held there by the streams of lead hissing past――while the crowbars
and picks and logs hammered at every fissure. Ernest felt a sudden
shock, followed by a sharp sting in his left arm; he staggered for an
instant――but Jim’s arm gripped his waist, and Sion and Leo yelled,
above the tumult:
“Ernest’s hit. Cover him. Don’t let him drop, Jim.”
“Never mind me. I can stand. Go ahead,” pleaded Ernest. The blood was
oozing through his coat, and running down his skin, inside.
“Here we go!” called Jim. “Hoist him in, quick!” The wooden shutter
in front of them had been splintered and torn open; and following the
heels of the first men, they scrambled through, half lifting, half
dragging Ernest.
[Illustration: “HERE WE GO!” CALLED JIM. “HOIST HIM IN, QUICK”]
In through door and windows and embrasures where the stones had been
unseated, piled all――all the 100. The Mexicans fled again, and at the
hearty cheers of victory reinforcements were immediately sent from the
Navarro House.
“Let’s see that arm,” bade Jim, of Ernest, as they paused, panting,
while shutters and door were being secured, and loopholes made.
“Huh! Only a flesh wound,” commented Sion, in tone of great relief.
“Who’s got a handkerchief?”
The Mexican ball had cut through the muscles, on the outside where the
arm joined the shoulder. It really did not leave much damage, but the
place hurt like sixty. Anyway, a wound it was, received in battle; and
while the boys were tying it up, with Jim’s handkerchief, over Leo’s
handkerchief as a pad, Ernest viewed it with considerable pride. Now he
was a veteran indeed.
“You can hold that little gun of yours with your right arm and pull
trigger,” advised Sion. “But if you had my old pea-shooter or Leo’s
scatter-gun, you’d be out of action. You’re lucky.”
However, for an hour or two yet the Mexican cannon boomed and the
muskets banged; but the noise gradually died away. When morning dawned,
and the Texan rifles attempted to search the exposed plaza, it was
empty save for the dead and the wounded. General Cos had retired all
his troops to the Alamo; only the red flag still flapped defiance.
About half-past six there was a great cheering; a Mexican officer
had come in with a white flag, to ask for terms. He said that the
soldiers, and the refugees from the town, in the Alamo, had mutinied;
there were not enough provisions; and 500 of the reinforcements under
General Ugartechea were convicts, chained together so that they would
not run away! In fact, he was rather disgusted.
“Haul down that no-quarter flag, then!” swelled the cry. Out into the
street fronting the two plazas darted volunteers, mounted into the
tower of San Fernando church, which stood between the plazas, tore the
red flag from its staff, and floated the Dodson “Lone Star” flag of the
Harrisburg company.
Word of the surrender was sent back to General Burleson. Now everybody
might lounge at ease, while keeping a careful watch upon any movement
in the Alamo. General Burleson and his staff and an escort of cavalry
rode into town; and by two o’clock in the morning of the next day,
December 10, the articles of surrender were completed and signed.
General Cos and his officers gave their parole or word of honor not to
engage again in any struggle to oppose the constitution of 1824, and
they were permitted to retain their arms and personal belongings. The
convicts of General Ugartechea were to be removed beyond the Rio Grande
River. All the army, except the wounded and such soldiers as wished to
remain as private citizens, in Texas, were to be marched away within
six days.
In the fighting the two Texas columns had suffered only two killed and
twenty-six (including Ernest) wounded. General Cos was said to have
lost 100, 200, perhaps 300 men, by bullets, and others by desertion.
At any rate, out of the 1400 soldiers gathered in the Alamo, only 1105
left with him. And he surrendered twenty-one cannon, 500 muskets, and
much ammunition.
“Whew!” sighed Sion. “That certainly was a beautiful time! How’s your
arm, Ernest?”
“All right,” declared Ernest, proudly.
XIII
GENERAL HOUSTON DESPAIRS
So on December 14 General Cos and Colonel Ugartechea, with their 1105
soldiers including the 500 convicts, took the one four-pounder that was
allowed them and marched south, for Laredo across the Rio Grande, there
to send their reports to Santa Anna.
