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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
the Episode may appear; still it will sene as a slight tribute to the memory of men whose extraordinary valor has been seldom equalled and perhaps never surpassed. When l\fi:na arrived at Soto la 1\Iarina, his force did not exceed Three hundred men.- The engagement which took place between Col. Perry and La Garza immediately upon the occupancy of this town, we have already noticed; and while the signal victory obtained over superior numbers on that occasion, was trnly cheering to the little band of heroes, it tended greatly on the other hand, to increase the excitement and ala,rm which the landing of ~Iina had already produced among the Royalists. The fame of the General had preceded him. His character was well understood in l\Iexico; and the Royal authori- ties; dreading the influence which a leader of his popularity and real abilities might have among the people and probably among the royal troops also, determined to crush him at a single blow, before he could have any communication with the insurgents or should be able to arrouse the country to a general resistance; and for this purpose, the most formidable army that could be collected was put in movement against him under Arredondo; and at the same time a naval force was ordered to the mouth of the Santander, to destroy the transports of the invader, and thus deprive him of the means of either retreating, or of strengthening himself from abroad. l\lina was not ignorant of the dangers' by which he was surrounded, and accordingly he lost no time in making a suitable appeal to the friends of liberty and the dis- affected of all parties to rally to his standard and defend their rights. This was done in an eloquent Proclamation, in which he explained the object of his expedition; the motives that inspired him and the prin- ciples which were to guide him in his operations. The appeal, how- ever, was not responded to with any degree of enthusiasm by the people. He was joined, it is true, by a few brave spirits; but the inhabitants in general were deterred from taking any part in the difficulties by the great superiority of the Royal forces.- The fact is, that l\Iina had landed in the country with to small a force to inspire confidence; and the insurgent chiefs themselves, even more derelict than the people, regarded his numbers as too inconsiderable for their attention, and left him to take care of himself.- In this perilous situation-threatened by an overwhelming force, and without the prospect of any material augmentation of his own strength-1\Iina resolved upon the following desperate policy-viz- to throw up a small work of defense; garrison it with 150 men for the purpose of protecting the military stores, and with .the residue of his command to . cut his way to the patriot chiefs in the interior. His calculations "·ere to secure the co-operation of those Chiefs, and to return with a competent force in time to save the garrison and defeat the foe.- Should he fail, however, in his attempt to penetrate into the Countr_y he looked to this fort as the point to which he should fall back in the day of disaster-and make his last desperate stand. These were his plans and expectations; and in pursuance of them, a fortifi- C!),tion, compo~ed of mud, was speedily erected; and 50 Americans and 100 of the ~fexican recruits, were detailed to garrison it, under the command of :Major Don. Jose Sarda. When the arrangements for his departure were nearly completed, two circumstances occurred in their
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