San Antonio, Texas - San Antonio De Bexar : a Guide and History (part 3 of 5)

For several years lliere have been factions, each having a different opinion as to the proper node of settling this question as to the ownership of the Works. For a long time j^revious to iss,') attacks on the validity of the contract were constant from certain cpiarters. This, however, was temporarily set at rest by an exhaustive opinion by Mr. S. G. Newton, who was City Attorney in that year. He decided : " I am of the opinion that the City Administration was authorized under its Charter to make the contract, and that the contract contains no provisii)ns that invalidate it." Others again now advocate that the City should condemn the property. This policy could not be defended upon any just ground, for it behooves a City Council or Corporation to be as just and honest as the individual. The purchase of the Water Works is, as we go to press, the burning question of the hour. An offer from the San Antonio Water Works to sell the Works for 82,()()(),0()0 is before the people. Mayor Callaghan with characteristic foresight is strongly in favor of the purchase. Being a man of progress and having in view first and foremost the best interests of the City, he urges upon the citizens the necessity of a system of sewers. Such a work he argues cannot be economicall}' carried out unless the control of water is in the hands of the owners of the system of sewers. Water is indispensable to the best systems. "Recognizing," he says, "the growing needs of the citizens for proper sewage works," he held, "that a water supply was of utmost necessity and consideration, and to this end he would urge the purchase of the Water Works plant." The citizens trust him. Nothing he has done has forfeited this confidence. He has done nnich to win it. Yet no one knows better than he that from some quarters he will get hard knocks for his pains. No one cares less for hard knocks when he thinks himself to be in the right. It is this independent and progressive spirit that has earned for him a long lease of the Ma3'or's seat. A lease that is not likely soon to expire unless he seeks or has thrust upon him the honor of representing this district in the National Congress. His influence is almost an assurance that the purchase will be favorably voted upon by the citizens on September .')Oth. It has been shown how on a former occasion, the citizens b}' opposing a far.seeing Mayor (Thielepape in 1<S72), upon a similar question, in a great measure sowed the seeds of the harvest that to-day has to be gathered. It is wisest to make the best of the crop as it stands.

It is not within the scope of this sketch to discuss the financial aspect of the question. But it occurs that the Water Works enjoys a large income (which has hitherto been spent in developing), therefore the purchase could not actually be a burden on the City^ although theorists would try so to prove. Not to mention the value of Real Estate which the offer includes. Many of the City's influential men favor the project. The question is to be decided by a vote of the tax-payers, on September .".Oth, ISDO. Mr. Brackenridge in a recent interview, expressed himself decidedly as follows :

"Now, the stockholders, after sowing for thirteen years, with the hope of ultimately harvesting, think it a little hard that their large expenditure of patience and money should be met by public clamor, as though they had perpe- trated some great wrong upon the community, instead of having added a vahiable and necessary property to the City. Yet they believe strongly in the justice of mankind and feel confident that the stockholders of the Water Works will l)e permitted to reap the benefits which they feel are due them. Should it ba considered necessary for the public good to deprive them of their property, and rights under their franchise, they think they will be honestly and fairly dealt with."

" The Water Works were constructed in 1877, at a time when the City was unwilling or unable to do anything, and the citizens would have nothing to do with the scheme, giving it neither countenance nor credit, believing that it would be a very great advantage to the city, and of little benefit to the stockholders. These were, I believe, the views entertained by very nearly all the citizens, including myself. At present the Company is completing what the stockholders hoped would be the last large addition in the plant, necessary to be made during the continuance of its contract with the city. I can say truly, that, so far, they have received less interest on their investment than any citizen in San Antonio would be willing to accept, even upon the most undoubted and infallible investment. There has been paid them less than 2 per cent, per annum upon the amount invested to the present time. For the first seven years the officers contented themselves to work without salaries. I traveled over the country at my own expense to make contracts for pipe and material."

These articles on the Head of the River and the Water Works are inserted in this work in the belief that, whether the vote goes for or against the purchase, the historical matter they contain will be of more than mere passing interest.

To lliosc thai arc aflc-ctcd witli throat and luni;- troubles, San Antonio and its vicinity nndouhtcdly stand i)rc'-cniinent in interest at tlie head of the list of the health resorts of this continent: its jnire and dry air, and the facilities its neii^hhorhood affords for obtainint; varied tenii)eratures, in the hi.^di lands North, or the low lands vSonth to suit the subject or case, are advantages which speak for themselves.

The editor of this Guide was anxious to obtain what he felt to l)e a disinterested estimate of these advanta^^es, and found it when least expecting it; he gives an old ojnnion. but he feels it to be the better for the thirty )-ears during which it has been ])ut to the proof. It stands as just to-day as when it was written, and has ever^'thing to recommend it to health-seekers. It is to be regretted that it does not touch upon one important item, the northers. Our northers have been much noised about, and the rapid changes that these boisterous visitors cause during our short winter, have been much objected to. The writer's eight years of experience has taught him that their bark is far worse than their bite; that in the severest stress it is never quite so cold as it seems; the wind is certainly trying as long as it lasts, but out of the wind, and you are out of the Norther. They are easily avoided if an invalid desires to do so, all one has to do is to kee]5 indoors, they are invariably of short duration, lasting three or four days at most at a time: they come very suddenly, it is true, but they assudddenly leave, and it should be remembered by visitors that they always come from a northerly direction, necessarily therefore, from a much colder climate than our own Sunny South. The longer one lives in Texas the better he likes the Northers; they are to a Texan an impersonation almost of everything that is bracing and invigorating, and they are oftener welcomed with a leap and a whistle than met with complainings.

Tlie extracts that follow further on, are from a letter written many years ago by an invalid who had sought San Antonio as a health resort, and who apparently found relief. The letter was published as far back as 18o,S in the New Orleans Crescent. It furnishes, an unbiased and independent opinion by one who had had much exjierience, of the restorative ({ualities of the climate of San Antonio, all the more unbiased and telling if it is considered that the climate was at that time pa.ssing thrcnigh its probationary period, and that to-day, more than thirty years after. San Antonio stands unchallenged as a resort, unequalled tor restorative qualities for lung and throat troubles. The letter is given almost as it stands in the old file, only such paragraphs are eliminated as speak disparagingly of certain malarial districts of Southea.st Texas, of the .stages, "which are running daily and weekly" [and which have long ago given i)lace to the iron horse,] and of the "white lime dust that is confined entirely to the business portion of San Antonio, and which does not affect the outskirts, which present within an area of six miles the best situation which I have seen for the enjoyment of pure air, and cool and refreshing breezes." This "white lime dust" has never existed to the younger generation in San Antonio, and is an utter impossibility in the business portions of a now important city, which are paved, some, with mesquite blocks, some, macadamized, and all kept thoroughly well sprinkled.

The writer is spoken of as being "a citizen of Mobile, and has no other interest in the subject matter than to disseminate truth for the general benefit."

The superiority of the climate of Western Texas over that of other sections, which have heretofore been resorted to for the cure of pulmonary diseases is certainly very great. To me it is the most important feature which Texas presents. I have experienced to a limited extent its curative influence; and, from what I have seen, felt, and heard of it, I am induced to believe that if fully understood and appreciated b}^ the country at large. Western Texas would speedily become the most favored resort on the Continent for persons afflicted with diseases of the throat and lungs.

As far back as I can remember the Medical Faculty of the United States have been in the habit of recommending patients afflicted with pulmonary disease to cross the ocean, or take a trip on the sea - to visit Cuba, or take up their residence in Florida, or some other Southern state. The discovery of Gold in California led to the discovery of the beneficial effects of the rarified atmosphere of the plains on pulmonary diseases. Many cases of laryngitis, bronchitis and of confirmed consumption were said to have been entirely cured by crossing the Continent to California. The facts sustained by reports received since from the interior of Asia, have roused the Medical Faculty, and the result is that the most intelligent of them now believe that sea breezes and humid atmosphere are very injurious in cases of pulmonarj^ disease, and that the best localities for them are those where rarified atmosphere prevails.

Such localities are not to be found near the Atlantic or Gulf coasts. The atmosphere there is necessarily humid and of course too heavy for the weak lungs of a consumptive to respire with ease. It is also impregnated with salt which is extremely irritating to the throat and lungs. It is said that in the interior of Cuba and of Florida, this irritating atmosphere does not exist. This may be correct, but in its stead is a malarious atmosphere which keeps the consumptive in continual fever and thits accelerates his disease. Humidity, too, in both Cuba and Florida, cannot be otherwise than great. The water which surrounds them and is held in their soils and on their surfaces is sufficient to prove this. In fact, there is no place in the Gulf or Carribbean sea, nor within one thousand miles of our Atlantic coast, that presents so favorable a climate for those who are afflicted with pulmonary disease as Western Texas. I know this to be true. I speak from experience.

I'or lIuvL- years l)Ltorc my arrival in Western Texas, I was afflicted with larvn^itis. Duriiii; that jK-riod I tried various localities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, anil in the interior of l-Morida and other states, and I found that the farther I removed from the sea. and from lakes, ponds, swamps, and rich cultivated soils, the better I felt. Wlien exposed to winds which blew over swamps, river bottoms, or still bodies of water, I invariably experienced a choking? sensation. At all times and in all i)laces I suffered in proportion to the humidity of the surrountlinj; atmosphere. So .sensitive was my throat to dampness that I could tell the apjiroach of rain, even before there was any apparent indication of it in the heavens. When the atmosphere was dense and heavy with moisture, my throat was cloi^i^ed with mucus; hut when it was dry, the mucus did not cling with such tenacity to the membrane, and there was le.ss of it. This, together with my experience in medical remedies, induced me to believe that nothing but a dry, rarified atmosjihere would restore the mucous membrane of the larynx to healthy actit)n. Unfortunately for me, I was not governed by that discovery until the di.sease had reached my lungs. After being confined to my bed three months, on the coast, I .set out for San Antonio. On my arrival there I was very weak and feeble, .suffered much from pain in my lungs, and was not able to do anything which re([uired any physical strength.

