The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924 Page: 48

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

the river bank talking to Mexicans on the other side; the Mexicans
had with them one of our men, a prisoner, to explain the situation.
Chalk and St. Clair told me that about the time the firing
ceased at noon the day before the Mexicans sent a flag of truce
to our men, offering to allow them to capitulate, and promising
to treat them as prisoners of war-not to march them to Mexico
City, but to keep them in the valley of the Rio Grande-subject,
however, to ratification by the government and Santa Anna. Our
men were divided as to what they should do. Half of them were
tired of fighting; ten or twelve had been killed and fifteen to
twenty were wounded. The others declared they would not sur-
render and wanted to fight their way out. The leaders of the
latter called for a hundred men, but did not get the response
expected; they called for fifty, but got only about half that num-
ber; then they gave up. The Mexicans talked flatteringly; among
other things they declared that they would not keep them long,
as peace negotiations were then on foot. This was news; the
Texans knew nothing of such negotiations.
St. Clair was one of those who wanted to fight his way out, and
he determined to escape somehow. He induced Chalk to hide
with him behind a bunch of cane stacked in a corner of a room
where they with others were confined. After nightfall they slipped
out of the town. In jumping a wall St. Clair sprained his ankle,
and was badly lamed. He had already lost one boot; it had been
pulled off by a Mexican as he got over a fence going into Mier.
They finally reached our camp on the river at daylight. The men
took a boat over to them, and then all the men in camp, except
Bonnell and Hicks left, each with two horses. They came up
with us as I have already described.
We learned later that Bonnell and Hicks, after talking with the
Mexicans across the river, returned to camp and also started off
with two horses apiece, but missed our trail, got lost in a cha-
parral thicket, remained lost till late the next day, and then struck
our trail again. In the meantime the Mexicans must have passed
beyond them in pursuit; for a hundred men had been crossed
over to our camp in our boats. These men mounted our remain-
ing horses and set out in pursuit of Bonnell, Hicks, and the rest
of us. They must have been nearly up with us the first night