William Carey Crane

“ Vice-President, Secretaries of War, Navy, and the Treasury, with all powers, except law-making, incident to a government, had been appointed, ad interim, and then the Convention adjourned to Harrisburg, a point not less than seventy miles from the scene of war. The flight of the wise and worthy men of the country from danger, tended to frighten the old, young, and helpless, furnish excuses to the timid, and " sanction the course of the cowardly." ”

“ Texas had no organized forces. The few Georgians and Alabamians were detached beyond the Southern settlements, commanded by an officer who had contemptuously disobeyed the orders of the commander-in-chief. It was feared that Gen. Houston would decline the office tendered because of the treatment which he had received from the Council. The conviction was almost universal that, unless he would accept the command of the army, the cause of Texan Independence was lost. Apprehension and alarm agitated every mind. ”

“ This morning' we are in preparation to meet Santa Anna. It is the only chance of saving Texas. From time to time I have look.ed for reinforcements in vain. The Convention's adjourning to Harrisburg struck terror through the country. Texas could have started at least four thousand men. We will be only about seven hundred to march, besides the camp guard. But we go to conquest. It is wisdom growing out of necessity to meet and fight the enemy now. Every consideration enforces it. The troops are in fine spirits, and now is the time for action. ”

“ On the nth of March, Gen. Houston sent another express to Fannin, informing him that the Alamo had fallen, "ordering him to evacuate Goliad, blow up the fortress, and fall back without delay upon Victoria and the Guadaloupe." It was Houston's opinion that the only means of saving Texas was the union of all the forces at that time in the field. Fannin's force had a fine supply of arms brought from the United States. This force, numbering over five hundred men, joined to Gen. Houston, would make the army at least nine hundred effective men. ”

“ Houston knew that the road leading to Nacogdoches, which crossed the Trinity River at Robbin's Ferry, must have been the one which Santa Anna had taken in his march upon Harrisburg. Putting the main army, composed of between seven and eight hundred men, in motion, a fatiguing march of eighteen miles, through a prairie, was made 16th of April, to McArleys. Fourteen baggage wagons and two pieces of artillery composed the train. The prairie had been made boggy by excessive rains. ”

“ The general dismay following the adjournment of the Convention, induced many brave men, impelled irresistibly by natural impulses, to go to their abandoned, fugitive wives and children to render them protection. ”

“ It was Gen, Houston's design, before the waters had reached their greatest height, to march with all his force, as soon as the Mexicans should approach San Felipe, and supposing that their confidence in their numerical strength, discipline, and success would throw them entirely off their guard, and to surprise them at night, and thus make them an easy victory to Texan prowess. The freshet in the Brazos was, however, at its height when Gen. Houston heard of the arrival of the enemy at San Felipe ”

“ The steamboat Yellow Stone, lying at the landing, was immediately pressed into service, and a company of troops placed aboard to prevent the engineers from running the boat off. Until April nth, the army remained in the same position. While the spring rains kept the river in a swollen condition, it camped on an island of the Brazos, secure from the enemy. To maintain communication with the enemy's country, a narrow bridge was constructed, over which Texan scouts could pass, to gather news and keep an eye on the plans and manoeuvres of the Mexicans. ”

“ The Alamo — Goliad— The Fall of One— The Massacre at the Other— Movements OF Gen. Houston before and after these Memorable Events — Movements Preparatory to the Battle of San Jacinto. The declaration of Texan independence was denounced as an act of high-handed robbery, perpetrated by a band of bold outlaws, by a thousand newspapers in the United States; and a feeling of hostility was excited against the infant republic, without a parallel in the history of the world. ”

“ You will then see that each man is supplied with three days' cooked rations, and hold the camp in readiness to march. We will see if we can find Santa Anna; good-morning, gentlemen." Houston remarked, as he turned off with Hockley, "There is no excuse for sedition now if they wish to fight." Orders were immediately given to prepare for crossing Buffalo Bayou, so that the march upon the enemy might be commenced the next morning. But when morning came, no preparations had been made for the march. ”

“ A company of eighty men, just arrived in camp from Eastern Texas, were detached with another body to give aid to Capt. Baker, while the commander-in-chief, through expresses, maintained communication with the troops at San Felipe and Fort Bend. The main body of the army at Groces, composing his entire force, did not amount to more than five hundred and twenty men. Five hundred men in addition had been expected from the red lands. ”

“ Without summons or signal, the members took their seats, and the President his chair. The President arose. He announced the reception of a document, "of the most important character ever received by any assembly of men." ”