USA > Texas > Tarrant County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Tarrant and Parker counties; containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 7
USA > Texas > Parker County > History of Texas, together with a biographical history of Tarrant and Parker counties; containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named counties, and personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 7
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But, during the time the fighting men wore doing such splendid work, the poli- ticians were quarreling; nor are we lacking in a more " modern instance " or two, on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line. Governor Smith vetoed some matters that the council had voted, and the conneil promptly deposed him and placed Lieutenant-Governor Robin- son in the executive chair. Smith held the archives and claimed to be governor still, and there were consequently two governors at once; but that state of affairs is not uncom- mon in these days. Much other legislative matter of some interest at the time was trans- acted, but it is not now of supreme import-
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
ance. The main historic facts is what the compiler wishes to emphasize in these pages. Several declarations of independence were adopted in different sections of the embryo State, but an election was held for delegates to a convention which met on the 1st of March, 1836, and on the second day a com- mittee was appointed to draft a declaration of independence, which was done, and it was unanimously passed, Sam Houston offering the resolution that the report of the commit- tee be adopted. Richard Ellis, for whom Ellis county was nained, was president of the convention. A constitution was also framed which was adopted March 17, and a govern- ment ad interim inaugurated: David G. Burnett, President; Lorenzo de Zavala, Vice- president, and Sam Houston, Commander-in- Chief of the army in the field.
Zacatecas, and the district over which Gov- ernor Garcia still had nominal sway, the re- maining portion of old Mexico wherein the Republicans held out the longest, at last fell, Santa Anna having gained a complete vic- tory over the forces of the governor. This swept away the last vestige of the Republican party in Mexico. Yet Texas was not only holding her own, but gaining strength with every day; so Santa Anna determined to sub- jugate this State. Ile proposed to send two columns into the province, General Urrea be- ing ordered to Matamoras to take one divi- sion along the coast to Goliad and Victoria, while the president himself, with the main division, would take the province by way of Presidio, thence to San Antonio and San Fe- lipe.
THE ALAMO.
In January, 1836, Santa Anna reached Saltillo, and Guerrero by the 15th of Febru- ary. From the latter place he wrote to
Señor Tornel, Minister of War, giving that official an outline of his plans in reference to Texas, which were " to drive from the prov- ince all who had taken part in the revolu- tion, together with all the foreigners who lived near the sea-coast, or the borders of the United States; to remove far into the interior those who had not taken part in the revolu- tion; to vacate all lands and grants of lands owned by non-residents; to remove from Texas all who had come to the province and were not entered as colonists under Mexican rules; to divide among the officers and sol- diers of the army the best lands, provided they would occupy them; to permit no Anglo- American to settle in Texas; to sell the remaining vacant lands at $1 per acre, allowing those speaking the French language to purchase 5,000,000 acres, those speaking English the same, and those speaking Spanish without limit; to satisfy the claims of civilized Indians; to make the Texans pay the expense of the war; and to liberate and to declare free the negroes introduced into the colony." And further, to cut off from Texas the hope of aid from the United States, the Minister of War, Tornel, issued a general order to all commanders to treat all foreigners (volunteers from the United States) as outlaws, to show no quarter, and slay them when taken as prisoners, -in short, to take no prisoners alive. Colonel Travis, with 145 men, who was in the vicinity of San An- tonio, on the approach of the invading army, retired to the fortress of the Alamo, on the east side of the river.
And just here a description of this famous fortress, the Alamo, and its armament, will be in place; and although it has often been de- scribed, yet the memories surrounding it, glorious though sad, cannot be kept too fresh in the minds of all who love supreme herv.
THE CHURCH OF THE ALAMO
SIVIL Q'NELWY DES
Church of the Alamo.