Now there was not a Mexican soldier left in Texas, and things looked
pretty good. All the settler volunteers were anxious to go home, to
spend Christmas with their families and friends, and to attend to their
business. Santa Anna, the reports said, was still down in the interior
of Mexico, at San Luis Potosi, a thousand miles away, preparing for a
campaign in person; but he could not arrive for several weeks, at the
least, and the news of how General Cos had been wiped out ought to make
him yet more cautious. All the south border and the west border of
Texas were held against him. Consequently, this was the time for taking
a rest at home and for winter ploughing.
To a few of the citizen soldiers the proposed breaking up of the army
did not seem wise. Dick Carroll opposed it; Captain Dickinson also was
a little dubious――although he much wished to get back to his wife, and
a baby that had arrived. Captain Travis, too, thought that the troops
should remain under arms, and the enlistments should be pushed, to be
ready to oppose the next Mexican force.
But on December 15, the day after Cos marched out. General Burleson
himself left for his home in East Texas, and took with him a crowd of
other East Texans.
“I’m going,” proclaimed Leo, to his chums. “Aren’t you?”
“Sure, I’m going,” answered Sion. “Got to put in some corn, and help
celebrate Christmas.”
“Same here,” announced Leo.
“Guess I will, too. Most the Gonzales men are,” said Ernest. “But if
Santa Anna doesn’t wait for us, what’ll we do then? We’ll have to
hustle.”
“Shucks!” scoffed Leo. “Santa Anna’ll think twice, now, when he hears
how just a few of us licked Cos’s regulars out of Bejar. I reckon after
I get home I’ll join that Matamoros expedition. When we’re invading
Mexico Santa Anna’ll have all he can do there, without trying to come
in here again.”
“Most those United States volunteers are going to stay on the border,
anyway,” reasoned Sion. “That’ll give us other fellows a chance to
catch up at home.”
“Besides, Sam Houston’s raising a regular army. That’s why he was
elected commander-in-chief,” added Jim. “There’ll be five thousand
Texan regulars ready for Santa Anna. Somebody’s got to plant corn to
feed ’em.”
Immediately after General Burleson left, the army broke up. By
companies and by squads the settlers rode and marched for their
homes. The New Orleans Grays and the Mississippians and all the other
volunteers from the United States, about 400, remained at Bejar; and
so did sixty Texans. Acting Adjutant-General Johnson was in command;
Colonel Neill was his second.
The home-going of the rest was a free and easy trip. The four boys
cantered together (for Sion had picked up a horse, at last); and
Ernest, his arm in a sling, felt like a veteran returning from the
wars. He not only had fought, but had bled for Texas and liberty.
At Gonzales Ernest stopped; he was home. But the three others would
not stop a minute; that is, no longer than to eat, and freshen their
horses. So, after dinner, they all shook hands with him.
“If you get down my way, light and come in,” bade Leo, as he swung on
his horse. He had the furthest to go. “I reckon we’ll meet up in the
spring, anyhow, if those Mexicans get runctious.”
“Oh, well see you before that,” asserted Jim and Sion, in turn, to
Ernest. “You’ll be over to the river [by which they meant the Colorado]
or we’ll be in here.”
“Next time we’ll all be fighting under Sam Houston, maybe,” hazarded
Ernest.
“I certainly’d admire to pitch in and help him lick Santa Anna,”
admitted Leo――who of late had appeared to think considerable of the
general. “There’d be tall doings. When Houston takes the warpath you’ll
know where to find _me_. So long.”
“Same here,” added Jim and Sion. “So long, _amigo_ [friend]. Good luck.
See you later.”
“So long, boys,” replied Ernest. “See you later, sure.” And away they
galloped, with a whoop of joy. They waved their hats at him, from the
trail, and presently they were out of sight. What fine fellows they
were! For an instant there rose a little lump in his throat, and he
felt lonesome.
However, it was no time to be lonesome. A merry Christmas, of double
celebration, was near; crops were to be put in; and here at Gonzales,
after the excitement of the campaign, much news was to be gathered, of
the progress in forming the state government and the army. As for the
arm, it soon healed, leaving a splendid scar for record.
General Houston himself had spread the word for all the returned
volunteers to plough their fields and plant their corn, so that there
might be an abundant crop for the next year. Texas was liable to need
every ounce of food; and to have this food in readiness was a part of
the coming campaign. After Christmas Dick Carroll and Ernest cleared
and ploughed forty acres, and so did most of the other Gonzales people;
“forty acres in corn” was the new war cry.
