Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-09

tue THRU Udu was RululOR tn6 others.
When they were brought into camp by
Smith and Karnes, Gen. Houston sent
for me to question them. In the mean
time Deaf Smith had changed clothes
with the courier. The courier had on
Deaf Smith s old hat, ragged shoes and
worn pantaloons, which were too long.
A striking contrast was Deaf Smith in
the Mexicau's government uniform; it
was amusing to the camp. The guide
said he belonged to Capt. Juan N.
Seguin's company, that he had q fur
Tough at Gonzales M that he had been
arrested by the Mexicans. at San Antonio
and forced to act as guide. Capt. Sc
gum being called for, recognized the
man and confirmed his statement. b
man rejoined his company and partici-
pated in the battle of San Jacinto. Gen.
Houston asked this man how many men
were under Santa Anna when he left his
main army on the BraZos, marched
to Harrisburg n set lire to the town.
The man replied be did not know. He
saw them march out on their start and
heard some OF the officers say there were
500 infantry and 100 cavalry and Il2
cannon. He also heard the officers say
they thought it very indiscreet of Santa
Anna to start out with such a small
force. The information obtained from
the Mexican caused Gen. Houston and
Secretary of War T. J. Rusk to order the
army to prepare to march the next day.
On the 18th of April the army was pa
raded, and Gen. Houston II Secretary
Of War Rusk made speeches in which
they said they were going to attack the
enemy. The army then marched down
the bayou two miles below Harrisburg
and crossed the river. 1t took US all the
afternoon to get everything across, hav-
ing only one fiat boat and some log RATS.
The horses were swum over. We then
marched to LYnche' $ ferry (now Lynch
burg, at the junction of Buffalo bayou
and San Jacinto river. We marched all
night. l could not bring my horse across
and l gave out walking. l called to a
man and represented my condition to
him; he dismounted, gave me his horse
and took my place in the ranks. This
happened about the middle of the night.
I was very feeble, having just got up
from the measles. About daylight we
arrived opposite Vice President Zarola's
residence on Buffalo bayou, and there
pitched camp. The army had COM
meuced slaughtering beeves brought in
from the prairie, when the advance of
Santa Annals army made It's appearance.
The enemy approached within a quarter
of a mile of US and took up their position
in an oak grove and commenced firing
their Canuon at US. Our two pieces of
artillery, called the twin sisters, which
had been sent to us by the ladies of Cin-
~cinnati, then returned the fire. Col.
Mel said Gen. Houston ordered him to
fire, and Gen. Houston denied that be
so ordered. l have always thought that
if our artillery had not opened fire Santa
Anna would have advanced on us on the
goth and the battle of San Jacinto would
AVE been fought on that day instead of
the next, 21st. The enemy's artillery
continued to fire but the main body of
the army retired to the edge of the tim
Der on the bank of the San Jacinto. Col.
Sherman got sixty men to go with him
and try to capture the enemy's cannon
After skirmishing with the enemy for a
short time, the present president of the
Texas Vetern association, Col. Walter
2. Lane, then an eighteeu-Year-old boy,
was speared by a Mexican and fell from
his horse, and but for the bravery of
Mirabeau B. Lamar, who rushed to his
rescue and killed the Mexican, would
nave been killed. In this attempt two
or three of our men were wounded, sew
eral horses killed. aud nothing accom-
plished. The enemy then moved their
cannon to where they were camped. On
the 2Ist Deaf Smith went to Gen. Hous-
ton and proposed burning the bridge
over Vinces bayou, eight miles from our
camp. When on his way to the bridge
with five or six men Smith saw q force of
five hundred or six hundred men under
Gen. Cos, who had just crossed the
bridge on their way to join Santa Anna.
The country was prairie and he could
ITaAT,nF1u onn ~ F1rnn ~ nrnhSnr I0onf
Smith 3 idea had been to burn the bridge
and thereby prevent any reinforcements
reaching Santa Anna. About II or l
O'Clock Gen. Houston called a council of
war, the principal officers of the army
meeting at his tent. 1t was determined
to parade and prepare for battle. We
marched out and formed a line of battle
IN q gully about half way between our
camp and the Mexican camp. Our two
pieces of six Founders were drawn by
men with rawhide ropes. After the line
of battle YVES formed we marched rapidly
towards the Mexican breastworks. Bur-
Lesson g regiment, to which 1 belonged,
was in the order and marched straight to
the breastworks, where we just could
see the heads of the MeXicaDs. In the
advance l had three holes shot in the
skirts of my coat, which was a frock,
ana new OuIj as we ADVANCED III q LFOL L
heard the bullets whistling over us; we
were advancing up hill and the Mexicans
over shot US nearly all the time. The
Second regiment, Sherman s, was on
the left and, being a little in advance OF
Burleson IS regiment, routed the REIN
forcements under Gen. Cos, which had
Joined ant Anna in the morning. They
were all lying dow asleep when we
made the attack. They rushed down,
Gas I was told by the MeXicans we cap
tured) many of them throwing away
their guns, and mixed with the veteran
troops behind the breastworks and threw
them into confusion. Burleson' regi-
ment went right on over the breastworks
and the MeXicans who were not killed
retTented. We captured the cannon.
They fired twice at us and we captured it
with the third load in it.. About sixteen
MeXicans were killed around the cannon;
the cannon was u tw~elve-pound brass
piece. The most awful slaughter 1 ever
saw was when the Texans pursued the
retreatIug Mexioaus, killing them on all
sides, even the wounded. l had a double
barrel shot gun and had shot only four
times when we crossed the breastworks.
After that l would not shoot any more