The First Republic of Te:ras
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He sent orders with the rider for the three families to withdraw to San Antonio. He issued a general pardon to all those who would report to Bexar within fifty days, except Gutierrez, Toledo, Davenport, and other leaders. Elizondo returned to Trinidad, crossed the Trinity on September 6, and resumed his march to San Antonio on the following day. He had one hundred male prisoners and as many women, besides many children, and a considerable amount of booty. He had reached the springs on the Brazos in the vicinity of present Waco, Texas, by September 12. Lieutenant Miguel Serrano had been show- ing signs of losing his mind. The strain of the long marches, the ex- cessive heat, and the executions had unseated his reason. Without warn- ing, Serrano attacked and killed Captain Isidro Elizondo, a cousin of the commander, as September 12 was dawning. After dispatching the cousin, Serrano charged the commander himself. Elizondo received a saber cut on the wrist and a deep wound in his right side before he could overcome the demented lieutenant. In spite of intense pain, Elizondo continued the march on a stretcher, but died ten days later on the banks of the San Marcos, where he was buried. 66 Colonel Quintero now took charge of the sad caravan. He cruelly hur- ried the prisoners, lashing them pitilessly every time they fell exhausted. His entry into San Antonio was reminiscent of Roman triumphs: the agonized prisoners were paraded through the streets between lines of soldiers, and pompously delivered to Arredondo in the Plaza. A bit of macabre mockery was added to the doleful drama. The hero of Medina ironically sang to the condemned men the words of one of their rebel songs about what they would do to the "one-eyed Arredondo." He then ordered the immediate execution of the male prisoners, the confine- ment of the women to the Quinta to grind corn and make tortillas, and the abandonment of the children to a homeless fate. 61 Reestahlislmie,et of royal ,mtlwrity at La BaMa. Some of those who fled from the battlefidd at Medina thought it safer to escape by way of La Bahia. From their reports, the Republicans at this outpost fled to East Texas the day of the battle, as did some of the residents of San Antonio. 66 Elizondo to Arredondo, Ojo de Agua de los Brazos, September u, 1813, Hu- toria, 0,Peraciones ••• Arredondo, IV, 187, A.G. M. 61 This account is a summary of the "Memoria de las Cosas mas notables que acaecieron en Bexar el ano 1 3 mandando el Tirano Arredondo," cited by Garrett, Green Flag Over Teras, 225-226. The document, in the possession of H. E. Bolton, is partisan, judging from the title, and should be taken with a grain of salt.
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