Juan Seguin

by Robert E. Hollmann

  Jim turned to Juan.” When will you have your company?”

  “I should have the men here in two days.”

  “Good.” Bowie turned back to Fannin. “I’ll have Juan and his men scout ahead of us. If there are any enemy soldiers there, he’ll find them.”

  Juan stood up. “I need to be going. I have to get the word to my men to come here. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  Jim waved as we walked out. “Good by, Juan. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  We mounted our horses and rode toward San Antonio. We rode in silence for several miles. Finally I turned to Juan.

  “Do you think the men will come?”

  Juan smiled. “I know they will. Texas is their home. They know that if Santa Anna takes over, it won’t be good for their families or themselves. Santa Anna is a bad man. Men like him only want what is best for themselves. They don’t care about the rights of others. We have to stop him. All these men will want to stop him.”

  We rode a few more miles, then Juan turned to me and yelled, “Come on. I’ll race you to the ranch.”

  * * *

  The next day we sat behind a table under a tree in Juan’s front yard. The men rode in by themselves or in small groups. Juan talked to them, and all of them signed the paper making them members of the army. I knew most of these men. They had grown up with Juan and me. We had ridden all over the country together. I was glad to have them on my side. I still remember their names: Juan Abamillo, Juan Badillo, Antonio Fuentes, Damiacio Jimenes, Toribio Losoya, and Andres Nava. Others whom I didn’t know also joined. It was getting late, and Juan stood up from the table.

  “It’s time to go, men. Let’s get mounted.”

  As we were walking toward our horses, a horseman rode into the yard. He walked his horse over to us and stopped. Juan looked at him.

  “Hello, Gregorio,” he said.

  Gregorio Esparza nodded to Juan. “I got here as fast as I could. My wife didn’t want me to come.”

  Juan patted Gregorio’s horse’s neck. “She was right, Gregorio. Your family needs you. Go on back to San Antonio.”

  Gregorio’s eyes clouded. “I’m not going home. My place is here. You haven’t been in San Antonio for a while, Juan. Ever since General Cos has brought the army to town, there’s been nothing but trouble. I don’t want my children raised in a place that’s ruled by the army. I’m here to do my part.”

  “I understand, Gregorio. But we can do what needs to be done. Go on home. Take care of your children. We’ll take care of General Cos.”

  Gregorio sat up straight in his saddle. “I’m not going home. I’m joining the army. If you don’t want me, I’ll go join Bowie or Austin. I want to be in your company, Juan. But if I can’t, I’ll find one that will let me join.”

  Juan shook his head and smiled. “All right, Gregorio. I’ll be happy to have you in my company. Well, let’s get mounted. We have to get back to Bowie.”

  Chapter Nine

  We rode into the Texan camp and found Jim Bowie sitting in a tent.

  “Juan. Glad to see you. I see you have your company.”

  Bowie shook Juan’s hand. “We’re ready to go, Jim. What do you want us to do?”

  Bowie pointed to a map sitting on his desk. “You know the old mission Concepcion?”

  Juan nodded.

  “Austin wants me to see what’s there. I think he’s going to attack General Cos in San Antonio. I want you and your men to scout the area before I move my troops up to the mission.”

  Juan looked at the map. “When do you want us to go?”

  Bowie coughed and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “Right now. I want to be there by tomorrow evening. Get up there and send word back as soon as you can.”

  Juan nodded. “We’ll leave right away. Jim, you need to se a doctor. That cough sounds bad.”

  Jim waved at Juan.” I just have a cold. I’ll wait to hear from you.”

  In a short time we were riding toward the old mission at Concepcion. We didn’t see anyone until we were close to the mission. An old man was driving a small cart that was being pulled by two donkeys. He stopped as we rode up.

  “Hello, Rico,” Juan said. “Where are you going?”

  The old man took off his hat and wiped his forehead. “I’m going to Gonzales. I have some goods I want to sell there.”

  Juan looked around the area. “Rico, have you seen any of General Cos’s soldiers around here?”

