Restoration of Royal Autltority
35
Captain Juan Jose Elguezabal sent them the first account of the success at Baj.in, coupled with a request for immediate aid. The presidio at Laredo had been left practically defenseless by the sudden departure of Captain Bustamente and the entire garrison to reenforce Monclova, while the forces at Presidio de Rio Grande had, likewise, been dangerously reduced. Once more the Junta was requested to rush to the Loyalist cause and clinch the victory. 22 No time was lost in making public the news of the surprise at Baj.in, and in urgently calling for volunteers to march at once to the Rio Grande.u The whole Junta decided to accompany the troops. The response to their call was spontaneous. Within two days five hundred men were ready. San Antonio was not, however, left defenseless. The Junta ap- pointed Lieutenant Miguel Diaz de Luna governor ad interim and gave him a sufficient number of regulars and volunteers to insure the safety of the province.u The Laredo expedition. But all was not harmonious, for there were still ardent lovers of liberty. In the two days during which the Junta worked feverishly to organize the Laredo expedition to snuff out the last embers of rebellion, others were equally busy trying to bring about the downfall of Zambrano and his friends. Father Clemente Arocha, pastor of San Fernando, and Chaplain Ciprian de la Garza,_of the Alamo Company formerly at Parras, had been actively working among the military to overthrow the Junta the very day it was to depart. They argued that the expedition was tantamount to abandoning the citizens to their fate only for the sake of seeking a little vainglory. The two clerics had been well indoctrinated by the zealous Father Salazar. Al- though still being held a prisoner with Marshal Aldama and Casas at old Mission Valero, he had never ceased in his efforts to inflame others with his own enthusiasm for the incomparable blessings of freedom. Midnight was approaching on March 25 when Cadet Jose Ignacio Ahal and militia Captains Francisco Ruiz and Juan Veramendi knocked llJuan Jose Elguezabal to the Governing Junta of Texas, Presidio of Rio Grande, March 23, 1811, Bexar Arcllives. That same day Andres Florentino Ramos wrote to Zambrano from Rio Grande to the same effect. "Governing Junta to Commanders at Guadalupe, San Marcos, Colorado, Trinidad, and Nacogdoches, April 22, 1811, Bexar Arcllives. MParte Gral. que esta Junta de Govno. de Texas dirige al S. Comte. Gral. Brigadier D. Nemesio Salcedo, Bexar, April 29, 181 r, Nacogdoclles Arc/sives. Hereafter this document will be referred to as Parte General.
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