The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 12

12 Tewas Historical Association Quarterly.
With this evidence that there was, previous to Mejia's coming,
a sharply defined division in political sentiment in Texas, the
reader is prepared to follow the narrative of the expedition from
Matamoros.
III. THE TEXAS EXPEDITION.
After the conference with Guerra, Colonel Mejia returned from
Palo Blanco to Matamoros, and made preparations to reembark
his troops. On the 8th of July he left the latter place and marched
toward Brazos Santiago with his whole force, now composed of
about four hundred soldiers. The embarkation took place on the
10th, and Filisola says that the expedition sailed on that day to
Tampico, it being Mejia's aim to rejoin there the cavalry which he
had dispatched overland.1 Suarez y Navarro gives the same time
for the departure of Mejia from Brazo. He writes that "having
provided all that was necessary, he set sail on the 10th of July for
Tampico, with the object of joining General Moctezuma," but as
the general had gone to San Luis, Mejia failed to see him.2
Austin wrote from Matamoros on the 9th that Mejia would leave
on the 10th, but for Texas.3
There is, however, sufficient evidence to prove that Mejia's squad-
ron quitted Brazos Santiago on July 14, 1832. It is a well-estab-
lished fact that the expedition arrived off the mouth of the Brazos
River on the 16th, and Mejia's own words show that he must have
gone out from the Brazo July 4, late in the evening. He tells us:
"I sailed from Matamoros with the Fleet and forces under my
command, and in forty hours anchored off the Bar of this river."4
If, then, Mejia did start to Texas on July 14th, and there seems
no way of denying it, we must, nevertheless, attempt to explain the
date of the 10th of July, as the time of his sailing. The only
solution for the problem is that he left Brazos Santiago twice-
once on the 10th, and again on the 14th. As Suarez y Navarro
'Memorias, I 261.
2Historia de Meico, 316.
'Austin to governor of Coahuila-Texas, July 9, 1832. Austin Papers.
4Tewas Gazette, July 23, 1832; Mora to Elosua, same date (Nacogdoches
Archives, box 1, no. 8).