There arrived in Gonzales a proclamation signed by Sam Houston,
major-general of the army of Texas. It was issued, date of December 12,
from his headquarters at Washington on the Brazos, fifty miles above
San Felipe, and called for the immediate formation of a regular army
of 1200 men, and for a larger volunteer army.
To all who will enlist [it said, speaking of the regular army]
for two years or during the war, a bounty of twenty-four
dollars and eight hundred acres of land will be given.
Provision has also been made for raising an auxiliary volunteer
corps to constitute part of the army of Texas, which will be
placed under the command and subject to the orders of the
commander-in-chief. The field for promotion will be open. The
terms of service will be various. To those who tender their
services for or during the war will be given a bounty of six
hundred and forty acres of land; an equal bounty will be given
to those who volunteer their services for two years; if for one
year a bounty of three hundred and twenty acres.
It promised the rights of citizens to all persons, from the United
States and from Mexico, who would “unite with the people in defending
the republican principles of the Constitution of 1824”; and it
concluded:
The services of five thousand volunteers will be accepted. The
1st of March next, we must meet the enemy with an army worthy
of our cause, and which will reflect honor upon freemen. Our
habitations must be defended; the sanctity of our hearths and
homes must be preserved from pollution. Liberal Mexicans will
unite with us. Our countrymen in the field have presented an
example worthy of imitation. Generous and brave hearts from a
land of freedom have joined our standard before Bexar. They
have by their heroism and valor called forth the admiration of
their companions in arms, and reflected honor on the land of
their birth. Let the brave rally to our standard.
“Sounds just like Houston,” remarked Dick Carroll. “Now if anybody in
Texas thinks we’re through with Santa Anna, let him read this hyar
proclamation. He says in it that ’cording to dispatches that have been
captured, Santa Anna’s assembling ten thousand troops ag’in us. March
first? We’re likely to be waked up before March first. And as for that
Matamoros expedition, I don’t believe it will work. You can’t depend
on the Mexican people helping any invasion. Look what happened down at
Tampico.”
For when, this December, one General Jose Antonio Mexia, a Mexican
officer opposed to Santa Anna’s rule, had disembarked a company from
New Orleans at Tampico, on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, the citizens,
instead of helping him, had cried “Hurrah for Santa Anna! Death to the
strangers!” and twenty-eight of the party had been imprisoned and shot.
Ernest was very ready to enlist in the army called for by General
Houston. Of course, he was only a boy; but he had been a soldier
volunteer, and now if they thought he was too young to carry a gun in
the regular army, he could at least be a drummer-boy――or something.
However, the Gonzales people generally appeared not at all concerned.
The men were busy and were enjoying their homes; they had threshed the
Mexicans several times and had driven them all out of the country, and
upheld the constitution of 1824, and this was enough for the present.
So let those fellows who liked army discipline and who were not needed
at home, go ahead and enlist; and let the other fellows with crops and
families depending on them take things easy until the real call came.
In fact, everybody expected somebody else to do the joining.
Nevertheless, at his headquarters in Washington on the Brazos, General
Houston was doing the best that he could, to hurry matters along.
James W. Fannin, the Georgian, had been appointed by the General
Council colonel of the regular artillery. He also was appointed by
General Houston inspector-general of the army. Colonel James Neill,
and David Macomb, who had been the assistant adjutant-general, were
the lieutenant colonels. Captain William Travis was appointed a major.
Colonel Philip Sublett, who had commanded one of the divisions at the
old mill camp before Bejar, was appointed the colonel of the regular
infantry.
Captain Travis preferred not to serve in the artillery, and was made
the lieutenant colonel of the cavalry, and Colonel Frank W. Johnson,
who had commanded the columns in Bejar after the death of Ben Milam,
was put in his place in the artillery. Colonel Sublett resigned, and
was succeeded by General Edward Burleson, whom everybody knew.
The regular army was to consist of 1120 men, divided into a regiment of
infantry and a regiment of artillery: composed part of actual regulars
enlisted for two years, and part of “permanent volunteers” enlisted to
serve until the end of the war. All were to be under the regulations
and pay adopted by the army of the United States.
There was to be a corps of 168 Rangers, attached to the regular army,
but to enlist for one year and to serve only when called upon; a kind
of scouts. They were to receive pay, when on duty, of $1.25 a day;
to furnish their own horses and arms and supplies, and to be “always
ready armed and supplied with one hundred rounds of powder and ball.”
