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He died at his home in Dallas a few days after the above lines were penned. His latter days we cheered by the love and affectionate attention of an only child and that of her husband and children. He was honored and respected by all who knew him.
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ing the Texas prisoners. It must be remembered that when she came to Texas she could have considered its people only as rebels and heretics, the two classes, of all others most odious to the mind of a pious Mexican; and yet after everything that had occurred to present the Texians to her view as the worst and most abandoned of men, she became incessantly engaged in contributing to the relief of their wants and in saving their lives. Her name deserves to be recorded in letters of gold among the angels who have from time to time been commis- sioned by an overruling and beneficent power to relieve the sorrows and cheer the hearts of men, and who have for that purpose been given the form of helpless woman.
" During the ensuing three weeks we could ascertain but little of what was being done by the Mexican army, save the news that came in general terms that Santa Anna was ravag- ing the whole country, and that the Texians were flying before him to the Sabine; that Matagorda was taken, and that San Felipe was burned by its own citizens and abandoned on approach of the enemy."
Dr. Shackleford says:
" Major Wallace was then sent out, together with one or two others who spoke the Mexican language. They shortly returned, and reported that the Mexican general could treat with the commanding officers only. Col. Fannin, although quite lame, then went out with the flag. I remarked to him that I would not oppose a surrender, provided we could obtain an honorable capitulation, one on which we could rely, and said to him that if he could not obtain such ' come back, our graves are already dug, let us all be buried together.'
" To these remarks the men responded in a firm and deter- mined manner, and the Colonel assured us that he never would surrender on any other terms. He returned in a short time thereafter, and communicated the substance of an agree- ment entered into by General Urrea and himself. Colonel Holzinger, a German, and an engineer in the Mexican service,
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together with several other officers, then come into our lines to consummate the arrangement. The first words Colonel Holzinger uttered, after a very polite bow, were ' Well, gentle- men, in eight days, liberty and home.' I heard this distinctly. The terms of the capitulation were there written in both the English and Mexican languages, and read two or three times by officers who could speak and read both languages. The instruments which embodied the terms of capitulation as agreed on, were then signed and interchanged in the most formal manner, and were in substance as follows:
" 1. That we should be received and treated as prisoners of war according to the usages of the most civilized nations.
" 2. That private property should be respected and restored ; that the side arms of the officers should be given up.
" 3. That the men should be sent to Capano, and thence to the United States in eight days or so soon thereafter as vessels could be provided to take them.
" 4. That the officers should be paroled, and return to the United States in like manner.
" I assert most positively that this capitulation was entered into, without which a surrender never would have been made."
Referring to a later occasion he says :
" On passing from one part of their wounded to another I made it convenient to see Fannin and stated to him how badly we were treated. He immediately wrote to Gen. Urrea, then in the region of Victoria, adverting to the terms of capitulation and to our treatment. In answer the General wrote to Por- tilla, ' Treat the prisoners with consideration and particularly their leader Fannin.' "
In contrast with the articles of capitulation as given by Dr. Shackleford is the following declared by Urrea to be a true copy:
" 1. The Mexican troops having planted their artillery at the distance of one hundred and seventy paces, and having opened
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their fire, we raised the white flag, and instantly there came Colonels Morales and Holzinger, and to them we proposed to. surrender at discretion, on terms they should judge suitable.
" 2. That the wounded, and that the commander, Fannin, be treated with all possible consideration, it being proposed that we should lay down our arms.
" 3. That all the detachment shall be treated as prisoners- of-war and placed at the disposal of the supreme government, " March 20th, 1836.
B. C. WALLACE, Major. J. M. CHADWICK,
Approved. J. W. FANNIN, Commander.
EXTRACTS FROM URREA'S DIARY.
" When the enemy raised the white flag I sent to inform their leader that I could admit of no other terms than those . of surrendering at discretion without any modification what- ever. * *
" To Fannin :
" If you are willing to surrender at discretion, the thing is. concluded; if otherwise, I will return to my post, and the attack shall continue." * *
" Fannin was a respectable man, and a man of courage, a quality reciprocally prized by soldiers in the field. His man- ners conciliated my esteem, and had it been in my power to save him, as well as his companions, I should have felt grati- fied in so doing. All the assurance I could make him was, that I would interpose in his behalf with the general-in-chief, which I did, in a letter from Victoria."
