The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume VI

PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR 179 to be made for the support of the war. :McKinney 'was to negociate it; the council from some cause, perhaps, the infamy of Williams' char- acter, refused to let William's name appear with McKinnie's. Mc- Kinny told them that W- was his partner in trade, and as it [was] the transaction not of himself but of the firms W's name must be inserted. the Name of Williams with that of McKenny's was inserted in the draft by the Seery. of the Council (Mr. Stewart) without the Knowl- edge of the Council; when it came to their knowledge, they objected to the draft and said another should be drawn in its stead; late one night at 11 or 12 oclk the Secy waked up the Govr. and presented another draft for his signature saying that the former one was annuled by the Council and was in the office ; the Govr signed the second one; and afterwards demanded the first one to be destroyed; but it was not to be found in the office. As Williams was known to be concerned in great speculations and perhaps not standing very high with the Govt; Smith conceived, that there was some rascality in the affair which he could not fathom, and accordingly addressed the council in tremen- dous epithets in a private Message; at the same time writing however a secret note to several of the members that they were not to consider themselves included in the implications of the message. The matter soon became public and a quarrel ensued- the Council threatened im- peachment &C. GENL. MINA Was the son of the Mina who figured so largely in the hystory of the Wars of Spain. He sailed for the mouth of the Sabine from Madrid, with a view of getting American soldiers to.join him in the war of the Patriots against the Royalists in Texas; he landed however from some mistake or from some cause unknown to me, at the Brazos St Iago, With 15 Americans, which he had brought with him (I believe) this was in 1816- His expectation was to be supported by the Rancheros who it was said were all patriots & ready to sustain him; he gathered a small force and moved toward the Nuaces; on his way had a severe engagement with the Royalists, in which he was successful; he pushed on entending to go La Bihia fighting almost every step and daily ex- pecting but not receiving reinforcemts. Some where not distant from Refugio, between there & Copeno, wearied out and exhausted with hunger, fatigue and hard fighti.ng, he & his men lay down to rest or take what they call a siesta a part of Arredondo's army from Bexar, on their march to Labihia heard of them and came in hot pursuit of them; they came upon just at this moment when they were all asleep. The Centinels had either been taken prisoners by surprize or had proved treacherous. The Royalists at one destructive fire killed nearly the whole of Mina's force, whilst asleep. The living sprang up & dis- covered themselves in the hands of their enemies. The Americans I believe were turned loose- (I have heard that they were shot because they hailed from no country-had no citizenship in this country as Citizens nor any pasport to sojourn in it as strangers) The Mexicans were shot and Genl. Mina was tied to a wild horse and kicked to death-

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