USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 2 > Part 43
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leaped from the top of a two-story building. Both were killed by the fall.
I have little doubt but that the Alamo has fallen - whether the above particulars are all true may be questionable. You are therefore referred to the inclosed order.
I am, Sir, etc., SAM HOUSTON.
P. S. In confirmation of the truth of fall of the Alamo, I have ascertained that Col. Travis intended firing signal guns at three different periods each day until succor should arrive. No signal guns have been heard since Sunday, though a scout- ing party have just returned who approached. within twelve miles of it, and remained there forty-eight hours."
HOUSTON ORDERS FANNIN TO RETREAT.
ARMY ORDER.
" HEADQUARTERS, GONZALES, March 11th, 1836. To Col. J. W. Fannin, Commanding at Goliad:
SIR-You will as soon as practicable on receipt of this order, fall back upon Guadalupe Victoria with your com- mand and such artillery as can be brought with expedition. . The remainder will be sunk in the river. You will take the necessary measures for the defense of Victoria, and forward one-third of your effective men to this point, and remain in command until further orders.
Every facility is to be afforded to women and children who may be ?desirous of leaving that place. Previous to aban- doning Goliad, you will take the necessary measures to blow up that fortress, and do so before leaving its vicinity. The immediate advance of the enemy may be constantly expected, as well as a rise of water. Prompt movements are therefore highly important.
SAM HOUSTON,
Commander-in-Chief of the Army."
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No. 10.
LETTER FROM SANTA ANNA BEFORE LEAVING TEXAS FOR WASH- INGTON CITY ON HIS WAY TO VERA CRUZ.
" OROZIMBO, November 5, 1836. To His Excellency General Sam Houston:
MY ESTEEMED SIR-Through the channel of your commis- sioners, and by my conversation with you on the 2d instant, I have manifested to you the importance of my visit to Wash- ington City, to adopt the most effectual mode of terminating the Texian question ; and, as time is passing, without any defi- nite action, when it is most precious, I am desirous that you who are so deeply interested in the welfare of this country, should expedite the final determination of this question - using if you should deem it advisable, the following rea- sons :
When the treaty of the 14th of May was entered into, it was based upon the principle that Texas should form an independent nation, and should acquire a legal existence by means of the acknowledgment of Mexico. But, as that basis has been changed by the recent declaration of the people of Texas in favor of annex- ation to the United States of the north, it appears to me that, by this declaration, the question is much simplified; be- cause, in future, it will appertain to the cabinet at Washington to regulate this matter, and with whom Mexico will not hesi- tate to enter into explanations, as a definite treaty is desired. The mode of effecting this important object, without loss of time, is what I hope to attain by my conference with the cabinet at Washington, at the same time conciliating all inter- ests: Convinced as I am that Texas will never reunite with Mexico, I am desirous, on my part, to improve the advantages which may offer, and avoid the sacrifices which will occur should an imprudent attempt be made to reconquer this coun-
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try, which has hitherto proved more detrimental than benefi- cial; consequently reducing the Texian question to this single point - the regulation of the limits between the United States and Mexico (" al arreglo de limites entre los Estados Unidos y Mexico"), which, you are aware, has been pending many years, and may be fixed at the Nueces, del Norte, or any other boundary, as may be decided on at Washington.
Thus, disagreeable discussions, which might delay the definite termination of this question, or cause a difference between two friendly nations, will be avoided.
This in substance, is a plain, safe and speedy mode of ter- minating this important matter ; and as all are interested, it becomes necessary that you facilitate my journey to Wash- ington with the least possible delay.
In regard to the stipulation in the secret treaty, that my journey should be direct to Vera Cruz, there will be no sur- prise when the reasons why I first go to Washington City are known; and should I be sent the latter route, I would like that Messrs. Hockley, Patton, and Bee, should accompany me. Should it meet your approbation, you can commission them for that purpose.
I conclude by repeating to you what I have said, both ver- bally and in writing - that my name, already known to the world, shall not be tarnished by any unworthy action.
