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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
lost with all the torments of hunger upon him until he found himself on the banks of the Angilena near the public crossing. Here he dis- covered-without being seen himself-a scouting party of the enemy -and under the impulse of a new fright he pushed forward in his ,desperation for Nacogdoches, with the expectation of finding t~e Place stron,.,ly garrisoned and ready for the foe. He found 1t 0 . D "d~" deserted. "And what of -walker and my brother av1 . -en- quired the General. "Of them"~said Lightle-"! know nothing." This fell heavily on the heart of our hero; it sounded like the death nell of those gallant men.- On arriving at ~Ir. Brown's where he had left his lady, the Genl. found the family had fled. Universal consterna,tion prevailed, and the whole population were rushing like a herd of terrified Buffaloe to the Sabine. There were two roads to the Sabine; one called the :Sharbono, leading to Gaines' ferry-and the other the Ormigues, lead- ing to Lakey 's Crossing. l\Irs. Long had followed the latter route. Fortunately, her husband took the same; and reached the river a little after the a,rrival of the poor families whom he had aided in Nacogdoches. The day was spent in getting them over the river.- All had crossed by the setting of the sun, except the family of Critch- field, who resided immediately on the bank of the river, and affecting no apprehensions of the enemy declined crossing until next morning. It was supposed by some, that the old gentleman intended, to join the Spa,niards in the event of their appearance. If such were his feelings, his loyalty was very badly requited; for they shewed him but little courtesy of kindness, when he fell, that very night, into their hands.- Perez entered Nacogdoches on the 28th of October; and greatly to his comfort and relief, discovered that the foe had retired. The field of glory was all his own. His right, there were none to dispute. The only person in the place, was the Spaniard already mentioned, Juan Soto. Soon afterwards however, two America,ns ·from Pecan Point and an Indian, ignorant of the state of things made their ap- pearance, and were detained as prisoners, together with Soto. The Americans were subsequently released at the order of the American -authorities at l<'ort Jesup. The fate of Soto is not known. The un- fortunat<> son of the forest was sacrifised at the moment. H 0 was inhumanly murdered for &ttempting to wrest a musket from the hands •Of a brutal soldier; shot in cold blood after the affa,ir was over without being even charged with any other offense than that of defending himself. The Spaniards, however, though prodigal of blood, a,re al- ways careful of the future state of their victims. In the present in- stance the Soul of the hutched savage, with characteristic •kind- ness, was saved in compensation for the loss of life. The holy cei:e- mony of l~a,btism-w~ich the poor sufferer neither comprehended nor appreciated-was imposed upon him in his dying agonies. and this act of pious humanity was prominently set forth in the official report of Perez, a~ one which might well compete, in point of merit, with the murder itself. He says that the Indian '' after bein" ex- horted a-n<l prayed for by Chaplain Don Jose Antonio. Valdet was
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