.49
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Understood that Long wa under in truction from Tre palacios who }1eld hi authority from the 1\[exican Government-Ila been hut six weeks with Long-followed him of his own free will, as well as all the men who eompo e the party. • ro. 40 1821 Oct. 11, T. · B E:'\TELLO. REPORT U'PO~ J. LONG'S OCCUPATION OF LA BAHJA 42 Report of the :.nd .Alcalde of the town of La Bahia. Bahia, October 11, 1821. On the 4th in t: at day break, the o called General Long ap- proached this· town with uch a bu tle and uproar, that he might 11ave been supposed to have with him 200 or 300 men. Whereupon some families. fled from the town. A few minutes afterward, th-: l st Alcalde directed me to remain and await the events, while he would go to the vicinity .for gathering the di pcrsed inhabitants. I. then, went to the officers' quarters, and on my way, pa sed through the square w~re Lon" with ~1 Americans and one Spaniard. wa taking po ession of the rtillery. pon my adre sing him throug'h his interpreter, he grasped my right hand, and said that he would send ome men to bring back the people, and-that 110 harm would be 'done them. On my approbative an wer, he ordered one cannon to he fired twice, and in so doing, one of the gunners fell fainting on the carriage, another had his face burned and in the mean time, a pii:;tol hanging from a third man's helt went off and shot him through the Leg: these accidents,appeared to make a sad impression on Long wh~. a:fter having giYen his direction for attending to the • wounded, proceeded with me to the Cominanding Officers quarters, where he inquired whether the Independence had been swom to, adding that his sole object wa to ecure it. On hearin that the lndependence had been sworn fo, he observed that he had been in- duced to enter t!1e town as he did,· by .a report made by him hy me Tahuacano Indian that the town had refu ed to declar • for Independence; but that, being sati fied of the contrary, he would write to the General Commanding tlie Province,-and in fact he did o. Then, Long and myself left the ommandin"' officer, and he asked me for a beef; I could not refus it to him, and dfrectcd that Jose Trexo hould furni h it. On the same day, at about i o'clock l'. M. the fir t Alcalde called me to his house and directed ·me t() a~ emble the Ayuntamiento, to call on Long; but that body pa sed a resolution to th effect that no intercour e hould be held with that man, and all the memhers left the town to .await the arrival of the Troops from Bexar. On the 5th, Long sent £or me, and ordered me to supply him with corn and fuel which, he said. he needed much; on my ob ervation tliat the people were very poor, he replied that he wanted it ab olutely. I, then, collected about 10 almuds (pecks) of corn among the citizen . In the morning of the 6th, Long ordered me to· have horse in readiness for carrying "English translation by Xavier de Dray; original in Bexar Archives. 4-Llbrary.
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