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Our Catlrolic Heritage itz. T ezas
and soon to be executed. 1 He informed the Texas deputies that he had just come from Monclova to seek Captain Menchaca's cooperation in bringing the revolutionary movement to an end and thus help restore the royal government. Menchaca was not only highly respected by all the commanders of the northern outposts but he also enjoyed the con- fidence of the Lipan-Apaches and could easily enlist more than a thou- sand braves for the enterprise. Elizondo added that his troops in Monclova had taken a pledge to die rather than allow the leaders of the rebellion-said to be about to march north from Saltillo-to set foot in their city. On the way, he had stopped at the Sanchez Navarro hacienda near Santa Rosa, where ex-Governor Salcedo and Commandant Herrera were being held under bond, together with the other prisoners sent from Bexar by Casas. 3 Captain Arcos had joined him there at the request of Salcedo. Evidently the prisoners had fared much better than had been thought in San Antonio. Munoz and Galan, elated over the astounding revelations made by Elizondo, now freely acquainted their host and his friends with the de- tails of the overthrow of Casas and the subsequent establishment of a governing Junta under Zambrano to adminster the province in the name of the King. They expressed the ardent desire of the Government to cooperate in putting down rebellion, and concluded by asserting that the main object of their mission was to report to Commandant General Nemesio Salcedo what had taken place in Bexar, to pledge to him the loyalty of the Junta and the people, to ascertain as far as possible the attitude of the adjoining provinces toward the Revolution, and to find out what the leaders were planning. Carried away by the enthusiasm of finding them- selves among friends who '!ntertained the same views, the deputies de- clared it was "the fervent wish of the inhabitants of the Province of Texas to unite with those of Coahuila to frustrate the designs of certain men who ... contemplated the dismemberment of the kingdom." 4 Pro- phetic words that bound the fate of Coahuila and Texas. The following morning Munoz and Galan set out with Lieutenant Colonel Elizondo and Captain Arcos for the hacienda, some fourteen 3 The hacienda where Salcedo and the other prisoners were held belonged not to Elizondo, -as has been erroneously thought, but to Melchor Sanchez Navarro and his brother Miguel. Cf. Garrett, Gree,s Flag Over Texas, 61; Testimonio de los Docu-ntos en que se com,preltende la informacion de la distincwn ,, meritos cun- traJiidos ,Por Don Jose Sanchez Na'l/arro en :a Contra Revolucwn de esta Provincia de CoaJiuila. Ano de 1812. This basic document was presented to the author by Lie. Carlos Sanchez Navarro, a descendant of Don Melchor. It will be hereafter referred to as Testimonio ... Sanchez Na'l/arro. 'Report of the Deputies, May 4, 1811, Nacogdoches Archives.
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