USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume I > Part 31
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Gonzales came before the general council, November 30, and, after having explained to him the declaration of the 7th, offered his services and was accepted (December 3) as "a volunteer to defend the repub- lican principles of the constitution of 1824. and the rights of Texas." He was ordered to retain command of the Mexicans under his charge and report himself to General Burleson at Bexar. An advance of $500 was made to him to defray necessary expenses of himself and men. He cannot have arrived at Bexar in time to have caused much dissatisfac- tion among its defenders, but the day after its fall we do find him issuing a proclamation to his old comrades in arms, urging them to help the Texans support the standard of federation.
In the meantime. General Mexia, returning from his disastrous expedition to Tampico, reached the mouth of the Brazos, December 3. and asked the government to inform him how he could best use the men under his command to the advantage of the federal cause. Almost simul- taneously came Capt. Julian Miracle from Mier, saying that the Liberals of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon were ready to join the Texans, if they were fighting to sustain the federal system and not for independence. Canales, a lawyer of Mier. was already at Palo Blanco, he said, within two days' march of San Patricio, with two hundred men ; and the Mexi- can garrison at Lipantitlan was ready to join Canales or Gonzales at any time. In reply to General Mexia the council first instructed William Pettus and Thos. F. Mckinney to help him in any way necessary to enable him to proceed to the interior and carry the war into the enemy's country ; but on the 10th it asked him to go to Bexar and reinforce the besieging army there. For the information of the Liberals whom Cap- tain Miracle represented a committee was appointed to prepare an address
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to the Mexican people. Their report was adopted on the 11th, and Miracle, with five hundred copies printed in Spanish, was returned post haste to his friends:
"The General Council of the Provisional Government of Texas to the Mexican people :
"The people of Texas have taken up arms in defence of their rights and liberties, menaced by the attacks of military despotism, and to sustain the republican principles of the constitution of 1824. The Mexican nation ought to be fully informed on this subject, in order to correct the falsehoods circulated by the Centralists, who have attempted to calumniate the Texans by giving to the revolution here, a character very different from the true one, and painting it in the blackest colors.
"Texas has solemnly declared her principles in the declaration of the seventh of November last, made by its representatives, and has called God to witness the sincerity and purity of her intention. The people of Texas could not have acted in any other manner, and every free man would have done the same who appreciates his own dignity and was able to resist slavery.
"Texas was left without any government, owing to the imprison- ment and dispersion of the Executive and Legislative authorities of the state by the military Centralists, and everything was rapidly fall- ing into anarchy and ruin. It certainly was not the fault of the Texans that this state of things existed. They were living in peace when the revolutionary flame reached their homes ; their situation may be compared to that of a peaceful village that is suddenly assailed by a furious hurricane, which menaces ruin and death, from which the inhabitants seek safety by any means in their power, without being in any manner censurable for the impending danger, nor for trying to shield themselves from its effects. The truth is, that a storm which originated elsewhere, threatened to involve them in its desolating ravages. They wish to save themselves as they have a right to do, by the law of nature.
"Faithful to their oaths, they wish to defend the constitution, and for this their enemies have declared a war of extermination against them, and are trying to deceive the liberal Mexicans with false reports that their objects are different from those expressed in the before- mentioned declaration. God knows this to be a malicious calumny, circulated for the purpose of consolidating centralism, by trying to unite the Federalists in its ranks against their friends the Texans.
"Very dearly indeed have the Texans acquired their homes in this country, which but a short time since was a wilderness infested by hostile Indians. It is just and natural that they should wish to preserve them, in conformity with the guarantees of the Federal com- pact under which they were acquired. It is equally so. that they should obey the first law which God has stamped upon the heart of man civilized or savage, which is self-preservation.
"The Texans have therefore taken up arms in defence of their constitutional rights, in fulfillment of their duties to the Mexican confederation and of the most sacred obligation to themselves.