I am now, after a lapse of two months, able to walk two miles without being fatigued, and can write about three hours each daj-. This improvement I attribute to the purer, dry, light atmo.sphere which prevails here the greater part of the time. My improvement, however, has not been so rapid as that of many others of whom I have heard. This may be in consetiuence of difference in the natural strength of constitution. **********

That the atmosphere is usually dry and light there can be no doubt. The intense, piercing heat of the sun, the (juick changes of rain clouds from black to white, and their sudden expan.sion as they pass over the land towards the West, together with many other things, such as the impo.ssibility of producing mildew, etc., prove it. ********

If the atmosphere here .should not prove to be dr}' enough for particular cases, excellent facilities are afforded for removal westwardly where the rarefaction increases in proportation to the distance traveled towards the "Colorado Desert," which affords the lightest and driest atmosphere on the Continent. If the temperature .should be too high for other ca.ses a lower temperature can be foinid by proceeding northwardly to the mountainous country. At a distance of seventy miles is Frederick.sburg, which, according to its elevation above and distance from San Antonio, is, in temperature, efpial to .seven and two-thirds degrees further north. And there are many other places of much greater altitude within one hundred and fifty miles of San Antonio. *****

It is not change of temperature which the consumptive needs, but a light, dry atmosphere, free from irritating and feverish influences." * * *

Remarking upon this letter. Dr. Cupples said: "That is, I think, a pretty fair estimate of the case, for a layman. He did not know enough about the subject to speak quite correctly, for instance, salt is not irritating to the throat and lungs in such a form, that is to say, naturally in the air, and it corrects the humidity, which is an advantage. I believe the summer heat is .somewhat injurious, not so much on accoiuit of its intensity, but the duration of it - it becomes wearisome to an invalid. The northers need not be considered - they are not really so cold as they seem, and as you say, they are invigorating and bracing, especially to those acclimated. San Antonio is a desirable winter resort for invalids. The winter climate is good. As to northers, if anyone is afraid of them - there being always a warning before a norther - it is easy to avoid them by staying indoors. The advantages of our climate are, freedom from colds, and the fact that all of our houses are freely and naturally ventilated, the average weather permitting all of our windows and doors to be left constantly' open, insuring pure air."

In presenting any remarks on the subject of this title, in a work of the present character, it is important to avoid injudicious exploiting and rash statements.

The following observations aim simply to describe the face of the country as it actually is, and not to draw immature bills on the future or to anticipate, by one jot, the prosperity it is destined to enjoy. Many statistics have been purposely avoided, and the reader is presented with an idea of the country, which is the fruit of ten years' journeyings throughout its length and breadth.

This article must be confined to some of the Resources of Western Texas. The title is both vast and vague. For the Resources are but partially known and still less developed, whilst the region itself is a somewhat indeterminate Geographical expression.

As a fair >;cncrali/ali()n \vl- will discuss tiie 0()unlr\- l\ini; west of the Colorado. H\- a j^lancc at the map, this will be seen to be a j^^rcat jdaiii, slo])in<; from the northwest to the southeast, and drained by the followini; |)rinci])al rivers, ilowiuL; - with the exception of the tributaries of the Kio (irande - in the direction indicated. They are the Colorado, Concho, vSan Saba, Llano and Perdenalis, (lUadalujie and vSan Marcos, the vSan Antonio and Medina, the hVio, vSabinal, Xueces, Los Moras, vSan hVlipe, Devil's River, the Pecos and Rio Orande.

Nearly all these streams head in bold .springs of the clearest water, who.se banks are of great natural l)eauty and who.se volume never varies.

In tile lower counties, the hVio, Sabinal and Nueces sometimes disappear from the surface in extremely dry weather. They, however, continue to flow underground and alwaj's maintain abundant pools for stock and other purjjoses. These valleys are agricultural - more e.specially the eastern ones - and with occasional irrigation, such as is practiced at San Antonio and some points on the Rio Grande, might become the granary of the continent.

All of this immense territory has more or less intimate relations with the City of San Antonio de Bexar, which has ever, been the nursing mother of its phenomenal growth.

So true a parent has San Antonio been to this region, that, even within the past ten years, happenings and belongings anywhere within its borders have always had a local savor in the streets of " Santone." Was it a cattle trade or a round-up ? a death or a wedding ? all the way from here to Kl Paso or eke the coast or the Lower Rio Grande, the i)arties and incidents were discussed with quite a personal interest and knowledge. And .so it is to some extent to-day.

The evolution of this broad land has been .somewhat after this manner : Twenty years ago the country was a rolling prairie, with occasional islands of timber giving in places a park-like appearance to the landscape, and under thc-^e clumps of Live Oak, Hackberry or Mesquite, the stock of many owners gathered for .shade and rumination. The valleys and caiions which we have already described were filled with a thicker growth of Pecan, Kim, Cyi^ress and Cedar, the trees festooned with wild grapes and other vines. There are, too, great belts of Post Oak.

The roads were prairie trails of immense width, crossing the streams at fords which, sometimes, were not fordal)le. The.se roads led by stage .stands, frontier posts and villages and to the small ports on the coast. There were daily stages North, South, liast and West, and endless wagon trains, drawn by many oxen and mules and driven by ]>ictures(iue Mexicans armed to the teeth, with a viewto Indians.

The outgoings and incomings of these wayfayers made neighbors of the whole province of their travels, even far into Mexico, whose trade with Texas has alwavs been extensive.

After a while came the stoppage of the prairie fires, from the increased value of the nutritious mesquite grass, and the consequent rapid growth of the mesquite underl^rush, which now nearl}' covers the middle portion of the district, affording more protection for stock and an edible bean for both cattle and horses. The various kinds of cacti also became much more luxuriant.

In the seventies, fencing began in the South, but this revolution of the stock interests from the primitive "round-up" only fairly set in during the eighties, and at the present time it is almost complete in the more desirable pasture lands.

Formerly the Colorado was thought to mark the western limit of farming in Texas. Undoubtedly the seasons have improved with the country, and vice versa, for farming is now carried on, even without irrigation, throughout the territory imder discussion, cotton, corn, wheat, oats, millet, sorghum and sugar cane being raised in more or less abundance.* With irrigation the agricultural wealth of this coinitry would be incalculable, and at a very conservative estimate would maintain in affluence and humble comfort 20,000,000 people. The present population of this section is certainly not one-twentieth of that number.

The general character of the country is still pastoral and the staples are cattle, sheep, horses, wool and hides. On the coast are extensive oj'Ster and other fisheries, particularh^ the delicate red fish, a dainty denizen of the lagoons.

The City of Austin is engaged in a gigantic scheme for a dam on the Colorado, estimated to cost nearly $1,500,000. There is a fine site at Columbus, on the same River.

On the Guadalupe are innumerable opportunities to establish power, especially at New Bravmfels and Seguin. A fine power is already established at San Marcos, and also at Marble Falls.

* To produce such crops implies a varied soil, limestoue hills, alluvial valleys, wide stretches of sandy loam and " black waxy,'' deep river bottoms and in the Post Oaks and Black Jacks some sandy and gravelly lands, These are the soils of Western Texas.

t Wool - 1875, 300,000 pounds ; 1876, 400,000 pounds ; 1877, it suddenly sprang to 2,287,241 pounds. This increase was probably owing to the increase of flocks and to the new railroad facilities of San Antonio. The shipments have steadily grown year by year to the present large market of ISStt.

X 12,000 bales local wagon receipts, including country consignments by rail would probably amount to 20,000 bales, and the amount of cotton handled b% San Antonio merchants, by order and otherwise, would not be less, say, than a total of 120,000 bales. The Mexican cotton trade was almost the only cotton business here for the years previous to 1881. In this year the Mexican market was 5000 bales and the next season shows the first notable increase in the San Antonio market, on account, probably, of new railroad facilities.

Coal-mines are heinj; e\tensi\ely worked at Ivi^le Pass and Laredo, on the frontier, and in tiie \icinity of vSan Antonio. There is also a fine .seam in the ICaj^le Sprint; Mountains, near the junction of the .Southern and Texas Pacific Railways.

Iron ore of i;reat purity and inexhaustible (piantity is found at Llano with a fine Lime-Stone fiux inunediately adjacent. In the same neighborhood and surrouiuling counties are many beautiful marbles and granite of the hardest texture. Good clay of various colors is abundant and ])rick-making is extensively carried

In Uvalde county are deposits of guano and kaolin ; asphaltura has been found in many localities, and lately while boring for artesian water in San Antonio and its neighborhood, both natural gas and oil have been found.

Of the precious metals, Silver is being worked in pa}-ing quantities in the Chinati mountains. This Range, as well as the Chisos and Diabolo abound in Galena ore, rich in Lead and Silver.

There are also strong indications of Copper, Iron and Coal in this mountainous country of the extreme West, but from inaccessability and lack of transportation, the subject has not received adequate attention. A geological surveyof the state is now being made under the direction of Prof. Dumble, of Austin, from which much additional light is hoped.

Of the Fruits of Texas, the most successful are the Fig, Vine, Peach and Mulberry. Melons of all sorts and varieties grow to perfection, together with the usual vegetables - maturing early, and, in fact, with care, a garden may be maintained all the year around.

