WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1847
547
in, in the emergency contemplated, the President would have ren- dered the promised aid to Texas? Mr. Calhoun said that was provided for Congress was to be called together with all possible despatch. 'Congressional Globe, 1846-1847, pp. 455-460. The proposal was to appropriate three million dollars to enable the President to negotiate a treaty with Mexico. ~The editors are unaware of the incidents to which Houston refers. ~The first meeting referred to here was in 1832; the 1833 convention met in April. 'This figure is greatly exaggerated. Consensus of Mexican and T.exan authorities says that Santa Anna brought 8,000 men to Texas in 1836 (See Santa Anna, Dim-io, II, 33; Filisola, Me1norias pa1·a la Hfr1to1·ia de la G1ie1·ra. de Tejas, II, 255-259. Six thousand and nineteen men with Santa Anna, and about two thousand with Sesma; El Mosquito Mexicana., .March 4, 1836; William Kennedy, Texas, II, 176-177.) Estimates of the Mexicans in the siege of the Alamo vary from 2,500 to 5,000-6,000, and their loss in killed and wounded varies from 521 to 2,500. After the Texan victory at San Jacinto, Ramon Martinez Caro, Santa Anna's private secretary, in reply to the question of a Texan officer concerning the number Jost at the Alamo, replied, "We brought to San Antonio about 5,000 men, the flower of the Mexican a1·my, and we lost during the siege 1,544 of the best of them." (See John Sutherland's Acconnt of the Fall of the Alamo, in John S. Ford's Jo1mw.Z (MS.), University of Texas Li- brary.) After long and careful study, the writer of this note believes that Caro's estimate of Mexican soldiers at the siege of the Alamo, and the number lost there is more nearly accurate than that of any other writer on the subject.
To JAMES K. PoLK 1
Confidential!
Washington City, 23rd Feby 1847
Dear Sir, The nominations from Kentucky, of company officers, I think have not been sent to the Senate. I feel no interest in any of them, but that of Mr. Vernon~ for a Captaincy. He brought letters to me from your devoted friends in Louisville. Since he came to the City, I have noted his conduct, as he put up at Brown's Hotel. I have found him unobtrusive, gentlemanly, and highly intelligent. He has pride, capacity, and I would say chivalry sufficient, to make such an officer as would grntify you, and be an ornament to his country. I have been led to this conclusion from the fact of his propriety of conduct. Having met him so often, & seen him in
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