WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1851
that, events that are known and familiar to you all, of which I need not speak, ensued. They retreated before the victorious force of 9000 men. The little army had only accumulated by rolling backwards from 374 to 636 men; it was nearly doubled; but that appeared a very inadequate force to conquer 9000 well- armed, well-appointed men, who were the boast of the continent, and, in their own opinion, rivaled the proudest chivalry of France, in the days of Napoleon, with a general who had won twenty-five battles; a very unequal contest that. But there is a holy cause, embracing right, at which Heaven smiles; and I can account for our preservation upon no other principle than that the finger of Deity directed it for purposes then in embryo, which were to flow from it, and sanctified the efforts of his feeble followers. Cer- tainly human aid could never have turned the tide, had not the inspiration of Providence animated the contending hosts in behalf of liberty, religion, and law. After that, the victors passed vic- torious over the Brazos, and, meeting no opposition, sent word to the commander-in-chief that he knew well where he was. Although every precaution had been taken, a boat was care- lessly sent across, and captured ; but, had the proper care been observed, the Mexicans never could have crossed for months, and must have fallen victim to an inferior force; but it was not so ordered. He sent word to the commander that he knew where he was, that he was advancing to upset the government and hang the officers, and after he had done that he would go up where the general was, and smoke him out, and hang him also. That produced great vigilance, forced marches unexampled, until Santa Anna found himself a prisoner at San Jacinto. The trap had been laid; he could not swim the river, or take the boundless prairie, only limited by the waves of the gulf. He could not pass by, for the bridge was providentially cut down. There both armies met, and the bravest must be victorious or perish. The achievement was in behalf of liberty, and the Anglo-Saxon race, branded with every crime, redeemed themselves, and left no spoil upon their ancestral escutcheons, but showed at least that they were worthy of their sires. That ought to have led to peace; but the constitution that had been framed by the convention had to be submitted to the people before it was adopted and went into force. After the battle, individuals thought of nothing but eating and drinking; after the battle was fought, they were scattered to the four winds of heaven; eight days it took to collect them together; some were on the Sabine, some in the swamps of the
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