To this letter he claims to have received an answer from Santa Anna dated Bexar, March 23d, 1836, from which he gives the following extract :
" In respect to the prisoners of whom you speak in your
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last communication, you must not fail to bear in mind the cir- cular of the supreme government, in which it is decreed, that foreigners invading the republic, and taken with arms in their hands, shall be judged and treated as pirates."
In this letter Santa Anna inclosed for Urrea's further en- lightment a letter under the same date to the commandant of the post of Goliad containing the following.
" I am informed that there have been sent to you by General Urrea, two hundred and thirty-four prisoners, taken in the action of Encinal del Perdito on the 19th and 20th of the present month ; and, as the supreme government has ordered that all foreigners taken with arms in their hands, making war upon the nation, shall be treated as pirates, I have been surprised that the circular of the said supreme government has not been fully complied with in this particular; 1 there- fore order that you should give immediate effect to the said ordinance in respect to all those foreigners, who have yielded to the force of arms, having had the audacity to come and insult the Republic, to devastate with fire and sword, as has been the case in Goliad, causing vast detriment to our citi- zens; in a word, shedding the precious blood of Mexican citizens, whose only crime has been fidelity to their country. I trust that, in reply to this, you will inform me that public vengeance has been satisfied, by the punishment of such detestable delinquents. I transcribe the said decree of the government for your guidance, and, that you may strictly fulfill the same, in the zealous hope, that, for the future, the provisions of the supreme government may not for a moment be infringed.
" ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA." " Headquarters Bexar."
Portilla, Commandant at Goliad, immediately informed Urrea of these orders and of his determination to carry the
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same into execution. On the 26th of March, Portilla made the following entry to his diary :
" At seven o'clock in the evening arrived a courier extra- ordinary from Bexar, from his Excellency Gen. Santa Anna, notifying me that the whole of the prisoners who had sur- rendered by force of arms, were immediately to be shot, with regulations as to the manner in which it was to be executed. I deferred it, for both myself and Col. Garay, to whom I communicated it, thought of nothing less than such a thing. At eight the same evening, came a courier extra- ordinary from Victoria, from General Urrea, who said to me among other things : ' Treat the prisoners with consideration, and particularly their leader, Fannin. Let them be employed in repairing the houses, and erecting quarters, and serve out to them a portion of the rations which you will receive from the Mission of Refugio. How cruel is my state of un- certainty ; my mind vacillates between these conflicting orders; I passed the whole night restless and uneasy in mind."
On the 27th of March, having executed the order, he wrote in his journal :
" At daybreak I came to a determination to execute the orders of his Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, considering him as the superior I ought to obey. I gave orders for the whole garrison to form and awaken the prison- ers (four hundred and forty-five in number), who were still asleep. I ordered the eighty of the class who had come from Copano, to be separated from the rest, inasmuch as their fate demanded consideration, because, when invading our ter- ritory, they were taken without arms in their hands.1 We
1 The eighty men of Miller were separated and spared. Portilla misrep- resents the number, for, deducting the eighty, there remained four hundred and nine, of which 349 were murdered, 34 saved and 26 escaped.
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formed ourselves into three divisions - the first under the orders of the first adjutant, Don Augustin Alcerrica ; the sec- ond under those of Capt. Luis Balderas ; and the third, of Capt. Antonio Ramirez. To these officers I entrusted the execution of the order of the commander-in-chief. It was. executed. A great struggle of feelings among the officers and soldiers - a profound silence ! Sad at heart I wrote to Gen. Urrea expressing my regret at having been concerned in so painful an affair. I also sent an official account of what I had done, to the general-in-chief."
