Show direct from the field of glory on the of april the texiana Texi Tex ians ant under houston and strong had bad maneuvered so go as to get above and within some two miles and in sight of the mexicans under santa ana i who were 1270 strong and near down to the fork of the two rivers the brazos and sabine houston having the enemy thus snugly hemmed in had his little army drawn UP for the purpose of addressing it in person soldiers said he there is the enemy enem ydo do you want to fight yes I 1 was the universal shout well then said he let us eat our dinner and then I 1 will lead you into batt battle lel 1 they obeyed the order to eat and immediately thereafter at about 4 P M were marched to the attack they bore down upon the mexicans at the top of their reserving their fire until near enough to have every shot tell A hot engagement was kept up about twenty minutes when the mexicans began to break and retreat in great disorder and confusion the texiana carried all before them although they had bad but half the number of the mexicans and but two pieces of cannon of four pounds each while the enemy had a six and a nine yet in fifteen minutes after the engagement ga commenced mandof many of the eter mexicans called loudly for quarter cafter the rout of the mexicans houstons Hous tons men continued to follow up and pour in upon them for about two hours upwards of six hundred and fifty mexicans were killed and about six hundred taken prisoners ethere there wire were six or seven texiana killed and about twenty wounded generals cos coi and almonte were among the first prisoners taken the former was pale and greatly agitated but the latter displayed as he had done during the fight great coolness land courage santa ana fled among the earliest who retreated he was seen by two boys one about IS 15 and the other labout about 17 years of age to go into a thicket of woods they kept watch of the place during the night and i the next morning a man came out dressed like a common mexican soldier not suspecting him to be santa ana they took him prisoner he offered no resistance but wished to SAM HOUSTON be taken to general houston he was conducted to that officer when he be made himself known as santa ana asked the respect due 0 officers of rank and made the offers for his liberty which had been published by ELMO SCOTT WATSON W from the field of bl gloral 1 I B B such was the headline ay under which the mobile ala mercantile adverse T user carried the news story quoted in part above VI this excerpt Is taken from the book america goes to press the news of yesterday written by laurence greene and published recently by the dobbs merrill company the field of glory to which it refers was that of san jacinto Jacl nto the one hundredth anniversary of which is being observed this month as a part of the texas centennial celebration br atlon during that time the name of sam houston again will be hung flung against the stars orators again will heap praises upon him as the hero of 0 san jacinto Jacl nto and the savior of texas they will tell again how he vanquished santa anna the mexican dictator as though it adds to the stature of 0 their hero by calling him the conqueror of that self styled napoleon of the west which lie Nas nt much bettor better might they call houston the washington of the west which he was to do that of course would involve recognition of the unpleasant fact that this virginian like he his great predecessor was success successful fol in a fl light for liberty k THE BAT LE OF SAN JACINTO from the painting in the state capitol at austin almost ai as binch DESPITE his compatriots as he was BECAUSE of 0 them it if you doubt that statement read the biography of 0 houston the raven also published by the bobbs company which won for its author marquis james a pulitzer Pull tzer prize in 1930 in it you will learn that houston comma commander ader ln in ch ahlet let of an army of liberation in 1830 had to contend with the same difficulties which constantly harassed george washington commander ln in cliplef of the forces fighting for american liberty in 1776 jealousy bickering lack ot of operation cooperation co indecision inadequate supplies divided authority an untrained and undisciplined army he struggled against all of these handicaps just as washington had that he was able to overcome them all and against a superior force to win the overwhelming victory that lie he did adds to the brilliance of his achievement and makes san jacinto a field of glory indeed houston first went to texas in 1832 in that year gen antonio lopez de santa anna overthrew the gover government ariment of president bustamente and on april 1 1833 the american settlers in texas held a convention at san felipe to propose to the new president of mexico that texas be made a separate state but when stephen F austin the ifa father of texas went to mexico city to lay the conventions request before the new president he immediately threw austin in jail and made clear his costill hostility ty toward the idea of texan autonomy the imprisonment of austin and the attitude of the mexican dictator toward tits his american subjects in texas soon fanned their resentment into a determination to r revolt evolt talk of independence was in the air but houston who had played a leading part in the san felipe convention joined austin in his counsel to keep quiet discountenance all revolutionary measures or men because as he declared they would be likely to plunge texas into a bloody struggle with mexico before she was prepared for it but the pressure was too strong upon him and late in 1835 when the committee of vigilance and safety commissioned him commander in chief of the forces of the department of nacogdoches Nacogdoch es lie issued a call for recruits in texas to join our ranks with a good rifle and rounds of ammunition lie ile next nest went to washington on the brazos where a convention was held on november 3 1833 it elected houston commander ln in calef of the texas armies having no confidence in raw volunteers hastily assembled as an army he immediately began making plans for a well drilled body of troops before attempting a test of strength with the forces which santa anna would soon be leading into texas san antonio de bexar was held by general cos with a force of 1400 mexicans at concepcion Concep clon were less than texans kesans commanded nom R G E N del e ND B C 1 ap R 1 fit I 1 01 SAN SAN JACI JACINTO SAW 21 anally by edward burleson but actually under the joint command of 0 james baale and james W fannin despite houstons Hous tons recommendation to fannin that lie wait until artillery nere ere available fannin Ian declared that with 20 wen men he could take the place by storm ills his army anny shared that belief too so so when hen a veteran plainsman raised the hie cry of go into bexar with old lien milani men volunteered and stormed the town in face of artillery thre was