51
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
ism,-the Spartan heroism as shown by Travis and his little band. "The main chapel is 75 x 62 feet, walls of solid masonry, four feet thick and twenty-two and a half feet high, roofless at the time of the siege. It fronts to the west toward the city, one- half mile distant. From the northwest cor- ner a wall extended fifty feet to the convent building. The convent was a two-story building, with a flat roof, 186 x 18 feet. From the northeast corner of the chapel a wall extended 186 feet north, thence 102 feet west to the convent, inclosing the convent yard. From the southwest corner of the chapel a strongly built stockade extended 75 feet to a building called the prison. The prison was one-story, 115 x 17 feet, and joined a part of the south wall of the main Alamo plaza, of which the convent formed a part of the east wall; and some low buildings, used as a barracks, formed a part of the west wall. The main plaza, inclosed with walls, was 154 x 54 yards. The different enelos- ures occupied between two and three acres, -ample accomodations for 1,000 men. The outer walls were two and a half feet thick and eight feet high, though as they were planned against the Indians the fortress was destitute of salient and dominant points in case of a bombardment. A ditch, used for irrigation, passed immediately in the rear of the church; another touched the northwest angle of the main square. The armament was as follows: three heavy guns, planted upon the walls of the church, -one pointing north, toward the old mill; one west, toward the city; and one south, toward the village of Lavalleta. Two guns protected the stockade between the church and the prison; two pro- tected the prison, and an eighteen-pounder was planted at the southwest angle of the main square; a twelve-pound cannon pro-
tected the center of the west wall, and an eight pounder was planted on the northwest angle; two guns were planted on the north wall of the plaza,-in all, fourteen in posi- tion. Over the church floated the flag of the provisional government of Texas, the Mexi- can tri-color, with the numerals 1824, in place of the eagle in the white stripe."
The siege began on the 23d of February, and so stubbornly did Travis and his men re- sist the furious onslaughts of the Mexicans that not until Sunday, March 6, did the fall of the Alamo occur, an account of which, briefly told, will here be given: The Mexi- cans advanced to the attack at about four o'clock in the morning, but the Texans were ready, and poured upon the advancing col- umns a shower of grape and musket a .d rifle balls. Santa Anna was watching the opera- tions from behind a building about 500 yards south of the church. Twice the assailants reeled and fell back in dismay. Rallied again. by the brave Costrellon (who fell at San Ja cinto), according to Filisola, the columns of the western and eastern attacks meeting with some difficulty in reaching the tops of the small houses forming the wall of the fort, did, by a simultaneous movement to the right and to the left, swing northward until the three colums formed one dense mass, which under the guidance of their officers finally succeeded in effecting an entrance into the enclosed yard. About the same time the column on the south made a breach in the wall and captured one of the guns. This gun, the eighteen-pounder, was immediately turned upon the convent, to which some of the Mexicans had retreated. The cannonade on the center of the west wall was still manned by the Texans, and did fearful execution upon the Mexicans who had ventured into the yard.
1
52
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
But the feeble garrison could not long hold out agai ist such overwhelming numbers. Travis fell carly in the action, shot with a rifle ball in the head .. After being shot he had sufficient strength to kill a Mexican who at- tempted to spear him. The bodies of most of the Texans were found in the buildings, where hand to-hand fights took place. The body of Crockett, however, was in the yard, with a mmmmber of dead Mexicans lying near him. Bovie was slain in his bed, and it is said that he killed three Mexicans with his pistols before they reached him after break- ing in the door. The church was the last place entered by the foe. It had been agreed that when resistance seemed useless, and suspecting their fate, any surviving Texan should blow up the magazine. Major Evans, it is said, was performing this sad duty when he was killed in time to prevent the explo- sion. Several Texans appealed to their in- hinman captors for quarters, but they were ent down without morey. The butchery was complete; not a Texan soldier was spared! Two ladies and a negro servant were the only occupants who remained to tell the tale of the Alamo. Lieutenant Dickinson attempted to escape with a child on his back, but their bodies fell, riddled with bullets. 180 bodies of the Texans were collectod together and partially buried. The Mexicans lost twice that number.
THE ALAMO MONUMENT.
At the entrance to the State house at Aus- tin, a fine monument has been erected in memory of the extraordinary heroism of the Texans who fell in the battle and massacre of March 6, 1836. On the four sides of the pedestal are the names of Travis, Crockett, Bowie and Bonham. On the north front of
the shaft is the following inscription: To the God of the Fearless and Free is Dedicated this Altar, made from the ruins of the Alamo; on the west front, Blood of Ileroes IIath Stained me: Let the Stones of the Alamo Speak, that their Immolation be not forgot- ten; on the south front, Be They Enrolled with Leonidas in the Host of the Mighty Dead; and on the cast, Thermopyla had her Messenger of Defeat; but the Alamo had None.
The following names are inscribed upon the north and south fronts:
M. Antry, W. Cummings,
R. Allen, R. Crossan,
M. Andress, Cockran,
Ayres, G. W. Cottle,
Anderson,
J. Dust,
W. Blazeby,
J. Dillard,
J. B. Bowman,
A. Dickinson,
Baker,
C. Despalier,
S. C. Blair,
L. Davell,
Blair,
J. C. Day,
Brown,
J. Dickens,
Bowin,
Devault.
