The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 154
xiii, 358 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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154
Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
and fifty' and one hundred and sixty, and more were expected to
arrive that day.2 For the immediate emergency they organized
with John H. Moore as colonel and J. W. E. Wallace as lieuten-
ant colonel.3 The cannon was unearthed and mounted upon a
broad-tired ox-wagon by Mr. Darst, Mr. Sowell, Mr. Chisholm
and others. Chisholm and Sowell, both of whom were black-
smiths, prepared shot for it by cutting up pieces of chains and
forging iron balls out of such scraps as they could procure.4
When the Mexicans began to move up the river the Texans,5
suspecting that their object was either to await reinforcements
from Bejar or to ford the river at the crossing fifteen miles above,
determined to attack them before either of these plans could
materialize." On Thursday night, October 1, at seven o'clock,
the Texans, fifty of whom were mounted, crossed the river carry-
ing with them the brass cannon.7 On the other side of the river
they held a council of war, and listened to a "patriotic address"
men in Gonzales, and that on the 30th there were about one hundred and
fifty. The cart driver, who made his report to Castafieda on the 29th,
said that about two hundred had already arrived at Gonzales. He un-
doubtedly overestimated .the number, but evidently reinforcements had
begun to come in before the 30th. The eighteen men who were in Gon-
zales from the first were known as the "Old Eighteen" defenders of Gon-
zales. Bennet gives their names as follows: Capt. Albert Martin,
Jacob C. Darst, Winslow Turner, W. W. Arrington, Graves Fulchear,
George W. Davis, John Sowell, James Hinds, Thomas Miller, Valentine
Bennet, Ezekiel Williams, Simeon Bateman, J. D. Clements, Almerion
[Almeron] Dickinson, Benjamin Fuqua, Thomas Jackson, Charles Mason,
Almon[d] Cottle (THE QUARTERLY, II 314.)
1Captains Martin, Coleman, and Moore to the people of San Felipe and
the Lavaca. Austin Papers, 30.
2 Castafeda to Ugartechea, September 30, 1835 (Bexar Archives);
William Fisher to Austin, October 3, 1835 (Austin Papers).
'Account of the campaign of 1835 by William T. Austin (A Comprehen-
sive History of Texas, I 536.
'4THE QUARTERLY, II 315. Mr. Darst says that Mr. Martin had two cot-
ton wagons. The forewheels of one of these were used to mount the cannon.
He also says Mr. Dickinson was put in charge of the cannon.
' For convenience, the word Texans is here applied to Anglo-Americans
in Texas as opposed to Mexicans, although this distinction is not strictly
proper until Texas became independent.
O Report of Wm. Fisher, October 3, 1835, in Telegraph and Texas Regis-
ter, April 4, 1837. Austin Papers, 50.
'A Comprehensive History of Texas, I 180.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/156/?rotate=270: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.