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Our Catholic Hentage in Texas
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pleaded with him to send as many veterans as he could spare in order to insure victory. He solicited aid from all the cities in Nuevo Santander and Nuevo Leon. He organized a military tribunal whose duty was to investigate refusals of aid and causes for delay in answering the summons. He also issued a proclamation, warning against the snares of Gutierrez and his treacherous intention of turning Texas and all the other Interior Provinces over to the Americans as the price for their help. 46 With rising spirits Arredondo approached Laredo, for he had gathered strength in numbers as he advanced. Deserters from San Antonio brought news that hundreds of adventurers from the United States had left Gutierrez. They declared that widespread discontent prevailed in the ranks of the undisciplined horde, and that both the people and the troops were beginning to entertain serious doubts about eventual success, be- cause neither troops nor supplies had as yet arrived from the United States. In all the towns through which he passed, he left behind him citizens re- newed in hope and revivified in spirit by his contagious optimism. By June Arredondo pitched camp in Laredo. While there he received a letter from Viceroy _Calleja appointing him Commandant General of the four Eastern Interior Provinces, a post left vacant by the death of Colonel Simon Herrera. Adding to this cup of joy was the report that one thousand veteran soldiers from Spain were on the way from Vera Cruz and Tampico with adequate supplies, arms, and munitions. To the stern warning from one general to another not to risk defeat, Arredondo re- plied confidently that he would not move upon the enemy until he was absolutely ready and that when he set forth to annihilate the infamous Gutierrez, he would leave a competent rearguard to protect the provinces of Nuevo Santander and Nuevo Le6n. 47 The Battle of Alazan. While the Loyalists, under the able leadership of Arredondo, prepared systematically to deliver a smashing blow to the forces of the new Republic, Gutierrez and his friends argued and wrangled over civil affairs. Rival factions in San Antonio plotted against each other, and the United States volunteers, Shaler, and many others helped increase the internal dissension. Colonel Ignacio Elizondo, acting under instructions from Arredondo, had, in the meantime, assembled a considerable number of troops from Nueva Vizcaya and Coahuila at Presidio de Rio Grande. By the time 46 Joaqu.in de Arredondo to the Inhabitants of Nuevo Santander, Aguayo, April 25, 1813, Huto,ia, o;eracicnes de Guerra, Arredondo, Ill, 325, A.G. M. 47 Viceroy to Arredondo, May 25, July 7, August 15, 1813, Hi.storia, O,;erru:iorus de Gue"a, ArredOfldo, Ill, 202, 340-341; IV, 33·34, 48, A.G. M.
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