To General Urrea, Portilla wrote:
I feel much distressed at what has occurred here; a scene enacted in cold blood having passed before my eyes which has filled me with horror. All I can say is, that my duty as a soldier, and what I owe to my country, must be my guaranty. My dear General, by you was I sent here; you thought proper so to do, and I remain here in entire conformity to your wishes. I came, as you know, voluntarily, with these poor Indians [Yuca- teco Indians, never hostile, a gentle and honest race] to co-operate, to the best of my humble means, for my country's good. No man is required to do more than is within the scope of his abilities ; and both they and myself have doubt- less been placed here as competent to the purposes you had in view. I repeat it, that I am perfectly willing to do anything, save and excepting the work of a public executioner by receiv- ing orders to put more persons to death. And yet, being but a subordinate officer, it is my duty to do what is commanded me, even though repugnant to my feelings.
" I am, General, your devoted and sincere friend, " J. N. DE LA PORTILLA."
Santa Anna, in justifying his own participation in the deed, which he said had been " productive of much evil" to him-
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self, pleaded that it was imperatively called for by the char- acter of the hostilities which provoked it - charging that most of the men who formed the armies of Texas were not of the nation " come to vindicate rights positive or supposed," but invaders from the neighboring republic come to aid Texas in supporting a rebellion. For those of the country who had raised the standard of rebellion no name or treatment was too severe -" Pirates ! " " Banditti !" " The nations of the world," he declares, " would never have forgiven Mexico had she treated such men with the respect which is due only to the honorable, the upright, the respecters of the rights of nations." He goes on : " I had enjoyed among my fellow- citizens the reputation - preferable in my mind to that of a brave man - the reputation of being humane after victories won. So completely unfortunate was I destined to become, that even the solitary virtue, which my bitterest enemies never denied me, is now disputed. I am represented as more ' ferocious than the tiger; I who was ambitious to be distin- guished by nothing so much as by my clemency, in a country that yields to no other in humane and generous feeling. The execution of Fannin and his followers, is the ground on which they accuse me of having been barbarous and sanguinary."
He denied the surrender under any form of capitulation save at discretion and declared that Urrea was authorized to treat of no other terms of surrender. He said:
" The prisoners were in the highest degree embarrassing to the commandant at Goliad; before taking their flight they had set fire to the place ; and nothing was left us but the church to house the sick and wounded. The sole security of the garrison consisted of perpetual vigilance, being greatly inferior in number to the prisoners ; our provisions were barely enough for our own people; we were without cavalry to conduct them as far as Matamoros. All these considerations, urged by the commandant, weighed heavily on my mind, and tended to bias my resolution."
CHAPTER LIII.
Surrender of Col. Ward - Hypocrisy of Santa Anna and Urrea.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ward had followed very nearly the coast line in his endeavor to reach Victoria. He was in hearing of the guns during the engagement of the 19th, but was on the Coleto, almost out of ammunition and provisions. He, how- ever, succeeded in crossing the Guadalupe and reached the vicin- ity of Dimmitt's Point, twenty-five miles east of Victoria, when he was overtaken by Urrea with a superior force and offered the same terms that had been granted to Fannin, and, being in a really helpless condition, surrendered on the 22nd. He and his men, numbering 85, were marched back to Goliad and confined with the other prisoners on the 25th.1
From Victoria, Urrea moved on to near Dimmitt's Point, leaving J. N. Portilla (an Indian colonel, from Yucatan ) in command at Goliad, and received, on the same terms, the capitulation of Colonel Ward, March 22nd. In a manifesto published by him afterwards, on learning of the horror expressed both in Europe and America at the cold-blooded murder of these prisoners of war, he said that there was no capitulation, save at discretion, - a falsehood in keeping with the character of that brutal class of Mexicans to which he and Santa Anna belonged - a class distinct from that to which Filisola and Andrade belonged, who, considering their
1 Of Ward's 107 men the following persons escaped capture :
David I. Holt, F. Davis, Joseph Andrews, Wm. S. Butler, Samuel G. Hardaway, I. T. Pease, - Trezevant, Aaron S. Mangum, Reason Banks, Allen Ingram, M. K. Moses, H. Rogers, Samuel C. Pitman (or Pelman), James C. Jack, D. Greene, George Rounds, C. F. Hick, B. T. Bradford, J. D. Rains, Perry Davis, H. G. Hudson, W. Simpson, and Nathaniel R. Brister.
(622)
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surroundings, were honorable and humane men. The falsity of Urrea's denial is abundantly established by the positive declarations of Doctors Shackleford, Barnard and Fields and others who escaped the massacre, by the admission of various Mexicans and the circumstances attending the surrender.
