WmTINGS OF SAM HousTON, 1836
339
~Ehrenberg gives this speech as only part of the one Houston made to the soldiers at Goliad, about January 15, or 16, 1836. Many accounts are to be found concerning the effects of the speech, but intensive search has not discovered a copy of the entire discourse. We know that Houston made the speech in an effort to dissuade the soldiers from the Matamoras expedition. He was only partially successful; not successful enough to induce more than thirty to return to the defense of the fort at Bexar, but his statements that the expedition was not authorized, therefore not legal, caused a large number of the men to refuse to go farther toward Mexico, thereby dooming the Matamoras enterprise for the time being.
To GOVERNOR HENRY SMITH 1
Head Quarters Goliad Jany 17 1836
To His Excellency Henry Smith Sir: I have the honor to enclose for your information a com- munication from Lt. Col. J. C. Neill, under date of the 14th inst. Colonel Bowie will leave here in a few hours for Bexar with a detachment of from thirty to fifty men. Capt. Patton's~ Com- pany, it is believed, are now there. I have ordered the fortifica- tions in the town of Bexar to be demolished, and, if you should think well of it, I will remove all the cannon and other muni- tions of war to Gonzales and Copano; blow up the Alamo and abandon the place, as it will be· impossible to keep up the Station with volunteers, the sooner I can be authorized the better it will be for the country. In an hour I will take up the line of march for Refugio Mission with about 209 efficient men, where I will await orders from your Excellency, believing that the army should not advance with a small force upon Matamoras with the hope or belief that the Mexicans will cooperate with us. I have no confidence in them and the disaster at Tampico 3 should teach us a lesson to be noted in our future operations. I have learned that Colonel Gonzales 4 is somewhere on the Nueces with one hundred and seventy men, but accounts vary as to the actual number. They are to cooperate in the eastern Con- federacy\ I am told. I will leave Captain Wyatt 0 in command at this post until I can relieve him with thirty-five regulars now at Refugio. I pray that your Excellency will cause all the regulars now enlisted to be formed into companies, and march to headquarters. It will be impossible to keep up a garrison with the volunteers. Do for- ward the regulars. Capt. Smith7 had been relieved, and I met him on his way home today. Captain Patton will return to Lavaca county and bring on a company as soon as possible. I
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