The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume VI

136

TEXAS STATE LIBRARY

lNFORl\fATION DERIVED FROllf :MAJR. ROMAN Born Kentucky- came to 'l'exas in Spring in 1836.

Re_uben Ross was C~pt in the regular army of Texas, at the head of his company, frontier Gonzales Co-when Canalis came to solicit aid-he & Ross met Augua Dulce, this side of the Nueces near San Particia. .J orclan, Price, Cameron (no comd) were there. The forces brought into the field there were about 200 Americans, the most of them being what was called Cow boys, with the exception of Ross's Company which were Regular troops- The force was organized- Ross was elected to the Command; Roman was Lt Col and Joseph Dolan was major; Benj Hill was adjutant.- The Captains were as remembered, Price had the largest company & most influence Eberly had small company, 18 men Hagler from N. C. Compa[n]y 40 men---:- Canalis force consisted of 300 men, ¾ of which were Carese Indians, armed with Lances badly constructed- Jos M Carabajal was with him as counselor &C, having no command. Remeris was along with Canalis. Zapata was· not there at the that time- Took up the line of march, the indians on foot, the rest mounted, without tents, bread or money, not one man in the company having $5.00- The Americans enlisted for no set & definite period- When Canalis got in the vicinity of Guerrero, he was joined by Zapata, with a 150 men good force in better condition than the others--,-. He Canalis determined that the Texans should no longer march under the Texas Flag as had been agreed to at the first organization at Agua Dulce- Ross was anxious to cling to the Flag of his country being a Captain in the regular Army, and going into this service without orders from the Prest At this time Genl. Pavon commanded at :M:ier; and Bernardo Guiteres commanded the post at Guerrero, with 150 men; he had short time been Federal, but from some cause had become Central & was placed in Command there- He had at the time 2 Sons with Canalis, thus the father & sons were about to engage each other in battle- Jordan had no command, but was taken into the Staff of Canalis with the rank of Lt. Colonel-at the river riogrande, a party was despatched to Guerrero to attack the garrison commanded by Jor- dan consisting of 100 Americans; They crossed at night a little be- fore day above the mouth of the Salado- early in the morning they moved upon the Town- Canalis with his men (Mexicans & indians) lingered behind- Jordan succeed with very Iittle trouble in putting the garrison to flight. As soon as -the fight was over Canalis entered the town with his force- The balance of the Americans who were not with Jordan, crossed be- low the mouth of the Salado, and went on the l\Iier road, under the command of Ross & Roman for the purpose of intercepting the enemy in their rout, believing that ,vhen the town should be taken; they would take that route-Sure enough, as soon as the garrison was routed many of the fugatives attempt to escape in that direction, & were captured as soon as they crossed the river- Guteris himself was seen in finely dress wading the river; and being a venerable looking old man 80 years, some one called out, that he was the Priest & to seize him- Guiterez came out and said that he was no priest, but

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