Balentine, W. Dearduff,
J. J. Baugh,
J. Ewing,
Burnell,
T. R. Evans,
Butler, D. Floyd,
J. Baker,
J. Flanders,
Burns,
W. Fishbaugh,
Bailey,
Forsyth,
J. Beard,
G. Fuga,
Bailess,
J. C. Goodrich,
Bourn,
C. Grimes,
R. Cunningham,
J. George,
J. Clark,
J. Gaston,
J. Cane,
J. C. Garrett,
Cloud,
Gwyn,
S. Crawford,
Cary,
J. F. Garwin, Gillmore,
53
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
Pelone,
Sewall,
Win. Lightfoot,
Win. G. Nelson,
C. Parker,
A. Smith,
J. Lonly, C. Ostiner,
N. Pollard,
Simpson,
J. M. Thruston,
L. J. Wilson,
G. Paggan,
R. Star,
Valentine,
Warner,
S. Robinson,
Starn,
Reddenson,
N. Sutherland,
N. Rough,
W. Summers,
Rusk,
J. Summerline,
R. White,
J. Washington,
Robbins,
Thompson,
W. Smith,
Tomlinson,
Sears,
E. Taylor, )
C. Smith,
G. Taylor, Bros.,
Stockton,
J. Taylor, )
Stewart,
W. Taylor,
A. Smith,
Thornton,
J. C. Smith,
Thomas,
IIntehason,
Lanio,
S. Holloway,
W. Lightfoot,
G. W. Lynn,
Harrison, Ilieskell,
Lewis,
J. Ilayes,
W. Mills,
HIorrell,
Micheson,
Harris,
E. T. Mitchell,
Ilawkins,
E. Melton,
J. Holland,
McGregor,
W. Hersie,
T. Miller,
Ingram,
J. McCoy,
John,
E. Morton,
J. Jones,
R. Mussulman,
1 .. Johnson,
Millsop,
C. B. Jamison,
R. B. Moore,
W. Johnson,
W. Marshall,
T. Jackson,
Moore,
D. Jackson,
R. McKenny,
Jackson,
McCaferty,
G. Kemble,
J. McGee,
A. Kent,
G. W. Main,
W. King, Kenney,
G. Nelson,
J. Kenny,
Nelson,
Lewis,
J. Noland,
W. Linn,
Nelson,
J. White,
D. Wilson,
J. Wilson,
A. Wolf.
It is greatly to be regretted that a com- plete and correct list of the names of those who fell at the Alamo, with some biographi- cal account of each, is not at hand. Scanning the above list of imperfect names will often remind the reader that
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
GOLIAD MASSAORE.
Santa Anna, in the meantime, had ordered Urrea to proceed along the Texan coast, and that general reached San Patricio on the 28th of February, entirely unknown to Texans. Some narrow escapes were made by Colonel F. W. Johnson and others, but a party under Major Morris and Dr. Grant were captured and they fell victims to the Mexican murder- ers, -- for they were nothing less. Colonel Fannin had been ordered to prepare for a descent on Matamoras, but hearing of the ad- vance of Urrea, he re-entered Goliad, where he had been in command some time. Hav- ing been requested to send some reinforce- ments to Captain King, his force was thereby depleted by 112 men. King and his men, after a skirmish or two, by some means got separated from another portion of his force,
Williamson,
D. Wilson,
Walsh, Washington,
W. Wells,
C. Wright,
T. Waters, Warnall,
M. Querry,
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HISTORY OF TEXAS
and were captured and killed. Fannin, in Goliad, on the 16th of March, was rein- foreed by the Twenty-eighth Cavalry. Ile then prepared for a retreat; but just at nightfall a large force of the enemy was dis- covered in the neighborhood, when he re- 'mounted his camion and prepared for defense. The following account of the disastrous battle of Colita, which followed, is copied from an able historian of Texas: "The morning of the 17th was foggy, and as no enemy ap- peared to be in sight Fannin concluded to make good his retreat. After reaching a point abont eight miles away from Goliad, they halted to permit the oxen to graze. They then resumed their march, and were within two miles of Colita creek when a company of Mexican cavalry was discovered in front of them, issuing from a point of timber. Urrea had taken advantage of the fog to get around and in front of Fannin's force. Horton's cavalry had gone in advance to make arrangements for crossing the stream, and could not get back to their com- panions. Two charges of Urrea's cavalry were gallantly repulsed by Fannin's artillery, which did great damage to the Mexicans. The fight was kept up till nightfall, when the enemy retired out of range and the Tex- ans prepared for a renewal of the fight in the morning. Their condition was indeed crit- ical. Fourteen of their number had been killed, and sixty others, including Fannin, were wounded. Urrea received during the night heavy reinforcements. With no ade- quate protection, in an open prairie, without water, surrounded by an enemy five times their number, what could they do but sur- render as prisoners of war? A white flag was raised and the following terms of surrender agreed upon: That the Texans should be treated as prisoners of war according to the I again captured, it was difficult for the Amer.
usages of civilized nations; that private prop- erty should be respected and restored, but side arms of the officers should be given up; the men should be sent to Copano, and thence in eight days to the United States, or as soon as vessels could be procured to take them; the officers should be paroled and returned to the United States in like manner.
