Texas Rising

by Stephen L. Moore

  General Houston received word on April 11 from his detachments that the Mexican Army was crossing the Brazos at Thompson’s Ferry. He was coming under increasing criticism by some of his own men for lying idle. Major James Perry, a volunteer aide-to-camp and friend of President Burnet, wrote a mutinous letter to Colonel Robert Potter, the Texas secretary of navy. In it he said the Texas soldiers “are completely without discipline” and were little more than “an ordinary mob.” Potter reported that General Houston had discontinued his use of alcohol, but some said he was partaking of opium, keeping him “in a condition between sleeping and waking, which amounts to a constant state of insanity.” The opium reference was the Cherokee hartshorn powder used by the general to ward off colds.12

  Potter’s letter was apprehended by Houston, who sent it on to President Burnet, but had spies thereafter keep track of Potter’s action. The general defended his perceived angry character and attributed his behavior to lack of sleep. “I am worn down in body by fatigue, and really take my rest most in the morning, for I watch nearly all night,” Houston wrote. “Instead of being in a state of insanity, I fear I am too irritable for my duties.” He struck back at the Texas president, saying that if he had been elected into office, there would be “more men to defend it.”

  A more shocking event that took place in the Texas Army camp this day was the arrival of some of the Goliad Massacre survivors. Texas scouts came upon a half dozen of them the previous day at Mill Creek, north of San Felipe. The long-suffering group included Charles Shain, Daniel Murphy, Thomas Kemp, David Jones, William Brenan, and Nat Hazen. When they rode into camp with the scouts on April 11, Dr. Nicholas Labadie found them to be “wounded, barefooted, and ragged.”13

  Colonel Ben Smith took young Shain under his wing, offering him proper clothing and the assistance of his servant, Mack Smith, until his body was healed. These Goliad survivors would join two of the Texas Army companies. Shain took the time to write a long letter to his father back home in Kentucky, explaining the great hardships he had endured. He also made a pledge to his family: “I will try to avenge the death of some of my brave friends. All of my company were killed.”

  The Texas cabinet in Harrisburg received word on April 12 that the Mexican Army had crossed the Brazos and was on the move. Acting Secretary of War David Thomas sent a blunt message to General Houston that day: “The country expects something from you.” President Burnet sent his own orders to Colonel Rusk that day, indicating that he was still incensed with Houston’s jabs about the flight of the government. He made it clear to Rusk that the country expected the Texas Army to engage in battle. “A further retreat without a fight would be infinitely disastrous,” Burnet said. “Houston’s force is numerically greater than the antagonists.”14

  A small party of the men stationed at the Fort Bend crossing exchanged shots with Mexican troops during the afternoon. Sam Houston sent orders to Captain Wyly Martin to gather up his men and leave the river crossings. They were to proceed to the home of Charles Donoho on the road from Groce’s to San Felipe and there make camp until further orders were issued. Sam Houston hoped to gather all of his forces in the vicinity of Donoho’s and then march toward Harrisburg—where he fully expected Santa Anna’s forces to be headed.15

  The first groups of weary, muddy Texan soldiers began boarding the riverboat Yellow Stone at 10 A.M. on April 12. The vessel’s steam engines were barely enough to maneuver through the swollen Brazos River’s angry currents. In moving many hundreds of men, baggage, supply wagons, ox teams, and about two hundred horses, Captain John Ross’s Yellow Stone would require numerous trips. It took until late the following afternoon to get the entire army across.