Portilla, as has been seen, openly declared that he was left by Urrea in Goliad to perform the dreadful work of slaughter, that commander .well knowing that the prisoners would be murdered, as he had murdered King's men, after their sur- render to him at Refugio.
Santa Anna's apology for the massacre was the merest sub- terfuge. He was, himself, to all intents and purposes, the supreme government when the decree was issued and was so still at the time when the men were shot. Under all laws, human and divine, he was responsible for this monstrous crime. For this and other atrocities, his memory must be ever execrated by mankind.
The following recapitulation will prove useful to the reader :
Of men with Johnson, escaped 5
Of men with Grant, escaped . 1
Of men under Fannin, escaped 27
Of men under Fannin, spared. 29
Escaped on Ward's retreat. 23
Ward's men spared at Victoria 19
Killed under King (all told) 41
Captured under Grant. 1
Captured under Johnson (possibly) 7
Ward's men killed at Victoria . 10
Killed under Johnson and Grant (about) 85
Killed in the Goliad massacre 390
Total number of men serving under Fannin, Johnson and Grant .. 638
Total saved, escaped or not accounted for 112
Total lives lost. 526
Absolute accuracy is an impossibility ; but these figures are close approximations thereto and are more reliable than any statements hitherto published. Add to the 526, 183 who per-
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ished in the Alamo, and we have a total of 709 men lost from February 27 to March 27, an appalling loss in view of the weakness of the country at that moment of supreme peril.
While we honor the courage and deplore the sacrifice of such gallant men as Fannin and Grant, posterity is entitled to a statement of the truth from which to judge what persons and what agencies were responsible for the disasters that fol- lowed fast and faster until the final hour of Texian victory and vengeance.
There fell in the Alamo 183 men. Johnson and Grant had 97 men.
Fannin had. 472 men.
Thirty-six men retreated with Horton.
Eighty men arrived with Miller; an aggregate of 867 men - 84 more than Houston had with him at San Jacinto.1
1 TEXIANS MURDERED AT GOLIAD, MARCH 27, 1836.
James W. Fannin, Jr., colonel commanding; Lieutenant-Colonel William Ward, of the Georgia battalion; Major Benjamin C. Wallace, of the Lafay- ·ette battalion; Major Warren Mitchell, of the Georgia battalion; Adjutant Chadwick (or Shadwick), Adjutant J. S. Brooks; Sergeant-Major Gideon Rose- 7.
TEXIANS MARCHED OUT IN THREE DIVISIONS AND MURDERED AT GOLIAD, MARCH 27, 1836.
Of Captain Burr H. Duval's company :
Captain Burr H. Duval; Lieutenants Samuel Wilson and John Q. Merri- field, Sergeants G. W. Daniell, J. S. Bagley, E. P. G. Chisen (probably Chisholm) and W. Dickerson; Corporals N. B. Hawkins, A. B. Williams, A. H. Lynd and R. C. Brashear; Privates T. G. Allen, J. M. Adams, J. F. Bel- lows, Wm. S. Carlson, Thomas S. Churchill, Wm. H. Cole, H. M. Dawnman, John Donoho, George Dyer, C. R. Haskell (should bd Charles R. Haskell, for whom Haskell County was named by the author of this work), - John- son, Q. P. Kimps, A. G. Sermond, William Mayer, J. McDonald, Wm. Mason, Harvey Martin, Robert Owens, R. R. Rainey, L. S. Simpson, - Sanders, L. Tilson, B. W. Toliver (Teliaferro?), J. Q. Valckner, - Batts, - - Woolrich and Wm. Waggoner - 38.
Of Captain Pettus' company, the San Antonio Grays, the Captain being absent:
. Lieutenant John Grace (a brother of the subsequent Catholic bishop of
1
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On the 13th of November, 1835, the day after General Houston was elected commander-in-chief by the consultation, he wrote to Fannin, then at San Antonio, tendering him the
Minnesota) ; Sergeants E. S. Heath, - James and Samuel Riddell; Pri- vates C. J. Garriere, Allen O. Kenney, Joseph P. Riddle, F. H. Gray, George Green, Charles Sargeant, - Cazart, Wm. G. Preusch, John Wood, Dennis Mahoney, Noah Dickinson, George M. Gilland, - Wallace, Wm. Harper, Edward Moody, -Escott, Manuel Carbajal (a Mexican), R. J. Scott, - Gould, W. P. Johnson, A. Bynum, - Hodges, Charles Philips, James West, J. M. Cass, - Logan and - Perkins - 31.
