USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 8
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"A letter from Nachitoches, dated September 5, says that five hun- dred men, principally 'late' citizens of the United States, under Colone! Magee, were in full march for the Spanish post of San Antonio in Mexico. Their force was hourly increasing. The governor of Louisiana, far distant from the scene of action, had in vain attempted to prevent the excursion."1 They pushed on to La Bahia (Goliad), the next most important post, where the Spanish governor, Salcedo, was awaiting in force. On the approach of the American army the governor marched out to meet them on the Guadalupe, but was outgeneraled by Magee, who crossed the river at a different spot and captured La Bahia with all its stores before Salcedo could come up. Then followed a siege by the Spanish for several months, during which Magee died, and the command devolved upon another American by name of Kemper. Salcedo suffered so many losses through the unerring marksmanship of the Amer- icans that in March in 1813 he gave up the siege and retired up the river to San Antonio-the key to Texas.
Battle of the Salado, 1813.
Colonel Kemper now took command of the American forces with Captain Ross second in authority. A hundred and seventy volunteers arrived from Nacogdoches, together with twenty-five East Texas Indians, and with these reinforcements the army marched up the left bank of the San Antonio river, and about the 28th of March arrived at Salado creek, about nine miles from San Antonio. Here a band of three hundred Indians joined them, and here the Spanish troops made their final stand before San Antonio. With eight hundred Americans under Kemper, one hundred and eighty Mexicans from Nacogdoches led by Manchaca. and over three hundred Indians, the "republican" army really presented a formidable front. Meantime Salcedo, having received reinforcements from Mexico, sent out his entire force of twenty-five hundred regulars and militia, with a commander who had pledged life and honor to defeat and capture the entire revolutionary army. Marching south along the river, they took position "on a ridge of gentle slope, dividing the waters of the San Antonio and the Salado," and there, in ambush, awaited the approach of the Americans. Lying in the chapparal thickets that bor- dered the Salado, they were undiscovered until the American riflemen were directly in front.
"The Indian auxiliaries," says Yoakum, "were placed in front of
1 In Niles' Register.
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the American lines to receive the charge of the Spanish cavalry, until suitable dispositions could be made to charge in turn. At the first onset they all fled, except the Cooshatties and a few others; those withstood two other charges, in which they lost two killed and several wounded. By this time the Americans had formed at the foot of the ridge, having placed their baggage wagons in the rear, under the protection of the prisoners they had taken at La Bahia. The charge was sounded, and orders given to advance within thirty yards of the Spanish line, fire three rounds, load the fourth time, and charge along the whole line. The order was obeyed in silence, and with a coolness so remarkable that it filled the Spaniards with terror. The Americans had greatly the ad- vantage in ascending the hill, as the enemy overshot them. The Spaniards did not await the charge of their adversaries, but gave way along the entire line, and then fled in the direction of San Antonio. They were pursued and killed in great numbers; and many who had surrendered were cruelly butchered by the Indians. When the Spanish commander saw his army flying, and that the day was lost, he turned his horse toward the American line, and rushed into their ranks. He first attacked Major Ross, and then Colonel Kemper; and as his sword was raised to strike the latter he was shot dead. In this great Texan battle there were nearly a thousand of the enemy slain and wounded, and a few taken prisoners ; though the inhuman conduct of the Indians greatly reduced the number of those captured."
Surrender of San Antonio.
The next day the American army was on the outskirts of San An- tonio demanding surrender, and after some hesitation Governor Salcedo saw fit to comply. He and his staff of thirteen officers, together with the garrison and all the stores of the capital city, surrendered to the triumphant revolutionists. Seventeen Americans were found under guard in the Alamo and were released and given places in the army. Spoils were distributed and for a brief time there was harmony. But soon the tide of success began to ebb. A provisional government being formed, with Gutierrez as governor, the latter, in the light of triumph, soon showed his unfitness to found a stable government and maintain an independent state. The soldiers captured in the royal garrison hav- ing been released, it remained to dispose of Governor Salcedo and his staff. It was proposed to escort them overland to Matagorda bay, and thence send them by vessel to New Orleans. Captain Delgado and a company of Mexicans were appointed an escort, and at evening they and their prisoners started from the city. A mile and a half below town, according to the chronicle of this event, there is a small ridge that runs down to the river. Hardly out of sight of the town, the prisoners were stripped and tied, and then cruelly butchered by the guards, who are said to have used dull camp knives in the work of decapitation. Besides Governor Salcedo, who according to all estimates was worthy of his fate, there perished the ex-governor, Herrera,1 whose praises had been sung by Lieutenant Pike. Such bloodthirstiness and treachery was to
' Some claim that Cordero was also a victim.