This brings us to say a few words about the climate : - There are perhaps twenty days in the year, on an average, that a man cannot work out of doors. The heat of summer is tempered b}- a breeze from the Gulf which fans the whole country by .'> o'clock in the afternoon, an hour which would otherwise be the hottest part of the day. The nights are always cool, and at an elevation of 1,500 feet a blanket is needed the summer through. The official mean temperature, Post of San Antonio is : - Summer, 82.4o° ; Winter, ol.G7° ; Rainfall 24 to 36 inches.

In the Winter the northers are disagreeable while the}- last, as their duration is generally not longer than fort3'-eight hours, the objection is slight.

The climate is a good one, and in conjunction with the country we have been briefly describing, will in a few years rear a people which will have the controlling voice in all our dealings with our neighbors to the South, and, growing as it must, in culture as in material wealth, it will be a people of ideas, and yet not lose that resourceful Western character which disposes of obstacles b\' destroying them and dissolves difficulties in a solution of success.

As for those who come to the land and grumble that everything is not achieved, let them remember, that, in that event, there would be nothing left for them to do.

List Of Charters Of The City Of San Antonio

Moreover, the generation passing away, has done all the hard work. Pioneer heroism has finished its self appointed task. The battle of barbarism and lawlessness has been fought. The Indian and the outlaw are almost extinct and the institutions of our fathers are established.

We may enter upon our inheritance in peace, and, in its literal sense, the dweller in Western Texas may sit under his own Vine and Fig-tree, fanned by the cool Gulf breeze, and thankfully murmur to the Goddess of plenty.

January'.), IS 11, to April IS. 1S42 - Mayor, Juan X. vSeguin (died vSepteniber, 1S")(), at X\nv Laredo. From August 17, 1841, to September 7, 1S41, Francis Guilbeau, Mayor pro tem.).

Charter Election

1 K peculiarities were (iuills, San Antonio de Bexar would be a rare porcupine. ^ Over all the round of aspects in which a thouj^htful mind nia\' view a city, it liristles with striking- idiosyncracies and bizarre contrasts. Its history, population, climate, location, architecture, .soil, water, customs, costumes, horses, cattle, all attract the stranger's attention, either by force of intrinsic singularity or of odd juxtapositions.

San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, had its birth in 1715. It was, indeed, born before its time, in consequence of a sudden fright into which its mother, Spain, was thrown by the menacing attitudes of certain Frenchmen, who, upon other occasions besides this one, were in those da3^s very much what immortal Mrs. Gamp has declared to Mrs. Harris "these steam-ingines is in our business," a frequent cause of the premature development of projects. For Spain had not intended to allow any .settlements, as yet, in that part of her province of the New Philippines which embraced what is now called Texas. In the then situation of her affairs, this policy was not without some reasons to support it. She had valuable possessions in New Mexico ; between these possessions and the French .settlements to the eastward, intervened an enormous breadth of country, whose obstacles against intruders, appalling enough in themselves, were yet magnified by the shadowy terrors that haunt an unknown land. Why not fortify her New Mexican silver-mines with these sextuple barriers, droughts, deserts, mountains, rivers, savages, and nameless fears ? Surely, if inclosure could be made impregnable, this would .seem to be so ; and accordingly the Spanish Government had finally determined, in 1()1)4, not to revive the feeble posts and missions which had been established four years previously with a view to make head against the expedition of La Salle, but which had been abandoned already by soldier and friar, in consequence of the want of food and the ferocity of the savages.

Puit in 171-!, Anthony Crozat, an enterprising French merchant, obtained from lyouis XIV a conditional grant to the whole of the French province of Louisiana. Crozat believed that a lucrative trade might be e.stablished wdth the northeastern provinces of Mexico, and that mines might exist in his territory. To test these beliefs, young Huchereau St. Denis, acting under instructions from Cardillac, who had been appointed Governor of Louisiana by Crozat' s influence, started westward, left a nucleus of a settlement at Natchitoches, and proceeded

This sketch was written by Sidney Lanier in 1.S72, so that some of the references to the modern city mnst to-day he taken cum rrrano sn/is, or at least, to a certain e-xteut, as historical. The hi.story throughout the article is, as a rule, excellent and reliable. Kxclusive rights in this article have been purchased by the publishers of this work - \V. C, Ed.

across the country to the Rio Grande, where his explorations, after romantic adventures too numerous to be related here, came to an inglorious suspension with his sei/.ure and imprisonment by the Spanish Vice-regal authorities in Mexico.

It was this expedition which produced the premature result hereinbefore alluded to. Spain saw that instead of surrounding New Mexico with inhospitable wastes and ferocious savages, she was in reality but leaving France free to occupy whatev^er coigns of vantage might be found in that prodigious Debatable Land, which was claimed by both and was held by neither.

Perhaps this consideration was heightened by Spain's consciousness that the flimsiness of her title to that part of the '" New Philippines " which lay east of the Rio Grande, really required an actual occupation in order to bolster it up. Prett}^ much all that she could prove in support of her claim was, that in 14!)4 Pope Alexander VI., acting as arbitrator between Portugal and Spain, had assigned to the latter all of the American possessions that lay west of a meridian running three hundred and seventy miles west of the Azores ; that De Leon, De Ayllon, De Narvaez, and De Soto, in voyages made between the years 1512 and 15;>8, had sailed from Cape Florida to Cape Catorce ; and that Philip II. had denounced the penalty of extermination against anj^ foreigner who should enter the Gulf of Mexico or any of the lands bordering thereupon.

These were, to say the least, but indefinite muniments of title ; and to them France could oppose the unquestionable fact that La Salle had coasted the shore of Texas westward to Corpus Christi inlet, had returned along the same route, had explored bays and rivers and named them, and had finally built Fort St. Louis on the Lavacca river in 1685. Here now, in 1714, to crown all, was this daring young Lord Huchereau St. Denis traversing the whole land from Natchitoches to the Rio Grande, and thrusting in his audacious face like an apparition of energy upon the sleepy routines of post-life and mission-life at San Juan Bautista.

This was alarming ; and in 1715 the Duke of Linares, Viceroy of Mexico, despatched Don Domingo Ramon to Texas with a party of troops and some Franciscan friars, to take steps for the permanent occupation of the country. Ramon established several forts and missions : among others he located a fort ox presidio (Spanish, '' a garrison "), on the western bank of the San Pedro river, a small stream flowing through the western suburbs of the present city of San Antonio de Bexar, about three-fourths of a mile from the present Main Plaza. This pj-esidio was called San Antonio de Valero. In May, 171S, certain Alcantarine Franci-scans, of the College of Queretaro, established a mission under the protection oi the presidio, calling it by the same invocation, San Antonio de Valero. It was this mission whose Church of the Alamo afterwards shed so red a glory upon the Texan revolution. It had been founded fifteen years before, in the valley of the Rio Grande, under the invocation of San Francisco Solano ; had been removed to San Ildefonso in 170S, and again removed back to the Rio Grande in 1710 under the new invocation of San Jose. It had not indeed yet reached the end of its wanderings. In 1 722 both the presidio and mission of San Antonio de Valero

Ik-rc then, with sword antl cro/ier. Spain set to work at once to reduce her wild claim into possession, and to fulfdl the condition upon which Pope Alexander had granted her the country - of christianising its natives. One cannot but lean one's head on one's hand to dream out, for a moment, this old Military Plaza - most singular .spot on the wide expan.se of the lonesome Texan prairies - as it was a hundred and fifty years ago. The rude buildings, the church, the hospital, the .soldiers' dwellings, the brethren's lodgings, the huts for the converted Indians {}'ndios Rcducidos) .stand ranged about the large level quadrangle, so placed upon the same theory of protection which "parks" the wagon-train that will camp this night on the plains. Ah, here they come, the inhabitants of San Antonio, from the church-door ; vespers is over ; the big-thighed, bowlegged, horse-riding Apache steps forth, slowly, for he is yet in a maze - the burning candles, the shrine, the genuflexions, the chants, are all yet whirling in his memor}- ; the lazy soldier slouches by, leering at him, ye.t observing a certain care not to be seen therein, for Seiior Soldado is not wholly free from fear of this great-thewed Seiior Apache ; the soldiers' wiv^es, the squaws, the catechumens, the children, all wend their ways across the plaza. Here advances Brother Juan, bare-footed, in a gown of serge, with his knotted scourge a-dangle from his girdle ; he accosts the Indian, he draws him on to talk of Manitou, his grave pale face grows intense and his forehead wrinkles as he spurs his brain on to the devising of arguments that will convince this wild soul before him of the fact of the God of Adam, of Peter, and of Francis. Yonder is a crowd : alas, it is stout Brother Antonio, laying shrewd stripes with unsparing arm upon the back of a young Indian - so hard to convince these dusky youths and maidens of the wide range and ramifications of that commandment which they .seem most prone to break. Ha ! there behind the church, if you look, goes on another flagellation : Brother Francis has crept back there, slipped his woollen gown from his shoulders, and fallen to with his knotted scourge upon his own bare back, for that a quick vision did, by instigation of the devil, cross his mind even in the very mid.st of vespers - a vision of a certain senorita as his wife, of a wai m allday sunned liacieiida, of children playing, of fruits, of friends, of laughter - " O blessed St. Francis of Assisi, fend ofif Sathanas ! " he cries, and raises a heavier welt.

Presently, as evening draws on, the Indians hold meetings, males in one place, females in another ; reciting prayers, singing canticles : finally it is bedtime ; honest Brother Antonio goes around and locks the unmarried 3-oung male Indians into their sleeping apartments on one side, the maidens on the other side into theirs ; casts a glance mayhap towards Mexico, breathes a prayer, gets him to his pallet, and the Plaza of San Antonio de Valero is left in company of the still sentinel, the stream of the San Pedro purling on one side, that of the San Antonio whispering on the other, under the quiet stars, midst of the solemn prairie, in whose long grass yonder (b}'^ all odds) crouches some keen-eyed Apache bravo/'- who has taken a fancy that he will ride Don Ramon's charger.