Three-legged Williamson was elected major, commanding. This Ranger
service looked rather attractive to Ernest.
But there also was the volunteer cavalry, under the gallant Captain,
now Lieutenant-Colonel, Travis. Whoever followed William Barret Travis
would certainly have excitement. The cavalry were to number 384 men,
were to be armed with broad-swords and pistols, and double-barrelled
shot-guns and smooth-bore yagers, half and half; and were to be
“subject to regular discipline and the rules and articles of war.” For,
said Lieutenant-Colonel Travis, “a mob can do wonders in a sudden burst
of patriotism or passion, but cannot be depended on as soldiers for a
campaign.” The pay was to be the United States cavalry pay, and there
was to be a uniform of cadet-gray blouses and trousers, with yellow
bullet buttons; fur caps, high black collars, and cowhide boots! This
cavalry seemed the best of all.
And there was a corps of 5000 “auxiliary volunteers,” to enlist for
three months or more, and be under the army regulations. An “Army of
Reserve for the Protection of the Liberties of Texas” also was being
talked of, to be recruited in the United States by the patriotic Judge
T. J. Chambers, of Texas. Governor Smith advised a corps of engineers.
Everybody between the ages of sixteen and fifty was invited to help
form companies of home militia.
Colonel Fannin was stationed at Velasco, on the Gulf in Leo’s country,
to open a recruiting station and to receive volunteers from the United
States. Lieutenant-Colonel Travis was stationed on recruiting service
at San Felipe. Colonel Jim Bowie was at Goliad. But out of all these
plans very little resulted. General Houston’s proclamation even
seemed to have scarcely any effect. The volunteers from the United
States――from Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee――continued to
arrive; but they said that they had not come to serve in any regular
army. They had come to fight and to be subject to their own officers,
and the majority opposed enlisting in the Texas army for even three
months. By the middle of January, 1836, the regular army numbered
scarcely fifty men; and taking volunteers and all, the great majority
were from the United States.
Truly, General Houston was having a discouraging time with these
independent Texas settlers.
To make matters worse, Colonel Fannin, at Velasco, and Dr. Grant, at
Bejar, were determined upon the invasion of Mexico by way of Matamoros.
General Houston did not favor this; there were not troops enough, and
the Mexican people could not be relied upon, and Texas would do better
to protect itself, rather than send all its soldiers into the enemy’s
country. But the General Council supported the scheme, the volunteers
were eager to be doing something, Dr. Grant promised them much booty,
among the Mexican towns and ranches, and Colonel Fannin was authorized
by the council to collect men, raise funds, elect officers, and march
on Matamoros.
Dr. Grant took all the United States volunteers, including the New
Orleans Grays, from Bejar, and most of the supplies, and set out to
join Colonel Fannin. This left only sixty men in Bejar――and General
Santa Anna, with thousands of Mexican cavalry and artillerymen, was
already at Saltillo, and General Cos was awaiting him at the Rio Grande
River itself!
General Houston had ordered Colonel Bowie, at Goliad, to lead the
expedition against Matamoros, if he thought the scheme was likely to
succeed; he felt that he could depend upon Jim Bowie, who knew that
country. But the council, by appointing Colonel Fannin, had overruled
these orders. Colonel Fannin claimed that the council and not the
general of the army was his commander now. So he went ahead with his
preparations, and all the impatient volunteers from the United States
gathered to his summons. Colonel Frank Johnson, too, was directed by
the council to join the expedition and help form it. From Bejar he
proceeded through Gonzales to San Felipe; and now Lieutenant-Colonel
Neill was left on the frontier with only sixty men and no supplies.
Thus defied by the council and by his own inspector-general and the
commander of the artillery, General Houston was in a sad fix. This
would never do, in any army. Lieutenant-Colonel Neill wrote a letter
protesting alarmedly at the condition in Bejar. And referring the
letter to Governor Smith, General Houston likewise protested.
He said that the army was in confusion; the soldiers who had been
wounded in the battles were being neglected, while without the
authority of the commanding officer supplies were being diverted from
them and sent elsewhere. As for himself, he was ready to obey orders,
if only Texas might be saved.
