the :,ho,·k tlwy had received by the defeat of Santa Anna at .Jacinto.
V{ e will now r<>ve1't to the operations of Col Fan- ning 's grcatly diminished force at the fort. A first, second and third messenger was sent to the :Mission, without b1·inging any information from our friends, except the la.,;t, who brougM the 11ews of their disaster, having obtained it at a ranch, (a :Mexican farm.) Upon 1·e<'eiving this account, a Council of ·war was immediately held, at which it was determined to exe- cute the General '8 order as speedily as possible. The Council was hardly dissolved before our spies, who had been sent out on the road to San Antonio, returned in great haste, saying, that the Mexican army was within six miles of us. The order was instantly changed, and active preparations were made for the defence of the fort. Our precautions for defence were not hindered until the next day, when there was some skirmishing on the other side of the river between our cavalry and theirs, without loss to either. Believing their numbers not to exceed five hundred, and feeling ourselves able to cope with that number, though we· were not then more than about three hundred, Col. Fanning made arrangements to decamp at evening of the same day. When it was dark,-and it was very dark-Capt. Horton, with his company of cavalry, being sent to occupy the ford of the river, one mile
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