The Mexicans were taking steady and deadly fire from the Texans, Mexicans falling by the scores. He saw Texans falling as well, and saw the medical corpsmen rush to their aid, placing them on stretchers and moving them back to the field hospital using pickup trucks as ambulances. The Mexicans either couldn’t give aid to their wounded under the intense fire being poured into them.
With a discipline that Adrian found admirable, the Mexicans continued to pull into formation and move towards the front line, and there were still too many of them, way too many. Adrian, never one to underestimate an enemy was ready for this. He called on his radio “Bear to Mobile One, move into position with Group A, reserve four trucks for Groups B and C. Over.”
“Mobile One to Bear, moving out now. Out.”
Before the trucks could get there, a group of twenty or so Mexicans broke through the line and came straight at the hill Adrian and the girls were on. The Texans quickly closed the gap in a fierce, blistering fight, holding the rest of the Mexicans in the box. Adrian watched the Mexican group, expecting them to turn and fire at the Texans from the rear, but they didn’t, they hauled ass as fast as they could, still heading straight towards Adrian’s hill.
“Stay down!”Adrian commanded. The girls did as told, keeping their heads low as they put down their binoculars and pointed their rifles down the hill at the oncoming Mexicans who had apparently spotted them. Adrian hoped they would deflect off, but having seen what was happening to their comrades they appeared to be on a mission to cut off the snakes head, as they still came straight at the hill. Adrian remained standing where he could see the battle better.
One of the approaching Mexicans stopped to aim and fire, the bullet making a sonic crack as it went by Adrian’s head. The girls in the foxholes immediately began to return fire. Several of the attackers fell, the rest diving for cover. Adrian knew he should take cover, but he needed to see the battle clearly so he remained standing.
“Rangers! Keep the fire on them hot and heavy, I want their heads down so I can stay up and see the battle.” The girls immediately began firing more rapidly and Adrian could see where the bullets were hitting all around where the men had taken cover.
Within two minutes Adrian observed the armored pickup trucks armed with chain guns moving into the front line of Group A. The driver jumped out and took position in the back of the truck with the gunner to assist with ammunition feeding and also shooting enemy combatants with his rifle. The chain guns operated by an electric motor and could be fired at variable speeds of up to 570 rounds per minute. Adrian had elected to have them fire at a lower rate to give more control and to make the ammunition last longer. Each chain gun was equivalent, even at the lower rate of fire, to two hundred rifles being fired once per minute. They were also extremely frightening to face. Even at the lower speeds the tracers, one in every ten rounds, looked like a solid stream of fire, making targeting easy and intuitive for the gunner.
As the chain guns began firing into the enemy front lines, the number of bodies dropping increased dramatically. Within another minute, the two chain guns assigned to Groups B and C began firing into the enemy also. Between the infantry fire and the chain guns, the enemy’s position quickly became untenable; no matter how much discipline and drive they had, the rate of bullets flying into their packed mass was mowing them down at a phenomenal rate.
The Mexicans withstood the barrage from three sides for only two more minutes, then a general rout began developing along the back of their lines. They were faced with almost certain death if they continued or a chance to escape back across the river.
When Adrian saw the first group of men take off toward the river, he spoke into the radio, “Bear to Mobile One. Increase rate of fire on chain guns, go to maximum now!”
The chain guns all momentarily stopped firing as the gunners reset the motor speed to go to maximum firing speed, effectively tripling the rate of fire. Then they started firing again and the bodies dropped at a faster rate than before. That will encourage the retreat. And indeed it did. With a herd instinct, the remains of the cartel’s army turned and fled towards the river. Still taking intense fire they stumbled and fell over the fallen bodies, tripped over rocks and roots, scrambled to their feet and took off running again.
Adrian called into the radio “Group D take position and fire at will. Groups A, B, and C move forward as fast as they retreat. ”
He watched as the relayed message went through. The infantry started chasing after the retreating army, steadily pouring bullets into them. The chain gun trucks became mobile again, chain gun firing steadily as the truck advanced apace with the ground troops. Groups B and C began flowing towards the river, maintaining fire from the sides with deadly effect and keeping the routed army from trying to escape to either side. The Mexicans were herded into the river. Group D had pulled their trucks up to the river’s edge and as the Mexicans began entering the water poured deadly chain fire into them.
When the bulk of the Mexicans were in the river, Groups A, B, and C followed them to the river’s edge, continuing to fire into the fleeing mass of men. The carnage was absolutely brutal, men being hit and trampled as thousands of rounds a minute poured into them from both sides. Chain guns from Groups C and D cut them down along the outside edges of the fleeing troops, preventing them from escaping up or down river. The river flowed a dirty red from the blood pouring out of the now hundreds of injured bodies and the silt disturbed they their feet.
