I feel confident that the determined valor, and desperate courage, heretofore evinced by my men, will not fail them in the last struggle; and although they may be sacrificed to the vengeance of a gothic enemy, the victory will cost the enemy so dear, that it will be worse for him than a defeat. I hope your hon- orable body will hasten on reinforcements, ammunition and provisions to our aid, as soon as possible. We have provisions for twenty days for the men we have; our supply of ammunition is limited. At least five hundred pounds of cannon powder, and two hundred rounds of six, nine, twelve and eighteen-pound balls,-ten kegs of rifle powder, and a supply of lead, should be sent to this place without delay, under a sufficient guard.
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If these things are promptly sent and large reinforcements are hastened to this frontier, this neighborhood will be the great and decisive battle ground. The power of Santa Anna is to be met here, or in the colonies; we had better meet them here, than to suffer a war of desolation to rage in our settlements. A blood red banner waves from the church of Bejar, and in the camp above is, in token that the war is one of vengeance against rebels; they have declared us as such, and demanded that we should surrender at discretion, or that this garrison should be put to the sword.
Their threats have had no influence on me, or my men, but to make all fight with desperation, and that high-souled courage which characterises the patriot, who is willing to die in defense of his country's liberty and his own honor.
The citizens of this municipality are all our enemies, except those who have joined us heretofore ; we have but three Mexicans now in the fort; those who have not joined us in this extremity, should be declared public enemies, and their prop- erty should aid in paying the expenses of the war.
The bearer of this will give your honorable body a statement more in detail, should he escape through the enemy's lines.
God and Texas-Victory or Death !
Your obedient servant.
W. BARRET TRAVIS, Lieut. Col. Comm.
P. S. The enemy's troops are still arriving, and the reinforcements will probably amount to two or three thousand.
Singularly enough, the flag under which Travis and his men fought was the tricolor of the Mexican republic, so that this siege like the battle at Lexington was begun before the formal declaration of independence had been made.
After the ineffectual bombardment Santa Anna called a council of war and determined to carry the walls by a general assault. Sunday, March 6, was the fateful day of the fall of the Alamo. Twenty-five hundred Mexicans were arranged in four columns on the four sides of the fort, and at daybreak hurled their strength against the walls so weakly manned as to numbers. But the calm courage of the Americans, their effective marksmanship, and the sweeping hail of lead from their cannon twice brought the assailants' lines to a halt and repulse. Then came the final charge. The columns were deployed to the north wall of the square and to the stockade on the south, and driven on by their officers the Mexicans crowded up under the walls below the range of the cannon, rushed through the breaches or climbed over by ladders, and brought the con- flict into a melee of hand to hand struggle. Travis was shot down while working the cannon, Crockett fell near the stockade, and Bowie, too ill to rise from his bed, was found and bayonetted, but not till he had dis- patched several of the enemy with his pistols. From the plaza and stock- ade the heroes retired to the convent, where in final desperation they held each room until overpowered by the superior forces, and the fight to death went on in close quarters, where man touched man, clubbed his mus- ket, and slashed right and left with his knife, dying with the ferocity of the cornered wild beast. The church was the last point taken, and within an hour after the first assault the Alamo tragedy was over and its heroes had breathed their last. The few who did not fall fighting were butchered in cold blood by the ruthless order of Santa Anna, and of all who had before been in the beleaguered fort but six lives (three women and three children) were spared, including Mrs. Dickinson and her infant daughter. She was supplied with a horse and allowed to depart, bearing a proclamation from Santa Anna and the tale of the
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Alamo massacre to the colonists. Upon the heaped up bodies of the Texans was piled brush and wood, and on this funeral pyre there scon burned all that remained of the Texas patriots, but their spirit and the memory of their sacrifice were destined to survive all time and awake a vengeance from which was born the Texas republic.
The Funeral of the Alamo Victims.
"In conformity with an order from the general commanding the army at headquarters, Colonel Seguin [who took command of San Antonio for the Texans after the battle of San Jacinto], with his command stationed at Bexar, paid the honors of war to the remains of the heroes of the Alamo; the ashes were found in three places, the two smallest heaps were carefully collected, placed in a coffin neatly covered with black, and having the names of Travis, Bowie and Crockett engraved on the inside of the lid, and carried to Bexar and placed in the parish church, where the Texan flag, a rifle and sword were laid upon it for the purpose of being accompanied by the procession, which was formed at 3 o'clock on the 25th of February [1837]; the honors to be paid were announced in orders of the even- ing previous, and by the tolling knell from daybreak to the hour of interment; at 4 o'clock the procession moved from the church in Bexar in the following order :
"Field officers, staff officers, civil authorities, clergy, military not attached to the corps and others, pallbearers, coffin, pallbearers, mourners and relatives, music, battalion, citizens.
