Alamo Traces

by Thomas Ricks Lindley

  A speedy reinforcement of the Alamo would be hampered by the lack of a general officer to coordinate relief activities and by the Texians’ delusional belief that two hundred men could hold out against Santa Anna’s two thousand soldiers. Regardless, a small number of patriots attempted to save Travis and his troops.

  Fifth Day — Saturday, February 27

  In the morning, at San Antonio, a party of Mexican solders, commanded by Lieutenant Manuel Manchaca, a member of the permanent second company of Tamaulipas cavalry and a San Antonio native, left the city for the Seguin and Flores ranches, southeast of the city on the San Antonio River, to collect corn, cattle, and hogs for Santa Anna’s mess tables. The ranches appear to have been selected because those families had sided with the rebels.11

  Sometime during the day, however, Fannin’s advance relief force, commanded by Captains John Chenoweth and Francis De Sauque, beat Manchaca to the punch and arrived at the Seguin ranch. The Texian troops quickly collected corn, cattle, horses, and mules for the trip to San Antonio. When the collection was finished, they rode back toward Goliad to wait for Fannin’s infantry and artillery at the Cibolo Creek crossing of the Bexar/Goliad road.12

  At Gonzales, Major Williamson continued to recruit men for the Gonzales ranger company. At that time the unit was probably nowhere near its authorized complement of fifty-six troopers. Still, other men appear to have joined the company by that date. They were John Cain, Isaac Baker, Freeman H. K. Day, William Dearduff, James George, William George, William Garnett, George W. Cottle, Thomas Jackson, William P. King, Claiborne Wright, Benjamin Kellogg, George Taylor, Edward Taylor, James Taylor, William Taylor, Andrew J. Sowell, Ben McCulloch, Benjamin Kellogg, and ______ Rigault, a Spanish Creole. Ben Highsmith may have been a member of the unit.13

  Weapons, ammunition, and provisions were collected. One government claim shows that Second Lieutenant Kimbell purchased fifty-two pounds of coffee at Stephen Smith’s store “for the use of the men that has volunteered to go to Bexar to the Relief of our Boys [at the Alamo].” At that point the coffee likely broke down to more than a pound per man for the ride to San Antonio.14

  Also, Fannin’s courier, Edwin T. Mitchell, probably arrived sometime that evening with Fannin’s request that the Gonzales men “effect a junction with him below Bexar, at a convenient point.” The Cibolo Creek crossing of the Goliad/San Antonio road, halfway between the two settlements, appears to have been the rendezvous location.15

  Fannin’s force, however, had other problems to attend to that day. Shortly after daylight, the command discovered their oxen had wandered off during the night and could not be located. Then a soldier arrived from Refugio with the news that Colonel F. W. Johnson’s small cavalry unit had been annihilated in an ambush. Only Johnson and two other men had escaped to report the centralist advance from Matamoros. After hearing the depressing report, one of Fannin’s volunteer captains requested, in the name of his company, that a council of war be called to reconsider the idea of reinforcing the Alamo. Fannin convened a meeting of the company officers. After a decision had been made, he wrote acting governor Robinson: “. . . The Council of war . . . unanimously determined, that, in as much as a proper supply of provisions and means of transportation could not be had; and, as it was impossible, with our present means, to carry the artillery with us, and as by leaving Fort Defiance without a proper garrison, it might fall into the hands of the enemy, with provisions, etc., now at Matagorda, Dimmitt’s Landing and Cox’s Point and on the way to meet us; and, as by report of our spies. . . . We may expect an attack upon this place, it was deemed expedient to return to this post and complete the fortifications, etc., etc.”16 The war council’s decision was a good one because a local Tejano, a Santa Anna loyalist, was at that time riding to Bexar to inform the general that Fannin and his men were on the road to San Antonio.17

  That afternoon Fannin, after having learned more of the enemy advance, again wrote Robinson and bemoaned: “. . . we hope that before this time the people have risen and are marching to the relief of Bexar & this post – but should the worst happen – on whose head should the burden of censure fall – not on the heads of those brave men who have left their homes in the United States to aid us . . . but on those whose all is Texas & who notwithstanding the repeated calls have remained at home without raising a finger to keep the Enemy from their thresholds – What must be the feelings of the Volunteers now shut [up] in Bexar?”18

  As Fannin wrote of his reinforcement concerns, Henry Smith, at San Felipe, issued an “Appeal to the People of Texas” that pleaded:

  I call upon you as an officer, I implore you as a man, to fly to the aid of your besieged Countrymen and not permit them to be massacred by a mercenary foe. I slight none! The call is upon ALL who are able to bear arms, to rally without one moment’s delay, or in fifteen days the heart of Texas will be the seat of War. . . . Do you possess honor? Suffer it not to be insulted or tarnished! Do you possess patriotism? Evince it by your bold, prompt and manly action! If you possess even humanity, you will rally without a moment’s delay to the aid of your besieged countrymen!19

  That morning a courier from San Felipe most likely rode into Mina (Bastrop) with the Council’s orders for Captain John James Tumlinson’s rangers to reinforce the Alamo. The messenger reported to Edward Burleson, the former commanding general of the volunteer forces at the storming of Bexar. The orders also contained instructions for Burleson “to organize the militia and to raise volunteers for the draft.”20

  Later that afternoon or evening, Tumlinson’s ranger company probably departed Mina for Gonzales to join the Gonzales ranger unit. The Mina rangers had been organized in mid-January 1836, the men enlisting for twelve months. A muster roll for the company does not exist, but other sources identify the following members: Captain John James Tumlinson, Lieutenant Joseph Rogers, Timothy McKean, William Johnson, Felix W. Goff, Robert Owen, James E. Edmiston, Joseph Cottle, Joseph Weakes, Hugh M. Childers, James Curtis Sr., James Curtis Jr., Gany Crosby, Joshua Gray, Thomas Gray, Novet Haggard, James Haggard, William Leech, J. G. Dunn, Andrew Dunn, and James P. Gorman. Other probable members were Robert E. Cochran, Lemuel Crawford, James Kenny, James Northcross, Charles S. Smith, James E. Stewart, and Ross McClelland.21

  That night at Bexar a “courier extraordinary” left to locate General Vicente Filisola, second in command of the Texas campaign, who was on the road to San Antonio. The rider carried a Santa Anna letter that reported events at San Antonio up to that date. Among other things, the Mexican general wrote: “From the moment of my arrival I have been busy hostilizing the enemy in its position, so much that they are not even allowed to raise their heads over the walls, preparing everything for the assault which will take place when at least the first brigade arrives, which is even now sixty leagues away. Up to now they still are stubborn, counting on the strong position which they hold, and hoping for much aid from the colonies and from the United States of the North, but they shall soon find out their mistake.” One has to wonder if Santa Anna had received a copy of Travis’s missive of February 24 that was addressed to “To the People of Texas & all Americans in the world.”22

  Sixth Day — Sunday, February 28

  The morning was cold at San Antonio, registering forty degrees shortly after daylight. The Tejano spy from Goliad arrived during the day and informed Santa Anna that a Texian force had departed Goliad for Bexar.23

  Later in the day Captain J. J. Tumlinson and his Mina rangers rode into Gonzales. Soon afterward, Major Williamson, Captains Martin, Smith, Seguin, Tumlinson, and Lieutenants Jackson and Kimbell probably conducted a council of war to determine the manner in which they would reinforce the Alamo. The officers appear to have decided that Martin, Smith, and Tumlinson would take the relief force to the Cibolo Creek crossing on the Bexar/Gonzales road, twenty miles east of the city. At that location they would wait for Fannin’s force. Seguin and his two men would ride to the Cibolo Creek crossing on the Bexar/Goliad road to rendezvous wi
th Fannin’s men and guide them to the Cibolo ford on the San Antonio/Gonzales road. The two ranger companies combined, including the returning Alamo couriers, appear to have totaled sixty men.24

  The Gonzales/San Antonio road running west from Sandies Creek

  Sometime later, probably late afternoon or evening, Captain Albert Martin, Captain John James Tumlinson, John W. Smith, and Juan Seguin departed Gonzales with fifty-six mounted men. One or two point men probably rode some distance in front of the force to detect any enemy horsemen that might be riding toward them on the same road. Three or four hours later the relief force reached John Castleman’s home at the intersection of the San Antonio road and Sandies Creek, about twenty miles west of Gonzales. Seguin, Antonio Cruz, and Matias Curvier split from the group and rode almost due south to the Cibolo crossing on the Goliad/Bexar road to intercept Fannin’s advance force. The Tejanos traveled on an old smuggler’s road that ran from the well-known water hole at Castleman’s to the mouth of Cibolo Creek. Captain Martin, Captain Tumlinson, Smith, and the other rangers continued west toward Bexar. They most likely reached “Forty-mile hole” on Ecleto Creek, about forty miles east of San Antonio, in late afternoon or early evening. They probably camped there for the night.25