It took only three minutes once they were in the river. Minutes of continual fire from the Texans and only the occasional shot back at them as the men in the river knew their death was only seconds away and fired back more out of anger than any hope of being effective. Three long, horrifying minutes and then the firing came to a sputtering stop. The silence was incredible. It lasted a full minute, Adrian, even from where he was, could hear the wild jubilant shouting of the Texans.
He also noted that there was still a group of Mexicans creeping slowly up his hill.
Adrian now could take cover with the girls and got into the foxhole with Race. He told her, “They’re going to run or surrender or attack when we stop firing. Could go either way. They know there’s only enemy behind them now, so they’re deciding to try to get away or surrender or commit suicide. Tell the girls to cease fire but remain ready. We’ll give them a chance to surrender.”
When the girls stopped firing, the men below waited a moment, then they all stood and charged the hill firing as fast as they could. There were still over a dozen of them and they came running into the teeth of death with no real hope of surviving. Adrian yelled out, “Pick your targets and make every shot count!” Immediately the girls and Adrian began firing, and the Mexican men charging at them began falling. The last one died within feet of the foxholes.
Adrian called the girls out of their positions and Race got them into formation. “Rangers” Adrian said, “If you hadn’t been here I would be dead now. You have saved my life and I deeply appreciate it. Race, you’ve earned my trust again, fully. Now let’s get down to the battlefield and help our wounded.”
“How many men and women did we lose?” It was Adrian’s first question to the assembled commanders.
“One hundred and thirty three dead, three hundred and twelve wounded.” came the reply.
Adrian sat somberly for a few moments. “Nearly a quarter of our troops.” He paused for a few seconds and asked “Enemy casualties?”
“We’re estimating at this point sir, but it looks like over four thousand dead or critically wounded and about five hundred wounded that might survive. We’re giving them medical treatment as fast as we can, after we took care of our own first, but we’re giving them the best treatment we can. We have nearly five hundred prisoners. We think about two hundred escaped across the river.”
Adrian had issued orders that the Texans were not to deliberately
fire on any clearly unarmed combatants trying to escape once they were in the river. That order had three reasons. To not place the Texans into a position of being mere executioners, to allow escape so that word of the disastrous results of the attempted invasion would spread far and rapidly, and to prevent as much as possible for any of the Texans to have doubts about the carnage they would wreak on the enemy. It was far from a perfect solution, but it was the best that could be done in the heat of battle and to assure victory as well.
“You are all to be congratulated, you executed beautifully, flawlessly,” Adrian said. “You have won a great battle, one where you were severely outnumbered. By a combination of the element of surprise, superior fire power, pure guts and perfect execution, you and all of our troops have destroyed this enemy for years to come. One of the first actions of the new government will be to recognize all of our fallen, wounded, and unwounded. Medals will be created and I will personally place those medals on every single person as soon as possible.”
“We need to immediately locate a superior burial ground for our fallen and get them interred with respect and dignity. And we need to send the fallen enemy troops back to their people. They deserve proper burial in their own homeland. Strip their bodies of arms and ammunition, and have the prisoners carry the bodies across the river and lay them out in the sports complex. See to it immediately after our own have been properly buried. No, get a contingent started on it right away, but give them leave to attend the funeral services for our own, then have them get right back to work.”
“As soon as those duties are attended to we’ll board the train and return to Cotulla where we’ll have a final ceremony and disburse. Any questions? No? Dismissed.”
Two days later, Adrian spoke to the assembled Texas army at the memorial service.
“We are saddened beyond measure that these men and women are dead. They came here to fight, believing in something greater than themselves. They put their lives on the line for that belief. They believed, and rightly so, that the time had come for Texas to resurrect itself, to create a place in this world where men and women and children can expect to be treated with dignity. A place where law and order would offer them as much protection as it’s possible for a civilized society to grant. They believed, as we all do, that if the invasion had been successful all Texans would suffer enormously, that this deadly peril had to be stopped right here and right now.”
“They have given their lives, a gift that can’t be bought or borrowed but only freely granted. The ultimate of all gifts, the gift of absolute love. These men and women whose names we called a moment ago, shall be remembered throughout the span of time that the Republic of Texas exists. They will be honored every year on the day of their death as the first men and women of Texas. By official decree, this day shall be considered holy…in their honor. We’ll call it the Battle of the Del Rio Day. On that day each year their names will be read out by the President of the Republic of Texas in an official and public display to honor their greatest gift of all.”
“Reverend Matthew will lead us all in prayer, followed by the playing of Taps and the lowering of the Republic of Texas Flag to half-staff, where it will remain for one full year in honor of our fallen. Not until the first anniversary of the battle will the flag be lifted again to full staff, again in their honor. We will be reminded every time we see the flag flying that it was because of their greatest sacrifice and the great sacrifices of the wounded and unwounded that came to this place to keep Texans free. Reverend, if you please.”