Gratitude is my characteristic; so you will have nothing, on your part, to repent.
To you I owe my existence and many favors of which I am deeply impressed ; and these I will endeavor to reciprocate as they so justly deserve.
I have the honor to remain, Your most obedient servant,
ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA."
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No. 11.
FROM GEN. HOUSTON TO SANTA ANNA.
" EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF HOUSTON,
March 21, 1842.
To His Excellency Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of Mexico :
MOST EXCELLENT SIR- Your communications to Mr. Bee and General Hamilton, dated at the palace of the Govern- ment of Mexico, have been recently presented to my notice. At the first convenient leisure, I have not failed to appro- priate my attention to the subjects embraced in the scope of your remarks.
They would have met a more ready attention had it not been for a marauding incursion made by a Mexican force upon the defenseless town of San Antonio on the inhabited frontier of Texas. Apprehending that the force had some other char- acter than bandits and plunderers, commanded as it was by regular officers, it produced a momentary excitement and claimed the attention of the Executive; but as the bandits have withdrawn, characterizing their retreat by pillage and plun- der, as has been usual with Mexicans, I am left at leisure to resume, in tranquility, the duties of my station.
In reference to your correspondence with Mr. Bee and Gen- eral Hamilton, I have no remark to make in reference to the communications which those gentlemen assumed the individual responsibility of making to you. The very nature of the correspondence manifests the fact that it was not done under the sanction of this government, but rests solely upon their action as individuals. Had your response regarded them in the light in which they were presented to you it would have superseded the necessity of any notice from me; but, as you have thought proper to laud my conduct as an individual and refer to transactions connected with this country with which I
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had official identity - and which I also at this time possess - and as you have taken the liberty, to an unwarranted extent, to animadvert upon circumstances connected with Texas as a nation, I find myself impelled by a sense of duty to refute a portion of the calumnies which you have presented to the world, under the sanction of your official averment.
You seem to have seized upon the pretext of confidential communications unknown to the officers of this government, and unknown to the world until divulged by you, for the pur- pose of manufacturing a capital of popularity at home, and which you have submitted to the world as a manifesto in behalf of what you are pleased to term the rights of a great nation, " by so many titles respectable."
Whatever opinions you may have entertained in relation to the difficulties existing between Mexico and Texas, cannot materially vary the facts or the principles involved, nor will they materially influence the decision of mankind upon the justice of our cause.
Decency and self-respect, at least, should have induced on your part the pursuit of a course different from that you have adopted. The abuse and ribald epithets you have applied to the citizens of this country, as well as those of the Mississippi Valley of the United States, are doubtless characteristic of the individual who gave them utterance. So far as the people of this country are concerned I shall refer mankind to a history of facts and circumstances connected with the settle- ment of the country. I shall pass, with slight notice, your remarks relative to the people of the United States. So far as our origin is connected with them, and a unity of sympathy exists, we are proud to hail them as our kindred, - kindred in blood, kindred in laws, kindred in all the ennobling attributes of humanity. They will hear your ill taunts of defiance with the same contempt and derision that Texians regard your silly gasconade. If they have heretofore sympathized with us, in our struggle for liberty and independence, it was from a
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knowledge of the fact that we had been oppressed and deceived by Mexico, and that the cause in which we were engaged was that of humanity, struggling against usurpation and despotism.
The people of Texas were invited to immigrate to this country for the purpose of enjoying equal rights and consti- tutional liberty. They were promised the shield of the con- stitution of 1824, adopted by Mexico. Confiding in this pledge, they removed to the country, to encounter all the privatations of a wilderness, under the alluring promise of free institutions. Other reasons operated also. Citizens of the United States had engaged in the Revolution of Mexico in 1812. They fought gallantly in the achievement of Mexican inde- pendence ; and many of them survive, and to this day occupy the soil which their privations and valor assisted in achieving. On their removal here they brought with them no aspirations or projects but such as were loyal to the constitution of Mexico. They repelled the Indian savages, they encountered every discomfort, they subdued the wilderness, and converted into cultivated fields the idle waste of this now prolific terri- tory. Their courage and enterprise achieved that which the imbecility of your countrymen had either neglected or left for centuries unaccomplished. Their situation was not, however, disregarded by Mexico; though she did not, as might have been expected, extend to them a protecting and fostering care, but viewed them as objects of cupidity, and, at last, of jeal- ousy.
