a Mexican soldier, 110 disorder occurred duri11g Lhc whole night. The morning of Lhe lsl of May prcsenlcd lo my sight a speclaclc lruly horrible, a11d which ca11 only be believed by those who were wilnesses, because il is not possible for any 011c Lo imagille il who does not possess a knowledge of Lhe topography of Texas, of Lhe qualities of its surface, aud of the i11consla11cy of its climate i11 eontiuual changes of cold, heat, snow, rain and frightful hurricanes. The position of Lhe army on this morning was 011 the right bank of the principal rivulet of several which form the river San Bernard, and between the two roads which come from San Felipe de Austin lo Bexar and lo this town, which are marked on the map of Texas of 1833; all the rivulets were swollen so as not lo afford a passage before eight or ten days, and no other outlcl remained but the road which leads to the pass of the river Colorado, called Atascosito; the land belween the said rivulets is swampy and of the same ki11d as that on which we were encamped: the said pass was not five leagues off: cannons, wagons, mules, ammu11ition and men, were all buried in the mud. All the provisions which the purveyor of the army had, consisted of some few bushels of beaus aud salt, aud lo heighten our misfortune, there was no other firewood, as I previously observed, than the artillery carriages, wagons, trunks, ammunition boxes and those of the muskets. In the army the dysentery was already commencing, and we were without the means of cure and without physicians, there remained at last 110 other alternative, than to perish with hunger or to abandon every thing, saving only the men. The day before I found myself under the 11ecessity of lightening the baggage wagons, by making the muskets and bags for earth which came in them lo be carried by the soldiers, who were already without strength for wa11l of nourishment, and nevertheless said empty wagons could not arrive al the place where we passed the night, until after four o'clock Lhe next morning. If the enemy under those critical circumstances should have met us on the only road that was left, nothing would remain bul to die or surr·en<ler at discrelio11, Lecausc there was nol a single mu;:;kei capable of striking fire, and almost all Lhc ammunition was wet, what a different siluation from that of ten days previous! 111 order not lo expose ourselves lo an accident so shameful, in the morning I had made general Urrea advance with his brigade Lu Ata:Scosilo; on that day he look possession of it a11d procured some mcm,s fur
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