The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1873-12-11
DAvIs's MAJoR1T1Es.
Early History of Te1as.-No. ?.


more healthy country than West Tennessee,
his abiding place. and was chairman of the
committee on the Constitution in the con-
vention which met at San Filipe on the first
of April, 1888, and adjourned on the thir-
teenth of the same month, after adopting
State Constitution, and memorialiZing the
Mexican Congress for its ratification.
But a feeling of distrust or jealousy of
their Texan colOnists seems at this time to
have swayed the councils of Mexico, for
when Stephen F. Austin presented this
Constitution and memorial to that govern
ment, then centralized under the entire con-
troll of Santa Anna, he was arrested and
kept in Mexico till September, 1885.
In May, 1885, committees of vigilance and
safety were formed in various municipali-
ties, for mutual aid and protection against
public enemies.
Early in the same year, Colonel VIM. B.
Travis with company of Texans, attacked
and captured the Mexican troops stationed
at Anahuac and sent them away, thus show
ing their contempt for the Mexican govern
ment, which had invited them to immi-
CRATE and become citizens, but afterwards
failed to do justice and protect them.
Soon after, Travis, Zavala and other Tex
ans were demanded by the Mexicans for
punishment, and in September, 1885, the
idea of disarming their colonists was con-
ceived and Captain Castonado, with an
hundred troops, demanded of Gonzales its
artillery, which, being refused, was fol
lowed by the battle of Gonzales on the I'd
of October, 1885, the capture of Goliad on
the 9th, the battle of Conception on the 2Sth
of the same month, and the capture of San
Antonio on the 10th of December, 1885.
Thus commenced the struggle for independ-
ence in Texas.
The first government of Texas was COM
posed of members of the Consultation who
met at San Filipe on the fifteenth of 0cto-
Der, 1885, and not finding a quorum, because
of the absence of many members who had
been elected, in the army, they organized
themselves into council to act as govern
ment until quorum should assemble, and
adjourned the Consultation to meet again on
the first of November; upon which day a
quorum assembled which superseded this
council, and after thirteen days labor or
ganized provisional government, republic
can in form, and elected Henry Smith, Gov
ernor; J. w. Robertson, Lieutenant Gov
ernor; Sam Houston, Commander-in-C Chief
of the Army, and council of twelve to CO.
operate with the Governor.
This provisional government, after an in
glorious existence of few months, on the
seventeenth of March, 1886, gave way to
the al interim government, established by
the convention assembled at Washington,
on the Brazos March 1, 1886, which on the
second day of its session declared the indie
pendence of Texas, on the sixteenth of
March adopted the Constitution Of the Re
public, and on the same day made David G..
Burnett President; Lorenzo de Zavala, Vice
President; S. p. Carson, Secretary of State;
Baily Hardiman, Secretary of the Treasury;
Thos. J. Rusk, Secretary of War; Robt.
Potter, Secretary of the Navy, and David
Thomas, Adjutant General
On the fourth of March General Houston
was again appointed Commander-in-Chiefo of
the Army OF the newborn Republic, and on
the sixth of March, the memorable date of
the fall of the Alamo, he set out from San
Filipe for Gonzales, and arrived there just
in time to hear its mothers, widows and
orphans weeping and agonizing over the
loss of their sons, husbands and fathers who,
after fighting like heroes against overwhelm-
ing numbers, died as the bravest Of the brave
at the Thermopyl@ of Texas. Gen. Hous-
ton found the army at Gonzales to number
only 374 effective men, with which on the
night of the thirteenth of March, after
burning Gonzalesto the ground, he retreated
eastward, before the victorious Mexicans,
attended by the panic stricken inhabitants
of Gonzales and the surrounding country.
BY the twenty-fifth the Texan army had
increased to seven hundred men, and Gen
eral Houston was making preparations to
attack the advancing enemy, when the sad
news of -he defeat and surrender of Fannin
and his army at the Coleta on the twentieth,
and the capitalization of Ward and Kings
commands on the sixteenth and twentieth
of March, 1886, threw a damper over the
cause of Texan independence, his troops
aid himself, causing the retreat of the
Texans from the Colorado to San Filipe,
where they arrived on the twenty-eighth.
The Mexicans had already killed in bat
tic or butchered, within less than one
month, more Texans than now constituted
heir army under General Houston.
Indeed, things looked gloomy Another
battle might end as disastrous and bloody
as the first, yet, after resting few days,
and recuperating their physical abilities,
Hope revived their dropping spirits, and on
the seventh Of April their General issued
the following order:
"HEADQUARTERs OF THE ARMY,
CAafP WEST or BRAzOs,