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"They have organized a local Provisional Government, to provide for their security as a part of the Mexican confederation should it again be re-established. Can it be possible that the whole nation will declare war against us because we wish to comply with our obligation in favor of the constitution, and because we wish to defend the rights which God has given to man, and which the Mexican nation has solemnly guaranteed to us? No, it cannot be believed. The free Mexicans are not unjust, and they will take part in our favor.
"To arms, then, patriotic Mexicans. The Texans, although a young people, invite and call you to the contest which it is the duty of all to sustain against the perjured centralists, separate as we have done from the Central Government, and declare eternal war against it; let us sustain the federal compact, restore the federal system and firmly establish the liberties and happiness of our country. In this great work you will receive aid and assistance from the Texans, so far as their limited resources will permit, as they have offered in the second article of their declaration."
But the government was not agreed on a policy toward the Mexi- cans. Governor Smith said that he had no faith in them. He vetoed on the 9th an ordinance for the relief of Mexia, and wrote the same day to Burleson, saying that the council had fitted out Gonzales with- out his knowledge or consent. "You will keep a strict eye on him," he admonished, "and if he should seem not to act in good faith I now order you to arrest him and his men, disarm them and hold them as prisoners of war subject to my order." The council, too, without just cause, it appears, lost confidence in Mexia. He did not go to Bexar, as requested, though most of his men-all of whom were Americans-did, and he sent with them a proclamation to the Mexicans of the garrison, some of whom he had once commanded, asking them to join the Texans. Mexia himself returned to New Orleans; Miracle is not again heard from. though reports arrived from time to time of the movements of his patron, Canales, on the Rio Grande; Gonzales, also, after the fall of San Antonio, drifted toward the Rio Grande frontier, and is several times mentioned as being at the head of two or three hundred Mexican troops south of San Patricio.
Thus the hope of Mexican co-operation, at best rather exotic, faded away. The convention issued the declaration of independence on March 2. And this, of course, quashed any sentiments of sympathy that the extremely small party of Liberals in Mexico may have felt.
On December 22, the council appointed General Houston, John Forbes, and John Cameron to treat with the Cherokees and on the 26th they were instructed to proceed to Nacogdoches at once and negotiate a treaty. pursuing in all things "a course of justice and equity towards the Indi- ans." They were to conform in very respect to the resolutions adopted by the consultation on November 13. Houston was granted a furlough by the governor to carry out this mission, and he and his fellow com- missioners signed a treaty with the Cherokees on February 8, 1836.
The most effective work of the provisional government has now been described. The further history of that body is concerned mainly with the unseemly quarrel which developed between the governor and the council, and this will be treated in a later chapter.
CHAPTER XVI THE CAPTURE OF SAN ANTONIO
We left the volunteers at San Antonio on October 31. Austin, with the main division of the army, was occupying a position above town at the Old Mill, and Bowie and Fannin, with a smaller force, were hold- ing Mission Concepción. On that day, as we saw, Austin informed Bowie and Fannin that some of the Mexican soldiers wished to desert to the Texans and outlined a plan for creating a diversion to cover their movements. Fannin and Bowie accepted this plan, but suggested that the two divisions of the army should unite, if the deserters did not join them within five days. The communication reached Austin on Novem- ber 1, and he replied :
"I sent a demand today for a surrender. General Cos stated that his duty would not permit him to receive any official communi- cation, and of course it was returned unopened. He in a short time after sent out Padre Garza, with a flag, to say to me verbally, that he had absolute orders from his government to fortify Bexar and hold it at all hazards, and that as a military man his honor and duty required obedience to the orders, and that he would defend the place until he died, if he had only ten men."
The demonstration was made as agreed upon, but no deserters took advantage of it to leave the Mexican ranks. It did result, however, in another shift in the position of the Texan forces, Bowie and Fannin writing Austin at three o'clock in the afternoon of November 1 that the men had been so pleased with a position about eight hundred yards below town :
"That we determined to occupy it, and have in consequence brought up the baggage, etc. from Concepción, and have thrown a rough bridge across the river, and thus occupy both banks. We are resolved to hold it as long as our members can justify it, and it meets your approbation. We are exposed, and they must certainly know our force, and may attempt in all probability to dislodge us. Should we be uninterrupted tonight, we will endeavor to strengthen the post. Will you allow us to once more say that a more equal division of the forces [is desirable]."
