Tise Struggle for lndepende11ce, r835-1836
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sent to the United States three commissioners to secure moral support and material aid. Unfortunately, in voting to sustain the army besiegjng San Antonio at the time, it unwisely declared that the volunteers- all except a very few were volunteers-did not have to submit to its authority or to that of the Provisional Government. This declaration made the volunteer army practically independent of the new com- mander in chief, and added to the endless confusion soon to arise between the Governor and the Council of the Provisional Government. It accounts in large part for the failure to reinforce the Alamo, for the abandonment of the Matamoros expedition, as well as for the capture and subsequent massacre of Fannin's and Johnson's men at Goliad and Refugio on that fateful, bloody Palm Sunday. The Government, as a matter of fact, never succeeded in raising more than one hundred troops for the regular army. 21 As already noted, the Consultation voted to send Austin, Branch T. Archer, and William H. Wharton to the United States as commissioners to obtain aid and to raise funds. Important as this mission was, Austin's resignation from command of the volunteer army deprived Texas at a critical moment of the services of its most experienced and able leader. There are those who have speculated on the idea that the appointment to the commission was an "honorable exile," prompted by the advocates of complete independence. By a strange coincidence the Consultation placed the only other Texas leader who had a large following in a position that was just as ineffectual. Houston, as already stated, was made commander in chief of a non-existent army and a group of independent volunteers who refused to recognize any officer not elected by themselves. Among the members of the Consultation of Mexican extraction were: Silvestre de Leon, relative of Empresario Martin de Leon; Juan A. Padilla, former land commissioner, both delegates from Guadalupe-- Victoria, as was John J. Linn. Lorenzo de Zavala was a member of the delegation from Harrisburg and one of the two delegates in the Con- sultation with previous legislative experience. Others worthy of mention are James Power, from Refugio, who was accompanied by John Malone 21 For a detailed study of the subject, see E. C. Barker, "The Texan Revolu• tionary Army," Tlte Quarterly, IX, 227-261; Binkley, o;. cit., I, rrviii-rru. The military aspects of the Revolution, reference to which is made here, will be treated as a whole in the latter part of this chapter,
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