USA > Texas > The history of the republic of Texas, from the discovery of the country to the present time; and the cause of her separation from the republic of Mexico > Part 9
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" War is raging on the frontier. Bejar is besieged by two thousand of the enemy, under the command of General Siesma. Reinforcements are on the march to unite with the besieging army. By the last report, our force in Bejar was only one hundred and fifty men strong. The citizens of Texas must rally to the aid of our army, or it will perish. Let the citizens of the east march to the combat. The enemy must be driven from our soil, or desolation will accompany their march upon us. Independence is declared-it must be maintained. Immediate action, united with valour, alone can achieve the great work. The services of all are forthwith required in the field.
" SAM. HOUSTON,
" Commander-in-chief of the Army.
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106
MEXICAN OVERTURES REJECTED.
" P.S. It is rumoured that the enemy are on their march to Gonzales ; and that they have entered the colonies. The fate of Bejar is unknown. The country MUST and shall be defended. The patriois of Texas are appealed to on behalf of their bleeding country.
"S. H."
The tense so repeatedly used by the commander- in-chief of the Texan army, will at once show the mood of the bulk of the people of Texas; but not- withstanding all the opposition shown by the rebels, still Santa Anna, as soon as he had taken the town of San Antonio, sent one of the Texan prisoners captured in the fort to General Houston with an autograph note, offering the Texans peace, and a general amnesty, if they would lay down their arms and submit to the central republican government of Mexico ; to which Houston replied, " True, sir, you have succeeded in killing some of our brave men, but the Texans are not yet whipped."
On the receipt of this answer, Santa Anna marched out of San Antonio towards the Brazos, where he divided his troops into three divisions, giving the command of the left wing to General Filisola, who marched on to Washington to disperse the convention, while General Cos commanded the right, and Santa Anna the centre, with which he crossed the Brazos, and pursued Houston, who was in full retreat, at the head of 1300 men, # towards the eastern frontier of Texas.
Houston, after a forced march of fifty-seven miles,
See Kennedy, p. 216, vol. II.
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THE SURPRISE AT SAN JACINTO.
reached Harrisburgh, a miserable little village situated on the west bank of Buffalo Bay, on the 18th of April; here he contemplated crossing, with a view of making his escape to the United States ; but in the course of the night he received information that Santa Anna had most improvi- dently divided his force, and finding that their numbers were nearly equal, and that it was quite impossible for Santa Anna to receive any assistance either from the left or right wings of his army, Houston resolved to engage him,
On the morning of the 19th, Houston marched from Harrisburgh, where he left his baggage, and pursued his march as far as Clopper's Point, where he made a disposition to meet Santa Anna, which is thus described by the Mexican general in an ofli- cial communication to his government :-
"Early on the morning of the 19th of April, I sent Captain Barragan, with some dragoons, to a point on the Lynchburgh road, three leagues distant from New Washington, in order that he should watch and communicate to me, as speedily as possible, the arrival of Houston : and, on the 20th, at eight o'clock in the morning, he informed me that Houston had just got to Lynch- burgh. It was with the greatest joy all the individuals belonging to the corps, then under my immediate orders, heard the news ; and they continued the march, already begun, in the best spirit.
"At my arrival, Houston was in possession of a wood on the margin of Bayou Buffaloe, which, at that point, empties itself into the San Jacinto creek. His situation rendered it indispens- able to fight; and my troops manifested so much enthusiasta, that I immediately began the battle. Houston answered our
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THE SURPRISE AT SAN JACINTO.
firing, but refused to come out of the cover of the wood. I wished to draw him into a field of battle suited to my purpose, and in consequence withdrew about one thousand yards distance, to an eminence affording a favourable position, with abundance of water on my view, a thick wood on my right, and a large plain on my left. Upon my executing this movement, the enemy's fire increased, particularly that of his artillery, by which captain Fernando Urriza was wounded. About one hundred cavalry sallied out of the wood, and boldly attacked my escort, which was posted on the left, causing it to fall back for a few moments, and wounding a dragoon. I commanded two compa- nies of cazadores to attack them, and they succeeded in repelling them into the wood.
