Revolutionary Lull
57
There is no evidence that the Indian attack on San Marcos was timed to coincide with the attack on Nacogdoches by the filibusters. But the effect on the success of the Gutierrez-Magee expedition can hardly be over- estimated. The blow on the San Marcos outpost, coming on July 27, just a week before the attack on Nacogdoches, effectively prevented Governor Salcedo from sending reinforcements to East Texas, or going himself to the rescue of Captain Montero. With the horde of Comanches and their allies drunk with success and hovering in the vicinity of San Antonio, the experienced frontier leader knew better than to set out to check the Revolutionists on their march. The ,plzantom of revolution rises again. Even as Salcedo took the oath as governor in December, 18II, the shadow of the Revolution was hanging heavily over the distant Province of Texas. Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara, who had so dramatically appeared before the leaders of the Revolu- tion in Saltillo on the eve of their departure north, never to return, suc- ceeded in escaping from Revilla. With infinite patience and no end of difficulties he made his way across Texas by following unfrequented Indian trails and finally arrived safely in Natchitoches by the end of September, 1811, as the official envoy of the revolutionary government. By December, at about the same time that Salcedo resumed the governorship of Texas, the persistent and optimistic commissioner of the Revolution without portfolio was in Washington. There he met prominent officials, who gave him encouraging, albeit vague, promises of aid. It is to be remembered that Gutierrez had been a pioneer revolutionist in Nuevo Santander, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila, and that with the aid of his brother, the cleric, he had prepared the way for the advance of Jimenez. On the eve of the fatal blow at Bajan, on learning that Father Salazar and Marshall Aldama had been captured in San Antonio, he had offered to carry out their mission. In the rush of departure, Allende and Jimenez had verbally authorized him to proceed to the United States to solicit aid fo'r the Revolution, but he was first to recruit volunteers on the Rio Grande and bring them to Presidio de Rio Grande. At that time he was to have been given proper credentials, but the defeat of the leaders at Bajan prevented him from getting his papers. Instead a price was put on his head. 3 s As the leaders of the Revolution left Saltillo for Monclova, Gutierrez returned to Revilla. News of the catastrophe at Bajan temporarily stunned the restless leader, but he soon took heart again. With the steady advance
I .
35 See pp. 31-34 in this volume for details.
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