After surrendering in good faith and rely- ing upon the honor, in this case at least, of the Mexican general, the prisoners were look- ing forward to a speedy release, and on Palm Sunday, the 27th, they were expecting to be forwarded to their homes. But alas! vain hope! the treacherous sconndrel to whom they surrendered had broken his military word and was about to place his name in the same category as the Caligulas and Neros and other fiends in human shape. Without warning and under the pretense of starting them homeward, the privates were marched out in four companies, strongly guarded, from the old inission at Goliad, where they had been sent, and where the men of Ward's force were also confined, and who, too, mnet the same fate as Fannin's men. They were taken in different directions, and within sound of the officers, whose fate had also been decided upon, they were brutally slaugh . tered! A few, by feigning death and lying still till dark, escaped. The officers and the wounded, who were still in the fort, were then taken out, and all of them met the same fate as the privates, Fannin being the last to suf- fer death. That Santa Anna, at the close of the victorious revolution, should have been permitted to escape the fate of those brave patriots, has been a hard pill for most Tex- ans to swallow. Ten years later, when he was in command of the Mexican army. op- posing General Scott, and when he was
"MANZL CO.
Sam Houston
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
ican soldiers to keep their hands off the bloodthirsty brnte, and he had to be strongly guarded to save him from the vengeance of many a grizzled Texan. Not content with these butcheries, Santa Anna, thinking that the conquest of Texas was complete, gave or- ders to his subordinates to shoot all prison- ers, he himself making preparations to retire to the capital. But when he heard that a considerable army under Houston was still in the field, he, at the solicitation of Almonte and F'ilisola, concluded to remain and com- plete his work.
4
SAN JACINTO.
General Houston had been re-elected com- mander-in-chief of the army, and had gone to Gonzales, with the intention of re-organiz- ing the forees, in which he had great diffi- culty, for the fate of Travis and Fannin and their men cansed a great panic when the news became known. Besides, thirty-two of the citizen soldiers of Gonzales, who had en- tered the Alamo the night before the battle, were slain, leaving a dozen or more families of that town without a head. A number of desertions also ocenrred, and the alarm was, indeed, widespread. Then came some move- ments on the part of General Houston that caused great criticism of his actions. There was not a very considerable cordiality between the commander and the newly inaugurated president, and in an order to the former from the latter these words were added: "The enemy are laughing yon to scorn. You must tight them. You must retreat no further. The country expects you to fight. The salva- tion of the country depends on your doing 80." The Confederate as well as the Federal generals during the late war. had their critics at their respective seats of government, yet
the names of Houston, Lee and Grant live on; but where are they, who were they, who sought to teach those great soldiers? The battle of San Jacinto was the response of the great Texan to his official, not to say officious superior. And the best report of that decisive battle is contained in the official report of the commander, who, by that one blow to Mexico, seenred the independence of Texas, the an- nexation of our great State to the greatest nation on earth, and finally led to the acqni- sition of the vast interior region stretching from the Rio Grande to the Pacific ocean:
" HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
"SAN JACINTO, April 25, 1836. } " To Ilis Excellency, D. G. BURNETT,
President of the Republic of Texas: " Sir :- I regret extremely that my situa- tion since the battle of the 21st has been such as to prevent my rendering yon my official report of the same previous to this time.
" I have the honor to inform you that on the evening of the 18th instant, after a forced march of fifty-five miles, which was effected in two days and a half, the army arrived op- posite Harrisburg. That evening a courier of the enemy was taken, from whom I learned that General Santa Anna, with one division of his choice troops, had marched in the di- reetion of Lynch's Ferry, on the San Jacinto, burning Harrisburg as he passed down. The . ariny was ordered to be in readiness to march early on the next morning. The main body effected a crossing over Buffalo bayou, below Harrisburg, on the morning of the 19th, hav- ing left the baggage, the siek, and a sufficient camp guard in the rear. We continued the march throughout the night, making but one halt on the prairie for a short time, and with- ont refreshment. At daylight we resumed the line of march, and in a short distance our scouts encountered those of the enemy, and
56
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
we received information that General Santa Anna was at New Washington, and would that day take up the line of march for Ana- Imac, crossing at Lynch's Ferry. The Texan army halted within a half mile of the ferry, in some timber, and were engaged in slangh- tering beeves, when the army of Santa Anna was discovered to be in battle array, having been encamped at Clopper's Point, eight miles below.
