70
TEx.-1.s ST.-1.TE Lrnn.-1.RY
still the concentration was permitted without an_y effort being mad to prevent it This however <lid not intimidate our men, they cared not for numbers, all they desired was to be brought to the charge without confusion. That niµ-ht was spent, and the next dar until late in the afternoon, by which time all patience was exhausted. Col. John A Wharton (the keenest blade on sanjaeinto) who belon)!ed to the staff and who had sustained his Genl. under all circumstances, finding the patience of both officers and men entirely exhausted, and his own put to the last test;- a<ldresi,ed him as follows. Genl. do you see that sun (which was fast waning towards the we;;tern horizon) if you permit that to go down sir, without a fight, the star of Texas sits with it forever? This roused him from his seeming revery; as he well knew he had to fight or be striped of his command; - and his aid was or- dered to get the men ready, who needed nothing for the last eight ;'Ind forty hours, but the word march During that day some of the officers had sent and had all the bridges burnt and destroyed so that a retreat of either them or the enemy was impracticable, as they were determined to fight to the knife and that to the handle They were then pitted as two chicken-cocks; the mexican as usual, soon raised his hack feathers, and ever will when pitted with one of the true game blood. The sens of Ham were designed by providence to become subsenent to the sons of Jappeth. The result of the conflict is allready well known As I am writing neither biography or History, the object is to keep up a plain narative of facts, from which to make deductions, and arrive at fair conclusions. It is well known, that Santana, Almonte and Cos, among others were made prisoners, Santana the base cold blooded mur- derer of so many of our brave Countrymen, Almonte, who had previ- ously acted as a spie upon the Colonies, making himself acquainted with the Geography and Topography of the Country, and who denied the objects of his mission and receiwcl marked attentiens and many flattering civilities from the Colonists, and who now appeared as a pilot and interpreter. Genl. Cos who had broken his parole - by imme- diately rejoining the enemy, these three 71artimlo.rly, common sense, common honesty, and common j11stire would .:ay were fit subjects for the gibbet without ceremony. The other divisions of the invading army were willing to surrender without the fire of a gu11. We then would have been in possession of all their arms and munitions, their military chest amounting to sixty thousand dollars, our own citizen soldiers then could, and would hHVe returned, which together with volunteer immigrants, our army by the time news had arrived at Mexico, might have been increased to fiw or ten thousand men if we desired them; Matamoros was then without troops and defencless and we could with impunity have invaded in turn. The whole Mexican Republic was then under a panic; their President and Genl. in Chief - their whole army then in the hands, of what they pleased to term rebels, - and them without army, resource, or master spirit, until they recalled their b:rn- ished Genl. Bustamenta from France. In a few months we could have procured an acknowledpment of our independence, and compelled them to pay the expenses of the war. This I think must be obvious to the common sense of any man Instead of justice being done however, they received all the kind treatment that humanity could bestow; a treaty was entered into with the prisoner, his army furnished with an
Powered by FlippingBook