The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 478
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
trees like beef or pork for the packer; and when the enemy advanced,
they displayed them as trophies of their loyalty. There was no mercy
shown by them. On that day all were put to death who fell into
their hands. They captured eight or ten Americans the next day, who
were saved by the intercession of Elisondo.144 They were kept in close
confinement for several months, and then taken out to become waiters
on some great men. They could not condescend to be foot pads for
such masters, and they made their escape the first opportunity. But
few of them ever reached home; they perished on the way. When
Arredondo reached San Antonio he ordered Elisondo to pursue the
fugitives and put every man he caught to death. He replied that if
the order had to be executed it must be done by some one else; that
he would pursue provided the Americans were permitted to proceed
home, the Mexican citizens pardoned, and all those who had ever
been in the King's service executed. Arredondo finally acceded to
those conditions. They were detained two days in procuring horses
and preparing their beef. They arrived at the Trinity river on the
tenth day after the battle picking up a number of Americans and
some two hundred Mexicans on the way. They took everything of
value from the Americans, except the necessary arms to kill game,
and permitted them to proceed home. But the poor Mexicans that
fell into their hands fared badly. They drew up one hundred and
twenty-five into a line for execution, the morning before they resumed
their march for San Antonio, and shot one hundred and twenty-five
making their escape.
End of the expedition-Attempt to revive the conquest of Texas.14'
Their remains were all deposited in one pit scantily covered and
numbers of them were afterwards devoured by the wolves. Thus ter-
minated the Magee Expedition.
Toledo returned the next spring with ten or twelve broken down
U. S. officers and established his headquarters on the west side of the
'"Several writers have reported this battle as a deliberate trap set by Arredondo
with field fortifications built in a deep re-entrant angle into which the Americans
were lured by his advance guard and within which they were cut down by flanking
fire. A careful study of Arredondo's own report of the battle indicates no such
extensive planning. The Americans were led on by the advance guard, under
Elisondo, until they became disorganized and exhausted when they came up
against his main line and the Mexicans panicked and the Americans were cut to
ribbons. Harry McCorry Henderson, "The Magee-Gutierrez Expedition," South-
western Historical Quarterly, LV, 43-61; Hatcher, "Arredondo's Report of the
Battle of the Medina," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, XI,
220-236.
146This final portion of Chapter VIII and the first part of the "Review of Er-
roneous History," appear in the San Antonio Tri-Weekly Alamo Express, February
23, i861.478
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, periodical, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196/m1/514/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.