" Disposition was immediately made of our forces, and preparations for his recep. tion. He took a position with his infantry and artillery in the center, ocenpying an isl- and of timber, his cavalry covering the left flank. The artillery, consisting of one double- fortified medimm brass twelve-pounder, then opened on our encampment. The infantry in column advanced with the design of charging our lines, but were repulsed with a discharge of grape and canister from our artillery, con- sisting of two six-pounders. The enemy had occupied a piece of timber within rifle shot of the left wing of our army, from which an occasional interchange of small arms took place between the troops, until the enemy withdrew to a position on the bank of the San Jacinto, about three-quarters of a mile from our encampment, and commenced forti. fication. A short time before sunset our mounted men, about eighty-five in number, under the special command of Colonel Sher- man, marched out for the purpose of recon- noitering the enemy. Whilst advancing they received a volley from the left of the enemy's infantry, and after a short renconter with their cavalry, in which ours acted extremely well, and performed some feats of daring chivalry, they retired in good order, having had two men severely wounded and several horses killed. In the meantime the infantry under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel
Millard, and Colonel Burleson's regiment, with the artillery, had marched out for the purpose of covering the retreat of the cav- alry, if necessary.
" All these fell back in good order to our encampment about sunset, and remained with- out any ostensible action until the 21st, at half-past three o'clock, taking the first refresh- ments which they had enjoyed for two days. The enemy in the meantime extended the right flank of their infantry so as to occupy the extreme point of a skirt of timber on the bank of the San Jacinto, and secured their left by a fortification about five feet high, constructed of packs and baggage, leaving an opening in the center of their breastwork, in which their artillery was placed, their cavalry on their left wing. About nine o'clock on the morn- ing of the 21st, the enemy were reinforced by 500 choice troops, under the command of General Cos, increasing their effective force to upward of 1,500 men, whilst our aggre- gate force for the field numbered 783. At balf-past three o'clock in the evening I or- dered the officers of the Texan army to parade their respective commands, having in the meantime ordered the bridge on the only road communicating with Brazos, distant eight miles from our encampment, to be destroyed, thus cutting off any possibility of escape. Our troops paraded with alaerity and spirit, and were anxious for the contest. Their con- scious disparity in number seemed only to increase their enthusiasm and confidence, and heightened their anxiety for the conflict. Our situation afforded me an opportunity of mak- ing the arrangements for the attack, without exposing our designs to the enemy.
The first regiment, commanded by Colonel Burleson, was assigned the center. The sec- ond regiment, under the command of Colonel Sherman, formed the left wing of the army.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
The artillery, under special command of Colonel George W. Hockley, Inspector-Gen- cral, was placed on the right of the first regi- ment; and four companies of infantry, under the command of Lientenant-Colonel Henry Millard, sustained the artillery upon the right. Our cavalry, sixty-one in number, commanded by Colonel Mirabeau B. Lamar (whose gallant and daring condnet on the previous day had attracted the admiration of his comrades, and called him to the station), placed on our ex- treme right, complete l our line. Our cavalry was despatched to the front of the enemy's left, for the purpose of attracting their notice, whilst an extensive island of timber afforded us an opportunity of concentrating our forces and displaying from that point, agreeably to the previous design of the troops. Every evolution was performed with alacrity, the whole advancing rapidly in line, and through an open prairie, without any protection what- ever for our men. The artillery advanced and took station within 200 yards of the enemy's breastwork, and commenced an effective fire with grape and canister.
"Colonel Sherman, with his regiment, hav- ing commenced the action upon our left wing, the whole line, at the center and on the right, advancing in double-quick time, rung the war ery, ' Remember the Alamo!' received the ene- my's tire, and advanced within point- blank shot before a piece was discharged from our lines. Our lines advanced without a halt until they were in possession of the woodland and the enemy's breastwork, the right wing of Burle- son's and the left of Millard's taking posses- sion of the breastwork, our artillery having gallantly charged up within seventy yards of the enemy's cannon, when it was taken by our troops. The conflict lasted about eighteen minutes from the time of close action until we were in possession of the enemy's encamp-
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