WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1832-1853
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I very soon discovered that I was a General without an army, serving under and by authority of a pretended government, that had no head, and no loyal subjects to obey its commands. I saw then that the blood of more martyrs had to crimson the sacred soil of Texas before the people would consent to organize them- selves into a government having one head and yielding to that head implicit obedience. I therefore considered myself virtually superseded in the com- mand of the army by an illegal act of the Council, at the solicita- tion of my inferior officers. I had, at that early period, reliable information that Santa Anna was raising a large and enthusiastic army for the avowed purpose to invade Texas, avenge and wipe out the humiliation and disgrace cast upon Mexico by the defeat and expulsion of her military forces from Texas. I thought at that time that the war would be a long and bloody one. I there- fore deemed it prudent and wise for the army to be well organized and to retreat to some advantageous point. To that policy I had no support. I ordered Colonel Travis to blow up the fortress at San Antonio and retreat, and, as I considered my usefulness in the army was at an end for the then present, I asked for and obtained a parole, and directed my attention and what influence I possessed to the securement of a convention of the people for the purpose of adopting a declaration of independence and organizing a per- manent government. You are all familiar with the action of that convention. The delegates thought proper to re-elect me ·Com- mander-in-Chief of the army. Santa Anna's advance with from eight to ten thousand soldiers was so rapid that the intended Matamoras expedition was aban- doned. It has been asserted, as I have before stated, that I am responsible for the massacre of Fannin and his command. I have even been called a cowardly murderer by the leading news- papers of the country, and repeated time and time again for years. I beg the attention of this audience while I cite you to facts and circumstances that prove this foul and cruel slander to be a pre- meditated falsehood. On the 2d day of March, 1836, I took my seat in the convention. I was absent from the army on parole for reasons that I have before stated. I did not have a soldier under my control. All the organized military force was under the command of Colonels Travis, Fannin, and Johnson, consisting of about 750 men. There were some unorganized military gath- erings in different portions of the country that were not in the regular service. On the 3d day of March Colonel Travis sent a
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