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blot the annals of Texas for twenty years to come, and was soon to be turned against the Americans themselves. Even the most hardened American outlaws are said to have revolted at such business. Many deserted, and with the spirit of the enterprise taken away its energy and effectiveness soon failed.
It is of interest to note some contemporary American accounts of this revolution. A letter, dated May 7, 1813, to Niles Register, says : "San Antonio is taken by the revolutionary army under command of General Bernardo [Gutierrez] ; and Governor Salcedo, Herrera and twelve other officers and men have been executed. Thus the campaign of San Antonio has ended in the entire revolution of the province of Texas." Another letter published two weeks later in the same journel states that "Colonel Samuel Kemper, who commanded at the battle that day [at San Antonio] is now here (Mississippi). From his information it appears that the killing of the fourteen prisoners was without the approbation of the Americans, and by the express order of the General Bernardo, who justifies it on the principle of retaliation. The young creole officer [Delgado], who was charged with the execution of this order, was one who had on a former occasion witnessed many cruelties of Salcedo, and among them the beheading of his father, at which his mother was also compelled to be present, and by order of Salcedo the blood from the bleeding head of his father was sprinkled over his unfortunate mother."
The town of San Antonio must have been anything but a pleasant place for peaceful citizens during the next two months. With Kemper and other American officers gone, the troops gave themselves up to riot and dissipation, and those who had sincerely sought a change of govern- ment, to be rid of Spanish tyranny, became disgusted with Gutierrez and his associates.
Battle of Alazan Creek.
The revolutionists were aroused from their security and dissipation by the approach of another Spanish army, under Don Y. Elisondo. With fifteen hundred regular soldiers, he had surprised and killed a small out- side guard before the garrison was aware of his approach. Instead of making an immediate attack, however, he stopped on the west side of the town and fortified his camp on Alazan creek. In San Antonio the revolutionists were making hasty preparation for resistance. Captain Perry was given actual command of the forces, Gutierrez not being trusted for such a responsible post. "At ten o'clock at night, June 4, the Americans marched out of the town. They moved by file and in the most profound silence until they approached sufficiently near to hear the enemy's advanced guard. Here they sat down, with their arms in their hands, until. they heard the Spaniards at matins. Orders were given that, on notice, the Americans should charge. The signal was given, and they all marched forward with a firmness and regularity be- coming veteran soldiers. The enemy's pickets were surprised and taken prisoners. The Americans advanced to the works, mounted them, hauled down the Spanish flag, and ran up their own tricolor before they were discovered by the Spanish camp. This was just at the dawn of day.
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The Spaniards, thus aroused, fought gallantly, and drove the Americans back from the works. The latter rallied, retook them, and charged into the Spanish camp, using only the bayonet and spear. The slaughter was terrible. At length, after some hours of hard fighting, the Spaniards, fairly pushed off the field, turned and fled, leaving a thousand dead, wounded and prisoners. The Americans lost forty-seven killed, and as many more wounded who afterwards died of their wounds."1
Governor Toledo.
With this battle, Gutierrez' career as governor came to an end. Being deposed and returning to Louisiana, he passed the rest of his life in comparative obscurity. Shortly after his departure there arrived in . San Antonio Jose Alvarez Toledo, a Cuban by birth, once high in Span- ish-Mexican favor, but now a republican. He had been recruiting revo- lutionists in Louisiana, and now on his arrival at San Antonio he was welcomed and chosen commander of the army. A civil government was inaugurated in the city. It endured scarcely a month, for the day of fate was appointed for this rebellious city.