The infant settlement soon begins to serve in that capacity wiiich gives it a " bad eminence '" among the other Texas settlements for the next hundred years: to-wit, as the point to which, or from which, armies are retreating or advancing, or ill which armies are fighting. Already, in 171*l, before the removal to the Military Plaza, the scenes of war have been transacting themselves in the young San Antonio de Valero. On a certain da>- in the spring of that year, the peaceful people are astonished to behold all their Spanish brethren who belong to the settlements eastward of theirs, come crowding into the town; monks, soldiers, women and all. In the confusion they quickly learn that in the latter part of the year before, P'rance has declared war against Spain ; that the Frenchmen at Natchitoches, as soon as they have heard the news, have rushed to arms with Gallic impetuosity, and led bj^ La Harpe and St. Denis, have advanced westward, have put to flight all the Spanish at Adaes, at Orqui/.aco, at Aes, and at Nacogdoches : and that these are they who are here now, disturbing the peaceful mission with unwonted sights and sounds, and stretching its slender hospitalities to repletion. The French do not attack, however, but return towards Natchitoches. In a short time enter from the opposite side of the stage, that is to say from Mexico, the Marquis de Aguayo, Governor-General of New Estremadura and the New Philippines, with five hundred mounted men. These march through, take with them the men of Orquizaco, of Adaes and Aes, re-establish those settlements, and pursue the French until they hear that the latter are in Natchitoches ; De Aguayo then returns to San Antonio and sets on foot plans for its permanent improvement.

About this time occurs a short and spicy correspondence, which for the first time probably announces the name of the State of Texas, and which explicitly broaches a dispute that is to last for many a year. The Spanish Viceroy- in Mexico appoints Don Martin D'Alarconne Governor of Texas. Soon afterwards La Harpe leaves the French post of Natchitoches and busies himself in advancing the French interests among the Nassonite* Indians. In beginning this enterprise La Harpe sends "a polite message" to the Spanish Governor, who thereupon writes :

" Monsieur : - I am very sensible of the politeness that ]M. de Bienville and yourself have had the goodness to show to me. The orders I have received from the King my master are to maintain a good understanding with the French of Louisiana ; my own inclinations lead me equally to afibrd them all the services that depend upon me. But I am compelled to saj' that your arrival at the Na.ssonite village surprises me much. Your Governor could not be ignorant that the post you occupy- belongs to my government, and that all the lands west of the Nassonites depend upon New Mexico. I counsel you to inform M. Bienville of this, or you will force me to oblige you to abandon lands that the French have no right to occupy. I have the hor.or, etc.

" Monsiiur : - The order from his Catholic Majesty to maintain a good understanding with the French of Louisiana, and the kind intentions you have yourself expressed towards them, accord but little with your proceedings. Permit me to apprise you that M. de Bienxille is perfectly informed of the limits of his government, and is very certain that the post of Nassonite does not depend upon the dominions of his Catholic Majesty. He knows al.so that the Province of L'.istekas,* of which you say you are (lOvernor, is a part of Louisiana. M. dela Salle took po.ssession in KJS'), in the name of his most Christian Majesty, and since the above epoch possession has been renewed from time to time. Respecting the post of Nassonite, I cainiot comprehend by what right you pretend that it forms a i>art of New Mexico. I beg leave to represent to you that Don Antonio de Minoir, who discovered New Mexico in 1(183, never penetrated east of that province or the Rio Brav^o. It was the French who first made alliances with the savage tribes in this region, and it is natural to conclude that a river that flows into the Mississippi and the lands it waters belong to the King my master. If you will do me the pleasure to come into this quarter I will convince you I hold a post I know how to defend. I have the honor, etc.,

Vox several years after the permanent location round the Military Plaza no imj)ortant events seem to be recorded as happening in San Antonio ; but the quiet work of Post and Mission goes on, and the probable talk on the Plaza is of the three new Missions which De Aguayo establishes on the San Antonio River, below the town, under the protection of its garrison ; or of the tales which come slowly floating from the northward concerning the dreadful fate of a Spanish expedition which has been sent to attack the French settlements on the Upper Mississippi, and which, mistaking the ho.stile Missouris on the way for friendly Osages, distributes fifteen hinidred muskets, together with sabres and pistols, to the said Missouris to be used against the French, whereupon the Missouris next morning at daybreak, fall iipon the unsuspecting Spaniards, butcher them all (save the priest, whom they keep for a "magpie." as they call hira, to laugh at), and march off into the French fort arrayed in great spoils, their chief wearing the chasuble and bearing the paten before him for a breastplate ; or of Governor De Aguayo's recommendation to the home government to send colonists instead of soldiers if it would help the friars to win the Indians; or of the appointment of a separate Governor for Texas in 1727 ; or of the withdrawal of ten soldiers in 1729, leaving only forty-three in garrison at San Antonio. About 17ol, however, an important addition is made to the town. Under the auspices of the home government - which seems to have accepted De Aguayo's ideas - thirteen families and two single men arrive, pure Spaniards from the Canary Islands, also some Tlascalans, and a party from Monterey. These set to work around a Plaza (the " Plaza of the Constitution," or " Main Plaza") just eastward of and

-Lastekas. /. e. I^as Tckas : Texax. The Frenchmen in those days appear to have jjreat difficulty in inventing orthographies for these odious Indian names. The Choctaws, for instance, appear in the documents of the time as TV/zoc/aj," the Chickasaws as " C7//rrK-//(7/.?," the Cherokees a.s" Clit-raguis," and they can gel no nearer to " Camauches " than " ( lionmniis." or " Catinensis" !

adjoiniiig the Military Pla/.a, and commence a town which they call San Fernando.* They are led, it seems, to this location by the same facility of irrigation which liad recommended the Military Pla/.a to their neighbors. The new colonists impart vigor to affairs. The Missions ])rosi)er, Indians are cajHnred and brought in to be civilized whether or no, and on the -Ith of March, IT-'M, the foundation is laid of the Mission of La Purisima Co)iccpcio)i dc Aciina, on the San Antonio River, a mile or so below the town.

Meantime a serious conspiracy against the welfare of San Antonio and San Fernando is hatched in the northeast. The Natchez Indians wish to revenge themselves upon the French, who have driven them from their home on the Mississippi. They resolve to attack St. Denis at Natchitoches, and to prevent the Spaniards from helping him (the French and Si)anish are now friends, having united against England), they procure the Apaches to assail San Antonio. St. Denis, however, surprises and defeats the Natchez ; and the Apaches appear to have made an organized attack, but to have confined themselves to murdering and thieving in parties. These Apaches, indeed, were dreadful scourges in these days to San Antonio and its environs. The people of the presidio of San Fernando and of the Missions on the River complained repeatedl}- (says the Testimonio de un Parecer-^ in the archives of Bexar) that the}' cannot expand {si?i podcr estenderse) on account of ' ' las frequienttes hosttilidades qiie experimenttan de los Yndios Apaches.'' This great tribe had headquarters about the Pass of Bandera, .some fifty miles to the northwestward, from which they forayed not only up to San Antonio, but even as far as to Coahuila. Moreover, they manage (says the Testimonio) horses, firearms, and arrows con mucha dcsttreza y agilidad. Finally the men of San Antonio and San Fernando get tire;! of it, and after some minor counter- forays, they organize an expedition in 17-)2 which conquers comparative peace from the Apaches for a few years.

Nothing of .special interest is recorded as happening in San Antonio from this time luitil 17o(). In September of that 3'ear arrives Don Carlos de Franquis, who innnediately proceeds to throw the town into a very pretty ferment. Francjuis had come out from Spain to Mexico to be Governor of Tlascala. On arri\-ing he finds that someone else is already Governor of Tlascala. \'izarron. Archbishop of Mexico, and acting \'iceroy since Casa Fuerte's death, disposes of him - it is likely he made trouble enough till that was done - b}- .sending him off to Texas to supersede Governor Sandoval, a fine old veteran, who has ])een for two years governing the Province with such soldierly fidelit>- as has won him great favor among the inhabitants. Franciuis begins by insulting the priests, and follows this up with breaking open peo])le's letters. Presently he arrests Sandoval, has him chained, and causes criminal proceedings to be comnienced against him, charging him with treacherous complicity in certain nio\-ements of St. Denis at Natchitoches. It .seems that St. Denis, having found a higher and drier location, has removed his garrist)n and the French Mission of vSl. John llu Ikiptist some miles further from Red River toward the Texas territory, and ])uilt a new fort and settlements: that

* The villa Capital dc Sail l'"eniaiulo was not cxcUisivclv the Main I'laza sctlUinonts -the Plaza dc Armas, or Military Plaza, was also of it. - W. C, Ei>.