On the next day (November 2) both divisions of the army held councils of war to decide whether to attempt to take the town by storm or by siege, and both decided in favor of a siege. The officers in the division under Bowie and Fannin advised a union of the two forces, and Austin's council resolved "that such positions should.be taken for the army at present as would secure it from the cannon shot of the enemy and enable it at the same time to carry on the offensive operations, while we are waiting for the large 18 pound cannon and additional reinforce- ments." In consequence of the resolution the main force was now moved back to Concepción, but a detachment still remained at the Old Mill.
Little progress was made. On November 5, Captain Briscoe's com- pany went out to scour the country toward the Rio Frio, and Travis
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accompanied it as a volunteer. Briscoe decided to return on the 8th, but Travis called for volunteers and continued to reconnoiter. On the 10th he captured a drove of three hundred horses which General Cos several days before started to Laredo. This was one of the most im- portant incidents of the early part of the siege.
On the 14th, Austin wrote to the consultation informing it of Tra- vis's success. "The enemy is closely shut up in Bexar," he said, "and more and more discouraged every day. All we need is perseverance and reinforcements, to keep up the army. I entreat the Convention to hurry on reinforcements to keep up the army, with all possible dispatch,
THE ALAMO
and the campaign will soon end. There is very little prospect that the enemy will get any aid from the interior." This letter was received by the general council, which on the 19th made it the basis of a stirring appeal to the people of Texas for reinforcements :
"The foregoing letter * speaks a language too cheering in prospect of success against our enemies not to arouse the most ardent patriotism in the bosom of every friend of liberty, and es- pecially in the hearts of our fellow citizens of Texas. By a reso- lution unanimously adopted in your Council, we are prompted to call upon our fellow-citizens to rally around the standard of their country, and unite in accomplishing the glorious object contemplated in the letter from the Commanding General before Bexar, and rid Texas of the last vestige of her enemies."
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On the 18th General Austin wrote again to the consultation report- ing recent movements of the enemy and of the besieging army :
"In my last I communicated the taking of a cavalado of 300 horses by a detachment under the command of Captain Travis-I now enclose his detailed report and beg leave to recommend the serv- ices of Captain Travis and the men who composed his party.
"On the 9th inst., I received information which was entitled to attention, that a reinforcement was on the road from Laredo to join General Cos. I immediately ordered Captain Fannin to take com- mand of sixty-five men from the encampment at the Mission Concep- ción, which were to have been joined by an equal number from the en- campment above Bexar and to proceed on the Laredo road to inter- cept the reported reinforcements. Captain Fannin marched promptly but was not joined by the party from the upper camp. He, however, proceeded on the Laredo road as far as Rio Frio. He returned last night-I enclose his official report. This officer has been very efficient and I recommend him as one of the officers of the regular army when it is organized.
"On the 14th, I received information that Colonel Ugartechea left Bexar the night before for Laredo, supposedly for the purpose of es- corting the expected reinforcements-I immediately despatched Col. Burleson with 130 men in pursuit of him-I have since learned that Ugartechea had a man for a pilot who has lived with the Comanches and that he will make a great circle by the hills on the head of the Medino. The prospect of Burleson's meeting him is therefore doubt- ful-According to the best accounts reinforcements have not yet left Laredo .- the enemy are shut up in the walls and fortifications of Bexar, parties of our volunteers go around the town daily and within cannon shot. We have picked up about twenty of their six-pound shot-I have heretofore on various occasions submitted to a council of officers the storming [of] the fortifications and I am now decidedly in favor of that measure as soon as the New Orleans Greys get up from Goliad and Burleson's detachment returns.