Within thirty hours [he said] I shall set out for the army,
and repair there with all possible dispatch. I pray that a
confidential dispatch may meet me at Goliad, and, if I have
left, that it may pursue me wherever I may be.
No language can express my anguish of soul. Oh, save our poor
country!――Send supplies to the wounded, the naked, the sick,
and the hungry, for God’s sake! What will the world think
of the authorities of Texas? Prompt, decided, and honest
independence is all that can save them and redeem the country.
I do not fear,――I will do my duty.
I have the honor, etc.,
SAM HOUSTON.
Governor Smith was angry, too. He ordered General Houston to take
command, to locate his headquarters at Bejar or some other post on
the western frontier, and to begin a campaign. That would occupy the
troops and defend Texas. He wrote a letter to the council also, hotly
reproving them for interfering with the commander-in-chief, and for
encouraging officers to disobey his instructions.
When General Houston arrived at Goliad, he found that almost the whole
of the army, being mainly the volunteers from the United States, were
assembled down here on the Gulf Coast, ready for the Matamoros march.
Colonel Fannin had been elected their colonel, and Major William Ward,
of the Georgia volunteers, their lieutenant colonel. Lieutenant-Colonel
Frank Johnson claimed that by the appointment of the council he was
the rightful commander. Dr. Grant, another commander, had passed on,
after stripping the Goliad post of its horses. But General Houston, in
a speech at Goliad and at Refugio nearby, assured the volunteers that
by the direction of the governor he himself was here to be the leader
in whatever was done――although he was sure that any invasion of Mexico,
now, would result in only defeat and death to all concerned.
Listening to the advice of Sam Houston, many of the volunteers decided
not to go to Matamoros unless he favored it. Lieutenant-Colonel
Johnson’s force for the march overland dropped to only sixty, and he
did not go. Colonel Fannin was not able to sail from Velasco, and
instead garrisoned Goliad. Dr. Grant remained out on the prairies
to the westward, collecting more horses. The soldiers were very
discontented, being without money and supplies.
After having done the best that he could, General Houston learned that
the council had suspended Governor Smith, on account of the letter that
he had written to them, and had appointed Lieutenant-Governor Robinson
to serve in his place until the next convention met, on March 1. So
back north to Washington on the Brazos hastened Sam Houston, now well
discouraged. The army were presumed to make their winter quarters at
Refugio, near Goliad in the south.
In the United States Stephen Austin, Dr. Branch T. Archer, and Mr.
William H. Wharton, the Texas commissioners appointed by the convention
of last November, were busily obtaining loans of money for the Texas
government, with which supplies were being bought. This was one bright
spot.
* * * * *
Such was the news as received in Gonzales, by the columns of the San
Felipe weekly _Telegraph_, and by letters and word of mouth. Indeed,
what with the disputes among the army officers, the quarrel between
the governor and the council, and the opposition to General Houston
himself, as commander-in-chief, things, to Ernest (trying his best to
understand), looked black for Texas. He was glad that the Matamoros
expedition was given up, for Leo probably would have joined and have
been killed. But here was Texas at helpless sixes and sevens――and
General Santa Anna, according to reports, was at Saltillo, preparing to
march with a great army against the “rebels.”
Bejar surely would be among the first places attacked. Lieutenant-Colonel
Neill was there, with scarcely 100 men to man it and the Alamo and to
support the twenty-four cannon. He had sent for help. Near the close of
the third week of January, this 1836, had ridden into Gonzales, from
Goliad sixty miles south, Colonel James Bowie, and Colonel Bonham, the
South Carolinan, with a handful of recruits.
“Where you going, Jim?”
“To Bexar. Neill’s asked again for help. He tells headquarters that
a thousand Mexicans are coming to attack him. The general’s sent us
with orders for him to blow up the place and to pull out with all his
artillery. We can’t raise troops enough to defend it. Captain Dimitt
has orders to follow us from Goliad with one hundred men if he can get
them, but I don’t believe he can. It’s a shame, gentlemen; a shame on
Texas.”
And away rode the courtly James Bowie and the gallant James Bonham.
Ernest and Gonzales never saw them again.
By courier through Gonzales, Lieutenant-Colonel Neill replied to
General Houston that as he had no oxen or mules with which to drag his
cannon, he could not obey the orders, and would hold his post, in hopes
of reinforcements.