"The procession then passed through the principal street of the city, crossed the river, passed through the principal avenue on the other side, and halted at the place where the first ashes had been gathered. The coffin was then placed upon the spot, and three volleys of musketry were discharged by one of the companies ; the procession then moved to the second spot, whence part of the ashes in the coffin had been taken, where the same honors were paid; the procession then pro- ceeded to the principal spot and place of interment, where the graves had been prepared; the coffin had been placed upon the principal heap of ashes, when Colonel Seguin delivered a short address in Spanish, followed by Major Western in Eng- lish, and the ashes were buried." (Quoted in the Texas Hist. Assn. Quarterly from the Telegraph and Texas Register of March 28, 1837.)
The Goliad Massacre.
In the meantime, across the country, in the vicinity of Goliad, were being enacted other scenes of blood and treachery, so that henceforth the name of Goliad was to breathe with only less inspiration to patriotism and retaliation than the Alamo. General Houston had succeeded in per- suading most of the citizen volunteers not to participate in the Matamoras expedition. After the volunteers left the force contained mainly the soldiers from the United States and the revolutionary Mexicans, and when news came that Matamoras was being strongly reinforced by Santa Anna the principal object of the undertaking was given up entirely. Two of the leaders, however, continued with a small force on toward the Rio Grande, but at San Patricio they separated, and shortly afterward each detachment fell prey to Mexican vengeance and hardly a man escaped the slaughter which characterized the Mexican policy throughout this war.
Colonel Fannin, after the failure of the expedition, marched to Goliad and took up his position there, where he built his fort Defiance to withstand the Mexican invasion which was now certainly under way. He had altogether something over four hundred men, and his force was now recognized as a part of the general Texas army under General Houston. The latter deemed it wise for Fannin to abandon Goliad and
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sent orders for him to retire to Victoria. But Fannin had sent a force under Captain King to protect Refugio a few miles distant, and later Lieutenant Colonel Ward was sent with additional troops. The Mexican forces had, meantime, arrived in the vicinity, and Ward's men were sur- rounded by superior numbers and all were either killed in battle or put to death after capture. King and his little band made a desperate effort to hold Refugio, and when their ammunition was nearly gone they effected an escape through the lines and endeavored to join Fannin's troops. They reached Victoria, where they were overcome by the enemy and were marched back to Goliad and the place of their doom.
Fannin had delayed his retreat from Goliad that King and Ward might rejoin him or that he might learn something of their fate. His wait was fatal, and when he began the movement from Goliad on the 19th of March the enemy had already come up and he escaped only under cover of a fog. However, he proceeded so leisurely to the north that the enemy overtook him and completely surrounded him during the afternoon of the same day. He had to draw his men up in a depression in the prairie, forming them into a hollow square. The enemy made three assaults during the day, and each time were repulsed by the terrific artillery and rifle fire of the Texans, who were plentifully supplied with guns and ammunition. Notwithstanding the wholesale slaughter of the Mexicans they were in such force that the Americans had no show of escape, and besides were without water to relieve the wounded or to swathe out their cannon. It seemed best, therefore, on the following morning to treat for surrender, and the Americans capitulated with their understanding that they were to be treated as prisoners of war.
The Fatal Palm Sunday.
The doomed men were brought back to Goliad, and a few days later Ward's men were also added to the band. On the evening of the 26th it is said that the prisoners were in good spirits, certain of their early release. Several were playing on their flutes the strains of "Home, Sweet Home." The following day was Palm Sunday, and early in the morning the prisoners were formed into three columns, and with a line of guards on each side marched from the town in different directions. They had gone but a short distance when the guards suddenly stepped into single line and with the muzzles of their guns almost touching the Texans fired point blank one withering volley after another until the dreadful deed of blood was done. Over three hundred Americans were thus massacred, twenty-seven managing to escape during the con- fusion.
It is said that Santa Anna was responsible for this deed, and that its ruthlessness was revolting even to his officers. The one excuse that can be offered is that the prisoners were mostly inhabitants of the United States and by strict construction filibusters, who by a previous decree of 1835 were to be treated as pirates and shown no mercy. But the affair on the whole is in line with Mexican treachery as displaved during this war, and in the light of such atrocities both the previous and the subsequent forbearance and freedom from the spirit of mean revenge in the Texans is one of the remarkable and praiseworthy quali-
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ties of their character as a people. But the men of the Alamo and Goliad were not to have died in vain, and the righteous indignation kindled by their death was to burn and purge away forever redhanded tyranny and militarism.