  The old man shook his head. “Not today. They’re busy in San Antonio. They’re making the old mission into a fort.”

  “Which old mission is that, Rico?” Juan asked.

  “The one just outside of town. The one they call the Alamo.”

  Juan nodded.” Oh yes. I know the one you’re talking about. That old place is in ruins.”

  “Yes, but it has strong walls. General Cos expects to be attacked by the Texans. Are you leading the army here, Juan?”

  “I’m just checking things out, Rico. Have a good trip to Gonzales.”

  We watched as the cart rode out of sight. Juan began to ride toward Concepcion. Soon we were standing next to the old mission. Several men checked the area and reported no enemy soldiers around. Juan called Gregorio Esparza over.

  “Gregorio, go back to Jim Bowie. Tell him everything is all right here. He can bring his men.”

  Gregorio rode away as Juan turned to the other men.

  “Set up a camp. Don’t build a fire. I don’t want the enemy to see the smoke. Pablo and I are going to see what’s going on in San Antonio.”

  I felt uneasy as we rode toward San Antonio. We stayed off the main roads and soon we were on a little hill looking down on San Antonio. The streets were filled with people going about their daily business. We rode a little closer and soon we could see the Alamo. Soldiers were working very hard to make the crumbling walls stronger. In the Alamo chapel we could see some men building a dirt ramp so they could fire cannon from the roofless church. We saw General Cos and his staff riding into the Alamo.

  “Well, Pablo. It looks like General Cos expects trouble real soon. We need to get back to the others. Bowie should be here before too long.”

  We rode back to camp in silence. I wondered to myself how a small, untrained army could hope to drive the strong force we had just seen from San Antonio. Juan must have been thinking the same thing, because he turned to me.

  “It looks like General Cos is building a strong fort. Maybe Austin should change his mind about attacking him there.”

  I started to answer when I saw a group of riders outlined against the sky. They were far away and I couldn’t tell who they were. Juan saw them too, and he stood in his saddle gazing at them. Suddenly a little breeze blew their flag. We could see they were enemy soldiers. It was a patrol searching the area for signs of Texans.

  “Just keep riding slowly,” Juan said. “Make them think we’re just ranchers out for a ride.”

  We looked at the enemy soldiers sitting on the small hill watching us. Their leader had a spyglass trained on us. I wanted to ride away as fast as I could. I looked at Juan. His face was calm, and he kept his horse at an even pace. It seemed like hours before the enemy leader gave an order and the soldiers rode away. After they had gone, Juan turned to me.

  “That was close. Come on, let’s get back to camp.”

  Juan raced down the trail as I rode as fast as I could to catch him.

  Chapter Ten

  It was the middle of the afternoon when Bowie and his men rode into our camp. We had seen no sign of the enemy since the patrol we had seen earlier. Bowie walked over to the campfire where Juan and I were talking.

  “Hello, Jim,” Juan said. “Pull up a clump of grass and sit down.”

  Jim sat down and placed his hands next to the fire. “It’s getting a little chilly,” he said as he looked at the sky. “Those clouds might bring some rain.”

  Juan nodded. “That might keep General Cos indoors. They were busy working on the Alamo. It looks l
ike that’s where they’re going to make their stand.”

  Jim took off his hat and scratched his head. “The best I remember that place, it was an old ruin. I never thought it would make much of a fort.”

  “Yes, it was a ruin. But they’ve done a lot of work. They’ve strengthened the walls and made places to put cannons. It won’t be easy to take it from them.”

  “Did you see any other troops?”

  “Pablo and I saw a patrol earlier. They saw us, but they didn’t come after us. I think they thought we were ranchers looking for cows. I’ve had my men scouting the area all afternoon. They haven’t reported any activity.”

  Bowie stood up and brushed off his pants. He adjusted the knife hanging from his belt.

  “Good. I’m going to put out some sentries. In the morning we’ll look around some more.”

  We watched Bowie walk away. Juan turned to me.