The Texians, enduring the annoyance and oppression inflict- ed upon them, remained faithful to the constitution of Mexico. In 1832 when an attempt was made to destroy that constitu- tion, and when you, sir, threw yourself forward as its avowed champion, you were sustained with all the fidelity and valor that freemen could contribute. On the avowal of your prin- ciples, and, in accordance with them, the citizens put down the serviles of despotism at Anahuac, Velasco and Nacogdoches. They treated the captives of that struggle with humanity and
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sent them to Mexico, subject to your orders. They regarded you as the friend of liberty and free institutions ; they hailed you as the benefactor of mankind. Your name and your actions were lauded, and the manifestations you had given in behalf of the nation were themes of satisfaction and delight to the Texian patriots.
You can well imagine the transition of feeling which ensued on your accession to power. Your subversion of the constitu- tion of 1824; your establishment of centralism ; your conquest of Zacatecas, characterized by every act of violence, cruelty and rapine, inflicted upon us the deepest astonishment. We realized all the uncertainty of men awaking to reality from the unconsciousness of delirium. In succession came your order for the Texians to surrender their private arms. The mask was thrown aside, and the monster of despotism dis- played in all the habiliments of loathsome detestation. Then was presented to Texians the alternative of tamely crouching to the tyrant's lash, or exalting themselves to the attributes of freemen. They chose the latter. To chastise them for their presumption, induced your advance upon Texas with your boasted veteran army, a force in number nearly equal to the whole population of the country at that time. You beseiged and took the Alamo - but under what circumstances ? Not those, surely, which should characterize a general of the nineteenth century. You assailed one hundred and fifty men, destitute of every supply requisite for the defense of the place. Its brave defenders, worn down by vigilance and duty beyond the power of human nature to sustain, were at length overwhelmed by a force of nine thousand men, and the place taken. I ask you, sir, what scenes followed? Were they such as should characterize an able general, a mag- nanimous warrior, and the president of a great nation, numbering eight millions of souls? No !- manliness and generosity would sicken at the recital of the scenes incident upon your success ; and humanity herself would blush to
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
class you among the chivalric spirits of the age of vandal- ism! This you have been pleased to class in the " succession of your victories," and, I presume, you would next include the massacre at Goliad. Your triumph there, if such you are pleased to term it, was not the triumph of arms; it was the success of perfidy ! Fannin and his brave companions had beaten back and defied your veteran soldiers. Although out- numbered more than seven to one their valiant, hearty and in- domitable courage with holy devotion to the cause of freedom, foiled every effort directed by your general to insure his suc- cess by arms. He had recourse to a flag of truce; and, when the surrender of the little patriot-band was secured by the most solemn treaty stipulations, what were the tragic scenes that ensued to Mexican perfidy? The conditions of their sur- render were submitted to you and - though you have denied the facts - instead of restoring them to liberty, according to the conditions of the capitulation, you ordered them to be executed, contrary to every pledge given them, contrary to the rules of war, and contrary to every principle of humanity ! Yet at this day you have the effrontery to animadvert upon the conduct of Texians relative to your captivity after the battle San Jacinto.