Of Captain Uriah J. Bullock's company, the Captain being sick in Velasco : Sergeants Bradford Fowler and Allison Ames; Corporals J. Rufus Munson, T. S. Freeman and G. M. Vigal; Privates Isaac Aldridge, Wm. A. J. Brown, George W. Cumming, Joseph Dennis, - Michael, Devereaux Ellis, Charles Fine, - Gibbs, Perry H. Minor, John O. Moore, John Moat, - McKen- zie, Robert A. Pace, Austin Perkins, Samuel Rowe, John S. Scully, Joseph A. Stovall, - Weeks, - Wood, James McCoy and Moses Butler - 26. Of Captain James C. Winn's company, he being absent :
Lieutenants Wiley Hughes and Daniel B. Brooks; Sergeants Anthony Bates, John S. Thorn and Wesley Hughes; Corporals John M. Kimble, Walter W. Davis, Abraham Stephens, J. M. Powers, and - Ray; Privates John Aldridge, John M. Bryson, Michael Carroll, Thomas H. Carbys, John Ely, George Eubanks, Dominic Gallagher, Wilson Holmes, Grier Lee, Joseph Loring, Alexander J. Loverly, Martin Moran, Watkins Nobles, John M. Oliver, Patrick Osborne, Wm. Parvin, Gideon S. Ross, Anderson Ray, Thomas Rumley, Wm. Shelton, James Smith, Christopher Winters, Harri- son Young, Josiah B. Beall, John Bright and H. Shultz - 36.
Of Captain Wadsworth's company, he being absent :
Lieutenants Thomas B. Ross and J. L. Wilson; Sergeants S. A. J. Mays and Samuel Wallace; Corporals J. S. Brown and J. B. Murphy; Privates William Abercrombie, T. B. Barton, J. H. Clark, W. J. Cowan, J. A. Foster, F. Gilkerson, Wm. Gilbert, J. H. Moore, C. C. Milne, J. B. Rodgers, R. Slatter, J. H. Sanders, W. S. Tuberville and E. Wingate - 20.
Of Captain Tichenor's company, he being absent :
Lieutenants Memory B. Tatom and Wm. A. Smith; Sergeants Edmund Patterson and Richard Rutledge; Corporals Joseph B. Tatom, Perry Reese and Thomas Rieves; Musician Thomas Weston; Privates John McGowen, David Johnson, Samuel Wood, Isaac N. Wright, Wm. L. Allison, Washing- ton Mitchell, Stephen Baker, Henry Hasty, James A. Bradford, Cornelius Rooney, Seaborne A. Mills, Cullen Conrad, James O. Young, Edward Fitz- simmons, Hezekiah Fist, O. F. Leverette, Wm. Comstock, John O'Daniell, Charles Lantz, Evans M. Thomas, A. M. Lynch, G. W. Carlisle, Leven Allen, Jesse Harris, -Swords, - Williams and Wm. . P. B. Dubose - 35.
40
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honorable and responsible position of inspector-general, with the rank of colonel on his staff. Now let it be supposed that Colonel Fannin, instead of insisting on a separate command
Of Captain Peyton S. Wyatt's company, he being absent on leave :
Second Lieutenant Oliver Smith; Sergeants Wm. Wallace, George Thayer and Henry Wilkins; Quartermaster Oliver Brown; Musician Peter Allen; Privates Gabriel Bush, Ewing Caruthers, N. Dembrinske, Henry Dixon, T. B. Frizell, I. H. Fisher, Edward Fuller, Frederic Gebinrath, James Hamilton, E. D. Harrison, - Kortickey, C. Nixon, - Clennon, J. F. Morgan, F. Petreiswich, Wm. S. Parker, Charles Patton, John R. Parker, Wm. R. Simpson, Frederic Sweman and Allen Wrenn - 28.