  About the same time, Seguin and his men arrived at the Cibolo Creek crossing on the Bexar/Goliad road. Seguin wrote: “. . . I met, at the Ranch of San Bartolo, on the Cibolo, Captain Desac [sic], who, by orders of Fannin, had foraged on my ranch, carrying off a great number of beeves, corn, & c. Desac informed me that Fannin could not delay more than two days his arrival at the Cibolo, on his way to render assistance to the defenders of the Alamo. I therefore determined to wait on him. I sent Fannin, by express, the communication from Travis, informing him at the same time of the critical position of the defenders of the Alamo. Fannin answered me, through Lieutenant Finley, that he had advanced as far as ‘Rancho Nuevo,’ but, being informed Of the movements of General Urrea, he had countermarched to Goliad to defend that place. . . .”26

  Lieutenant Finley and an unknown number of men returned to Goliad with the provisions taken from the Seguin ranch. After the revolution, Erasmo Seguin, Juan’s father, filed a claim for “one hundred and twenty-five beeves, twenty-five fanegas of corn, two yoke of oxen, one cart, seven horses, and five mules” taken for Fannin’s command at Goliad.27

  At Goliad, Fannin and his remaining men were safely back in the old presidio that they had named “Fort Defiance.” John S. Brooks later wrote his mother: “Our situation became delicate and embarrassing in the extreme. . . . it was concluded to return to Goliad, and place the Fort in a defensible condition. We are hard at work, day and night, picketing, ditching, and mounting cannon, & c. We are hourly in expectation of an attack.”28

  Northeast of Goliad, Captain Philip Dimmitt arrived at his store and warehouse on Lavaca Bay at 8:00 p.m. that evening. He quickly sent a rider with a message to James Kerr who lived inland on the Lavaca River. Dimmitt reported the conditions surrounding his departure from the Alamo and closed with: “. . . On the 24th there was heavy cannonading, particularly at the close of the evening. I left the Rovia at 10:00 p.m., on the 25th, and heard no more firing, from which I concluded the Alamo had been taken by storm. On the night of the 24th, I was informed that there were from four to six thousand Mexicans in and around Bexar. [General Jose C.] Urrea was at Carisota, on the Matamoros road, marching for Goliad. If immediate steps are not taken to defend Guadalupe Victoria [Victoria, Texas—100 miles east of Bexar], the Mexicans will soon be upon our families.”29

  Time was running out, not only for the Alamo, but for the rest of Anglo-Celtic Texas. At San Felipe, John A. Wharton, Houston’s adjutant general, sent a rider to Brazoria, on the lower Brazos River, with a plea for Alamo relief. He wrote: “I advise all that live in the upper part of the Jurisdiction who can procure horses, to leave immediately for Gonzales. . . . I consider it unnecessary to make appeal to your patriotism, as the information from Bexar, speaks louder than words.” Still, Moseley Baker took his own good time in organizing a company to march to the Alamo. Lt. Colonel James C. Neill, however, moved quickly. He obtained six hundred dollars from Henry Smith and left for Gonzales.30

  Up the road at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where the March convention was to take place, William Fairfax Gray, a recent arrival from the United States, took notice of events. He observed that the weather was “cold and drizzling.” In regard to the Alamo, Gray wrote: “Another express is received from Travis, dated the 24th . . . An unconditional surrender had been demanded, which he had answered by a cannon shot. He was determined to defend the place to the last, and called earnestly for assistance. Some are going, but the vile rabble here cannot be moved.”31

  Seventh Day — Monday, February 29

  Sam Houston, commander-in-chief of the Texian military forces, arrived at Washington-on-the-Brazos to take a seat at the convention as a delegate from Refugio. Mr. Gray, who appears to have known nothing of Houston’s experiences in Texas, noted: “Gen’l Houston’s arrival has created more sensation than that of any other man. He is evidently the people’s man, and seems to take pains to ingratiate himself with everybody. He is much broken in appearance, but has still a fine person and courtly manners; will be forty-three years on 3rd of March – looks older.” Houston, instead of concerning himself with the organization of a relief force for the Alamo, met with John Forbes and prepared a report on the unnecessary treaty they had negotiated with the peaceful Indians of East Texas.32

