Our Catleolic Heritage in Texas
mander. To this restless group of adventurers who arrived too late to fight, Grant told exciting stories of the glory and romance that awaited them in Matamoros and the towns in the interior of Mexico.u As the new volunteers had to be kept occupied, an expedition against Matamoros seemed to offer the desired solution. Captain Dimmit, sta- tioned at Goliad, had urged the idea as early as December 2 in a letter to Governor Smith, who had discussed the matter with Houston and had approved the plan. On December 17, therefore, Houston ordered Colonel Bowie. then in Goliad, to organize an expedition against Matamoros, and instructed all volunteers arriving at the mouth of the Brazos to report to C6pano. At this time Travis was in San Felipe and Fannin, in Velasco as recruiting officers. But Colonel Bowie left Goliad for San Antonio before Houston's order reached him. Not until January did he reply, and then to assert that in his opinion the opportune time for an attack on Matamoros had passed. 35 Had his advice been followed, much trouble would have been avoided. Ignorant of these orders of Houston to Bowie, Grant had convinced Johnson and the volunteers in San Antonio to undertake an expedition against Matamoros. Johnson claimed he had decided on the plan under ,authority of a letter from the provisional government to General Burleson, whom he had succeeded in command. At the end of De- cember Grant, who was elected lieutenant colonel, marched with some three hundred volunteers to Goliad. Johnson went to San Felipe to secure approval for the expedition. The Council readily agreed, and issued a commission to Johnson on January 5, but the Governor, influenced perhaps by Bowie's letter, now bitterly opposed the plan. In view of this opposition, Johnson expressed an unwillingness to accept the ap- pointment. Whereupon the Council gave full authority on January 6 to Fannin to carry out the expedition. Upon hearing of this action, Johnson reconsidered, and was again confirmed in his commission. For some inexplicable reason, however, Fannin's appointment was neither recalled nor cancelled. S4Amelia Williams, "A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo," The Quarterly, XXXVI, 256-369; Binkley, Official Correspondence, I, xxviii-xxix; Johnson, Texas a,id Texans, I, 363-369. 35Williams, "Critical Study ... ," The Quarterly, XXXVI, 260-261. Bowie was in a position to know. He was married to a daughter of Vice President Veramendi, closely related to the Navarros, and bad extensive connections in Mexico. He had a group of private, young Mexican scouts who kept him informed. Bowie owned large propertieii in Coahuila and Texas and was reported to be worth over S100,ooo. Through his. influence many Mexicans In San Antonio sponsored the Texan cause in spite of grave risks and cruel reprisals.
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