vSaiuloxal, iR-arinj; of it, lias jiroiiiptly called him to account as an intruder en vSpanisli _i;n)un(l; and that a correspondence has ensued between .St. Denis and vSandoxal, nr_<;in.L; the rights of their res])ecti\'e i;"()\ernnienls in tlie i)reniises, whicli has just heeii hroui^ht to the point of a Hat issue n\nm which to j;o to the jury of war when vSanilo\-al is ousted hy I'ran(|uis. The X'iceroy sends tlie (jO\-ernor of New Leon to in\'estii;ale the tr(inl)le: and the famous law-suil of I'ran(|uis 7r/s/(s Sando\'al is fairly conuueuced. The (ioxernor of New Leon seems to find against Fnuuiuis, who is sent hack to ihv />frs/(//o on the Rio (jrande. He t^'cts awa\-, however, and olt to the \'iceroy. Hut Sando\al is not satisfied, naturall\, for lie has l)L-en nudcted in .some three thousand four hundred dollars, cost of the in\esti};atinj; conunission. He iia\-s, and in \~'.)S fdes his jietition aj^ainst Francpiis for redress of his injuries. I'ran(|uis, thus attacked in turn, strengthens his position with a new line of accusations. He now, besides the hVencli business, charj^es vSandoval with living at vSan Antonio instead of at Adaes, the official residence: with being irregular in his accomils with the .San Antonio garrison: and with peculation in the matter of the salaries of certain ])aid missionaries, whom vSandoval is alleged to have discharged and then pocketed their .stipends. The paiKTS go the Viceroy, and from the Viceroy to Attorne\--()eneral \'edoya. In 1740 \'ed(n-a decides .Sandoval guilty of li\-ing at San Antonio, though it was his duty to be there to defend it against the A])aches; guilty of irregular book-keeping, though through memoranda it is found that there is a balance in his favor of thirteen hundred dollars: not guilty of stealing the missionary money. Upon the French matter \'edoya will not decide without further evidence. With poor .Sandoval it is pay again: he is fined five hundred dollars for his "guilt." Meantime, some months afterward an order is made that testimou}' be taken in Texas with regard to the French affair, .said testimony to embrace an account of pretty much everything in, about, and concerning Texas. The testimony ])eiug taken and returned, the Attorney-General, in Novend^er 1741, entirely acquits .Sandoval. But alas for the stout old soldier! this is in Mexico, where from of old, if one is a.sked who rules now, one nuist reply with the circumspection of that Georgia judge who, being asked the politics of his son, made answer that he knctc not^ not haviHi^ seen the creature since bt'cakfast. \'i7.arron has gone out: the Duke de la Concjuista has come into the Viceroyalty: and .Sandoval has hardly liad time to taste his hard-earned trium])h before, through machinations of F'^ranquis, he finds himself in prison by order of the new X'iceroy. F'inally, however, the rule works the other way: in December, 174.'), a new \'iceroy. Count Fuenclara, gets hold of the papers in the case, acquits .Sando\aI, and enjoins I-'rancpiis from proceeding fiirther in the matter.

It was in the course of this litigation - a copy of the proceedings in which, "filling thirty volumes of manuscript," was tran.smitted to Spain - that the old document hereinbefore referred to as the testimonio de un Parecer had its origin. In this ])aper San Antonio is called San Antonio de Vejar o Valero: \'ejar being the Spanish orthography of the Mexican Bexar (pronounced \"ay-har. ) This name San Antonio de Bexar, seems to have attached itself particularly- to the military post, or presidio; its origin is not known. The town of San Fernando was still so called at this time: and the town and mi.ssion of San Antonio de \'alero bore that name. In 1744 this latter extended itself to the eastward, or rather the extension had probably gone on before that time and was only evidenced then. At any rate, on tlie 'Sth of May, 1741, the first stone of the present Church of the Alamo was laid and blessed. The site of this church is nearly a quarter of a mile to the eastward of the Military plaza, where the mission to which it belonged had been located in 1722. Prom an old record-book purporting to contain the baptisms in "the Parish of the Pueblo oi San Jose del Alamo,'" it would seem that there must have been also a settlement of that name. San Antonio de Bexar, therefore - the modern city - seems to be a consolidation of the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, the mission and pueblo (or villa) of San Antonio de \^alero, and the piieblos of San Fernando and San Jose del Alamo.

For the next forty years after the foundation of the Alamo in 1 744, the colonists and missionaries seemed to have pursued the ordinary round of their labors without unusual events; in point of material prosperit}- vSan Antonio seems to have led but a struggling existence. Yoakum * estimates the whole European population of of Texas in 1744, to have been fifteen hundred, which, together with about the same number of converted Indians, "was divided mostly between Adaes and San Antonio." The same author again f estimates the population of Adaes and San Antonio in 17()o to have been "hardly five hundred" Europeans, besides converted Indians, of whom he adds that there were onh' about seven hundred and fifty in the whol5 province of Texas. It was impossible indeed during these j-ears that any legitimate prosperty could have been attained. Up to the year 17G2, when France, to save Louisiana from the clutches of England, ceded it to Spain, trade had been prohibited by the latter between her Texan colonists and the French settlers in Ivouisiana, though some intercourse alwa}'s went on in a smuggling way between the two, whenever they could get a Spanish official to wink his eye or turn his back; and even after the cession of Louisiana matters were little better in point of commercial activity. There were also restrictions even upon the agricultural energies of the colonists; the>- were, it is said, prohibited from cultivating the vine and the olive, and also from the manufacture of many articles. Indeed, the inmiediate necessity of settlements having passed awa}' with the removal of the danger of French occupation, the old policy of Spain seems to have been resumed in full force, that of keeping her provinces around New Mexico and Mexico impenetral)le wastes, as barriers against enterprising neighbors.

Nor was the spiritual prosperity much greater. The arduous toils and sublime devotions of the Franciscan brethren bore but moderate fruit. Father Marest had declared in 1712 that the conversion of the Indians was "a miracle of the Lord's mercy," and that it was " necessary first to transfonn them into men, and afterward to labor to make them Christians." These noble brothers too had reason to believe in the inhumanity of the Indians. They could remember the San vSaba Mission; where, in 17oS, the Indians had fallen upon the people and massacred every human being, lay and clerical ; and here, in 17^5, they could see for themselves the company of San Carlos de Parras dri\-en by the fierce Conianches to j^lace their quarters within the enclosure of the Alamo.

In 17S;>-85 vSan Antonio de \'alero ceased to be a Mission. For .some reason it had become customarj' to send whatever capti\-e Indians were l^rought in to the

Mi^^ious I>il<i\\ IIk' louii lur Chrisliaiiizalioii. 'IMk- town, li()\vc\xr, which had hcLii hiiiU up al)()Ul Uk' Mission hiiil(linj;s, remained, hax'ini;- a st.'])aiak- alcakk-, and an organi/ation politically and religiously distinct lioni tliat of vSan Antonio de Hexar and vSan l'\-rnando for sonic >-cars longer. In 17'i<i tlie i)opulation around the Alamo was increased )>>- the addition of the people hom tlie Presidio de los Adaes : this i)ost was abandoned, and its inhabitants were provided with lands which had been the j^rojicrty of the Mission of San Antonio de Valero, l\ing in the neighborhood of the Alamo to the north. " The ui)per labor- of the Alamo," says Mr. Ciiraud, in an interesting note which constitutes Aj^pendix iv. of Yoakum's Ilistorv of Texas, "... is still conunonly called by the old inhabitants the labor dc los Adacscuos^ These Mission lands about the Alamo seem to have ceased to be .such about this time, and to have been divided off to the Mission peo])le, each of whom received a portion, with fee-.sim})le title. f In ITUo the distinct religious t[THK PARTITION OK THK LAND.S OF THE MISSION OF SAN ANTONIO DE VALERO OR AI.AMO MISSION TO THE SETTLERS OK THE EXTINCriSHKI) POST OR PRESIDIO OK ADAES WHO HAD IlEEN BROUGHT TO TII IS MISSION UPON THIC HRKAKINC. UP OK THAT POST.

The Presidio of the Adaes was a Spanish frontier Post of Eastern Texas. Its site was almost due east from Nacogdoches between the Sabine and Red Rivers, in Louisiana Territory. It was abandoned and broken up about ITW. It had been of some importance in its day. I'pon its extinction its settlers were brought to San Antonio de Valero. It would appear that the Spanish Government, about the year 17S4, were a little dissatisfied with results in the Province of Texas, and became curious or anxious to know something of the general welfare and condition of the Missions of Texas, and an order was issued under the mandate of the King for an official report of the Texas Missions. This report was not concluded and forwarded until December 27th, 17i(.'!, when it was done by Kl Conde de Revilla-gigedo, Viceroy of Mexico. He instituted some changes, apparently suggested to him by his entpiirics and by petitions sent to him by certain resident Adaes. San Anlonio de Valero was now uo longer a Mission, but of course it enters into his report. The following is a letter from a translated copy deposited in the City l<;ngineer's Records in I.S.').S, apparently addressed to Manuel Munioz, Provisional Governor, in 17'.I2 :

-' I return you the enclosed proceedings marked P. Y. number 21, pages 19, which you sent me with your letters marked 8iU, dated the 29th' of last October, and in which the residents of San Antonio de Bexar petition for the distribution amongst them of lands in consideration of their having been the settlers of the extinguished Presidio of the Adaes, so that in conformity with the opinion of the War Auditor with which I have agreed in a superior decree of the 17th, present, (month) j-ou shall order its compliance. God keep you many years.

The document translation from which this is an e.xcerpt, is headed: " Copy of Proceedings sent to the Commander General on July 27th, 179.i, respecting the Partition of lands to the Adaes and returned by that Superiority to the Government so that the interested parties have it more in their reach to apply for testiraonios that may serve them as titles.

So. it seems, that these Adaes might be fittingly provided for, the Count issued an order to Manuel Munioz to divide amongst them the Alamo Mission lands. Accordingly Don Pedro Huizar is ordered to sur\-ey the suertes and Bernardo Zervautes is appointed to divide the lands among the Indians and settlers, January 17th, 179;?. A drawing or lottery was to be held to decide who should have first choice of the suertes surveyed, each individual to be granted by lot a piece of land, as much as 4 pecks of seed corn will cover, and they are all cautioned to be satisfied with what falls to their lot or luck, whether they draw land bordering the irrigating ditches or merely ordinary pasture land. "On l""ebruary 21th. 179:i. the following named Adae Indians received their portions of land," then follows in the recordsof the County a list of names, viz :

The only condition under which these Indians seem to have held their lands, was that they were to pay a Church debt out of a part of the crops and produce of their lands. At this date, Father Francisco Jose Lopez was President of the Missions. - W. C., Ed.]

organization of the Mission of San Antonio de \'alero terminated, and it was aggregated to the curacy of the town of San Fernando and the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar ; as appears by tlie following note which is found on the last page of an old Record book of baptisms in the archi\-es of Bexar : -

"On the 22d day of August, IT'.*-"), I passed this book of the Records of the pjicblo of San Antonio de X'alero to the archives of the curacy of the town of San Fernando and presidio of San Antonio de Bexar, by order of the most illustrious vSeiior Dr. Don Andres de Llanos y \'aldez, most worth\- Bishop of this diocese, dated January 2d, of the same year, by reason of said pueblo having been aggregated to the curacy of Bexar ; and that it may be known, I sign it.