"The works are stronger than they were, but are greatly extended and consequently the defending force is very much scattered; the troops inside are also very much discouraged, and begin to consider the contest as hopeless, cut off as they are from resources, with a wil- derness in the rear which has been burnt nearly all the way to the Rio Grande on all roads. Bexar must fall in a short time for want of resources without loss on our part, and I think it could be stormed successfully though at a very considerable risk of losing men-My health, which has been very bad from a very severe dysentery since the army left Cibolo, has improved within the last few days very much-The army has done all that could have been done under the circumstances and without materials and organization, which latter is purely voluntary-It deserves great credit for its sufferings and perseverance-I have every confidence that a short time will end this campaign."
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After writing this letter Austin received from the general council notice of his selection as commissioner to the United States, and at three o'clock he wrote again to the provisional government :
"I can only say that I am ready at all times to serve Texas in any station where it is considered I can be useful. Some prudence will be necessary to keep this army together should I leave at once. I therefore cannot at this time say when I can be in San Felipe, but will give you the earliest possible information on this subject."
On the 21st Austin gave the order for an assault on the town, but Col. Edward Burleson and Col. Philip Sublett, who were now command- ing the principal divisions of the army, notified him that their officers were unwilling to make the attempt at that time and the order was withdrawn.
On the 24th, the army was mustered and informed that Austin was compelled to proceed to the United States as a commissioner under his recent appointment. Volunteers were called for who would pledge them- selves to remain before Bexar until it fell, and four hundred and five offered themselves. At the same time an election was held to choose a new commander-in-chief, and the choice fell upon Col. Edward Burleson. Austin then proceeded to San Felipe, where on November 30th, he made to the provisional government a long report on the serv- ices of the volunteers :
"That their services have been and now are, in the highest pos- sible degree, useful and important to Texas, is very evident. Had this army never crossed the river Guadalupe, a movement which some have condemned, the war would have been carried by the Centralists into the colonies, and the settlements on the Guadalupe and La Baca would probably have suffered, and perhaps have been broken up. The town of Gonzales had already been attacked, and many of the settlers were about to remove.
"What effect such a state of things would have had upon the moral standing and prospects of the country, although a matter of opinion, is worthy of mature consideration; and more especially. when it is considered that, at that time, the opinions of many were vacillating and unsettled, and much division prevailed. The volun- teer army have also paralyzed the force of General Cos, so that it is shut up within the fortifications of Bexar, incapable of any hostile movements whatever, outside of the walls, and must shortly sur- render, or be annihilated. The enemy has been beaten in every contest and skirmish, which has proven the superiority of the volun- teers, and given confidence to every one. Our undisciplined volun- teers, but few of whom were ever in the field before, have acquired some experience and much confidence in each other and in then- selves, and are much better prepared for organization, and to meet a formidable attack, than they were before.
