Your Excellency will also order that the lToop carry rations for twenty days, everything being executed immediately so that there may not be any delays in the march of General Cos, which I have already ordered, and which I am transcribing in a separate official letter to you. Your Excellency will also send to San Felipe de Austin, a force of from forty to fifty cavalrymen, at the command of an officer whose bravery and energy are well known, so that being at that point, he may investigate the whereabouts of General Gaona, whose delay has me worried, and also advise him that he must proceed to this place to receive new orders for the continuation of his march to Nacodoches; the aforesaid group will leave after having accomplished its commission. Later your Excellency will take the necessary steps to have gathered all the corn, salt, and other goods abandoned by the enemy that may be found on the banks of this river and of the Colorado, using the army's mules and wagons so that the troop shall not lack the necessary rations. Your Excellency will establish a provisional hospital, where the wounded and sick that there may ~e, may be lodged, taking great care of their welfare. On the opposite side of the river a small detachment will be placed with one piece, to guard the ford and to see if the steamboat which is above San Felipe can be kept from passing through to the sea; it would be very useful to capture it. I have ordered Senor General D. Jose Urrea that after seeing that the point of Matagorda is made safe, he is to go to Brazoria, where he will establish his general headquarters and reconnoiter the banks of this river, and to forward his communications to me at this place, duplicating them to your Excellency as long as I am absent. I leave to your Excellency's well-known efficiency the care and order of this camp, the cleanliness and good order of the troops, and whatsoever may be necessary to order in the extTaordinary occurrences which may present themselves. For God and Liberty. General Headquarters of Thompson's Pass. April 13, 1836. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. Most Excellent Senor General of Division, D. Vicente Filisola, Second in Command of the Army of Operations.
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