In the year 1800 San Antonio began to see a new sort of prisoners brought in. Instead of captive Indians, here arrived a party of ele\'en Americans* in irons, who were the remainder of a company with which Philij) Xolan, a trader between Natchez and San Antonio, had started out, and who, after a sharp fight with one hundred and fifty Spanish soldiers in which Nolan was killed, had been first induced to return to Nacogdoches, and there treacheroush' manacled and sent to prison at San Antonio. Again, in 1805, three Americans are brought in under guard. In this year, too, matters begin to be a little more lively in the town. Spain's neighbor on the east is not now France ; for in 1803 Louisiana has been formally transferred to the United States. There is already trouble with the latter about the boundary line betwixt Louisiana and Texas. Don Antonio Cordero, the new Governor of Texas, has brought on a lot of troops through the town, and fixed his official residence here ; and troops continue to march through en route to Natchitoches, where the American General Wilkinson is, menacing the border. Again, in 1807, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, of the United States Army, passes through town in charge of an escort. Lieutenant Pike has been sent to explore the Arkansas and Red Rivers, and to treat with the Comanches, has been apprehended by the Spanish authorities in New Mexico, carried to Santa Fc, and is now being escorted home.

At this time there are four hundred troops in San Antonio, in quarters near the Alamo. Besides these, the town has about two thousand inhabitants, mostly Spaniards and Creoles, the remainder Frenchmen, Americans, civilized Indians, and half-breeds. New settlers have come in ; and what with army officers, the Governor's people, the clerg>-, and prominent citizens, society begins to form and to enjoy itself. The Governor, P\ather McGuire, Colonel Delgado, Captain I'garte, Doctor Zerbin, di.spense ho.spitalities and adorn social meetings. There are, in the evenings, levees at the Governor's ; sometimes Mexican dances on the Plaza, at which all assist ; and frequent and prolonged card parties.

But these peaceful scenes do not last long. In 1811 the passers across the San Antonio river between the Alamo and the Main Plaza behold a strange sight: it is the head of a man stuck on a pole, there, in l)loody menace against rebels. This head but yesterday was on the shoulders of Colonel Delgado, a flying adherent of Hidalgo, in Mexico: Hidalgo, initiator of how long a train of Mexican revolutions!

* Americans, /. ,-. United States people ; in which sense, to a%-oid the awkwardness of the only other equiv. alent terms, I shall hereafter use the word.

luuiiii; l)CL-ii also |)ul lo (k-alli in Cliiliualiua. ll was not lon^' iK-rurc this blood was (as from of old I waslad out with otlRT l)lo()(l. IkTiiardo Gutierrez, a fellow'-re])el of the unfortunati.- I)L-lj;ado. cscapc-d lo Xalchitoclu--, and met >-ouni^ Mat;ee, an ofhcer of the- Tnitcd States armw In a short time the- two had asscnd)U'd a mixed force of AnKTit-an adwnltn'ers and n.ln.llions Mexican n.])nl)li(ans, had dri\cn the vSi)anish troops from Xaco^doches, marched into Texas, captured the fort and sup- ])lies at La Uahia, enlisted its garrison, and sustained a siet^e there which the enemy was linall\- compelled to abandon with loss. It was in March. lSl-"5, that the vSpanish hesiej^ini;- force set out on its retreat up the river to vSan Antonio, (xutierrez - Ma.i;ee ha\in^' conunitted suicide in conseciuence of mortification at the iudij^^nant refusal of the troops to accept a surrender which he had negotiated soon after the l)eginniug of the siege - determined to pursue. On the 2Stli of March he crossed the Salado, r>i toiife to vSan Antonio, with a force consisting of eight hundred Americans under Colonel Kemper, one hundred and eighty Mexicans led l)y Manchaca,-'- under Colonel James Oaines, three hundred lyipan and Twowokana Indians, and twenty-five Cooshattie Indians. Marching along the bank of the vSan Antonio river, with the left Hank protected by the stream, this motley army arrived within nine miles of San Antonio, when the riflemen on the right suddenly discovered the enemy ambushed in the chaparral on the side of a ridge. Here the whole force that Governor Salcedo could muster had been posted, consisting of about fifteen hundred regular troops and a thousand militia. To gain time to form, the Indians were ranged to receive the opening charge of the Spanish cavalry; the enemy meantime ha\-ing inuuediately fonned along the crest of the ridge, with twelve pieces of artiller}- in the centre. The Indians broke at the first shock; only the Cooshatties and a few others stood their ground. These received tw^o other charges, in which they lost two killed and several wounded. The Americans had now made their dispositions, and proceeded to execute them with matchless coolness. They charged up the hill, stopped at thirty yards of the enemy's line, fired three rounds, loaded, then charged again, and straighway the slope towards San Antonio was dotted with Spanish fugitives, whom the Indians ptirsued and butchered regardless of ([uarter. The vSpanish commander, who had pledged sword and head to Governor »Salcedo that he would kill and capture the American army, could not endure the sting of his misfortune. He spurred his horse upon the American ranks, attacked Major Ross, then Colonel Kemper, and while in the act of striking the latter, was shot Inprivate William Owen. The Spanish loss is said to ha\-e been near a thousand killed and woiuided.

Next day the Americans advanced to the outskirts of San Antonio and demanded a surrender. Governor Salcedo desired to parlej', to delay. A .second demand was made - peremptory. Governor Salcedo then marched out with his staff. He presented his sword to Captain Taylor ; Taylor refused, and referred hini to Colonel Kemper. Presenting to Colonel Kemper, he w-as in turn referred to Gutierrez. No, not to that rebel ! Salcedo thrust his sw^ord into the ground, whence Gutierrez drew it. The victors got stores, arms, and treasure. Seventeen American prisoners in the Alamo were released and armed. The troops were paid - receiving a bonus of fifteen dollars each in addition to wages - clothed and mounted out of the booty. The Indians were not forgotten in the distribution ; they "were supplied," says Yoakum, "with two dollars' wortli of vermilion, together with presents of the value of a hundred and thirty dollars, and sent away rejoicing."

And now flowed the blood that must answer that which dripped down the pole from poor Colonel Delgado's head. Shortly after the victory. Captain Delgado, a son of the executed rebel, falls upon his knees before Gutierrez, and demands vengence upon the prisoner, Governor Salcedo, who apprehended and executed his father. Gutierrez arrays his army, informs them that it would be safe to send Salcedo and stafl" to New Orleans, and that it so hai)i)ens that vessels are a1:)out to sail for that port from Matagorda Bay. The army con.sents (we are so fearfully and wonderfullj- republican in these days : the army consents) that the prisoners be sent off as proposed. Captain Delgado, with a company of Mexicans, starts in charge, ostensibly en route for Matagorda Bay. There are fifteen of the distinguished captives : Governor Salcedo, of Texas, Governor Herrera, of New Leon, Ex-Governor Cordero, whom we last .saw holding levees in San Antonio, several Spanish and Mexican officers, and one citizen. Delgado gets his prisoners a mile and a half from town, halts them on the bank of the river, strips them, ties them, and cuts the throats of every man : " some of the assassins," says Colonel Navarro, whetting " their knives upon the soles of their shoes in presence of their victims."

The town of San Antonio must have been anything l)ut a pleasant place for peaceful citizens during the next two months. Colonel Kemper, who was really the commanding officer of the American army, refused further connection with those who could be guilty of such barbarity, and left, with other American officers. Their departure left in the town an uncontrolled body of troops who feared neither God nor man ; and these immediately proceeded to avail themselves of the situation by indulging in all manner of riotous and lawless pleasures. With the month of June, however, came Don Elisondo from Mexico with an armv of royalists, consisting of about three thousand men half of whom were regular troops. His advance upon San Antonio seems to have l)een a complete surprise, and to have been only learned by the undisciplined republican armv in the town, together with the fact that he had captured their horses, which had been out grazing, and killed part of the guard which was protecting the caballada. If El- Lsondo had marched straight on into town, his ta.sk would probably have been an ea.sy one. But he committed the fatal mistake of encamping a short distance from the suburbs, where he threw up two bastions with a curtain l:)etween, on a ridge near the Alazan Creek.

Meantime the republican army in the town recovered from the confusion into which they had been thrown by the first intelligence of Elisondo's proximity, and organized themselves \uider Gutierrez and Captain Perry. It was determined to anticipate the enemy's attack. Ingress and egre.ss were prohibited, the sentinels doubled, and all the cannons spiked except four field-pieces. In the darkness of the night of June 4th the Americans marched quietly out of town, by file, to within hearing of the enemy's pickets, and remained there until the enemy was heard at matins, The signal to charge being given - a cheer from the right of ooinpanics - llic Americans athanccd, surprised and cajturcd the pickets in front, mounted the enem\'s work, lowered his Hai; and lioisted tlieir own, l)efore they were tairl\- discovered throui^h the dim dawn. Tlie enemy struL;i;led hard, howe\er, and compelled the Americans to al)and()n the works. The latter charged again, and this lime routed the enemy C()m])letel>'. The royalist loss is said to have heen about a thou.sand in killeil, wounded and prisoners; and that of the Americans, ninety-four killed and mortally wounde<l.

