TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
142
dred or the enemy fled before the triumphant arms of half their num- bers. But the storming or St :~ntouio is perhaps one of the highest acts of heroism and lofty daring known in the annals of any country. After a continued assault of fire days, the braYe antl noble-hearted :Milam, one of the first settlers o( Texas and the most bclo,·ei\ of its citizens, at the hea<l of l!Hi heroic followers, entered the walls of Bexar, and reduced a garrison to capitulation of thirteen hundred men with Coss & Vgartiehee at their head. One life only was lost on the side of freedom and that the most valuable- the gallant leader's. His death spread a gloom in the ranks and destroyed the pleasure of the victory. This was tlie 9th Deer. 1835. On the irarch following an obstinate and sanguinary battle was fought at the i\lission of Refugio. The Texan arms took refuge iu the Church, and recd. the fierce and continued assault of a force which seemed irresistable from numbers. But gentlemen 1 need not tell you the result of t.he Conflict, when I tell you that those on the side of freedom were Georgians and \Varel their leader. The enemy fell before their destructive fire like a harYest field before the sythe; &. when under cover of the night they retired from the church they left about it a cimicircle wall ·of the dying & the dead. · · But here for a season, success forsook our arms. These brilliant nchierments were succeeded by a dark cloud of adversit:v. Perfidy & :Murder usurped the place of honorable and ciYilize,1 warfare. 'fhe timid aIJcl treacherous )lexican, goaded by shameful discmuliture::, re- solved to retrie,·e b,· dis~imulation and assassination what had been lost by cowardice. ·The triumphs of their villiany and cruelty are familiar to you all. I need 11ot tell you the tale of the Alamo. I see by the cloud on the brow that the story is written on the heart. For the sake of humanity I would that the horrid tragedy was blotted from memory; hut for the sake or Yengeance I must remember it still. I must reme>mher too the treachery at Coletto. In this s1mguinary bat- tle, rendered memorable for its disasters, almost e,·ery one of the Americans wns more or less wounded. Surrounded by superior num- ber:-, almost. exhausted with famine and fatigue, without the hope of succ-or or retreat, they were glad to capitulate on the favorable terms which the wily ~lexican proposed; that· their lives !-hould be spared and that in nine days they should be conveyed to the City of New Orleans. On these terms thev were marched back to the town of C:oliad; where they fwerel jofned in a few days by \\'ard's diYision, who being, on his retreat from Refugio OYertaken by oYerwhelmihg numbers, was forced to surrender on the same conditions. But mark the eharacteristic· perficl.,· of ~[<>xicans. When the day came for their lihrration: the ninth day, when they were to have sailed for their nntirr land; the 1•reuing- of that day found the plains of Goliad like tlw hloo,h· rnh• or Hamo11ah. The roar of musketrv was our brethren's fu1H'rnl k·1wll: a111I hrfon• thr risin:r of the morninis !-llll the wolf ancl th.- rnlturr KIit>\\" whr-rP the hanq,wt la.L LPt 1H1 wrak tears be ~hed. Tlu•ir g-all.1111 :-pirit,- :1-.k it 11ot. Th .. ir ho111•,- l111rr l,pp11 g-atherr,1 to- !_!1•tlwr :11111 , ..1,11l1 ·l11•n·d i11 11 1·1,1111111,11 1,1mh: lint tlw n11·mory of. t.lwir ,nl11r a11d ,ir111..,. i,. 11·, •a,-11r1•d i11 th,· urn or a 11,11i1111 ·,. all'cc-1io11 ;:: . l 'all it ,-1q11•r--titi1111. 11r ,rhat _rou will. 11111 I am a tht11·011g-h l·on,·ert
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