263
THE AUSTIN PAPERS
with that activity which the service required-I believe however that all has been done that could have been-I have at various times submitted the question of storming. the fortifications to a council of officers and they have uniformly decided against it-yesterday I was in hopes the Army was pre• pared to do it, and I issued a positive order, to storm at day light this morn- ing, hut on trial I found it impossible to get half the men willing for the measure, and it was abandoned from necessity I begin to doubt whether much more can be done here, than to leave a force in winter quarters at the missions below town, say 250 men, untill the necessary regular force and guns and other supplies, come out- My health is better than it has been and is improving fast-I shall make • another effort to get the army to storm if it cannot he effected, I shall leave as many as will stay in winter quarters and go to the U. S. under the ap- pointment they have given me as commissioner-So far as my own wishes and feelings are concerned, I much p~efer an appointment out of Texas, than in it-/ am ready to serve the country in any way I can-I accepted the appointment I now hold here, because I could not do otherwise, I never sought it, nor wished for i~my constitution is too much worn out and too feeble for the exposure and hardships and activity of a winters campaign, destitute of everything like comforts. I have done the best I could This army has always been composed of discordant materials, and is without proper organization-The volunteer sistem will not do for such a service, I have had a hard and difficult task to perform-and am really so worn out, that / begin to require res~ I could have been of more use in the convention than here-and I can be of service to Texas by going to the U. S. and I wish to go there. 1 Love to all-The boys are well-we are about 600 yards from the forti- fications and we have a battery within 340 yards but have no balls to do much good- This place must fall of itself in a short time-T_hey are almost destitute of supplies and but little hope, of getting them from the interior soon.:_ _If Genral Mexia has gone to attack Matamoros and succeeds, in taking that place this one will fall of course- As to Texas affairs, much more depends at present on a proper regula- tion of the civil Govt. than on the military operations-- . If there is unanimity and prudence and no party work, in the civil de- partment, all will go right the fate of Texas depends mainly on this--we ought to get united to the U. S. as soon as possible, it is the best we can do farewell S. F. AUSTIN (Rubric]
1 See "The Texas Revolutionary Anny," by the editor, Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, IX. 227-261.
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