272
THE AUSTIN PAPERS
The post at Goliad has been taken by the volunteers and the army de- prived of large supplies which were at that _place, and of the facilities of securing others by water thro' the port of Copano which is closed upon them by the occupation of Goliad. The enemy has been driven from the River Nueces by a detachment of the volunteers who garrison Goliad, and by the patriotic sons of Ireland from Powers Colony. More than one hundred of the enemy including many officers have been killed, a great many have been wounded, others have deserted, one valuable piece of brass cannon a six pounder has been taken and another preserved (the one that was at Goliad [Gonzales?] from falling into the hands of the enemy, three hun- dred head of horses have been taken and the resources for sustaining an army in Bexar all destroyed or exhausted, so that an enemy in that place is at this time more than three hundred miles from any supplies of bread stuffs and many other necessary articles, all this has been effected by the volun- teer army in a little more than one month, and with the loss of only one man killed in Battle and one wounded, who has nearly recovered, before Bexar, one wounded at Goliad, and one at Lipanticlon on Nueces. In short, the moral and political influence of the campaign is equally beneficial ~o Texas, and to the sacred cause of the Constitution and of Liberty and honor- able to the volunteer army [which] is composed principally of the most intelligent respectable and worthy citizens of this country and of volunteers from Louisiana and Alabama, of men who have taken up arms from prin• ciple, from a sense of duty and from the purest motives of Patriotism and Philanthropy, they have bravely sustained the rights of Texas and the cause of Mexican liberty and patiently borne the exposure and fatigue of a win• ters campaign during the most inclement wet and cold spell of weather known in this country for many years. The most of them are men of families whose loss would have made a fearful void in their com- munity. They might have been precipitated upon the fortifications of Bexar which were defended by seven or eight hundred men and a number of cannon and taken the place by storm against superior numbers and Texas might and in all probability would have been covered with mourning in the hour of victory. On consultation with the officers in councils of war, it was deemed most prudent not to hazard so much in the commencement of the contest when a disaster would have been so materially injurious, and the sistem was adopted of wasting away the resources and spirits and num- bers of the enemy by a siege, the ultimate success of which seemed to be certain, without any serious hazard on our part. That the fall of Bexar within a short time will be the result and with very little loss, I have no doubL I consider the volunteer army to be the main hope of Texas, at this time and until a regular force can· be organized, and I recommend that it be sustained and provided for in the most effectual and efficient manner.
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