Linda reached up with her hand and gently wiped the tears from his face.
Chapter 28
They returned to Cotulla a week later, after giving the Mexican soldiers what honors they could. Only a very few people came to claim bodies or try to.
Adrian had ordered a bull dozer to be repaired and sent to the Mexican side of the river to dig long trenches six feet deep. The Mexican prisoners carefully and respectfully placed the bodies in the trenches and then covered by hand with shovels; everyone agreed that pushing the dirt in with the bulldozer seemed disrespectful.
Every uninjured person turned out to help with the laying out of the bodies and covering them, along with the prisoners. A large steel cross was mounted above the burial site, permanently embedded in concrete, matching the monument at the Texas side. Adrian had ordered the two crosses be exactly the same. Unknown to him though, the welders had made the Texas cross a foot longer in each dimension. A flag pole was erected and a Mexican flag flown at half-mast.
A Catholic priest, among the Texans, led the main prayer; a second prayer for Protestants that might be in the group was also said by Matt. After the final memorial ceremony, Adrian released the Mexican prisoners, then the Texas army loaded up on the train and returned to Cotulla.
In Cotulla, the camp was temporarily restored. Many of the men and women left for home immediately, but the elected representatives stayed, there was still a government to finish building. There were also wounded to tend to before they would be able to return home.
For two months, the elected officials worked at crafting the new Constitution and the structural make-up of the government. It was different in several critical ways from the former Constitution of the United States. They were busy days, filled with the excitement and the promise of creating something larger than the men and women at work on it. They were heady days that were filled with debates starting at daylight and continuing until deep into the night. Slowly, but surely, the articles of the Constitution took form and shape and were agreed on.
Perry headed the Constitutional convention. In the pre-grid days he had been a lawyer with a penchant for a libertarian style of government. The basic premise of his draft Constitution was that every individual was a sovereign unto himself, and that the government wasn’t there to override or to rule him, but to create an environment where each person could live his or her life in accordance with their own beliefs, and so far as the actions of these persons did not infringe on the rights of others to be left alone to live as they saw fit.
Building on this premise, it was determined that the Republic of Texas would be a volunteer republic; it would disallow elected officials to gain any compensation for their position in any way. They would be paid no salary; they would not be able to gain by any form of business dealing while in office or after being in office that relied even partially on granting favors or giving untoward access to their voting, or inside knowledge. In effect, there would be no special interest lobbying or buying of favors.
The new republic’s government would rely on funding to support its activities not by taxes, but by fees on international trade and by voluntary gifts from citizens. There would be no standing army, but all interested citizens of eighteen years or more could be militia members, with each section of the state creating its own militia. Voting would be restricted to those that served in the militia or had served previously in the militia and left it with honor. The general consensus was that voting would not be an automatic right, but a right that could be earned by one and all, if they so chose to.
Each militia would patrol its section of the Republic. The militia would provide the hammer and the constitution would provide the anvil to crush those that acted outside the common consent of law. The justice system would act much as it had in the pre-grid days, all crimes except of a minor offense, would require indictment by a grand jury, representation of the accused by competent counsel, and a trial by jury. However, there would be no jails, there would be no prison terms. If the accused were found guilty of an offense serious enough to have received prison time in the previous world, they would be expelled from the republic on threat of death if they attempted to return. Capital offenders, if found guilty, would be executed after an expedited re-trial and upon unanimous vote by the second jury.
It was a rough-and-ready form of government, but one suited to the times.
Even after the new government was complete and the injured healed enough to go home on their own, or to be taken home by volunteers, there was still much to be done. Adrian and Linda had barely gotten back home to Fort Brazos, the capital of the new republic, when a helicopter appeared over the village.
Adrian and Linda came out on the porch at the sound of the hovering craft and watched it land gently in the open field in front of their new home, built for them by the villagers between the victory and Adrian’s return with Linda. It was a large, log structure, with a huge living room suitable for greeting official visitors and holding meetings of up to twenty people comfortably. It was a fitting symbol of the new republic: rustically elegant, setting an example that government structures should be simple and have multiple uses. The Republic flag was flying in front of the house, at half-mast.
They watched as the Admiral dismounted from the helicopter, quickly followed by Ryan, Jose, and another man in Navy uniform that Adrian didn’t recognize. Adrian greeted the men with a firm handshake and large smile for each, as did Linda who quickly followed suit.
“Welcome to our home gentlemen, it’s good to see all of you again.” A crowd was quickly forming out of curiosity at the helicopter’s arrival. “Admiral,” Adrian continued, “if we don’t satisfy their curiosity as to who you are and why you’re here they’ll be making up rumors of another impending invasion.”
The Admiral smiled and shook his head. “Just some business that needs tending to.”
“Well Admiral, since I don’t know what that business is, why don’t you say a few words to the crowd and then we’ll go inside and talk.”
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