  The most welcome site at Leonard Groce’s Bernardo Plantation on the east side of the river was the arrival of Major Leander Smith and his companions. They had finally succeeded in hauling the six-pound iron cannon, known as the Twin Sisters, from Harrisburg all the way to Groce’s. Many of the volunteers toiled through the night to prepare proper canister shot for their new artillery. General Houston shared dinner on the night of April 12 at the Groce home with Dr. Anson Jones. In their conversation, Jones was not afraid to state that “if the retreating policy were continued much longer, he would be pretty much alone.” Jones advised Houston that his next move should be toward his enemy.16

  The sentiment that it was now time to fight was spreading, even among the newest arrivals. One of them was a blue-eyed, thirty-seven-year-old of medium height named Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar. The former editor and poet had walked fifty miles from Harrisburg in company with several other volunteers. Lamar had recently arrived in Texas for the second time, planning now to settle permanently. He left his savings of six thousand dollars in the trust of Vice President Lorenzo de Zavala and headed for the army. Lamar reported in to General Houston at Bernardo, and the influence of the Texas cabinet on him quickly became apparent. Lamar was critical of Houston’s laxness and proceeded to talk of plans to attack the enemy. He advocated taking a large party of men on board the Yellow Stone to conduct guerrilla raids on Mexican forces near the riverfront. Upon learning of this scheme, Houston posted notices in camp that anyone who attempted to raise an unauthorized force would be executed for mutiny.17

  Rusk and Houston spent much of April 13 sending appeals to other settlements for men to join the cause of the army. By late afternoon, Colonel Sidney Sherman and the last of the army had crossed the Brazos on the Yellow Stone. The only loss throughout the mass transfers had been two oxen that had fallen overboard and drowned.

  GENERAL SANTA ANNA’S MEN used trickery to cross the Brazos.

  He led a column downriver toward Thompson’s ferry above Fort Bend, leaving General Ramírez y Sesma with eight hundred men to deal with Captain Baker’s detachment. Santa Anna’s force reached the crossing on the morning of April 12 and spied a black servant on the far shore. Colonel Juan Almonte, the squarely built, good-natured officer once educated in the United States, called over in perfect English for the man to bring the flatboat across to get them, as the Mexican troops hid in the bushes. Once the servant reached the other shore, he was taken prisoner and the Mexican Army began crossing the Brazos. A courier was sent back to fetch Sesma, whose soldiers hurried downriver and effected their crossing on April 13.18

  Santa Anna’s men struggled to cross the Brazos bottomland, particularly one swollen creek. Secretary Ramón Caro noted that His Excellency had a profound fear of water. He dismounted at this creek, cautiously inched across a log, and had one of his soldiers swim his horse across. Santa Anna then watched the show as his infantrymen struggled and slipped on the steep, opposite bank. Mules overloaded with pack saddles slipped and fell, jamming up officers, men, and horses. “This, together with shouts and curses, completed a scene of wild confusion, which His Excellency witnessed with hearty laughter,” Colonel Delgado wrote in his diary.19

  Santa Anna gave orders for General Filisola to send General Martín Cos with five hundred infantrymen to seize Fort Velasco on the coast with the use of two eight-pound cannon and a howitzer. Filisola was also detailed to take cavalrymen out to San Felipe to make contact with General Gaona and to guard the ford near Thompson’s Ferry. Santa Anna believed it would be useful if his men could capture the steamboat Yellow Stone once it moved downriver.20

  General Filisola’s men did encounter the riverboat as it chugged down the Brazos on the morning of April 15. Lieutenant Colonel Peña found that the Guadalajara Battalion soldiers posted on the river were “dumbfounded by the sight of a machine so totally unfamiliar and unexpected.” Colonel Juan Almonte ordered the troops to open fire on the vessel. Captain Ross had his steamboat well covered with cotton bales to help absorb the lead balls fired at the Yellow Stone as he maintained steam and plowed past Thompson’s Ferry with his ship’s bell clanging.21

  Santa Anna failed to pull his army together to make one cohesive strike against the retreating Texas rebels. Instead, he ordered General Jose Urrea to investigate Matago
rda and then set up a general headquarters at Brazoria. Filisola’s division was left near Fort Bend while El Presidente and more than seven hundred troops pushed forward with a new goal. Lorenzo de Zavala and other members of the Texas government were nearby in Harrisburg. “Their capture was certain if a few troops marched on them quickly,” wrote Santa Anna. With President Burnet as his captive, he could then take care of Sam Houston’s little army.22