"It was now five in the evening, and our troops wanted rest and refreshment, which I permitted them to take. Thus was the remainder of the day spent. We lay on our arms all night, during which I occupied myself in posting my forces to the best advantage, and procuring the construction of a parapet to cover the position of our cannon. I had posted three companies in the wood on our right, the permanent battalion of Matamoros formed our body of battle in the centre, and on our left was placed the cannon, protected by the cavalry, and a column of select companies (de preferencia) under the orders of Lieutenant- Colonel Santiago Luelmo, which composed the reserve.
"On the 21st, at nine in the morning, General Cos arrived with four hundred men belonging to the battalions of Aldama, Guerrero, Toluca, and Guadalaxara, having left one hundred men under the orders of Colonel Muriano Garcia, with their loads in a swampy place, near Harrisburgh ; and these never joined me. I then saw that my orders had been contravened ; for I had asked five hundred select infantry, and they sent me raw recruits, who had joined the army at St. Louis Potosi and Satillo. I was highly displeased with this act of disobedi- ence, and considered the new reinforcement as trifling, whereas I had before its arrival entertained well founded hopes of gaining some decisive advantage with the new succour, which was to have
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THE SURPRISE AT SAN JACINTO.
given me the superiority of numbers. 1 disposed myself, however, to take advantage of the favourable disposition which I perceived in our soldiers on the arrival of General Cos ; but the latter re- presented to me, that having made a forced march in order to reach my camp early, his troops had neither eaten nor slept during twenty-four hours, and that whilst the loads were com- ing on, it was indispensable to grant some refreshment to the soldiers. I consented to it, but in order to keep a watch over the enemy, and protect the loads which were on the road, I posted my escort in a favourable place, reinforcing it with thirty- two infantry, mounted on officers' horses. Hardly one hour had elapsed since that operation, when General Cos begged me, in the name of Don Miguel Aguirre, the commander of the escort, that I would permit his soldiers to water their horses, which had not drunk for twenty-four hours, and let the men take some refresh- ment. Being moved by the pitiable tone in which this request was made, I consented, commanding at the time that Aguirre and his men should return to occupy their position as soon as they should have satisfied their necessities ; and his disobedience to this order concurred to favour the surprise which the enemy effected.
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"Feeling myself exceedingly fatigued from having spent the whole morning on horseback, and the preceding night without sleep, I lay down under the shade of some trees, while the sol- diers were preparing their meal. Calling General Castrillon, who acted as major-general, I recommended him to be watchful, and to give me notice of the least movement of the enemy, and also to inform me when the repast of the soldiers would be over, because it was urgent to act in a decisive manner.
"I was in a deep sleep," continues Santa Anna, "when I was awakened by the firing and noise; I immediately perceived we were attacked, and had fallen into frightful disorder. The enemy had surprised our advance posts. One of their wings had driven away the three companies (de preferencia) posted in the wood on our right, and from among the trees were now doing much execution with their rifles. The rest of the enemy's infantry
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THE SURPRISE AT SAN JACINTO.
attacked us in front with two pieces of cannon, and their cavalry did the same on our left.
"Although the mischief was already done, I thought I could repair it, and with that view sent the battalion of Aldama to reinforce the line of battle formed by that of Matamoros, and organized a column of attack under the orders of Don Manuel Cespedes, composed of the permanent battalion of Guerrero, and the piquets of Toluca and Guadalaxara, which moved to the front with the company of Lieutenant-Colonel Luelmo, in order to check the advance of the enemy ; but my efforts were vain. The line was abandoned by the two battalions that were covering it ; and notwithstanding the fire of our cannon, the two columns were thrown into disorder, Colonel Cespedes being wounded, and Colonel Luelmo killed. General Castrillon, who ran to and fro to re-establish order in our ranks, fell mortally wounded; and the new recruits threw every thing into confusion, breaking their ranks, and preventing the veterans from making use of their arms, whilst the enemy was rapidly advancing with loud hur- rahs, and in a few minutes obtained a victory, which they could · not, some hours before, even have dreamed of.