Arredondo, commander of the northeastern provinces, on learning the defeat of Elisondo, at once collected an army of about four thousand men and in August crossed the Rio Grande and was marching north along the lower presidio road to San Antonio. Arriving at the Medina river, he fortified a position on the south bank, concealing the breast- work by setting up chapparal bushes in front. Then he concealed a
Medina River.
force of six hundred along the road about a quarter of a mile in front of the fortification. Thus prepared, they awaited the coming of the revo- lutionists. Toledo's force consisted of eight hundred and fifty Amer- icans, and about twice that number of Mexicans. Made over-confident and impetuous as a result of their previous victories, they were easily led into the trap Arredondo had set for them. The Spanish advance guard began retiring almost as soon as attacked, and the Texas army, hurrying on, had entered the open end of the V-shaped breastwork before the ambuscade was suspected. Then from each side and in front a ruthless fire of artillery and small arms was poured at them. The order to retreat came too late, and only a part of the army obeyed it. Nearly all the rest fell in the vain endeavor to take the enemy's works, and in a short time the republican army was in complete defeat and rout.
August 18, 1813, 2"the republican army of Texas were entirely de- feated, twenty miles below San Antonio, by the army of Arredondo. General Toledo attacked them in their camp, a well chosen position, with a force of about one to three. The royalists were at first beaten and driven some distance with the loss of three pieces of cannon and many killed. General Toledo, suspecting an ambuscade, ordered his troops to halt and form on better ground, but the Americans, with an indescribable enthusiasm and impetuousity, in despite of every exertion of their of-
1 This is Yoakum's description of the battle; some of the details are not clear.
"An extract from the Red River Herald, published in Niles Register.
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ficers, rushed into the ambuscade, where many pieces of the cannon of the enemy were opened on them by which they were almost destroyed ; such as were not, retreated in confusion, leaving everything behind them. General Toledo, Colonel Kemper2 and Perry, with about sixty others, have arrived at Nacogdoches. Three hundred families had left San Antonio and La Bahia for this place, two hundred of them women on foot, escaping from the bloody vengeance of Arredondo, who at Atlimea and Saltillo distinguished himself by putting women and chil- dren to death. The whole country behind the Rio Grande and the Sabine will be desolated."
Despite the fact that, according to a later report, Elizondo liberated all Americans taken in the action, treating them with humanity and sup- plying them with provisions for their home journey, the punishment inflicted by Arredondo on the people of Texas was fell and terrible. It meant probably the blackest period in San Antonio's history.
A Reign of Terror.
Says Yoakum: "Here commenced a scene of barbarity which that place had never before witnessed. Seven hundred of the peaceable citi- zens were seized and imprisoned. Three hundred of them were con- fined during the night of the 20th of August in one house, and during the night eighteen of them died of suffocation. From day to day the others were shot, without any form of trial. The cruelty of the Spanish commander went even further. He had a prison for females. It oc- cupied the site of the present postoffice* of San Antonio, and was tauntingly called the Quinta. Here were imprisoned five hundred of the wives, daughters and other female relatives of the patriots; and, for being such, they were compelled daily to convert twenty-four bushels of Indian corn into the Mexican cakes called tortillas, for Arredondo's army. After thus having satisfied his appetite for blood and revenge, the royalist commander found an opportunity, about the first of Sep- tember, to collect and bury the bones of Salcedo and his staff." It was nine years before the republicans who fell at the Medina received the honor of burial. When Governor Trespalacios, in 1822, passed the battle- field on his way to San Antonio, he found the site still strewn with human bones. He had them collected and buried with military honors, and placed a tablet with the inscription, "Here lie the braves who, imitating the immortal example of Leonidas, sacrificed their fortunes and lives, contending against tyrants.'
Now followed retribution, during which the vast territory from the Rio Grande to the Sabine was desolated and, temporarily at least. almost depopulated. The royalists slaughtered without mercy all con- nected with the revolutionary party. From San Antonio a force went devastating as far as the eastern boundary, took possession of Nacog- doches, and proclaimed the regal authority of Spain throughout the vast domain. But authority over what or over whom? The results of a
'Kemper was not in the battle.