Of Captain Ira Westover's company, containing largely Irish volunteers from Refugio and San Patricio :
Captain Ira Westover, Second Lieutenant Lewis W. Gates; Sergeants Wm. S. Brown, George McKnight and John McGloin; Privates Augustus Baker, Mathew Byrne, John Cross, John Fagan, Wm. Harris, John Kelly, Dennis McGowan, Patrick Nevin, Thomas Quirk, Edmund Ryan, Thomas Smith, E. J. A. Greynolds, Daniel Buckley, Marion Betts, G. W. Goglan, Mathew Eddy, Robert English, John Gleeson, Wm. Hatfield, John Hilchard, Charles Jenson, Wm. Mann, John Numlin, Stephen Pierce, Sidney Smith, Daniel Syers, Lewis Shotts, Charles Stewart, Joseph W. Watson, James Webb, William Winningham, Antonio Siley and John James - 38.
Of. Captain David N. Burke's company of Mobile Grays, he being absent on leave :
Second Lieutenant J. B. Manomy; Sergeants James Kelly and H. D. Ripley; Privates Kneeland Taylor, Charles B. Jennings, P. T. Kissam, John Richards, Orlando Wheeler, John D. Cunningham, Wm. McMurray, John Chew, M. P. King, Jacob Coleman, W. P. Wood, Wm. Stevens, Peter Mat- tern, Conrad Egenour, G. F. Courtman, James Reid, Wm Hunter, M. J. Frazier, S. M. Edwards, Wm. J. Green, A. Swords, Z. O'Neill, Charles Linley, Wm Catlin, Randolph T. Spain - 28.
Of Captain Jack Shackleford's company of Red Rovers, he being one of the saved physicians :
Sergeants F. S. Shackleford (nephew of the captain), Arthur G. Foley. [His brother James was killed by Mexicans west of the Nueces in 1889, and his brother, S. Tucker Foley, by the Comanches in Lavaca County, August 5th, 1840], and Z. H. Short; Corporals H. H. Gently, D. Moore, J. H. Barkley and A. Winter; Privates P. H. Anderson, Joseph Blackwell, B. F. Burts, Thomas Burnbridge, J. M. Ramhill, W. C. Douglass, J. W. Cain, Harvey Cox, Seth Clark, J. G. Coe, Alfred Dorsey, G. L. Davis, H. B. Day, A. Dick- son, J. W. Duncan, R. T. Davidson, J. E. Ellis, Samuel Farney, Robert Fenner, E. B. Franklin, Joseph Ferguson, M. C. Gower, D. Gamble, William Gunter, J. E. Grimes, Wm. Hemphill, John Eiser, John Jackson, H. W.
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and combining with a faction of the council (ignorant as children of military affairs) had accepted the appointment under General Houston and co-operated with him and Henry
Jones, John N. Jackson, John Kelly, Daniel A. Murdock, Charles W. Kinley, J. H. Miller, J. N. Seaton, W. J. Shackleford (son of the captain), B. Strunk, W. F. Savage, W. E. Vaughn, James Vaughn, Robert Wilson, James Wilder, Wm. Quinn and Henry L. Douglas - 51.
Of the detachment of Captain Albert C. Horton's company, 12 in number, that surrendered with Fannin [the other 36 retreated and were not in the battle] :
Elias Yeamans, Erastus Yeamans, Ransom O. Graves, Napoleon B. Will- iams, Lewis Powell, Hughes Witt, George Paine, Thomas Dasher, John J. Hand, - Duffield, -- Spencer and - Cash - 12.
Of persons attached to no company :
Lieutenants-Hurst and- Rills, Captain Dusanque, Samuel Sprague, James Pitman, C. Hardwick, R. E. Petty, Charles Heck and James M. Miller - 9.
KILLED AT REFUGIO, MARCH 2.
Of Captain Aaron B. King's company :
Captain Aaron B. King; Sergeants Samuel Anderson, George W. Penny, J. H. Collison and William R. Johnson; Privates J. P. Humphries, H. H. Kirk, L. C. Gibbs, L. G. H. Bracey, J. C. Stewart, T. Cooke, James Henley, Jackson Davis, J. Coleman, Gavin H. Smith, Snead Ledbetter, R. A. Toler, Wm. S. Armstrong, Joel Heath and - Johnson - 20.