" All hopes being lost, and every one flying as fast as he could, I found myself in the greatest danger, when a servant of my aide-de-camp, Colonel Don Juan Bringas, offered me his horse, and with the tenderest and most urging expressions insisted upon my riding off the field. I looked for my escort, and two dragoons, who were hurriedly saddling their horses, told me that their officers and fellow-soldiers had all made their escape. I remembered that General Filisola was only seventeen leagues off, and I took my direction towards him, darting through the enemy's ranks. They pursued me, and after a ride of one league and a half, overtook me on the banks of a large creek, the bridge over which was burned by the enemy to retard our pursuit. I alighted from my horse, and with much difficulty succeeded in concealing myself in a thicket of dwarf pines. Night coming on, I escaped them, and the hope of reaching the army gave me strength. I crossed the ereck with the water up to my breast,
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HOUSTON'S MISREPRESENTATION.
and continued my route on foot. I found, in a house which had been abandoned, some articles of clothing, which enabled me to change my apparel. At eleven o'clock, A.M., while I was cross- ing a large plain, my pursuers overtook me again. Such is the history of my capture. On account of my change of apparel, they did not recognize me, and inquired whether I had seen Santa Anna ? To this, I answered, that he had made his escape ; and this answer saved me from assassination, as I have since been given to understand."
This unvarnished account of the battle of San Jacinto, as given by Santa Anna himself, I have selected in preference to many detailed by other pens, all of which are tainted with partiality and gross misrepresentation ; while Houston's account of his first battle, that of San Jacinto, is nothing more than an extravagant outlay of martial wrath, that may be handed down to posterity among the archives of the illustrious Bombastes Furioso.
Houston states in his despatch, dated San Ja- cinto, April 25, 1836, that the aggregate force of the Texans for the field numbered 783; whereas Houston, at the time he crossed the Colorado at Beason's ferry, had 1300 men under his com- mand ; and this was the Texan force engaged at San Jacinto (with the exception of about twenty men who deserted), while the Mexican force did not exceed 1600 men, composed of such materials as Santa Anna describes.
Santa Anna's surprise filled Filisola and Urrea (the latter having reached Columbia West) with dismay.
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ARMISTICE BETWEEN TEXAS AND MEXICO.
On the 25th, Filisola made a retrograde movement, for the purpose of drawing Houston again into the heart of the country, where Filisola would certainly have engaged him ; but on the 28th, just as Fili- sola had taken up a strong position on the San Bernard river, he received a despatch from Santa Anna, informing him that he had signed an armis- tice with Houston, and that in order to save his (Santa Anna's) life, together with the lives of many worthy Mexicans, it would be necessary to comply with its conditions, therefore Filisola immediately despatched a courier to Houston, with the most solemn assurances that the compact between the Texan commander and Santa Anna should be re- ligiously observed.
The following is the treaty between Santa Anna and the Texans, as prepared by David G. Burnet, the first president, and by far the most talented man in Texas :
"Articles of an Agreement made between his Excellency the General-in-chief of the army of operations, President of the Mexican republic, Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, for one party ; and his Excellency the President of the Republic of Texas, Mr. David G. Burnet, for the other party.
" ARTICLE 1. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna agrees not to take up arms, nor to influence their being taken up. against the people of Texas, during the actual strife of independ- ence.
"ART. 2. Hostilities shall immediately cease, by sea and land, between the Mexican and Texan troops.
TREATY BETWEEN SANTA ANNA AND THE TEXANS. 113
" ART. 3. The Mexican troops shall evacuate the territory of Texas, passing to the other side of the Rio Grande del Norte.
"ART. 4. The Mexican army, in its retreat, shall not make use of the property of any person without their consent and just indemnification, taking articles only necessary for their sub- sistence, when the owners should not be present ; and sending to the general of the Texan army, or to the commissioners for the arrangement of such matters, advice of the value of the pro- perty consumed, the place where taken, and the name of the owner, should it be known.
"ART. 5. That all private property, including cattle, horses, negro slares, or persons contracted, of whatsoever denomination, which may have been taken by a part of the Mexican army, or which should have taken refuge in said army from the com- mencement of the last invasion, shall be returned to the com- mander of the Texan forces, or to the persons that should be named by the government of Texas in order to receive it.
" ART. 6. The troops of both belligerent armies shall not be placed in contact ; and for this aid the Texan general shall take care that between the two encampments a distance shall intervene of five leagues at least.
" ART. 7. The Mexican army shall not delay any more in their march than is necessary to take off their hospitals, trains, &c., and pass the rivers, considering as an infraction of this agreement the delay, which, without just motives, should be noted.