  “Come on, Pablo, let’s go find something to eat. We need to get to bed early. I think we’ll be busy tomorrow.”

  * * *

  I lay in my blanket looking at the sky. I had a hard time going to sleep. I kept thinking about the enemy soldiers we had seen. There were many more of them than there were of us. During the night a heavy fog moved in, and it was difficult to see more than a few yards in front of us. I hoped the sentries were awake. This would be good weather for the enemy to attack us.

  It was nearing dawn when I heard a sentry call out.

  “Who goes there?”

  Suddenly a shot was fired. I saw the flash of the gun through the thick fog.

  “The enemy is here!” someone yelled.

  Instantly the camp was awake. Men were running to get their guns and face the attack. More rifles began to fire. I heard the sound of the enemy bullets as they whistled above my head. I followed Juan as he ran toward the attacking enemy. We lay down behind a short fence and fired into the fog. The fog was so thick that we could only tell where the enemy was by waiting for the flash of their muskets. I could hear their officers yelling at their men. Juan said nothing. He loaded his rifle and fired as fast as he could. Suddenly, above the sound of the guns, I heard Jim Bowie calmly telling the men to stay down and take careful aim. His voice calmed me down, and I fired as soon as I had reloaded.

  Juan saw some of his men lying behind a small tree. He got up and ran through the enemy musket balls and moved the men to a better position. Then he ran back to join me. He was breathing heavily as he dove into the ground.

  “There’s a lot of them, Pablo,” he said. “I guess that patrol didn’t think we were ranchers.”

  I didn’t answer him. I was too busy shooting into the fog. We fought for several hours. It seemed much longer. Finally the firing began to die down. The fog still kept us from seeing much, so we lay where we were and waited for the enemy to attack again. At last the sun broke through the clouds and the fog faded away. We could see that the enemy had left. We carefully checked the area where the enemy had been and found a small cannon and thirty muskets. Luckily, most of our men had not been hurt. Bowie put out some guards in case the enemy came back, then he and Juan sat down to talk about what to do next.

  “I think we whipped them pretty good,” Bowie said. “I don’t think they’ll come back very soon.”

  “I agree,” Juan said. “We need to let Austin know about the fight. I think he needs to get his army up here as fast as he can.”

  “You’re right, Juan. Send one of your men back to Austin. Tell him to get here right away. We need to move into San Antonio and run General Cos back to Mexico before he gets more men.”

  Juan sent his messenger. We stood watching the man ride away.

  “Well, we sure whipped General Cos today,” I said. “I bet he won’t be too eager to attack us again.”

  Juan kept watching the rider disappear into the distance.

  “Pablo, this war is just beginning. I have a feeling that there are going to be many more battles before it’s over.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Austin moved his army to the area around San Antonio. As he had said before, Austin was not a soldier. He was not an effective leader. He tried, but the men were growing unhappy with his leadership. Juan kept us busy scouting the area around San Antonio. General Cos had moved his men into the Alamo. He was hoping for reinforcements to arrive. We checked the prairies to make sure the army would have plenty of notice if the enemy sent more troops.

  Juan sent some men as far away as the Rio Grande. One day a rider rode into camp. He found us sitting under a tree watching some cannons fire at the enemy troops in the Alamo. Juan stood up as the man walked toward us.

  “Andres, what’s the news?”

  The rider took a drink of water, then pointed toward the south.” There’s a pack train headed toward San Antonio. Some ranchers told me that it’s carrying gold to pay the troops in San Antonio.”

  Juan took off his hat and scratched his head. “Gold? Are you sure?”

  The man nodded. “The ranchers said the pack train had stopped at their ranch for water. The soldiers told them about the gold. The train is about twenty miles south of San Antonio.”

  Juan turned and began to walk away. “Good, Andres. Get some food and rest. Then get back to your post. I’m going to tell Austin about the gold.”

  Austin was talking to Jim Bowie when we walked up. Austin nodded to Juan.

  “Hello, Juan. I saw one of your men ride in. Did he bring news about more enemy troops?”