"The post at Goliad has been taken by the volunteers, and the enemy deprived of large supplies which were at that place, and of the facilities of procuring others by water, through the port of Copano. which is also closed upon them by the occupation of Goliad. The enemy has been driven from the river Nueces by a detachment of the
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volunteers who garrison Goliad, aided by the patriotic sons of Ireland from Power's colony. More than one hundred of the enemy, in- cluding many officers, have been killed; a great many have been wounded, others have deserted, and a valuable piece of brass cannon, a six-pounder has been taken, and another preserved (the one that was at Gonzales) from falling into the hands of the enemy. Three hundred head of horses have been taken, and the resources for sustaining an army in Bexar are all destroyed or exhausted, so that an enemy in that place is at this time more than three hundred miles from any supplies of breadstuff and many other necessary articles. All this has been effected by the volunteer army in a little more than one month, and with the loss of only one man killed in battle, and one wounded (who has nearly recovered), before Bexar ; one wounded at Goliad, and one at Lipantitlan, on the Nueces. In short, the moral and political influence of the campaign, is equally beneficial to Texas and to the sacred cause of the Constitution and of Liberty, and honorable to the volunteer army. This army is composed, prin- cipally, of the most intelligent, respectable, and wealthy citizens of the country ; and of volunteers from Louisiana and Alabama,- men who have taken up arms from principle, from a sense of duty. and from the purest motives of patriotism and philanthropy. They have bravely sustained the rights of Texas, and the cause of Mexican Liberty, and patiently borne the exposure and fatigue of a winter's campaign during the most inclement, wet, and cold spell of weather known in this country for many years. The most of them are men of families, whose loss would have made a fearful void in our thin community. They might have been precipitated upon the fortification of Bexar, which were defended by seven or eight hundred men, and a number of cannon, and taken the place by storm, against superior numbers; and Texas might, and in all probability would, have been covered with mourning in the hour of victory. On con- sultation with the officers in councils of war, it was deemed most prudent not to hazard so much in the commencement of the contest, when a disaster would have been so materially injurious; and the system was adopted of wasting away the resources and spirits and numbers of the enemy by a siege, the ultimate success of which appeared to be certain, without any serious hazard on our part. That the fall of Bexar within a short time, and with a very little loss, will be the result, I have no doubt."
Two days after Austin's departure from San Antonio occurred what was called the "Grass Fight." The facts of this affair of November 26 are as follows: It was known that Colonel Ugartechea was expected with reinforcements for the garrison or with money to pay off the troops. Scouts of small detachments were kept out constantly by the Texans to cut Cos's communication, and to capture foraging parties. Colonel James Bowie, with a small detachment, was out on this service, with orders to keep a lookout for Colonel Ugartechea, and report to headquarters. On the morning of the 26th, while out in the direction of the upper crossing of the Medina River, he discovered a body of Mexicans which he mistook for Ugartechea's advance. He immediately dispatched Deaf Smith to
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headquarters with the information. Smith arrived at headquarters about the middle of the afternoon. The news brought by him created quite a stir in camp-all were ready to march and capture Ugartechea and party.
Colonel Bowie in the meantime fell back towards town, keeping the enemy in sight, and when within one or two miles of the town took a strong position in a ravine, with nearly perpendicular banks from three to six feet high, and awaited the advance of the enemy and reinforce- ments from camp. At this point he held the enemy in check till troops from camp arrived on the ground. In the meantime General Cos, seeing the stir in the Texas camp, divined the cause and ordered out a strong detachment, with one piece of artillery, to the aid of his foraging-party. The Texans, when the order was given to go to the relief of Bowie turned out, some on horseback, others on foot, without regard to order of march, and moved in double-quick for the scene of action. As they arrived they took position in a ravine nearly at a right angle from that occupied by Bowie. When the main force got up, there being no enemy in sight, a company, Capt. James G. Swisher's, advanced to the high ground in front of the ravine. The enemy, who had taken position in a ravine nearly parallel with that occupied by the main force, opened fire on the Texan lines with artillery and musketry. They had fired several rounds, with no other result than a waste of their ammunition. The Texans did not return the fire, for the reason that the enemy was not only invisible but protected by the banks of the ravine. At this stage of affairs, Captain Swisher, who had discovered the position of the enemy, at the suggestion of Colonel Johnson, with his company, charged the piece of artillery, supported by infantry, at the head of the ravine, and drove them down on the main force. The Texans from the ravine ad- vanced and opened fire on the enemy, but at too great a distance to do much execution, if any at all. The Mexicans retreated rapidly to the town, the Texans pursuing till within range of the guns of the town, when they were ordered to fall back, and occupy their first ground.
Seeing no movement by the enemy to move their animals and forage, orders were given to return to camp. This was a brilliant affair, though conducted without any regular order of battle-each one fought on his "own hook."
The spoils of victory were a large number of horses, mules, saddles, bridles, blankets, ropes, and a large number of packs or bales of grass, the latter was set on fire. The loss of the enemy, if any, is not known except one man left on the ground with his thigh broken.
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