WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1859
309
was a Spanish town or city, with many thousand population, and very few Americans. The Alamo was nothing more than a church, and derived its cognomen from the fact of its being surrounded by poplars or cotton-wood trees. The Alamo was known as a fortress since the Mexican revolution in 1812. The troops remained at Bexar until about the last of December. The council, without the knowledge of the Governor, and without the concurrence of the Commander-in-chief of the army, had secretly sent orders authorizing Grant and others to invade Matamoras, some three hundred miles, I think, through an uninhabited country, and thereby to leave the Alamo in a defenseless position. They marched off, and left only one hundred and fifty effective men, taking some two hundred with them. Fannin was to unite with them from the mouth of the Brasos, at Copano, and there the two forces were to unite under the auspice8 of Colonel Fannin, and were to proceed to Matamoras and take possession of it. The enemy, in the mean- time, were known to be advancing upon Texas, and they were thus detaching an inefficient force, which, if it had been con- centrated, would have been able to ;1•esist all the powers of Mexico combined. The Commander-in-chief was ordered by the Go'vernor to •repair immediately to Goliad, and if the expedi- tion surreptitiously ordered by the council should proceed to Matamoras, to take charge of it. Under his conduct it was sup- posed that something might be achieved, or at least disaster prevented. · The council, on the 7th of January, passed an edict creat- ing Fannin and Johnson military agents, and investing them with all the power of the country, to impress property, receive troops, command them, appoint subordinates throughout the country, and effectually supersede the Commander-in-chief in his authority. 3 As I said before, he was ordered to repair to Copano. He did so. While at Goliad, he sent an order to Colonel Neill, ,,,ho was in command of the Alamo, to blow up that place and fall back to Gonzales, making that a defensive position, which was supposed to be the furthest boundary the enemy would ever reach. This was on the 17th of January. That order was secretly superseded by the council; and Colonel Travis, having relieved Colonel Neill, did not blow ·up the Alamo, and retreat with such articles as were necessary for the defense of the country ; but remained in possession from the 17th of January until the last of February, when the Alamo was invested by the force
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