The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985 Page: 81
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SKETCH OF THE TEXIAN REVOLUTION (1835)
defeat. The affairs of Texas appear to have been badly damaged. San
Antonio, being an indefensible position, ought to have been abandoned at
once; but Goliad, the strongest fortress in Texas, ought to have been main-
tained to the last. It would have kept the southern division in check, and
given time to the Texians to have received re-enforcements, so that they
could have prosecuted the war with vigor and success.
Gen. Houston, after the capture of San Antonio, retreated from Gon-
zales to the Colorado, and then, to the Brazos river. The southern half of
Texas, being thus left destitute of any armed force, the invading army had
nothing to do but to march forward into the interior, and to make war upon
unarmed citizens and travellers, and defenseless women and children. The
Mexican army proceeded in two divisions of about two thousand men each;
the one, on the line of the sea coast; the other about one hundred miles
in the interior towards San Felipe; and troops of horse scoured the country
in various directions between them. A general alarm and disnlay seized the
inhabitants. On the north the Indians, incited by Santa Anna, were reported
to have embodied in force, and were proceeding into the country, to plunder
and slaughter; from the south, approached the Mexican army, more savage
than the Indians, waging a war of extermination! Before such merciless foes,
the inhabitants fled, like clouds of dust before the storm. The peril was so
imminent that they were obliged to abandon all their possesions and flee
for life. Some went to the sea coast and embarked on board vessels for New-
Orleans; others crossed the Sabine river into Louisiana. The settlements of
Texas, to the south of the Brazos, were entirely broken up, and the whole
country became the theatre of armies, battles, murders and massacres.
Among the inhuman massacres committed, we shall notice two only.
The first is that of seventy-three emigrants, who left New-Orleans in a
schooner, for Copano. They were landed unarmed at that port, trusting
themselves to the power of the Mexicans; but in less than two hours, they
were all butchered by the soldiers in sight of the vessel! The schooner escaped
to Matagorda. The other case is that of Dr. Harrison, the son of Gen. Har-
rison of Ohio. He was travelling with three other American gentlemen, when
they were all taken, their bodies horridly mutilated, their bowels torn out,
and then left in that situation a prey to the vultures!
Some small skirmishes took place at sea, in which the Texians were suc-
cessful. They captured one schooner loaded with ammunition and supplies
for the Mexican army and sunk another, after a running fight with the
Invincible. But neither party have [sic] much of a naval force.
At this critical juncture of alarm and distress, Gen. Gaines, the com-
mander of the United States troops at Fort Jessup, marched to the line ofNov. 1985]
81
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Texas Gulf Historical Society. The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985, periodical, November 1985; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433656/m1/83/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Gulf Historical Society.