  While Houston ignored the Alamo’s critical situation, Albert Martin, J. J. Tumlinson, and John W. Smith and their rangers, after riding from Ecleto Creek, probably camped on the Cibolo Creek ford, twenty miles east of Bexar—a five- or six-hour ride to the Alamo. That evening they readied their weapons, horses, and other equipment for the ride to the Alamo. Lastly, they probably had a cold supper to avoid detection by any enemy spies in the area. Sometime after sundown Martin and Smith departed the Cibolo with at least thirty-four men. It appears that Tumlinson and the Mina rangers decided to wait on Fannin before riding to the Alamo. A number of the Gonzales rangers also appear to have decided to wait on Fannin. Those individuals were First Lieutenant Thomas Jackson, Second Lieutenant George Kimbell, Andrew Kent, Abe Darst, Wash Cottle, Albert Fuqua, John Gaston, and Fannin courier Edwin T. Mitchell.33

  At Mina, Edward Burleson detached Thomas McGehee, Martin Walker, Andy Mays, David Heldeman, and Michel Sishum from Jesse Billingsly’s volunteer company to operate as spies to scout the San Antonio road between Mina and Bexar to give the Mina citizens quick notice of any enemy advance. McGehee commanded the scout detachment. They remained out in that service until March 20, when they joined Houston’s army at Beeson’s Crossing (Columbus) on the Colorado River.34

  In the Alamo that night, Travis, concerned that seven couriers had been sent out for assistance and not a single man had returned, put another man on the road to Gonzales. The rider was Samuel G. Bastian, a former resident of Alexandria, Louisiana, who probably departed shortly after dark for Gonzales “to hurry up reinforcements.”35

  On the Mexican side that night, Santa Anna posted the Jimenez battalion to the east side of the Alamo. Near midnight Santa Anna sent General Ramirez y Sesma with the Dolores cavalry and the Jimenez infantry to locate and attack Fannin’s force, which was supposed to be on the march to San Antonio. The general’s last words to Ramirez y Sesma were: “Try to fall on them at dawn in order that you may take them by surprise. In this war you know there are no prisoners.”36

  Eighth Day — Tuesday, March 1

  The first hours of the day found John W. Smith, Albert Martin, and thirty-four mounted men, after having crossed the San Antonio River someplace north of the town, positioned north of San Antonio on the west side of the river and about a thousand yards northwest of the Alamo. That approach to the Alamo appears to have been the only avenue to the fortress that was not obviously blocked by Mexican soldiers. The Texians were someplace above two sugarc
ane mills that were due west of the Molino Blanco, a gristmill on the river about eight hundred yards north of the Alamo. There was an enemy encampment at the Molino Blanco. A second Mexican detachment was located next to the Alamo acequia (irrigation ditch) eight hundred yards northeast of the old mission. Sam Bastian, who had left the Alamo the previous evening, had encountered the Gonzales men and joined them to enter the Alamo. Smith and Martin, however, were well acquainted with the area as they had entered the city from the Texian camp at the Molino Blanco during the storming of Bexar in December 1835.37

  Sometime before 3:00 a.m., with a cold norther blowing at their backs, the Texians edged their horses toward the Alamo across the San Antonio River. The rebels, however, before crossing the river, were detected by the Mexicans. The rangers probably rode into, if not over, an enemy encampment or a roving patrol. At that point, they probably made a run for the Alamo.38

  Sam Bastain, ______ Rigault, the Spanish Creole, and two other men were separated from the unit by enemy soldiers. Bastian described the event with these words: “. . . When near the fort we were discovered and fired on by the Mexican troops. Most of the party got through; but I and three others had to take to the chaparral to save our lives.” A fifth ranger, John Ballard, was also separated from the company. He, however, appears to have made his way back to the Cibolo ford. Otherwise, Martin, Smith, and thirty men rode into the Alamo at 3:00 a.m. that morning.39

  The norther, which probably included a dark sky and perhaps rain, served the mounted rangers well that morning. Gray, at Washington-on-the-Brazos, described the weather with these words: “In the night the wind sprung up from the north and blew a gale, accompanied by lightning, thunder, rain and hail, and became very cold. In the morning the thermometer was down to 33 degrees. . . .” At daylight in Bexar, Almonte reported that the temperature was thirty-six degrees.40