You have presumed to arraign the conduct of the then existing cabinet, and to charge it with bad faith; and, though you are pleased to commend the conduct of the illustrious Stephen F. Austin -the Father of Texas - and myself for acts of generosity exercised towards you, you take care to insinuate that we only were capable of appreciating your proper merits. That you may no longer be induced to mis- construe acts of generosity and appreciate them to the gratifi- cation of your self-complacent disposition, I will inform you that they were acts of magnanimity characteristic of the nation to which we belong. They had nothing to do with your merits or demerits. The perfidy and cruelty which had been exercised towards our companions-in-arms did not enter into
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our calculation. Your sacrifice would not restore to our gal- lant companions their lives, nor to our country their services. Although the laws of war would have justified retaliation by your execution, yet, it would have characterized the acts of the nation as influenced by passion and revenge; and would have evinced to the world that individuals that had an influence on the destinies of a people were subject to the capricious influences of vengeance of which you had so recently set an example. So far as I was concerned in preserving your life, and in your subsequent liberation, I was only influenced by considerations of mercy, human- ity and the establishment of a national character. Humanity was gratified by your preservation; the magnanimous of all nations would have justified your release, had they known how little your influence was dreaded by the Texians. If upon your return to Mexico, you should have power and the disposition to redeem the pledges you had voluntarily made to myself as well as this government, of an earnest disposi- tion to see the independence of Texas recognized by Mexico, I believed it would have a tendency to restore peace to the two nations, diminish the aggregate sufferings of their citizens, and promote the prosperity of both countries. In the event you were not disposed to redeem the pledges thus given, but to urge the prosecution of the war by Mexico against us, I wished to evince to mankind that Texas had magnanimity, resources and confidence, sufficient to sustain them against all your influence in favor of their subjugation.
Your liberation was induced by principles such as these ; and, though you tendered pledges, doubtless to facilitate and procure your release, they were received but not accepted as. a condition. I believed that pledges made in duress were not. obligatory upon the person making them, and if you intended to exercise the influence that you declared you would do that. unconditional liberty extended to you would interpose no obstacle to their fulfillment.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Without any advertence to any treaty stipulations which you had made with the cabinet of Texas, I gave you entire liberty, and safe conduct to the city of Washington.
You have asserted to the world that you have given no pledge whatever to the Texian government of your disposition in favor of the separation from Mexico. That the tribunal to which you have appealed may judge of the validity of your assertion, I shall submit with this communication, a letter of yours addressed to me at Columbia [already given ] dated the 5th of November, 1836, after my determination to give you your liberty had been communicated. I shall present it in the original, accompanied with its translation into English. I will also give publicity to a veto which I communicated to the Senate, in consequence of a resolution of that honorable body respecting your detention as a prisoner.
You have spoken of events subsequent to the battle of San Jacinto, and endeavor to convey the idea that promises had been exorted from you under the rifles of a tumultuous sol- diery.
I am at a loss to comprehend your meaning in this reference. When you were brought into the encampment as a prisoner, the day after the battle, you were conducted into the presence of the commander-in-chief, not amid noise and tumult, nor did any exist. When the character of the prisoner was made known to the army, much curiosity was excited; but there was no menace used, or violence offered. You were treated with calmness and every courtesy extended to you that our situation would afford. Had you been a private gentleman and friend you could have received no greater facilities than those that were extended to you. As you desired, you were placed near my person, and not sent with the balance of the prisoners. You were informed that you could have your camp-bed and marquee brought to my quarters,1 where I lay
1 On a blanket spread on the ground under a tree. There was not a tent in the Texian army.
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confined with my wound. You were permitted to command the services of your attendants; you were also informed that your baggage should be selected from the spoils taken by the army on the field, which was accordingly done and never inspected. These privileges were granted by my order. Your aide-de-camp, Col. Almonte, and your private secretary, were permitted to remain with you in your marquee. A guard was detailed for the purpose of allaying any apprehen- sions you might have for your personal safety and every liberty extended to you, except your personal release. 1
You submitted propositions to me embracing the questions of the recognition of Texian independence and the termination of our struggle. I unequivocally refused the acceptance of any offer upon the subject of a treaty alleging, as a reason, that we had a constitutional government, and the subject would properly come before the cabinet of Texas, the mem- bers of which would be present in camp within a few days. You urged the further consideration of your proposition upon me declaring that you would rather enter into stipulations with a general of the army than with the civil authorities of the country. I positively declined taking any further action upon them; and they were referred to the cabinet, on its arrival. Declining the consideration of your proposals myself, I required you to issue orders forthwith, to the general next in command, to evacuate Texas with the troops composing the Mexican army and to fall back with them to Monterey. Orders to this effect were issued by you to Gen. Filisola, and dispatched by an express which could not, how- ever, overtake him until he had reached the Colorado, on his retreat, conducted in the greatest panic and confusion. Owing to his precipitate flight and your execution of my orders, the Mexicans were permitted to leave Texas without further molestation.