The Convention.
In Washington on the Brazos, on March 1, 1836, the convention of delegates from the various municipalities and political centers of Texas assembled, superseding the provisional government which had been the source of so much discord and detriment to the country. On one mat- ter these delegates were unanimous before they came together, and that was that Texas must be free and independent of Mexico. This sentiment had been growing, and, as has been mentioned, a change of spirit was wrought in the Texans while the armies of Santa Anna were still south of the Rio Grande. In January even Austin had de- clared in a letter written from New Orleans that immediate declaration of independence was necessary. Earlier than that the citizens of Goliad had sent out a very warm protest against Mexican aggression and ex- pressed most vehemently their impatience against the supineness of the Texas government and people.
Accordingly, the first work of the convention after being organized on the first day was to appoint a committee to draft a declaration of principles, and their work was reported and adopted on March 2, on which day the Texas declaration of independence was signed by fifty- eight delegates. This recited at length the duplicity and the broken pledges of the Mexican government; its failure to maintain constitu- tional liberty and a republican form of government ; the despotic changes made by Santa Anna, the establishment of military rule, the dissolution of the representative state government, the delays of the law, the de- nial of religious freedom, and the general ineptitude and weakness of the entire Mexican system. It then declared that henceforth all political connection with Mexico should cease and that Texas was a free and sovereign state.
This done, the next action was to provide for the immediate neces- sities of the infant nation. The most important of these was to repel Santa Anna's invasion, and on the 4th Houston was reappointed com- mander in chief of the armies, both volunteer and regular, with entire authority over their operations. Male citizens between seventeen and fifty were made subject to military service, and generous land grants were offered for service in the army.
Before the adoption of the constitution the convention further in- stituted a provisional government, which was to have all the powers granted under the constitution except legislative and judicial and was to administer the affairs of the nation until the provisions of the consti- tution could be put in execution. . The personnel of this government was to consist of a president, vice president, secretaries for the depart- ments of state, war, navy and treasury, and an attorney general, and these officers were all appointed before the adjournment of the conven- tion, David G. Burnet being chosen president and Lorenzo de Zavala vice president. Also, the government was authorized to borrow a mil-
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lion dollars and pledge the faith and credit of the country for its pay- ment.
The Constitution.
On the 17th the constitution was adopted, and the convention then adjourned sine die. This constitution of the Republic of Texas was modeled after the constitution of the United States, with its provisions of course conforming to the requirements of a single sovereign state. By statute the common law was to be made applicable to cases not covered by constitutional or legislative enactment. There were the three us11al departments of government. A system of education was to be established as soon as feasible. All connection between the civil gov- ernment and religion was guarded against by making priests and min- isters of the gospel ineligible to congress or the presidency. The dis- tribution of lands, which had been subject to extensive frauds, was regulated. Each head of a family was to have a league and a labor of land, and a single man over seventeen years of age to have a third of a league. As to slaves, congress had no power to manumit them, nor could a slaveowner free them without consent of congress; free negroes could not reside in the state without congressional consent. The foreign slave importation was declared piracy, and slaves could be introduced only from the United States.
In view of the academic importance afterwards assigned to the slave system as thus introduced and sanctioned, the following state- ments in Garrison's "Texas" seem both sane and historically true : "This establishment of slavery in Texas was nothing more nor less than was to have been expected. To judge the act by the prevailing standards of a subsequent age and to condemn it is substantially to condemn the way that nature has of working out its own processes. To the student with genuine historical insight, who takes men as he finds them and seeks an explanation of every movement in a searching analysis of the forces that lie behind it, such reprobation has little significance except as a mark of progress. It easily leads to a complete misunder- standing of the past. It would be idle to suppose that the colonists, the great majority of whom were from the slaveholding states, and many of whom had brought their slaves to Texas with them, would not have legalized slavery in framing a constitution. A still greater error has been committed by some in accepting the view that the coloni- zation of Texas and the revolution was the work of the 'slavocracy.' Naturally enough, the movement resulted in a wide extension of the slaveholding area; but the idea that it was consciously inaugurated and carried out with that object in view is too palpably mistaken to be worth discussion."
JOHN W. TOBIN, filling the office of sheriff at San Antonio, and at this writing candidate on the citizens' ticket for mayor, is one of the native sons of the city, born in 1867. His parents were Captain William and Josephine A. (Smith) Tobin. Sheriff Tobin represents a family that is very closely connected with the struggle for the indepen- dence of Texas and with the earlier history of San Antonio.
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John W. Smith.
