TJ,e First Republic of Te:xa.r
before him the need for immediate action in the north. He tactfully sug- gested that the recent appointment of Bustamante as governor of Nuevo Leon and acting-governor of Nuevo Santander had proved not too wise and that he should be removed ·if he insisted on his do-nothing policy.u Arredondo was not underhanded. He immediately wrote Bustamante informing him that he had determined to enter Nuevo Santander to save that province and Texas from the clutches of the rebels. Bustamante was cut to the quick by the implication. In the heat of anger he wrote Arre- dondo to tend to his own affairs. Still smarting the next day, he wrote a second time to remind Arredondo that he had no authority in Nuevo Santander or Nuevo Leon and that any step into his jurisdiction he would interpret as primarily a reflection on him alld an open insult. 43 Arredondo had set out from Maiz and was already in Aguayo before the letters of Bustamante reached him. He called a council of war, which, in view of the position taken by Bustamante, decided to abandon the enterprise. But as the disappointed commander of the victorious Royalist forces was preparing to return to San Luis, a messenger arrived from Monterrey with a letter from Bustamante urging Arredondo to fly to his rescue. He even suggested tha~ he mount his infantry that he might reach the Rio Grande the more quickly. Evidently, news of the fall of San Antonio a week earlier had awakened Bustamante to the realization of the immediate need of help for decisive action." All was feverish activity now. Detachments were sent i'n all directions to gather supplies ; others were dispatched to renew the courage of waver- ing commanders, to arrest rebel agents and sympathizers, and to let every- one know that a powerful Loyalist army was coming to humble the pride of Gutierrez and his followers. One detachment was sent to Revilla to capture the family of Gutierrez. But fortune still favored the rebel leader. His family had left Revilla for San Antonio two days before. 65 Arredondo wrote Viceroy Calleja and sent him all the information gathered concerning the activities of the Insurgents, their capture of San Antonio, and the cruel execution of the brave Governor and his loyal officers. He submitted his plans for the destruction of the rebels, and 4ZArredondo to Viceroy Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, Aguayo, April 19, 1813, Historia, Operaciones de Guerra, Arredondo, III, 234-238, A. G. M. 4>Arredondo to Jose Ramon Diaz de Bustamante; Bustamante to Arredondo. His- toria, Operaciones d11 Guerra, Arredondo, III, 239-242, A.G. M. '"Bustamante to Arredondo, Monterrey, April 8, 1813, Historia, O')11raci<nu.r tu Guerra, Arredondo, Ill, 261-262, A.G. M. 4SArredondo to Viceroy Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, Laredo, July II, 1813, His- toria, Op,raci;J,us de Grurro, Arredondo, IV, 67-68, A.G. M.
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