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Our Catholic Heritage in T ezas
against a group of marauding Indians who had killed a citizen of San Antonio at the very door of his home. 65 A second and more alarming report from La Bahia came six days later. A scouting party disclosed a landing en masse had taken place. A fleet of 13 vessels, among them two three-masters, had entered Mata- gorda Bay. The invaders had established a camp, built six large barracks and several small log houses, and mounted their cannon, which they fired regularly at dawn and in the evening. So detailed a description could not be imaginary. Governor Martinez desired to leave at once, but his effective force had meantime been reduced to 35 because he had ordered out a second party of I 10 men under Colonel Perez in pursuit of another group of Indians. 66 PIIN',y's last fight. While Mina slashed at Royalists in the south and a group of strangers attempted an unauthorized colony on Matagorda Bay, Perry and his men had been marching resolutely from Soto la Marina to Texas. With great difficulty they had made their way to Camargo, where they obtained a guide, crossed the Rio Grande, and continued to La Bahia. Governor Martinez, unaware of the presence of this band of filibusters and anxious to proceed against the intruders on Matagorda Bay, left San Antonio with a group of I 10 men on June 16. He had been forced to await the return of Perez. En route to La Bahia, he was met on June 18 by five different messengers sent by Captain Castaneda with the report that Colonel Perry, Major Gordon, and 44 Americans had demanded the surrender of the fort. The messengers declared the garrison was so weak and inadequate that it could not hold out unless the Governor hurried. Governor Martinez issued instructions to Castaneda to prolong the parley. When Martinez came in sight at about five in the afternoon, Perry's band decided to abandon the attack and continue their march to Natchitoches under cover of darkness. Making one last exertion, Martinez followed their trail and overtook them at Los Corrales. Dark- ness was descending. Perry and his men took refuge in a small thicket called "El Perdido." Their pursuers surrounded the thicket and sent 65 Martinez to the Viceroy, June 7 1 1817, Nacogdoches Archives. 66Martinez to the Viceroy, June 13, 1817, Nacogdoches Archives. The landing reported so graphically was made by a group of French settlers brought to Texas by self-exiled officers of Napoleon. A full account of this venture is given in the next chapter, pp. 149-1 59.
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