  SAM HOUSTON WAS STILL like the ass between two stacks of hay. On the one hand, he had President Burnet ridiculing him into fighting. On the other, he had Texas secretary of state Samuel Carson urging him to continue falling back. Carson had arrived at Fort Jesup in Natchitoches, Louisiana, on April 13 to meet with General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. He hoped to draw the U.S. troops into the Texas Revolution by showing that the Mexicans had incited hostile Indians to commit depredations on either side of the national line. Carson also called upon the governors of Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama to send brigades of volunteers to help halt the Mexican dictator who was sweeping through Texas.23

  Carson wrote to General Houston on April 14: “You must fall back, and hold out, and let nothing goad or provoke you to a battle, unless you can, without a doubt, whip them, or unless you are compelled to fight.” Carson pledged that U.S. troops would be gathered at the Sabine River to assist, and would move swiftly into Texas if the Mexicans were found to be stirring the Indians into committing bloodshed.

  Houston could not count on the promised American volunteers arriving from distant states in time to help him. He also ran the very real risk of his entire army disintegrating if he continued to do nothing. He therefore sent the steamboat Yellow Stone downstream on April 14 and began marching his army down the road from Groce’s to Donoho’s home, where he had ordered his detached forces to remain. Lieutenant Colonel James Neill, once the commander of the Alamo, was back in command of artillery. He organized companies of men to help haul the smoothbore Twin Sisters artillery pieces down the boggy road.

  The Texas Army camped on the night of April 14 at the plantation of Charles Donoho, where they were rejoined by the companies of Captains Moseley Baker and Wyly Martin. Finding the trees too green to burn, soldiers tore down all of the wood railing around the Donoho home to use for firewood. Captain Baker openly criticized General Houston for failing to join him in fighting the Mexicans along the riverfront. Houston ignored all those who badgered him, and held no councils of war to seek the various opinions of other officers that would have been offered. He studied the intelligence that was received daily and made his decisions with little input, save perhaps his close ally Colonel Hockley.24

  One such piece of advice was forwarded to the general on April 14 from cabinet member David Thomas in Harrisburg. Thomas said that Santa Anna’s army was moving through the Brazos bottomlands and that the Texas Army should hasten toward Galveston, where they would be close to provisions and ammunition. General Houston faced mutiny on the morning of April 15 as he tried to get his troops marching east again toward Nacogdoches. Captains Baker and Martin gave various reasons for refusing to march. Tired of shepherding pitiful citizen refugees and facing such insubordination, Houston ordered Wyly Martin to feed his company and then guide the Runaway Scrape families toward safety by leading them down the road to the Robbins’s Ferry crossing of the Trinity River.25

  “Thus was the insubordination gotten over,” Houston later detailed. “Captain Baker fell into line.” He offered furloughs to some men to help care for their families, and an estimated three hundred or more soldiers left the army at this point with Captain Martin’s rebellious company. Those who remained with Sam Houston marched across open prairie land along the well-traveled road from Washington-on-the-Brazos. Each passing mile brought them closer to a crucial fork in the road near the home of Abraham Roberts. The left-hand fork of the road led toward the Trinity River, Nacogdoches, and the eastern settlements. The right-hand fork led toward Harrisburg.26

  Colonel Robert Coleman, the former ranger commander who was now an aide-de-camp for Sam Houston, made his thoughts known that day. He felt any attempt to take the left-hand road near Roberts’s home would “throw everything into confusion.” Coleman believed that men would either leave the army or demand a new commander in chief if Houston was perceived to be continuing his flight. Houston had no intention of sharing his thoughts with a subordinate who was becoming less of an ally with each passing day. He simply let the issue pass by telling Coleman he would consider the advice that had been offered to him.27

  SANTA ANNA WAS HELL-BENT on catching David Burnet’s government.

  He marched his men steadily on April 15, pausing only long enough at the plantation of William Stafford to loot it and burn down the structures. Santa Anna, his staff, and their escorts eagerly rode ahead toward Harrisburg, leaving General Castrillón to supervise the march of the infantrymen. Once in town, Santa Anna and his advance party captured three printers who were busy setting type for the next issue of the Telegraph and Texas Register newspaper.