I'ov some reason CUitierre/. was now dismissed from the leadership of the army (we republican .soldiers decapitate our commanders very quickly if they please us not !), and shortly afterwards troops and citizens went forth in grand procession to welcome Don Jose Alvarez Toledo, a distingui.shed republican Cuban who had been forwarding recruits from Louisiana to San Antonio ; and having escorted him into town with much ceremony, elected him commander-inchief of the Repul)lican Army of the North. Toledo immediately organised a government ; but the people of San Antonio enjoyed the unaccustomed blessing of civil law only a little while.

In a few days enter, from over the Mexican border, Gen. Arredondo, with the remnant of Elisondo's men and some fresh troops, about four thousand in all, c^i totitc for San Antonio. Toledo marches out to meet him with about tu'entyfive hundred men, one-third of whom are Americans, the balance Mexicans under Manchaca ; and on the 1 Nth of August, l.Slo, they come together. Arrgdondo decoys him into an ingenious cul de sac which he has thrown up, just south of che Medina River, and has concealed by cut bushes ; and pours such a murderous fire of cannon and small arms ui)on him, that in spite of the gallantry of the right wing where the Americans are, the retreat which Toledo has ordered too late becomes a mere rout, and the republican army is butchered without mercy. One batch of seventy or eighty fugitives is captured by the pursuing royali.sts, tied, set by tens upon a log laid acro.ss a great grave, and shot !

On the 20tli Arredondo enters San Antonio in great triumph, and straightway' proceeds to wreak fearful vengeance upon the unhappy town for the massacre of his brother governors. Seven hundred citizens are thrown into pri.son. During the night of the 20th eighteen die of suffocation out of three hundred who are confined in one house. The.se only anticipate the remainder, who are shot, without trial, in detachments. Five hundred republican women are imprisoned in a building, derisively termed the Qiiinla, and compelled to make up twenty-four bushels of corn into tortillas every day for the ro3'ali.st army. Having thus sent up a sweet savor of revenge to the spirits of the nnirdered Salcedo, Cordero> Ilerrera, and the others, Arredondo finally gathers their bones together and buries them. In all this blood the prosperity of San Antonio was drowned. To settlers it offered no inducements ; to most of its lormer citizens it held out nothing but terror : and it is described as almost entireh' abandoned in iSlC.

In December, 1S20, arrived a person in San Antonio who. though not then known as such, was really a harbinger of better times. This was Moses Austin, of Connecticut. He came to see Governor Martinez, with a view of bringing a colony to Texas. The two, with the Baron de Bastro]). put in train the preliminary application for permission to Arredondo, Commandant-General at Monterey.

Austin, it is true, died soon afterwards ; but he left his project to his son Stephen F., who afterwards carried it out with a patience that amounted to genius and a fortitude that was etjuivalent to the favor of Heaven.

On the 2ith of August, 1S21, Don Juan O'Donoji'i and Vlurliide entered into the Treaty of Cordova, which substantialh' perfected the separation of Mexico from the mother-country. When the intelligence of this event had spread, the citizens of San Antonio returned. Moreover, about this time a tide of emigration began to set towards Texas. The Americans who had composed part of the arm}' of Gutierrez had circulated fair reports of the country. In \s-2l', San Antonio is said to have had five thousand inhal)itants ; though the Comanches appear still to have had matters all their own way when they came into town, as they frequently did, to buy beads and other articles with skins of deer and buffalo. One would find this difficult to believe, but reasoning a prior/, it is rendered probable by the fact that in the decree of the the Federal Congress of Mexico of the 24th of August, 1<S26, to provide for raising troops to serve in Coahuila and Texas as frontier defenders, it is ordered that out of the gro.ss levies there shall be first preferred for militarj^ service " /os va^os y vial entrctcnidos,'" vagrant and evil- disposed persons ; and a posteriori, it is quite confirmed by the experience of Olmsted in San Fernando (a considerable town west of the Rio Grande) so late as lSo4, where he found the Indians "lounging in and out of every house .... with such an air as indicated they were masters of the town. They entered every door," adds Olmsted, " fell on every neck, patted the women on the check, helped themselves to whatever suited their fancy, and distributed their scowls or grunts of pleasure according to their sensations."

In the year 1S24 a lot of French merchants passed through San Anionio en j-ouie to Santa Fe on a trading expedition. Some distance from town their packanimals were all stolen by Indians ; but they managed to get carts and oxen from San Antonio, and so conveyed their goods finally to Santa Fe, where they sold them at an immense profit. In 1831 the Bowie brothers, Rezin P. and James, organised in San Antonio their expedition in search of the old reputsd silver mines at San Saba Mission. In the course of this luilucky venture occurred their famous Indian fight, where the two Bowies, with nine others, fought a pitched battle with one hundred and sixtj-four Indians who had attacked them with arrow, with rifle, and with fire from sundown to sunset, killing and wounding eighty-four. They then fortified their position during the night, maintained it for eight days afterwards, and finally relurned to San Antonio with their horses and three wounded comrades, leaving one man killed.

It is related that in 1S:*)2 a Comanche Indian attempted to abduct a Shawnee woman in San Antonio. She escaped him, joined a party of her people who were staying some thirty-five miles from town, and informed them where the Comanches (of whom five hundred had been in town for some purpose) would probably camp. The Shawnees ambushed them.selves at the spot indicated. The Comanches came on and stopped as expected : the vShawnees poured a fire into them, and repeated it as they continually rallied, luitil the Comanches abandoned the con test with a loss of one hundred and seventv-five dead.

Early in \S'.V.\ (or i)erhaps laic in DcceiiihLr \s'-V2) arrives in Sau Anionio for the first time one wlio is to he called the father of his country. This is Sam Houston. He conies in company with the famous James Bowie, son-in-law of Vice-Goyernor W-raniendi, and holds a consultation with the Comanche chiefs here, to arrange a meeting at Cantonment Ciil)son with a view to a treaty of peace. Meantime trou])le is brewing. Young Texas does not get on well with his mother. What seems to hurl most is the late union of Texas with Coahuila. This we caiuiot stand. Stephen F Austin gees to the City of Mexico with a memorial on the subject to the federal govennnent. He writes from there to the municipality of San Antonio. Oct. 2d, is;'.;;, informing the people that their request is likely to be refused, and advising them to make them.selves ready for that emergency. The municipality hand this letter over to Vice-President Farias, who, already angry with Austin on an old account, arrests him on his way home and throws him in prison, l)ack in the city of Mexico.

In October. 1S;'>4, certain people in San Antonio hold what Yoakum calls " the first strictly revolutionary meeting in Texas;" for Santa Anna ha.sprof/OH?iced, and got to be at the head of affairs, and he refuses to separate Texas from Coahuila. So, through meetings all over the state ; through conferences of citizen deputations with Col. Ugartechea, Mexican Commandant at San Antonio, for the purpose of explaining matters ; through confused arguments and resolutions of the peace part}- and the war party ; through confused rumors of the advance of Mexican General Cos with an army ; through squabbling and wrangling and final fighting over the cannon that had been lent by the Post of Bexar to the people of Gonzales ; through all manner of civic trouble consequent upon the imprisonment of Governor Viesca of Texas by Santa Anna, and the suspension of the progress of the civil law machine, we come to the time when the committee of San Felipe boldly cry : -'/,,f/ ks take Bexar and drive the Mexican soldiery out of Texas r' and presently, here, on the 2Sth of October, 1835, is General Cos with his army in San Antonio, fortifying for dear life, while yonder is Austin with a thousand Texans, at Mission Concepcion, a mile and a half down the river below town, where Fannin and Bowie with ninety men in advance have a few hours before waged a brilliant battle with four hundred Mexicans, capturing their field-piece, killing and wounding a hundred or more, and driving the rest back to town.

General Austin believes, it seems, that Cos wdll surrender without a battle ; and so remains at Concepcion till November 2d, then marches up past the town on the east side, encamps four or five days, marches down on the west side, displays his forces on a hill side in terrorcm, sends in a demand for surrender - and is flatly answered no. He resolves to lay siege. The days pass slowly, the enemy will not come out though allured with all manner of military enticements, and the army has no "fun," with the exception of one small skirmish, until the 2()th, when "Deaf" Smith* discovers a party of a hundred Mexican troops, who have been sent out to cut prairie-grass for the horses in town, and reporting them in camp, brings on what is known as the "grass-fight." Colonel James Bowie attacks with a hundred mounted men ; l)()th sides are quickly reinforced, and a sharp running fight is kept U[) until the enemy get back to town ; the Texans capturing seventy horses and killing some fifty of the enemy, with a loss of but two wounded and one missing. Meantime discontents arise. On the day before the "grass-fight" Austin resigns, having been appointed Commissioner to the United States, and Edward Burleson is elected by the army to the command. General Burleson, for some reason, seems loth to storm. Moreover, one Dr. James Grant seduces a large party with a wild project to leave San Antonio and attack Matamoras, when he declares that the whole of Mexico will rise and overwhelm Santa Anna ; and on the 20th of November it is actually announced that two hundred and twenty-five men are determined to start the next morning.

But they do not start. It is whispered the town will be stormed. On the 3rd of December, Smith, Holmes, and Maverick escape from San Antonio, and give the Texan conunander such information as apparently determines him to storm. Volunteers are called for to attack early next morning ; all day and all night of that December .'>rd the men make themselves ready, and long for the moment to advance : when here comes word from the General's quarters that the attack is put off ! Chagrin and indignation prevail on all sides. On the morning of the 4th there is open disobedience of orders ; whole companies refuse to parade. Finally, when on the same afternoon orders are issued to abandon camp and march for La Bahia at seven o'clock, the tumult is terrible, and it seems likely that these wild energetic souls, failing the Mexicans, will end by exterminating each other.

