The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909 Page: 65
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Recollections of S. F. Sparks.
and asked us to release him, as that cs the only means Mrs.
Burnet had of fleeing from the invading Mexicans. I told him
that I had no power to release, my power was to. press horses. He
said the president would release our horses under the circum-
stances, and we ought to release his. I told him that we would
first hold a little private consultation, so we withdrew for a few
minutes, and when we returned we told him we would release his
horse if he would send out and get a bottle of whiskey. The negro
had been standing by the president all this time, and the presi-
dent sent him out to get the whiskey; of course he very soon
brought it.
During the two weeks that we served in this capacity we sent
three hundred horses, and four or five hundred guns to the army.
Nearly every horse that we pressed was taken at the muzzle of
a gun.
About the middle of the second week we were sent to the Brazos
River, to what was known as Stafford's Crossing, to see if we
could learn of Santa Anna's position. The next day, while we
were at dinner, we saw a man come out of the timber about a mile
above us. Bailey and I got on our horses, and made a charge on
him. We thought he was a Mexican, but when he saw us, he
stopped, looked at us, and then came towards us, so we rode on to
meet him. It was one of Fannin's men, who had made his escape
from the Mexicans at Goliad. He was nearly starved, having had
nothing to eat for six days, with the exception of a terrapin, which
he had roasted. The next day we took him to Harrisburg, and
from there he was sent to Galveston, and from there to his home.
I think he was a Georgian, but I have forgotten his name.
Bailey and I were ordered out on the road leading from Harris-
burg to the Brazos River, and here we pressed our last horses.
We met a man and his family, who were fleeing before Santa
Anna's army. They had good teams, and the old gentleman and
some of the family were riding horseback; the old man had a rifle
thrown across his lap. The two ponies that they were driving
seemed very gentle. The teams stopped, and Bailey engaged the
old man in conversation, while I got down off my horse, and tied
a rope around the necks of the two ponies. I was doing up my
rope and ready to mount my horse, when Bailey said, "Old gentle-
man, your horses are pressed, and I am now ready to receipt for
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909, periodical, 1909; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101048/m1/73/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.