Meanwhile, on April 11th, the Texans at Groce's received two small
cannon, known to history as the "Twin Sisters," a gift from citizens of
Cincinnati, Ohio. Thus fortified, General Houston, after a consultation
with Rusk, decided to move on to the east side of the Brazos. The river
being very high, the steamboat "Yellow Stone" and a yawl were used to
ferry the army horses, cattle and baggage across. The movement began on
the 12th and was completed at 1 p.m. on the 13th.
On the 13th Houston ordered Major Wyly Martin, Captain Moseley Baker,
and other commanders of detachments assigned to delaying actions, to
rejoin the main army at the house of Charles Donoho, about three miles
from Groce's. At Donoho's the road from San Felipe to eastern Texas
crossed the road south from Groce's.
On April 16 the army marched twelve miles to the home of Samuel McCurley
on Spring Creek, in present Harris county. The creek forms the boundary
line between Harris and Montgomery counties. Three miles beyond
McCurley's was the home of Abram Roberts at a settlement known as "New
Kentucky." At Roberts' two wagon trails crossed, one leading to
Harrisburg and the other to Robbins' Ferry on the Trinity and on to the
Sabine.
Many of his officers and men, as well as government officials, believed
that Houston's strategy was to lead the pursuing Mexicans to the Sabine
River, the eastern border of Texas. There, it was known, were camped
United States troops under General Pendleton Gaines, with whose help the
Texans might turn on their foes and destroy them. However, on April 17,
when Roberts' place was reached, Houston took the Harrisburg road
instead of the one toward the Louisiana line, much to the gratification
of his men. They spent the night of the 17th near the home of Matthew
Burnett on Cypress Creek, twenty miles from McCurley's. On April 18 the
army marched twenty miles to White Oak Bayou in the Heights District of
the present city of Houston, and only about eight miles from
Harrisburg--now a part of Houston.
From two prisoners, captured by Erasmus "Deaf" Smith, the famous Texas
spy, Houston first learned that the Mexicans had burned Harrisburg and
had gone down the west side of the bayou and of San Jacinto River, and
that Santa Anna in person was in command. In his march downstream Santa
Anna had been forced to cross the bridge over Vince's Bayou, a tributary
of Buffalo Bayou, then out of its banks. He would have to cross the same
bridge to return.
Viewing this strategic situation on the morning of the 19th, Houston
told his troops it looked as if they would soon get action. And he
admonished them to remember the massacres at San Antonio and at Goliad.
"Remember the Alamo!" The soldiers took up the cry. "Remember
Goliad!"[2]
In a letter to Henry Raguet he said:
"This morning we are in preparation to meet Santa Anna. It is the only
chance for saving Texas."
In an address "To the People of Texas" he wrote:
"We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest,
and must conquer or perish.... We must act now or abandon all hope."
Houston's force crossed Buffalo Bayou to the west side, near the home of
Isaac Batterson, two and a half miles below Harrisburg, on the evening
of the 19th. Some 248 men, mostly sick and non-effective, were left with
the baggage at the camp opposite Harrisburg. The march was continued
until midnight.