Midst of the confusion here arrives Mexican Lieutenant Vuavis, a deserter, and declares that the projected attack is not known (as had been assigned for reason of postponing), and that the garrison in town is in as bad order and discontent as the besiegers. At this critical moment a brave man suddenly crystallised the loose mass of discordant men and opinions into one compact force and one keen purpose. It is late in the morning, Col. Benjamin R. Milam steps forth among the men, and cries aloud : " Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio? " Three hundred and one men will go.

A little before daylight on the r)th they "go," Gen. Burleson agreeing to hold his position until he hears from them. Milam marches into and along Acequia Street with his party ; Johnson with his along Soledad Street. Where these debouch into the Main Plaza, Cos has thrown up breastworks and placed raking batteries. The columns march parallel along the quiet streets. Presently, as Johnson gets near the \'eramendi House (which he is to occupy, while Milam is to gain De la Garza's house), a ]\rexican sentinel fires. Deaf Smith shoots the sentinel. The Mexicans prick up their ears, prick into their cannoncartridges; the Plaza batteries open, the Alamo batteries join in ; spade, crowbar, rifle, escopet, all are plied, and the storming of Bexar is begun.

But it would take many such papers as this to give even meagre details of all the battles that have been fought in and around San Antonio, and one must pass over the four days of this thrilling conflict with briefest mention. It is novel fighting ; warfare intramural, one might say. The Texans advance inch by inch by piercing through the stone walls of the houses, pecking loop-holes with cM'owhars for their rillcs as ihcy K'^''^ cacli room, ])ickiiiji^ off the enemy from his h()US(.t(»]is, from around liis catnioti, even from beliiiul his own loop-holes. On tlie nij;ht of llu- "illi with j^reat lroul)k- and i i^k tlie two columns succeed in openinj; connnunication with each other. On the (ith they advance a little beyond the Gar/a house. On the 7th brave Karnes steps forth with a crowbar and l)reaks into a house mi(lwa\- ])etween the Garza house and the Plaza ; brave Milam is stricken by a rille ball just as he is entering the yard of the Veraraendi house and falls instantly dead ; and the Navarro house, one block from the Main Plaza, is gained. On the Sth they take the " Zambrano Row" of buildings, driving the enemy from it room by room ; the enemy endeavor to produce a diversion with fifty men, and do, in a sense, for Burle.son finds some diversion in driving them back precipitately with a six-poiinder ; at night those in the Zambrano Row are reinforced, and tlie ''Priest's House" is gained amid heavy fighting.

This last is the stroke of grace. The Priest's House commands the Plaza, liarly on the morning of the "-th General Cos sends a flag of truce, asking to surrender, and on the lOth agrees with Gen. Burleson upon formal and honorable articles of capitulation.

The poor citizens of San Antonio de Bexar, however, do not yet enjoy the blessings of life in quiet ; these wild soldiers who have stormed the town cannot remain long without excitement. Presently Dr. Grant revives his old Matamoras project, and soon departs, carrying with him most of the troops that had been left at Bexar for its defense, together with great part of the garrison's winter supply of clothing, ammunition and provisions, and in addition "pressing" such property of the citizens as he needs, insomuch that Col. Neill, at that time in command at Bexar, writes to the Governor of Texas that the place is left destitute and defenceless. Soon afterward Col. Neill is ordered to destro}' the Alamo walls and other fortifications, and bring off the artiller\', since no head can be made there in the present crisis against the enemj^, who is reported marching in force upon San Antonio. Having no teams, Col. Neill is unable to obey the order, and presently retires, his unpaid men having dropjied off until but eighty remain, of whom Colonel \Vm. B. Travis assumes command. Colonel Travis promptly calls for more troops, but gets none as yet, for the Go\-ernor and Council are at deadly quarrel, and the soldiers are all pressing towards Matamoras. Travis has brought thirty men with him ; about the middle of February he is joined by Colonel Bowie with thirty others, and these, with the eighty alread}' in garrison, constitute the defenders of San Antonio de Bexar. On the 2.')d of February appears General Santa Anna at the head of a well-appointed army of some four thousand men, and marches straight on into town. The Texans retire before him slowly, and finally shut themselves up in the Alamo ; here straightway begins that bloodiest, .smokiest, grimiest tragedy of this centur}-. William B. Travis, James Bowie, and David Crockett, with their hundred and forty-five effective men, are enclosed within a stone rectangle one hundred and ninety feet long and one hundred and twenty-two feet wide, having the old church of the Alamo in the southeast corner, in which are their quarters and magazine. They have a supply of water from the ditches that run alongside the walls, and b}- way of provision they have about ninety Inishels of corn and thirty beef cattle, their entire stock, all collected since the enemy came in si*;ht. The walls are unbroken, with no angles from which to command ])eseit,Mng- lines. They have fourteen pieces of artillery mounted, with l)ut little ammunition.

Santa Anna demands unconditional surrender. Travis replies with a camionshot, and the attack commences, the enemy running up a blood-red flag in town. Travis dispatches a messenger with a call to his countrymen for reinforcements, which concludes : " Though this call may be neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible, and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country. Victory or death ! " Meantime the enemy is active. On the "iSth Travis has a sharp fight to prevent him from erecting a battery raking the gate of the Alamo. At night it is erected, with another a half-mile off at the Garita, or powder-hou.se, on a sharp eminence at the extremity of the present main street of the town. On the 2()th there is skirmishing with the Mexican cavalry. In the cold - for a norther has commenced to blow and the thermometer is down to thirty-nine - the Texans make a sally successfully for wood and water, and that night they burn some old houses on the northeast that might afford cover for the enemy. So amid the enemy's constant rain of shells and balls, which miraculously hurt no one, the Texans strengthen their works and the siege goes on. On the 28th Fannin starts from Goliad with three hundred troops and four pieces of artillery, but for lack of teams and provisions quickly returns, and the little garrison is left to its fate. On the morning of the first of March there is doubtless a wild shout of welcome in the Alamo ; Captain John W. Smith has managed to conve}- thirty-two men from Gonzales into the fort. These join the heroes, and the attack and defence go on. On the 3rd a single man, Moses Rose, escapes from the fort. His account of that day* must entitle it to consecration as one of the most pathetic days of time.

"About two hours before sunset on the ord of March, ls;]('), the bombardment suddenl}^ ceased, and the enemy withdrew an unusual distance Colonel Travis paraded all his effective men in a single file, and taking his position in front of the centre, he stood for .some moment.s apparently speechless from emotion ; then nerving himself for the occasion, he addressed them substantial!)' as follows : -

"'My brave companions: stern necessity compels me to employ the few moments afforded by this probably brief cessation of conflict, in making known to you the most interesting, yet the most solemn, melanchol)' and unwelcome days, perhaps a very few hours, we must all be in eternity ! I have deceived you long by the promi.se of help : but I crave your pardon, hoping that after hearing my explanation you will not only regard my conduct as pardonable, but heartily

* As transmitted by the Zuber family, whose residence was the first place at which poor Rose had dared to stop, and with whom he remained some weeks, healing the festered wounds made on his legs by the cactusthorns during the days of his fearful journey. The account from which these extracts are taken, is contributed to the Texas .-Mmanac for lS7:i. by W. I'. Zuber, and his mother, Mary Ann Zuber.

every one thai I have seen from individuals at home, has teemed with assurances that our people were ready, willinj^^ and anxious to come to our relief. . . . The.se lieart I have transmitted to you the.se promises of help and my confident hope of success. But the promised help has not come, and our hopes are not to be realised. I have evidently confided too nnuh in the promi.ses of our friends; but informed of our perilous condition in time to save us. Doubtless they would have been here ])y the time they expected any considerable force of the enemy. .... My calls on Colonel Fannin remain unanswered, and my messengers have not returned. The probabilities are that his whole command has fallen into the hands of the enemy, or been cut to pieces, and that our couriers have been cut off. [So does the brave simple soul refuse to feel any bitterness in the hour of effort to save our lives, but to choose the manner of our death. But three modes are presented to us ; let us choose that by which we may best serve our country. Shall we surrender and be deliberately shot without taking the life of a single enemy ? Shall we try to cut our way out through the Mexican ranks and be butchered before we can kill twenty of our adversaries? I am opposed to either each advance to kill as many of them as possible. And w-hen at last they shall storm our fortress, let us kill them as they come! kill them as they scale our wall! kill them as they leap within! kill them as they raise their weapons and as they use them! kill them as they kill our companions! and continue to kill them as long as one of us shall remain alive! .... But I leave every man to his own choice. Should any man prefer to surrender ... or to attempt an escape . . . he is at liberty to do so. My own choice is to stay in the fort and die for my country, fighting as long as breath shall remain in my body. This will I do even if you leave me alone. Do as you think best ; but no man can die with me without affording me comfort in the hour of death ! "

"Colonel Travis then drew his sword, and with its point traced a line upon the ground extending from the right to the left of the file. Then resuming his position in front of the center, he said, 'I now want every man who is determined to -Stay here and die with me to come across this line. Who will be the first? March ! The first respondent was Tapley Holland, who leaped the line at a bound, exclaiming, ' I am ready to die for my countrj- ! ' His example was instantly followed by every man in the file with the exception of Rose. . . . Every sick man that could walk, arose from his bunk and tottered across the line. Colonel Bowie, who could not leave his bed, said, ' Boys, I am not able to come to you, but I wish some of you would be so kind as to remove my cot over there.' Four men instantly ran to the cot, and each lifting a corner, carried it across the line. Then every sick man that could not walk made the same request, and had his bunk removed in the same way.