PAPERS OF i.IIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR 431 apprehension for QUr safety. At about 4 o'clock, P. l\f. we were marched back to Goliad, which we found already occupied by them, and that night received nothing to eat, and were crowded in an old church, within the fort in such numbers that was impossible for all to lie down, and sentries placed in and around the church. The sentries~ during the night robbed a man of his watch, and' struck others with the buts of their muskets who would not submit to it, telling them it was no more harm to kill them than a dog or a horse, as they had no more soul-were not Christians, and were all Pagans. The next morning they served to each man about three quarters of a pound of raw beef, and after we .frequently asked for water, they allowed two men to go down to the river, several hundred yards distant, with a barrel to obtain it, having four sentries with fixed bayonets to attend them, and allowed them to make a little fire in the church to cook their meat, which was to serve them for twenty-four hours without any thing else. After two or three days they were taken from the church, and placed under a shed in the yard of the fort, marching them out by twenties and searching each one, taking every thing from their possession but their money, \\"hicb they allowed them to keep. All the wounded of the Mexicans, being over 100, were then placed in the church, 1Yhich was then used as an hospital, and took Dr. Barnard, Dr. Field, and Dr. Shackelford (Captain of the Red Rovers) from the rest of the prisoners to act as physicians to the wounded. When all our wounded men arrived, 63 in number, (the 64th the rTar- rator, did not enter the ho pital as an invalid) they were placed in another house 1vithin the fort, and also were put under the care of the physicians. Two days previous, a Company from New Orleans arrived at Copano, and were made pri oners of war, and marched to the fort, but kept in a different part of the yard from the rest of the pri oners; from this body they took Dr. Hale, who was attached also to the medical staff. Some difficulty "existing in consequence of the physicians not being able to speak the Spanish language an interpreter was necessary, and Sphon our informant was selected as such, from lps knowledge of the language. On Palm Sunday, being 27th of March, the prisoners were formed into line, and our informant who was then sleeping in the church (the hospital) being about 6 o'clock in the morning, was called out and told to fall into line; being the last, he £ell in at the end. They were then marched. out of the fort and ranged before the gate when an officer stepped ·Up and asl,....ed Sphon what he,was doing there, and ordered him to go back to the hospital where he was wanted, and when on his way was stopped by another officer who told him to order the a si tants to have the wounded of the Texians brought into the yard; such as could not walk were to be -carried out. Being as- tonished at these preparations he asked why, when the officer said, '' Carts were coming to convey them to Copano, the nearest seaport.'' The orders 0£ the officers were obeyed and the wounded brought into the yard, and they were all full of the hope that they were to be shipped to the United States, which bad been promised; but their hopes were crue)ly blasted when they heard a sudden continued roar of musketry on the outside of the fort, and observed the soldier's
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