The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 10

10 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
"6. Bradburn had induced servants to quit their masters, offer-
ing them protection, and, when called upon by the owners to deliver
them up, had enlisted them into his rank and file.
"7. In the month of May, 1832, seven of the leading citizens
were apprehended by Bradburn, who, on being asked to give the
prisoners over to the civil magistrates, declared that he would send
all of them to Mexico to be tried by a Military Tribunal."
This last arbitrary step brought the matter to a point and the
wronged colonists about Bradburn's ears. Feeling that they had
been unjustly abused the residents of this province were not long
in coming to the conclusion that the best and only way to procure
their rights and liberties was by force of arms. About the first of
June, 1832, Anahuac was therefore assailed by a party of Anglo-
Americans. Some days later the colonists stirred up trouble with
Colonel Ugartechea, at Fort Velasco, because he would not permit
the passage of the schooner Brazoria, which had on board some
cannon that the insurgents were anxious to use in the reduction of
Anahuac. After a battle of eleven hours, Commandant Ugartechea
ran up the white flag. Immediately thereafter he wrote to Guerra
concerning his plight, and it was these letters which Mejia inter-
cepted, which he transmitted to Guerra on July 4, and which
brought about the interview between the two on July 6, 1832.2
However, before returning to Matamoros and Mejia, attention
must be called to the fact that not all of Texas even tacitly sanc-
tioned the events at Anahuac and Velasco. Indeed, so far were
they from being enthusiastic over the deeds of their fellow-citizens,
that the people of San Felipe and Matagorda cried out in a way
that was very injurious to the cause of the insurgents.
The action taken by the townsmen of San Felipe clearly shows
the existence of a conservative spirit. Acquainting themselves
with the character of the late disturbances and the critical situation
in Austin's colony, the ayuntamiento, together with seventy repre-
sentative residents of San Felipe, assembled on June 25, 1832, and
'Tewas Gazette, July 23, 1832; Mrs. Holley, Texas (1833), 146-149.
2For a more detailed account of these events see the article, The Distarb-
ances at Anahuac in 1832, in the last number of this magazine.-EDTTOR
QUARTERLY.