The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934 Page: 172
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
on a horse and sent them to General Houston, then at Gonzales.
He sent his own negro servant, Ben, along with them. Some
fifteen miles from San Antonio, this little party came upon Joe,
Travis's servant, who had escaped the guard at Santa Anna's
camp. They all journeyed on together. About twenty-five miles
from Gonzales, they met Deaf Smith, Robert E. Handy and
Captain Henry Karnes, who had been sent out by Houston to
investigate conditions at Bexar, for on Tuesday night, March 8,
Anselmo Borgarra and Andres Barcena had arrived at Gonzales
with the awful news concerning the Alamo. Houston had ar-
rived in the little town only a few hours earlier with about five
hundred soldiers, on his way to carry relief to Travis and his
men. Borgarra, not knowing anything about Houston, who he
was, or that he was in the town, did not carry his news to army
headquarters, but circulated it pretty thoroughly among the citi-
zens of the place. The grief and the excitement created by this
report, amounted almost to madness. So in order to allay the
excitement and calm the fears of the people, Houston ordered
that Borgarra and Barcena be arrested and imprisoned as spies,
although he himself was convinced that their story was true.
By Thursday night John W. Smith arrived with the twenty-five
troops whom he had undertaken to lead to San Antonio.8 They
confirmed Borgarra's story. By Friday night Mrs. Dickenson
had arrived. There was no hope left-all must believe the truth
of the awful message she bore. That was a black day for Gon-
zales. There was hardly a home that had not lost a beloved
member. In this little town the fall of the Alamo left thirty-
three widows and almost a hundred fatherless children.
procure. Needless to say the widowed mother scorned such a proposal,
declaring that she would "crawl and work her fingers to the bone to sup-
port the babe, but that she had rather see the child starve than given into
the hands of the author of so much horror."
"James T. DeShields (ed.), "John Sutherland's Account of the Fall of
the Alamo," Dallas News, February 12, 1911. John W. Smith started
from San Felipe to Bexar, on Sunday morning, March 6, with 25 recruits.
"By Tuesday he had reached the Cibolo, where, not hearing the guns of
the fortress, he halted for the night. Early the next morning he sent
forward eight scouts toward the city to investigate. They had proceeded
only six miles when they met the advance of the enemy who chased them
for several miles, but being well mounted on fresh horses they made good
their escape." See also, Yoakum, II, 471f; Houston to Fannin, March
11, 1836, Army Papers, State Library.172
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Texas State Historical Association & Barker, Eugene C. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934, periodical, 1934; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101094/m1/191/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.