The Texas Almanac for 1861 Page: 45
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HISTORY OF TEXAS. 45
through Mexico with rapidity, thrilling the public mind with anguish and dismay.
The political and military leaders, who are usually synonymous in that unhappy
country, regarded the intelligence with mingled emotions, while an universal la-
mentation was made for the fallen Dagon. Threats of vengeance on the audacious
colonists ran through every political discussion; and there, as else where, peons
discuss politics. The President pro tempore, Corro, elected to supply the vacancy
caused by the absence of the overthrown " Idol," made a strong demonstration to-
wards getting up another and more powerful invasion. General Felisola was super-
seded in the command by Urrea. That savage was ordered to halt in his retro-
grade march, and await the arrival of a large reinforcement, then being raised, for
the renewal of the war.
Captains Karnes and Teal, who had been sent to Matamoras as Commissioners
to ascertain the liberation of the Texian prisoners under the Treaty, were fraudu-
lently detained in prison, to prevent intelligence of the projected invasion from
reaching us. They, however, found means to elude the vigilance of the guard,
and, by the aid of Major W. P. Miller, also a prisoner, but less rigidly observed,
dispatched a letter to General Rusk, apprising him of the impending storm. The
letter, which breathes a noble spirit of patriotism, and the sequent proclamation
of President Burnet, dated 20th June, 1836, were given in the ALIANAC of last
year. That of General Rusk accompanies this. What man appoints with most
zeal and apparent confidence, God often disappoints. The federal party in Mex-
ico, deriving encouragement from the absence of their dread enemy, Santa Anna,
the sword and buckler of the centralists, renewed their exertions, and the nation
was again precipitated into revolutionary broils. The still dominant centralists
found it necessary to defer the invasion of Texas, and divert their energies to the
conservation of their power at home.
Texas again respired freely, and the Government pursued its ordinary duties,
which were sufficiently onerous. But very soon the army, relieved from the ap-
prehensions of an invasion, became restive in their idleness, and clamored as men
in camps, having nothing to do, are apt to clamor. The President, apprised of
the condition of affairs in Mexico, consented to give them employment by making
a descent on Matamoras. The army mustered about two thousand men. Their
subsistence in the West, greatly exhausted as it was, and largely depopulated by
the recent invasion, was exceedingly difficult, and might become impossible, with
the small and precarious means at command. Discontent and insubordination
were diffusing their usual effects throughout the ranks, and General Rusk found it
difficult to maintain a safe control over the rude masses under his charge. Mata-
moras was an unfortified, indefensable town, of about ten thousand inhabitants,
situated on the bank of the Rio Grande, and of easy access. The few Mexican
troops that remained there presented an incentive rather than an obstacle to the
enterprise. Mexico was again trembling on the verge of revolution, and incapa-
ble of making a sudden and effective effort to save her most important frontier
depot. A large amount of military stores, provided expressly for our annoyance,
were known to be there, and they were much wanted ip Texas. Our little navy,
scattered as it was, still maintained the supremacy on the Gulf. But that navy
could not be concentrated in time for the expedition. Captain Hurd, of the
Brutus, had mysteriously departed from our shores without orders, and sailed for
New-York, for what purpose has never been ascertained. This and other difficul-
ties intervening, caused the enterprise which contemplated a sudden descent and
its results, and not a permanent conquest, to be abandoned. Had the entire navy
been at command, and in effective condition to transport troops and keep the as-
cendency on sea, and had the army been well conducted, the expedition would, in
all human probability, have resulted in many great advantages to Texas and severe
damage to the enemy. The administration never understood that General Hous-
ton "opposed" the contemplated expedition. (Yoakum, ii. 190.) They never
consulted him, nor probably ever thought of him, in relation to it.
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The Texas Almanac for 1861, book, 1860; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123767/m1/45/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.