His maternal grandfather, Hon. John W. Smith, came from Mis- souri to Texas in 1834, settling in San Antonio, where he was married later to Maria Delgado, a member of one of the old Spanish families. Not long after his arrival in Texas he joined the revolutionists in a struggle to achieve independence in the year 1835. He was with the forces under Burleson and Milam in storming the city then in control of the Mexicans. It was in this assault that the Texans lost their gal- lant leader, Ben Milam. The assault was made in December, 1835, and the Texans, being successful, remained in charge of the city all through the winter. In March, 1836, Mr. Smith with the body of sol- diers under Travis, numbering in all one hundred and seventy-nine, withdrew into the Alamo to withstand the superior forces of Santa Anna, who was coming from Monclova to capture the city. The Mexi- cans began their siege and assault on the Alamo on the 23d of Feb- ruary, and on the 3d of March, just three days before the tragic and ever memorable fall of the Alamo, Mr. Smith was selected by Mr. Travis as a courier to make his escape if possible through the Span- ish lines and try to get in communication with the president of the Texas convention and thus secure re-enforcements. Mr. Smith was chosen for this dangerous duty on account of his familiarity with the country, for he had acted as scout and guide for the Texas soldiers and knew every inch of the ground. He succeeded in making his way through the lines without detection but unfortunately was unable to reach the Texas forces in time to get re-enforcements to the Alamo, which fell with all its garrison on the 6th.
San Antonio's First Mayor.
Not long after the succeeding battle of San Jacinto, in which the Alamo was avenged and Texas independence achieved, the town of San Antonio was organized, and on the 19th of September, 1837, John W. Smith was elected its first mayor and served until March 9, 1838. He was subsequently closely identified with the public affairs in the council and in other ways, and in January, 1840, he was again elected mayor, serving until January 9, 1841. In addition to the municipal of- fices which he filled he acted as a member of the first congress of the Republic of Texas, held at the old capital of Washington. He died there in January, 1844. The grandmother of J. W. Tobin, Mrs. Minnie (Delgado) Smith, lived to a good old age and died in San Antonio in recent years.
The mother of the sheriff was Josephine (Smith) Tobin, a woman greatly revered and beloved by Texans for her connection with the history of the state and the tragic events of the Alamo. She still lives in San Antonio, her home being at No. 1017 Main avenue. Her hus- band, Captain William Tobin, who died in this city in 1884, was also a prominent character of this city and state. He was born in South Carolina, and came to Texas in 1853. He was made a captain of Rangers under the governorship of Sam Houston and took part in the Cortina war on the Rio Grande. He acted as city marshal of San An-
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tonio under the mayoralty of J. M. Devine from January 1, 1856, until January 1, 1857. He was a gallant Confederate soldier in the war be- tween the states and was a man of commanding appearance, being six fcet two inches in height, and of the finest character and most generous impulses, which made him greatly beloved by every one who knew him. His acquaintance extended all over Southwestern Texas.
John W. Tobin was reared and educated in San Antonio and when only fourteen years of age began work in the engineering department of the city, where he displayed such aptitude, ability, energy and will- ingness to learn that he received rapid advancement as a surveyor and engineer. In this way he became connected with the engineering depart- ment of the International and Great Northern. Railroad and soon there- after was promoted to engineer in charge of the rebuilding work on that company's line from Houston to Columbus. He continued as chief engineer on that work until a short time before the Elmendorf administration began in San Antonio, when he returned to the city and was elected fire chief, filling the office through the period in which Henry Elmendorf was chief executive of the city. In 1898, when war broke out with Spain, he organized and was made first lieutenant of Troop I, First Texas Cavalry for service in that war although they were not called to Cuba. While connected with the army he was elected county treasurer of Bexar county and filled the position until 1900, when he was elected county sheriff and by re-election has since been continued in the office. Throughout the state he bears the reputation of being one of the best criminal officers in Texas. By industry, train- ing, physique and natural aptitude he is fitted to be an ideal officer, be- ing competent and fearless, possessing also splendid business capacity and ready adaptability. Since becoming sheriff he has become involved in a number of noted cases, wherein he has captured famous law- breakers, and his entire official service has been performed with credit to himself and with satisfaction to his constituents. Mr. Tobin is also a member of the firm of Tobin Brothers, fire insurance agents, being as- sociated with his two brothers, William G. and Charles M. Tobin. The former was formerly fire chief of San Antonio and is now proprietor of the Elite Hotel. The early days when events in Texas constituted a most interesting and picturesque epoch in the history of the state have passed away, but the same spirit of bravery and fidelity which was mani- fest by its officers at that time is now displayed by Mr. Tobin of the present in the discharge of the onerous duties that devolve upon him.
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