killed and the command passed to francis W johnson five days later cos surrendered texas went wild over the vie tory and said that the war was over burleson who had said that bexar could not be taken milt without hout artillery resigned and went home johnson was elected commander the recruits flocked to the leaders who had covered themselves with glory at san antonio de bexar that victory had been a blow to houstons Hous tons prestige and a movement to displace him as ln in chief took form fortunately that movement Dt did not succeed although houston soon found himself in tho the position of being commander of 0 an army that did pretty much as it pleased urged thereto by james grant a scottish surgeon whose mines south of the SANTA ANNA rio grande had been seized by the mexicans plans were made for two detachments to march south to attack matamoras a mexican town on the south bank of the rio grande the theory was that by doing so they could turn the flank of santa annas army when it invaded texas but the proponents of the scheme failed to realize that their force was totally inadequate both in numbers and training for such a job houston protested strenuously against such a foolish move even though the provisional council of texas approved it two terrible disasters later were the direct result of their ignoring his advice santa anna was not expected to invade texas until spring but in january houston learned learne d that the mexican dictator had already crossed the rio grande and was advancing rapidly toward san antonio lie de bexar lie he sent james bowle bowie who was at goliad with anith a small force to bexar with instructions to demolish the fortifications remove all tile the cannon blow up the alamo and abandon the place bowle bowie started to do this but soon afterwards houston through the intrigues of johnson and grant was deposed as comma commander P der I ln n calef L and james W fannin made head of the army realizing zing the futility of struggling against this military cabal houston set out for washington on the bruyns and when the texas declaration of independence was signed on march 2 sam houston was the john hancock of the occasion his lowing flowing autograph as bold as eier eer on march 4 the convention again elected houston commander in chief of its armies in the meantime events were marching to a tragic conclusion at san antonio bowle bowie instead of obeying houstons Hous tons orders to blow up the alamo and abandon the place had chosen to remain there with aleut col william B travis who commanded a detachment of men on february 24 santa annas army appealed and laid siege to tile the place the rest Is history liow how travis bow boale ie bonham Bou liam davy crockett and the rest fought against overwhelming odis odds until march 6 when the end came for thermopylae had its messenger of defeat the alamo had none by that time houston had started for gonzales and had sent word to fannin who had built fort dt n ance at goliad collad to join him arriving in gonzales on march 11 houston found himself in command of an army of only men with only two cannon that would shoot ile he immediately started drilling the men but was interrupted by the arrival of two mexicans with the story of the alamo beeping keeping the tj ie news from his men the commander busied himself with recruiting until his army had grown to BOO men again he sent orders to fannin to blow up his useless fort and retreat then the news of the alamo disaster leaked out and panic spread through the town and the army moreover yord came fro from m santa anna that the fate of tile the men in the alamo would be the fate of all texans found in arms against his authority for the first time they realized that theirs was a fight to the death with only the small force at his disposal houston knew that any attempt to stand his ground and awalt await santa annas onslaught would be fatal there was only one thing to do and he resolved to do it he would retire to east texas gathering men as he went and try to lure the enemy into dividing his forces in pursuit then he might have a chance to beat them in detail before they could concentrate against him it was the hie old napoleonic strategy which ho he was proposing to use against this napoleon of 0 the west so that retreat which has become one of the epics of american history began to read the story of it is to recall some of the campaigns of washington in the revolution ol the resemblance Is striking and gives further point to catling sam houston the washington of the west 11 during that retreat houston dictated to his aide maj george W hockley an order to maj william T austin to hasten to the coast find some artillery and rejoin the army on the colorado in twelve days time houston meant to fight m and the fight would be on ground of his own choosing but the retreat did not end at the colorado for the panic which had started among the people of texas as santa anna advanced spread to the newly elected government officials fici als they hastily abandoned washington and established the seat of government at harrisburg despite the discouraging ing moral effect of this action houston managed to hold bold his army together and even gain recruits until his army numbered some 1400 men poorly equipped NIt without hout artillery but eager for battle then came more disheartening news fannin had been attacked attached at golland defeated and most of his men slaughtered after they had surrendered enraged by this news houstons Hous tons men demanded that they be led against general detachment tach ment of santa annas army Z F h ON THE RETREAT houston dictating to hockle hockley y the order for major austin to get artillery which was camped across the colorado river houston not only refused but ordered the retreat continued by now there was mutinous talk in the army and a growing demaud that houston be deposed from command for throe three terrible dis das houston drove the stumbling column through gli the unrelenting rain advancing only 18 miles on march 31 he halted in a bottom by the brazos with demoralized and mutinous men remaining of the 1300 lie had led from the colorado five fire days before sam houstons Hous tons rain soaked and rebellious mob was tile the republics solitary hope bope menaced by four mexican columns sweeping forward to enclose its front hanks flanks and rear rear however the rain which soaked the texans also delayed the mexicans and gave houston the time lie he needed to whip his mob into some semblance of wn an army in the meantime his long awaited guns had arrived two six the gift of friends in cincinnati with santa anna in pursuit he continued to f fall a 11 back until at last his masterly retreat ended ou on the banks of the san jacinto river then when santa anna divided his forces lious hous tons great opportunity came the result was that field of glory the battle of san jacinto Jacl nto western union |