In the meantime Gen. Adrian Woll, of the Mexican army, came into the encampment at San Jacinto, without my
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
knowledge, and not upon " my word of honor," nor was I apprised of his presence until I learned that he, together with his aide, had been traversing our lines. So soon as I was advised of this fact I ordered them to my presence, and had them instructed that such conduct would not be tolerated, and caused them to be placed under vigilance. This reason I deemed sufficient to detain Gen. Woll as a prisoner of war. His subsequent conduct to Capt. Dimmitt was such as to justify any unfavorable opinion which I had formed of his character. He had rendered himself so obnoxious to the army, that, from a desire for his personal security, I did not permit his release until he could go in perfect safety. In no respect had the prisoners taken on that occasion reason of complaint. Their lives were all forfeited by the laws of war, conformably to the precedent which you had exhibited. Gen. Cos, who had surrendered in 1835, a prisoner of war at San Antonio, where two hundred and ninety-five Texians stormed and took the Alamo, with the town, when it was defended by seventeen hundred regular troops of Mexico - was again taken prisoner at San Jacinto, after he had violated his parole of honor, by which he had forfeited his life to the . law of arms. Yet such was the lenity of the Texians, that even he was spared, thereby interposing mercy to prevent reclamation being made for the brave Texians perfidiously massacred.
From the 5th of May (1836), I had no connection with the encampment, nor with the treatment which the prisoners received, until the month of October, when I was inducted into the office of chief magistrate of the nation. It is true that you were chained to an iron bar ; but not until an attempt had been made to release you, with your knowledge and as- sent. A vessel had arrived at Orozimbo, on the Brazos, where you were confined. In the possession of its captain were found wines and liquors mixed with poison for the pur- pose of poisoning the officers and guard in whose charge you
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were, thereby insuring your escape. In consequence of the sensation produced by this circumstance, you were confined and treated in the manner you have so pathetically portrayed.
While confined by my wound in San Augustine, I learned that it was the intention of the army to take you to the theater of Fannin's massacre and there to have you executed. Upon the advertisement of this fact, I immediately sent an express to the army, solemnly protesting against any such act, and in- terposing every possible obstacle against your further molesta- tion, or any action which might not recognize you as a prisoner of war.
Your recent communications have necessarily awakened advertency to these facts; otherwise they would have re- mained unrecited by me. Any part which I bore in these transactions is not related in the egotistical style of your communication ; it is done alone for the purpose of presenting the lights of history. You have sought to darken its shades, and appeal to the sympathies, and would command the admi- ration of mankind, and have even invoked the prismatic tints of romance.
Now, the tribunal to which you have appealed will have an opportunity of contrasting the treatment which you and the prisoners taken at San Jacinto received, with that of those who have fallen within your power, and particularly those perfidiously betrayed on a recent trading excursion to Santa Fe. You have endeavored to give that expedition the com- plexion of an invading movement upon the rights of Mexico. To believe you serious in the idle display of words on this occasion, would be presenting an absurdity to the common sense of the age. Your fears may have given it a character dif- ferent from that to which it was entitled. Examine the circumstances accompanying it. It was not an act of Texas; Congress had refused to sanction any enterprise of the kind. A number of individuals were anxious to open a lucrative trade - as they believed it would be - with Santa Fe. Such
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