ESCAPED DEATH.
Johnson's party :
Col. Francis W. Johnson, Toler, Love and Miller.
Samuel W. McKneely, captured at San Patricio, was conveyed to Mata- moros whence he escaped several months later with Reuben R. Brown. Several others were captured with him and imprisoned in Matamoros, but their names and fates are unknown. Captain Placido Venibedes of Victoria escaped on the Agua Dulce March 2d.
Of Grant's :
Captured at the time of Grant's defeat and conveyed to Matamoros :
Reuben R. Brown, in 1892 still living in Brazoria county.
Left wounded in Refugio by Ward and escaped, A. H. Osborne. Escaped during Col. Ward's retreat :
David I. Holt, F. Davis, Wm. S. Butler, Samuel G. Hardaway (a youth from Georgia), L. T. Pease, - Trezevant, Aaron S. Mangum, Reason Banks, George Rounds, Allen Ingram, M. K. Moses, H. Rodgers, Samuel C. Pitman, James C. Jack, D. Greene, C. F. Hick, Lieutenant B. T. Bradford,
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Smith, the only and rightful governor, how different would have been his fate and that of his companions. History would have been spared one of its most heartrending and blood-
J. D. Rains, Perry Davis, H. G. Hudson, W. Simpson, Nathaniel R. Brister and Joseph Andrews - 23.
Surrendered with Colonel Ward, detained as laborers at Victoria and released at Matagorda by Colonel Holtzinger, after the victory at San Jacinto :
Thomas J. Smith (who died in Fort Bend in 1890), H. Mordecai, (a Hebrew killed by Indians August 9th, 1840), Pierce Hammock, Thomas Harry, Dr. Lampkin, Ed. Patterson (or Pattison), A. J. Hitchcock, and ten or twelve others, whose names are unknown. I make this statement on the authority of Thomas J. Smith, who wrote in 1883. He says: "The river at Victoria was swollen and twelve carpenters and four choppers were called for to build a boat. These, with three who were foot-worn, re- mained, the rest of the prisoners being hurried on to La Bahia. Among the foot-worn was Mordecai."
Mr. Smith says that he and four others at one time were taken to the west bank of the river to throw into it the bodies of ten murdered Texians, stragglers from Ward's command, one of whom was known as Dog Brooks. Smith and his companions would have been murdered at the same time but for the intercession of Colonel Holtzinger. This accounts for thirty-nine of Ward's command of 107 when his retreat began.
Saved as physicians, carpenters and laborers at the time of the massacre, March 27th, at Goliad :
Drs. Jack Shackleford (a captain), Joseph H. Barnard and James Fields ; Messrs. John Vanbiber, Benjamin Oldum (Oldham?), - Dedrick, George Voss, Peter Griffin, J. H. Barnwell, John T. Spillers, Thomas Stewart, Wm. L. Wilkerson, J. Bridgeman, Jas. H. Callahan (afterwards a gallant cap- tain), Josiah McSherry, E. Durrain, Joseph Cramble, Thomas Harvey, Jobn C. P. Kennymore, Nicholas B. Waters, W. Welsh, John Lumpkin, A. M. Boyle, George Pittuck (father of A. A. Pittuck of Texas " Farm Ranch "), Wm. Rosenberry, Alvin E. White, Joseph M. Spohn, Francisco Garcia, Captain Wm. Shurlock and Benjamin Franklin Hughes, died in Dallas, Texas, in 1892.
Others who escaped when the Fannin massacre occurred :
John C. Duval (now living in Austin), John Holliday, - Sharpe, C. B. Shaine, Wm. L. Hunter (died in 1887), - Holland, David J. Jones, Wm. Brennan, John Reese, Milton Irish, F. M. Hunt, Samuel T. Brown, J. H. Neely, Bennett Butler, Herman Ehrenberg (died in Califor- nia), Thomas Kemp, N. J. Devenny, Isaac D. Hamilton, Z. S. Brooks, Dil- lard Cooper (living in Hays County), Daniel Martindale, Wm. Hadden, Charles Smith, Nat Hazen, Wm. Murphy, John Williams, Joseph Fenner
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stained chapters. Had the orders of Smith and Houston been obeyed the plundering of Bexar (by Dr. Grant) of its muni- tions and supplies in aid of an unauthorized and chimerical descent upon Matamoros, would not have occurred.