  The printers informed El Presidente that one of the two editors, Gail Borden, had left town just an hour before. They also said that President Burnet, Vice President Zavala, and their cabinet had departed at noon that day on the steamboat Cayuga for Galveston Island. They believed the Texas government was moving toward the settlement of New Washington, located on a peninsula where Galveston Bay meets San Jacinto Bay. Santa Anna was so furious at having just missed capturing the Texas government that he ordered the printing presses destroyed and thrown into the river. These presses had produced the first issues of the Telegraph and Texas Register newspaper, and, most recent, copies of the brand-new Texas Declaration of Independence. Colonel Juan Almonte was ordered to take fifty dragoons and scout out as far as New Washington and the pass at Lynchburg.28

  Houston’s army halted after dark to make camp at the homestead of Samuel McCarley. The troops were within three miles of the crucial forks in the road. Once again, they used the McCarley home’s fencing for firewood and cut sharp sticks to use in roasting their raw beef over the campfires. The march along the muddy road was resumed early the next morning, April 16. Captain Conrad Rohrer’s artillery and provision wagons led the procession this day due to the poor road conditions.

  About three miles from McCarley’s place and some fifteen miles east of Donoho’s home, the Texas Army finally reached the split in the road near the Roberts homestead. The time had come for “Old Sam” to show his true colors. Would he choose fight or flight? Captain Jesse Billingsley and other company leaders had already made their decision. “Many of us signed an agreement to support each other and take the road leading in the direction of the foe, whatever the order might be,” Billingsley wrote.29

  Colonel Sidney Sherman was certain that Houston would lead the men toward East Texas. He felt that Colonel Rusk used his influence to coerce the general to turn toward Harrisburg to fight. Houston did have fresh intelligence from Secretary Carson that U.S. regulars might be to his benefit if he did choose to head for the border. But “Old Sam” never commented to his subordinates on what his true plans were or if anyone influenced him. Captain Robert Calder, leading some of the advance guard, only commented later that he received an order to take the right-hand road. Houston may very well have let the will of his troops play in his favor by letting the masses move down the path of their choice. He commented later that only Rusk and George Hockley were familiar with his true plans. Captain William Heard and his orderly sergeant, Eli Mercer, said that word had been spread through the army that if Houston chose the left-hand road toward Nacogdoches “the volunteers would call out for a leader to go at their head to Harrisburg to meet the enemy.”30

  Regardless of who ultimately made the choice for the right-hand road, the fork in the road marked a pivotal point in the campaign for Texas. The leading companies moved right and they were followed by the baggage wagons, the artillery, and hundreds of foot soldiers. It was finally time to fight!

>   The little band of Texian musicians marched right amid shouts of joy throughout the ranks. Captain Amasa Turner of the regulars felt the turn toward Harrisburg to meet their enemy “revived our drooping spirits.”

  General Houston sent Major Williamson, commander of a ranger battalion, to ride ahead and find Captain William Kimbro’s company, which had been on detached duty for two weeks. They were to rejoin the main army as it headed for Harrisburg. The troops could only move as fast as the heavy Twin Sisters cannon could be hauled through the sloppy road bed. Houston soon found a new problem. His men were using two wagons and ox teams borrowed from one of the fleeing civilians, Pamelia Mann. She now confronted the general and told him her teams could only be used if the army was to continue on toward Nacogdoches. Houston had given her his word that morning that they were continuing in that direction.31

  The army had then turned right at the fork and proceeded on toward Harrisburg. Mrs. Mann was furious when she finally overtook the teams hauling the cannon with her oxen miles later.

  “General, you told me a damn lie!” she snapped. “You said that you was going on the Nacogdoches Road. Sir, I want my oxen!”

  “Well, Mrs. Mann, we can’t spare them,” Houston politely replied. “We can’t get our cannon along without them.”

  “I don’t give a damn for your cannon!” she barked. “I want my oxen!”