Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
clothing, medicine, and as many men as he could spare. Salcedo believed that aid could reach him quicker now by way of the Gulf coast. Realizing the shortage of men, he implored the governor of Vera Cruz to send coast guardsmen if troops were not available. Still desperately hoping against hope to stem the tide, he wrote to the chiefs of the Caddo nation in East Texas and appealed to them to help prevent the violation of Texas soil. In a last effort to secure their support, he recalled the many favors which the King had shown their people. He assured them that the Spaniards were their best friends, whereas the Americans had consistently driven them from their lands. In turn, he begged, threatened, entreated.' 1 Capture of Nacogdoches. Magee, with the rank of colonel, assumed command of the "Republican Army of the North" shortly after his de- parture from Natchitoches. On August 7 he ordered a small group of filibusters to cross the Sabine and proceed as an advance guard. As they "lightheartedly made their way to Nacogdoches, they came upon a small Spanish detachment escorting a valuable train of wool and silver belong- ing to Colonel Zambrano. The astonished officer and his escort turned and fled in panic. The advance guard of the Americans, realizing they were too few in number to pursue the enemy into Nacogdoches, restrained their ardor. They decided to wait for the arrival of the main body. The following day Colonel Magee and his army crossed the Sabine, and, upon being informed of the skirmish, hurried their march. They succeeded at dawn on August I 1 in surrounding an advance guard which had taken a position twenty miles from Nacogdoches. Captain Montero, after the return of Zambrano, had sent these men to spy upon and report the advance of the enemy. Captain Kemper and the Americans took them by surprise while they were attending Mass. Only one man escaped to take the news of the disaster to Nacogdoches. His report leads one to suspect that his escape was permitted. Register- ing surprise and fear, whether feigned or real, he stated that Gutierrez and Despallier were approaching with a force of seven hundred Ameri- cans; that their advance guard had taken every one prisoner; but that they had been assured that the Americans were coming with no intention of interfering with individuals, private property, or religion. The panting soldier had hardly finished his story when another fugitive came running out of the woods with word that he had just learned that ' 7 M. Salcedo to Nemesio Salcedo, Bexar, August s, 1812; M. Salcedo to Governor of Vera Cruz, August 6, 1812; M. Salcedo to Montero, August 6, 1812, Bi:car Ard1ives.
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