" ART. 8. This agreement shall be forwarded by speedy ex- press to Vicente Filisola, general of division, and to General T. J. Rusk, commander of the army of Texas, that they may reinain bound as far as appertains to them, and being mutually agreed, may arrange the speedy and due execution of the stipu- lotions.
"ART. 9. That all the Texan prisoners at this time in the power of the Mexican army, or in that of any of the authorities of the government of Mexico, be immediately placed at liberty and passports given to them, so that they may return to
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RETREAT OF THE MEXICANS.
their homes ; it being the duty on the part of the government of Texas also, to place at liberty a corresponding number of Mex- ican prisoners of the same rank and state, and to treat the re- mainder of said Mexican prisoners who may remain in the power of the government of Texas with all due humanity, charging the government of Mexico for the expenses caused in their behalf, when any extra convenience should be afforded them.
" ART. 10. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna shall be sent toVera Cruz as soon as may be thought proper.
" And for its fulfilment and consequent effects, the contracting parties sign it by duplicate in the port of Velasco, on the 14th of May, 1836.
"(Signed) " ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA. " DAVID G. BURNET. "J. COLLINSWORTH, Secretary of State. " BAITY WARDIMAN, Secretary of Treasury. "P. W. GRAYSON, Attorney General."
This treaty, which was subsequently ratified by General Filisola, terminated the war of indepen- dence, and the Mexicans commenced a retreat, followed by a Texan force, to superintend the execution of the stipulations of the armistice.
The march of Urrea's division through Texas, resembled the passage of an army of Cossacks more than a regular military force, while its retreat was attended with the greatest privations and hardships imaginable, and at the same time rivalling in fertility of incident the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet.
The immense number of women who followed the Mexican army, were employed as, and indeed
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RETREAT OF THE MEXICANS.
diminished the necessity of, beasts of burden, to carry off the spoil. Every one of them, immedi- ately on getting what she or her " caro sposo " deemed a valuable cargo, would return to Mata- moros, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in an ox-cart, but more frequently on foot, tottering under the load she carried.
To participate in these undertakings, many of the soldiers deserted, shaving their upper lip, and assuming female attire, the costume of the Mexi- can women, which admits of a shawl being drawn partly over the face, greatly favouring the decep- tion. A hundred or more of tender couples so disguised made their way through the outposts, in the character of Jews returning from a rag fair, and each groaning under a ponderous load of trumpery.
One man was seen with a load of smoothing- irons, walking with as consequential an air, elastic step, and joyful countenance, as though he had been carrying away all the riches of America ; while his wife, at his side, was moaning and groaning under a prodigious burden of crockery- ware, consisting exclusively of tea-pots, which were strung together, and hung round the neck after the manner of a necklace. Another had seized upon two kegs of hog's-lard and a box of candles, which he expected to sell for a high price at Monterey, a town four hundred miles distant, and notwith- standing the great solar heat of his native land.
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RETREAT OF THE MEXICANS.
A fourth loaded his mule with the massive legs of a billiard table, and put a parcel of empty bottles on the top to complete his prize, while he undertook to walk back to the city of Mexico, a distance of twelve hundred miles only. But the most laugh- able object of all, was a tall dragoon in woman's apparel, who carried on his back a large Yankee clock, the weights of which were dangling down to the calfs of his legs, against which they thumped at every step he took ; however, the clock kept time for some time as he went along. Vexed beyond all measure, the trooper kept swearing at the weights, but durst not throw them away, thinking them a most essential part of the wonderful machine of which he had possessed himself, but not before he had experienced some difficulty in believing that it was not supernatural.
But these scenes, which caused much merriment, soon gave place to the horrors of a disastrous retreat, that would never have occurred if Santa Anna had left the duties of the vanguard to Urrea, who had carried every thing before him ; but Santa Anna was impatient to strike a decisive blow, and to get back to the capital, with the view, it has been said, to become dictator of Mexico; however, as he did not attempt any such thing, and as a man must stand or fall by what he does, and not by what is said of him, I need not venture a conjecture on the subject.
General Filisola, as soon as he had saved the
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RETREAT OF THE MEXICANS.
life of Santa Anna, and his fellow-prisoners, by ratifying the treaty with the Texans, which he did, solely because the Mexican army was totally disor- ganised, and could not be brought to act on the offensive, offered to cede the command to any one whom the other chiefs might elect, but all insisted on his keeping it: from that moment Urrea began to undermine him in his correspondence with the government, and at last succeeded in obtaining his post.
