time of the skirmish, at the place last mentioned, the Mexican commander stated to ours, that he did not come to fight, and that they both belonged to the same side of the question. His first assertion was true, as it will appe11r in the sequel, that it was not Gen. Santa Anna's intention to rommcnce the war nn ti I the fol- lowing spring. During the siege of Bexa, an express from :Matamoras was captured and sent i11to our camp by a friendly Mexican, who was bearer of a Jett.er from Gen. Santa Anna to Gen. Cos, telling him to keep the people of Texas in unsuspecting security by fair speeches, and to punish, summarily, all disturbers of the public tranquillity, and that he would be there with ten thousand men, the following spring. Con- temporary with this appeared an article in a Mata- moras paper from the military commander of the State of Tamaulipas, calling on his fellow citizens 'to turn out en masse, and exterminate from the soil those Vandals of the North, who are aliens by nature,' mak- ing it worse than treason in his countrymen in any way to favor their cause. Here I propose giving a brief history of one or two of our first engagements, before the spirit of the Mex- icans was damped by ill success, for the purpose of showing the improbability that Texas will be finally conquered by Mexican troops.
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