There would have been no butchery at the Alamo, no butchery at Goliad, and the men of Johnson and Grant would not have miserably perished.
There would have been union and harmony and concert of action under one able, far-seeing and directing mind. These 857 men would have moved as clock-work, and by the time that Santa Anna reached Bexar, General Houston, with these 857 valiant citizen-soldiers, would have had two thousand effective men in martial array, and by the time he reached the Guadalupe he would have had from 2,500 to 3,000 men. Here it was evidently his original intention to meet Santa Anna. Here upon his front he would have had a stream easily defended and could have defeated Santa Anna and won a
and Rufus Munson. The name of Rufus Munson, a youth from Macon, Georgia, has always incorrectly appeared among the slain. I make this statement on the authority of Mrs. Mary L. Woodson, of Abilene, Texas, who knew Munson for many years.
Joseph Fenner's name has never hitherto appeared in any published list. He has since 1875 resided at Bailey, Fannin County, and is a man of high character and education.
In a letter to me, June 13th, 1889, Fenner says : " I was one of Fannin's men. I left Alabama with Captain (Dr.) Shackleford and reached Texas in 1835. I never lived in Texas until 1875, and have resided in Fannin County ever since. I am now seventy-one years old."
My attention was first called to the omitted name of Mr. Fenner by Rev. Wesley Smith, now postmaster at Pioneer, Eastland County. In a letter to me of June 5th, 1889, he says: " In 1832-3, I was a student in La Grange College, Alabama. At the same time Robert and Joseph Fenner (brothers) were there and in one of my classes. Afterwards they were in Fannin's army. Robert was one of the victims. When they were led out he cried : ' Boys, they are going to kill us. Let us die like men.' Joseph escaped the massacre." On receipt of this letter I discovered Joseph Fenner's place of residence to be in Fannin County and communicated with him by letter and received the reply from which I have quoted.
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signal victory ; a victory that would have prevented the de- population of the country to the eastward and the immense destruction of property by torch and pillage that marked the advance of the Mexican Hyder Ali. As it was, Houston had to wait until the plenary convention reclothed him with authority on the 4th of March and until he could, on the 11th of that month, assume command of three hundred unorgan- ized volunteers before he could actively take the field. He found it imperatively necessary to retreat first to the Colorado and next to the Brazos. Hundreds of men were compelled to leave him to remove their families to places of security and a much larger number were deterred from joining him from the same cause.
As has been shown, his power was paralyzed from the 21st of January (when he learned at Refugio of the powers granted Fannin and Johnson ), until the people again spoke through the convention on the 4th of March; forty-two momentous days, during which the destinies of the country trembled uncertain in the balances of fate; time enough (had not faction raised its voice and parricidal hand) for him to have organized a force abundantly sufficient to have driven Santa Anna into dismal route on the Guadalupe.
The intermeddling council has much to answer for. The mantle of charity, as far as the author of this work is con- cerned, shall be thrown over the immediate and principal vic- tims of its folly. They at least fell like brave and honorable soldiers and found martyrs' graves.
A brief review of the situation in the last days of March seems appropriate here. Johnson's party was destroyed at San Patricio on the 27th of February - Grant's on the Agua Dulce, on the 2d of March. The Alamo fell on the 6th, Gen- eral Houston retreated from Gonzales on the 13th and reached the Colorado on the 17th, where we left him. The convention met at Washington on the 1st, declared independence on the
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2nd, adopted the constitution on the 17th, elected the per- sons to compose the government ad interim and adjourned sine die on the 18th. Fannin capitulated on the 20th. Urrea seized Victoria on the 21st, captured Ward on the 22d, and, after sending him back to Goliad, remained in Victoria. Then came, on the 27th, the slaughter at Goliad. In all this time, since his arrival on the 23d of February, Santa Anna, with the bulk of his army, had remained at San Antonio.
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