* This was written fifty years ago. The "Quinta," was an old rock house fronting west on Quinta street (now Dwyer avenue) adjoining, perhaps, part of the old Bowen residence.
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century of colonization were swept away in a few days; nearly all the republican sympathizers of the eastern portion had taken refuge in Louisiana; the already weak industry was paralyzed, crops were de- stroyed and cattle driven off, and years must elapse before Texas could re-attain even the stage of progress and development which she had once reached. The ground was swept clean of all the past, and a new political, social and industrial integrity was to rise-on a permanent foundation and without support from filibustering and revolutionary expeditions.
Indian Hostilities.
During this period the Apache and Comanche Indians on the north and northwest were a constant menace to the settlers. Their boldness brought them even to San Antonio, where they robbed or levied tribute at will. On the northeast border the desperadoes of the Neutral Ground made life and property unsafe, and formed a nursery for criminals and adventurers of all classes. The gulf coast was likewise a source of trouble. Its many islands and estuaries difficult of access made it a favorable haunt for pirates, and freebooting and privateering were trades that attracted swarms of adventurers. The illicit slave bargaining also throve here, and from the Texas coast the Africans were driven in droves into Louisiana.
Lafitte's Pirates.
Galveston island was the seat of the most flourishing of the piratical enterprises. In 1816 Louis de Aury had set up. an organized government there, claiming to act in conjunction with the Mexican revolutionists, but the main occupation of the crowd was preying upon Spanish com- merce in particular, and the slave trade. Aury was attracted away from his island on an extensive filibustering expedition into Mexico, which ended, however, in a complete fiasco. Aury had withdrawn from the enterprise before the force set out for the interior and had sailed back to his island, but this in the meantime had become the headquarters of the most famous and romantic of all Texas pirates and buccaneers. Jean Lafitte, who had previously carried on his nefarious dealings in Louisiana, from which he was expelled by the United States government, was now ensconced in Aury's place, and in a short time organized a most complete and efficient freebooting kingdom. According to his story, having been plundered of all his wealth and outraged, some years before, by the captain of a Spanish war vessel, Lafitte had sworn eternal enmity with Spain, and in his operations about the gulf he claimed that Spanish commerce was the only object of his attack. But as his establishment increased and his lieutenants in many cruisers scoured the gulf waters, depredations were made on ships of other nations, and especially on those of the United States. He was a leader and a principal medium for the slave traffic, and his operations prospered until he had a veritable kingdom on Galveston island and rolled in wealth and spoils, with his town of Campeachy as his capital. But in 1821 his outrages on United States commerce became known in Washington, and an expedition was sent out to suppress the place. Lafitte accepted the inevitable, paid off and dispersed his loyal followers, and sailed away from the coast for- ever.
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Champ d' Asile.
The romantically planned colony of the Champ d' Asile should also be mentioned. It was founded by a French officer who had served under Napoleon, and was located on the Trinity river about twelve miles above Galveston. The enterprise was undertaken without authority from Spain, and despite their bold beginning, the colonists, on the approach of the Spanish troops, abandoned their site and withdrew to Galveston.
Long's Expedition.
The last of the invading enterprises during this period was . that headed by James Long in 1819. A large number of people within the southwestern part of the United States were dissatisfied with the pro- visions of the treaty of 1819 between Spain and the United States, and the Long expedition grew largely out of this discontent. A number of permanent settlers had gained foothold in eastern Texas about Nacog- doches, and these were of course desirous of being annexed to the Amer- ican republic. Long, at the head of a considerable force, occupied Nacogdoches, where a plan of government was drawn up and Texas was declared to be a free and independent republic. It was thought that this scheme would also attract the co-operation of the republican party in Mexico. But the hopeful republic was short-lived. While Long was away seeking help from Lafitte at Galveston, the Spanish forces fell upon his outpost on the Brazos, and then advanced rapidly toward Nacog- doches, which was precipitately abandoned by the filibustering adven- turers. Long returned to find the place deserted, and himself narrowly escaped across the Sabine. The scattered sparks of this enterprise after- wards united with the triumphant flame of revolution, which in 1821 brought final ruin to the royal power in Mexico, but a free and inde- pendent republic of Texas was as yet far away and mythical.
