Our Catliolic Heritage in T ezas
week, when the town was crowded. At about the same time a military courier delivered a letter to Political Chief James B. Miller from General Cos informing him of the arrest of Governor Viesca and the suspension of civil government in Monclova. Despite previous indiffer- ence to the brawls in the distant capital, great excitement now seized t~e crowds. The mail pouch was wrenched from the courier and its contents violated. Among the letters was one to Captain Tenorio from Cos telling him that heavy reinforcements were being rushed from Matamoros to Copano, and another message from Ugartechea revealed that the victorious veterans of the Zacatecas campaign were in Saltillo and would soon march to Texas. "These revolutionists," wrote Ugar- techea, "will be ground down." A public meeting was hurriedly called by the excited citizens of San Felipe, which, according to Travis, adopted a resolution to the effect that "the troops of Anahuac should be disarmed and ordered to leave Texas." In a second meeting on June 22, presided over by R. M. Williamson, Santa Anna's violations of the Constitution were denounct:d and the determination to maintain it affirmed. 9 While feeling was running high, the war party decided to act. Travis enlisted volunteers to expel Tenorio. At the head of twenty-five men, and armed with a cannon, he marched to Anahuac and demanded the surrender of the garrison on June 29. Taken by surprise, and unaware of the reinforcements being sent, Tenorio surrendered the next day and agreed to_withdraw from Texas. Instead of being acclaimed a hero upon his return to San Felipe, Travis found himself denounced as a hothead. Public opinion had changed. The peace party, anxious to avoid any occasion for an irretrievable break, had prevailed. A well-attended meeting in Columbia on June 28 condemned the act as "calculated" to involve Texas in conflict with the Government of Mexico. These Columbia resolutions were endorsed by Lavaca and Mina on July 4, by Gonzalez three days later, and by almost every other municipality in the Department of the Brazos during the following week. All condemned the action of Travis, and strongly protested their loyalty to Mexico. Captain Tenorio was invited by the citizens of San Felipe to attend a public meeting to see for himself that the attack had not been authorized by the people of Texas. Even Travis came to doubt the wisdom of his conduct, and wrote Colonel Ugartechea that he was ready to discuss the matter.
9 /bid., 137-139; 154 ; Johnson, Teras and Terans, I, 205-208.
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