The retreat of the army was attended by every dismal circumstance that can be conceived : hunger nakedness, violent rains, and a complete destitution of spiritual succour for the sick and dying, a calamity more bitterly felt by a Mexican army than any thing else that could befal it. The generals had engrossed all the wagons and beasts of burden to convey their share of the plunder, so that much of the baggage necessary for the comfort of the troops was left behind; but it was more particularly at a place called the Atasquito that they suffered the most. 1 Here they were overtaken by dreadful cold rains, in the middle of a swamp, through which, with the utmost difficulty, the progress of a day was about three miles. Here there appeared no chance of extricating the artillery ; and the officers would have left it in the mire had it not been for the laudable exertions of Don Pedro de Ampudia, the commandant of that corps, who by his indefatigable labours and resolution succeeded in extricating the
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SANTA ANNA'S EXECUTION DISCUSSED.
guns, and preventing the soldiers from breaking up the carriages, in order to get fire-wood to warm themselves. The vanguard commanded by General Urrea, preceded the main body by seven or eight days' march, and as they went along they gleaned every thing that had escaped them in the months of January and February ; so that the main body could find nothing to relieve their necessary wants.
In June, 1836, the Mexican army crossed the Rio Bravo, and Urrea took the supreme command, while Filisola was obliged to repair to Mexico, to take his trial for this retreat, -a retreat that. closed the war, and from which the Texans date their independence de facto.
From the date of the surprise at San Jacinto, up to the middle of this month, the Texans were busily employed in discussing the propriety of assassinating Santa Anna. Among these repub- licans, who would have the world believe that they are treading in the footsteps of the " mighty Romans," were to be seen groups of dwarfish Neroes, whilst a Yankee Brutus, by the exercise of that singular energy which is almost peculiar to a transatlantic centurion, would stifle the eloquence of young gentlemen from the state of Maine, who had " heard of battles, and longed to follow to the field." In this discussion, the elements of each of these characters were fully developed, and it was not without considerable exertion on the part of their leaders, who were by no means sure at this moment
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SANTA ANNA'S PROTEST.
whether they were born to be drowned in the swamps of Texas, or hanged as rebels by the abused Mexicans, that Santa Anna's life was saved. Notwithstanding that all the stipula- tions of the treaty between, Santa Anna and Houston had been most rigidly observed by the Mexican generals, (Urrea and Filisola,) yet Santa Anna was treated with the greatest injustice by the Texans, until he entered the following protest against the abuse of the confidence placed in the Texan leaders by his generals, who would not have withdrawn their troops from Texas, except to se- cure the life and liberty of the president.
" I protest against the violation of the faith engaged in the agreement made between me and the government of Texas, signed 14th of May ult., and commenced verbally with the general-in-chief of the army of Texas, Samuel Houston, and T. J. Rush, secretary of war.
" Ist. For having been treated more like an ordinary criminal than a prisoner of war, the head of a respectable nation, even after the agreements had been commenced.
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"2nd. For the treatment as prisoners of war and ill usage received by the Mexican general, Adrian Wool, who had come into the Texan camp with a flag of truce, under the safeguard and word of honour of General Houston, and with the consent of the members of the cabinet.
" 3rd. Against the non-fulfilment of the exchange of prisoners, Mipulated in the 9th article, inasmuch as, up to the present time, not even one Mexican prisoner of war has been set at liberty, notwithstanding the liberty given to all the Texans in possession of the army under my command,
" Ith. Because the sine qua non of the 10th article, as follows, has not been carried into effect ; which is, that I shall be sent to
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SANTA ANNA'S PROTEST.
Vera Cruz when the government shall deem it proper ; whereas the president himself and the cabinet of Texas, being convinced that I had punctually fulfilled all my engagements, viz., that the Mexican army, 4,000 strong, should retreat from the position it occupied on the Brazos to beyond Rio Grande; that all the property should be given up, also the prisoners of war-had determined on my embarking in the Texan schooner of war, the Invincible, in which I finally did embark on the 1st of June inst., after addressing a short farewell to the Texans, wherein I thanked them for their generous behaviour, and offered my eternal gra- titude.
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