PAPERS OF ~l1R.\BE.\U BuoN.\P.\RTE L .,M.\R 17 the others, came with four hundred men under him and entered by way of Colonia and the New Kingdom of Leon, forcibly cnli ting as many as he could as. emble. With thi force he reached Laredo and a sembled two thou and men. Elisondo, who had received re-inforcc- ments of troops by way of Chiguagua, had a corp of fifteen hundred picked troopers. He immediately communicated with the eruel Arre- dondo, and upon his suggestion marched upon Vcxar and camped within a league of the city and in plain view of us. Scarcely had he arrived before the Mexican Creoles began to desert, and within three days more than three hundr~d went over to Elisondo, and we were unable to prevent it. Elisondo wrote secretly to the American offic~r , wh~ he knew had for their own interest place,d the affair in a fair way for destruction, He offered to let them return to their coun~ry in safety, and in addition offered them nine thousand pesos if they would surrender me and other individuals who were faithful patriots. T11e America11 colonel and other satellites of hi: agreed to the proposal, and in order to assure Elisondo of their p1·ornises, stole one of my flags_ and sent it to him by a woman. 'l'hey then began working to can-y out their wicked plan by telling the American troops that it was expedient to retire, that it was im- pos ible to resist sucl1 powerful forces. 'l'he Americans said they did not believe that I had given an order to retreat in that fashion, and in. order to find out they w.ere going to send the officers imme- diately above them in rank to ask me about it. As soon a the-Ameri- can colonel heard this information, he fled, taking other with him. I gave the troops to understand that it was my purpose to .£ 0 ht the enemy's army, and fortune should decide whether we should retreat or not. I liad already taken nll the steps to unite all the troop~ which ,vere in the city and its vicinity. The next day I found myself with nine hundred men and I had no-reason to be afraid that they would de ert from fear or lack of patriotism. Among them were six hundred who were well armed and three hundred with lancl's. On the 20th day of June I marched upon the enemy's army. I attacked them in their own entrenchments and after four hours of fighting, with the aid of the Almighty, I succeeded in cutting them to pieces. 'l'he enemy lost four hundred dead, two hundred prisoners, and many of those who attempted to escape died as they fled. I lost · thirty-two dead, and I had forty-two wounded. Before Elisondo came, another very critical circum tance f1rose. · One Toledo, a Creole of Havana, came from the north in company with one Picorncl, a ~uropean Spaniard. The former had the intention of· taking possession.. of the command as General-in~Chief of the army which I commanded, and the latter of po ses ing himself of the execu- tive power. Both had sworn to aid and sustain each other. They nrrived at ~atitocbes where they joined in with an agent of the government of the north, a man of great genius, but also a great scoundrel, and with three others of the same calibre. These togetl1er with Toledo formed a plan to do all in their power to fore<"· me out of Vexar; so that they might place themselves in all the highest offices. As soon 'afi: they had their \\'id,rnd plan well formulated, they started fo1· Vexai·'J They anived at tM--first settlement, .N'a<::idoches, where 2-Llbrnry,
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