The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1845-02-14

out honor, reward, hope or consolation
a single hour of Tranquility,
or wish for aughtexcept death. All
this to serve Texas and his country
men. Who shall say this man was moi
a5true patriotg4God viii surely, be
merciful to his SOUL" said the Alcade,
after a pause SlahaA I"aY7 :, oF 'ee'
trust he WILL" answered /, deeply
affected. ,'eA Fn.'i'7Fi, ~ =
We were interrupted at this moment
by a message from General Houston.
to whom we Immediately hastened.
All was uproar and confusion. Santa
Anna could not be found among the
prisoners.
u This was terrible disappointment,
for the capture Of the Mexican Presi-
dent had been our principal object, and
the victory we had gained was com
parativeIy unimportant if ne escaped.
Indeed, the hope ofputting an, end to
the war by his capture, had more than
any thing encouraged and stimulated us
to the unequal conflict. '- '
The moment was IA very critical one.
Among our men we're some thirty or
forty most desperate characters, who
began handling their knives and casting
looks on the prisoners, the meaning OF
which it was Impossible to mistake.
Selecting some Of our trustiest men, we
stationed them as guard over the cap
tives, and, having thus insured the safe
ty Of the latter, began questioning them
as to what had become Of their Gene
raj. e.a"''3-' " ''' + "
They had none OF them seen Sahta
Anna since the commencement of The
fight, and it was clear that he must have
made his escape while we were getting
over the breastworks. He could not
now be very far off, and we at once
took measures to find him. A hundred
men were sent off with the prisoners
to Harrisburg, and a hundred others,
capitally mounted on horses found in
the Mexican camp, started 10 scour
the country in search of the fugitive
chief. accompanied the hitter de
tachment. wy
We had been twelve hours in the
saddle and had ridden over nearly .
hundred'miles Of ground. We began
to despair Of finding the game we were
in quest of, and were thinking of aban
doning the chase, when at a distance
OF about seven miles from the camp
one OF our most experienced hunters
discovered the print Of a small and del
ioate boot upon some soft ground lead.
ing to marsh. Following this trai'
it at last led us to a man sunk up to his
waist in the swamp, and SO covered
with mud and filthas to be unrecogniz
able. We drew him from his hiding
place, half dead with cold and terror,
and having washed the dirt from his
face, we found him to be a man Of about
40 years Of age; with blue eyes, Of q
mild but crafty expression; narrow
high forehead; long thin nose rather
fleshy at the tip, projecting upperly
and long chin. These features talliec
too exactly with the description we
had of the Mexican President, for US Il
doubt that our prisoner was Santa An
ma himself.
The only thing that at all tended tt
shake this convictien, was the extraor
dinary poltroonery ofour new captive
He threw himself on his kn-ss anC
begged US, in the name Of God and al
the saints to spare his life. Our reite
rated assurances and promises were IN
sufficient to convince him of his bein,
in perfect safety, or to induce him Il
adopt a demeanor more consisten
with his dignity and high station.
The events which succeeded thi
fortunate capture, are to we'll know
to require more than brief recapitula
ton. The same evening truce wa
agreed upon between Houston an,
Santa Anna, the latter sending order
to his different generals to retire OF
San Antonio de Bexar, AM other pla
/ ces in the direction of the Mexican
frontier. These orders valueless a
emanating from prisoner, most Of tn
generals We're cowardly or weak {
, nough 10 obey, an obedience for whicI
they were afterwards brought 10 tfia
, by the Mexican Congress. In fev
days two thirds of Texas was in ou
possession.
\ The news of tins success brough
!, crowds of volunteers to our standard
In three weeks we had an army Of sew
eral thousand men, with which we ad
vanced against the Mexicans. Their
was no more fighting, however, for ou
! antagonists had had enough, and allow
ed themselves to be driven from on
4 IL =