  Juan shook his head.” No. He brought news that’s more interesting.”

  Bowie looked up. “What would that be?” he asked.

  “There’s a pack train about twenty miles south of San Antonio. It’s carrying gold for the enemy soldiers.”

  The men’s eyes lit up at the mention of gold. Austin rubbed his chin. “Are you sure about the gold?” he asked.

  “Some ranchers told my man. The enemy got some water at their ranch and told them that the gold was for the troops in San Antonio.”

  Austin turned to Bowie. “Jim, I think we need that gold a lot more than General Cos does. Take some men and find that pack train. Bring the gold back here. We can buy the things we need then.”

  Jim stood up. “I’ll leave right now. I’ll get my men together.”

  Juan grabbed Jim’s arm. “I want to come with you. My men would like to get out of camp for a while.”

  “Sure, Juan. Glad to have you. Send a couple of them out ahead of us to find that pack train. We’ll leave in thirty minutes.”

  In a short period of time we were riding toward the pack train. Other men on foot followed us as fast as they could. A few miles out of town one of the scouts rode up and said the pack train was five miles ahead of us. We rode to a point where we were ahead of the pack train. We waited in some trees. Soon the men on foot joined us. Jim told Juan to take his men and move behind the enemy. Jim would charge from the enemy’s front, and we were to keep the enemy from running away.

  We moved to our position and waited for the pack train to appear. In a short time the pack train came into sight. It was moving slowly across the prairie. The soldiers guarding the train were talking to each other. They had no idea that we were waiting for them. When the train passed us, we moved into a position to block their retreat.

  We heard shooting coming from the front of the pack train. We could see smoke from the rifles and we could hear the shouts of the men. Soon some of the enemy soldiers began to run toward us. Juan yelled for us to follow him and charged the fleeing enemy. When the enemy soldiers saw us coming they left the mules and ran for their lives. In a short period of time they were out of sight. The pack mules were eating grass as we rode up to them. Soon we had rounded up the mules and had them standing in a line. Jim walked up to the first mule and pulled out his knife.

  “Let’s get a look at this gold,” he said as he sliced open the canvas pack.

  All of us watched him, eager to see the gold stream out of the pack. Jim reached into the pack and pul
led out a handful of grass. He held it up for the men to see.

  “Reach in deeper, Jim,” somebody called out.

  Jim reached deeper into the pack and pulled out more grass.

  “Try another one,” somebody yelled.

  Jim walked down the line of mules. He cut open every pack, but only found grass inside them. By the time he reached the end of the line, men were starting to laugh.

  “Well, Jim,” Juan said. “Looks like we won the grass fight.”

  Jim shook his head. “Yes, Juan. We better get back to Austin and tell him not to spend that gold yet. I guess General Cos’s horses are going to be hungry now.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Not much happened in the days following the grass fight. The army sat around San Antonio and fought every now and then with the enemy troops. General Edward Burleson had replaced Stephen Austin as commander of the troops. He ordered Juan to keep his men out on scouting duty. We watched for any signs of more troops coming, but we saw any more enemy forces.

  One of Juan’s friends, Ben Milam, came to see Juan one day. You could tell from his face that something was bothering him. He sat down next to Juan.

  “Hello, Ben. You look like something’s bothering you,” Juan said.

  Ben looked around to see if anyone was listening.

  “Juan, we’re wasting time sitting here. We should be attacking the Alamo. I’ve heard that Burleson has decided not to attack. If we wait too long, Santa Anna will be here and we won’t have a chance.”

  Juan shook his head. “I don’t know if we have enough men to take the Alamo. They have a lot of cannon. I think Burleson’s waiting for some more troops. Then he’ll attack.”

  “No he won’t, Juan. He’s looking for a reason to pull out. We need to go now. I came over here to ask you if you’ll back me.”

  “Back you in what, Ben?” Juan asked.

  Ben leaned in close to Juan. “I intend to lead some men into San Antonio. If Burleson doesn’t want to go, he can stay in camp. I want men like you and your company coming with me.”