After the failure of Long's expedition the Spanish soldiers once more harried eastern Texas. All American intruders were driven out, and buildings and improvements razed. And the Mexican revolution which so soon followed completed the work of devastation. In 1820 the population, exclusive of Indians, was estimated to be not more than four thousand. San Antonio was the only settlement worthy of name which survived the cataclysm of Indian depredation, filibuster failures, and successive shocks of revolution. "Such was the miserable witness of the craft of St. Denis, the patriotic work of Aguayo, the brave and patient self-sacrifice of the missionaries, and the vast expenditure of treasure and blood in the vain effort to plant Spanish civilization in Texas." But across the eastern boundaries are congregating the nebulous mists and vitalizing vapors which are destined to form the brilliant and steadfast radiance of the Lone Star.
JOSE CASSIANO, who has for many years figured prominently in political circles as the leader of the Democracy in southwestern Texas, having for a considerable period filled the office of county collector of Bexar county, is a son of Jose Ygnatio and Margarita (Rodriguez) Cassiano. One of his great-grandfathers in the paternal line was Cap- tain Ygnatio Perez, a noted soldier of his day and a valiant fighter for Texan independence in the early '30s. The Cassiano family of this city
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is probably one of the few here that has unquestionably the very highest antecedents and, if stock counts or blood tells, can truly feel an honest pride in its ancestors of both sides. Jose Cassini (called Cassiano in Spanish), was born of a noble family in Genoa, northern Italy, in the year 1787. He left home in a pique at an early age. He finally estab- lished himself in business in New Orleans, Louisiana, about 1812 and acquired considerable property there. He made many voyages to Texas with goods as a merchant and finally moved to San Antonio after dis- posing of his landed property and merchandise in New Orleans. He settled here in business on the spot where the Southern Hotel now stands (on Main plaza), and married about 1828 the widow of ex-Gov- ernor Antonio Cordero,1 who had died about 1823 and is now buried in Durango, Mexico. This lady was Gertrude Perez, daughter of Colonel Ygnacio Perez of the Spanish army, famous in his day as a first-class Indian fighter and all-around soldier and protector of the struggling colonists, for a distance of two hundred miles around the little town of San Fernando de Bejar.
When Mexico broke away from Spain in 1821 this province of Coahuila and Texas fell under Mexican rule. When the Americans en- tered the city under Milam before the massacre of the Alamo it was natural that Jose Cassiano, a citizen of Louisiana from New Orleans and husband of the Spanish daughter of a veteran nobleman (she being also the widow of the much loved and pious Governor Cordero) should side with the Americans. He did so, offered all he had to General Rusk, secretary of war for Texas, and helped the patriots in every way. So well were his ideas known that when all American sympathizers were driven out of the town on Santa Anna's arrival his store was looted in toto. He moved his people to his Calaveras ranch for their safety and was in act of going to join the Alamo heroes when the cannon shots of March 6, 1836, announced the crushing of the devoted garrison of the Alamo. He was a man of the highest courage, sterling integrity, great ability and wonderful industry. He accumulated a large portion for those days. He was about to buy the entire village of Piedras Niegras, Mexico, opposite Eagle Pass, in the year 1861, when he fell sick and died on January 1, 1862.
His only son, by his wife Gertrude Perez Cordero Cassiano, Jose Ygnacio Cassiano, was born in 1828 and married in 1846 Margarita Rodriguez, a direct descendant of one of the Spanish Canary Islands colonists of this city of the year 1730. Jose Ygnacio Cassiano died here in 1882, his wife having died in 1877. They left surviving four sons and two daughters. The eldest child is Mrs. Gertrude Cassiano Smith, wife of Captain C. P. Smith of this city. Jose Cassiano, county collector of Bexar county for many years, is the eldest living son. Mrs. Guada- lupe Cassiano Steele of Monterey, Mexico, wife of the son of Colonel Steele of the Liberal army'killed at Topo Chico in the Maximillian war, is the other daughter. The other three sons are settled' here. Jose
1 Yoakum states that Cordero was among those killed by the revolutionists in 1813; the evidence is not conclusive.
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