Battle of Salado Creek ( 1842 ) The Battle of Salado Creek was a decisive engagement in 1842 which repulsed the final Mexican invasion of the Republic of Texas . Colonel Mathew Caldwell of the Texas Rangers led just over 200 militia men against an army of 1 , 600 Mexican Army soldiers and Cherokee warrior s and defeated them outside of San Antonio de Bexar along Salado Creek . As a result of this action , Mexican commander General Adrián Woll retreated south and back into Mexico . Background . On January 9 , 1842 , word came from General Mariano Arista in Monterrey , that Mexico was planning to invade and retake Texas . He stated that all who would not resist would be given amnesty and protection during this invasion . In August 1842 , the Mexican army crossed the border with the intention of retaking control over Texas . An earlier expedition in March , led by General Ráfael Vásquez , had occupied Goliad , Refugio , and Victoria and then captured San Antonio . The surprised Texans , without a force large enough to hold the town evacuated to Seguin , without a fight . The Mexican flag was raised over San Antonio and the city was held by the invaders for a few days , before exiting to Mexico . A Texian force was organized at the Manuel N . Flores ranch in Seguin that pursued and ensured Vasquez ' s flight from Texas . In June , a smaller force under the command of Colonel Antonio Canales Rosillo had raided southern Texas until being repulsed in an engagement near Fort Lipantitlan , west of Corpus Christi . The Texan invasions of a year earlier , in which the Texans attempted to annex New Mexico during the Santa Fe Expedition had also stirred up Mexico ' s interest in retaking Texas . French mercenary General Adrian Woll commanded the September expedition which included 500 cavalry , 900 infantry , 200 Cherokee scouts and two artillery pieces . On September 11 , 1842 the Mexicans arrived in San Antonio . Captain Salvador Flores was assigned by Mayor John William Smith to command 100 local Tejanos against the Mexican invaders . However , the larger Mexican forces captured the city after a skirmish with sixty - two Texans under Chauncy Johnson , who were positioned in houses facing the town plaza . Woll had orders to hold the city , wait for reinforcements , and to withdraw from San Antonio by mid October . The alarm was quickly raised so Texan militia began assembling to fight Woll ' s troops . Colonel Mathew Caldwell , a veteran of the Texas Revolution who had just recently been released after capture during the Santa Fe Expedition , began forming a contingent in Seguin to expel Woll from the city . After forming 140 Texan volunteers Caldwell marched for Cibolo Creek , twenty miles from San Antonio . A little later Caldwell moved his camp thirteen miles closer to the city along Salado Creek near the Prescot House . Altogether , about 220 Texans had been assembled to fight the Mexicans . Battle . Colonel Caldwell knew he was outnumbered so he chose a course of action which called for some of his militia to lure the Mexicans out of the fortified city and into the prairie around Salado Creek . The remaining Texans would be positioned within the creek bed where they had good cover . Caldwell never anticipated victory but he knew that with his men positioned in the creek bed could cause considerable damage to the Mexicans without being too exposed to enemy fire . Only thirty - eight horses were found to be fit for duty among the Texan camp so only thirty - eight men could be sent to lure out the Mexicans . Captain John C . Hays , with his fourteen Texas Rangers were assigned to the mission along with Henry E . McCulloch , William A . A . Wallace , Robert Addison Gillespie and sixteen others . The thirty - eight men were sent from the Salado to San Antonio on the morning of September 17 , where they arrived outside the city sometime after 9 : 00 am at dawn . Some accounts say the engagement occurred on September 18 but Caldwell ' s own report contradicts this . Hays ordered his men dismounted and prepared an ambush while he and eight others remounted and proceeded to within a half mile of the Alamo where Woll was based . Hays hoped to lure out around fifty of the Mexicans but when the Texans were spotted , 200 Mexican cavalrymen were sent after them followed by forty Cherokees and about 300 more men led by Woll himself . Immediately Hays ordered a retreat back to the creek and a running battle ensued . The Mexican cavalry attempted to cut Hay ' s command off from the right but the Texans managed to get back to the Salado , closely pursued . Over 200 shots were fired during this first skirmish though the Texans sustained no casualties . When Hays reached the camp the men were preparing for breakfeast which was quickly stopped so as to take up positions for defense . The cavalry , after seeing the Texan camp , chose to break off the pursuit and form a line of battle on the opposite side of the creek in the prairie southeast of Caldwell ' s men . When over 1 , 000 Mexicans and Cherokees were assembled they began firing across the creek with volleys of musket and cannon fire . Though accurate the artillery barrage was ineffective throughout the five - hour battle because of the distance at which they were being fired from . According to one Texan named N . B . Burkett , the Texans " " did not pay a great deal of attention to them . " " Caldwell then sent for reinforcements from several nearby towns , his distress call said that he was surrounded but was confident that he was in no threat of being defeated and could hold his position . Another few sentences of Caldwell ' s message read ; " " The enemy are around me on every side , but I fear them not . I will hold my position until I hear from reinforcements . Come and help me — it is the most favorable opportunity I have ever seen . There are eleven hundred of the enemy . I can whip them on any ground , without any help , but can not take any prisoners . Why don ' t you come ? Huzza ! huzza for Texas ! " " The battle took the form of skirmishing for several hours as Caldwell directed his sharpshooters to constantly harass the Mexican line and retreat back to the creek before being discovered . These tactics severely annoyed the Mexicans who were dying left and right while inflicting only few casualties upon the Texans . Eventually General Woll ordered a full attack with his left and right wings so the Mexicans advanced but they were repulsed within fifteen minutes . Some of the Mexicans made it to twenty steps from the Texan line before being killed . After this failed attack Woll attempted to rally his men for another but could not , so that night he retreated south towards the border . Woll managed to complete a successful withdrawal by igniting several camp fires so as to make the Texans believe that they were not leaving . But when some Caldwell ' s men attempted to skirmish with the Mexicans that night , they discovered that Woll had retreated and the battle was over . Aftermath . The battle at Salado Creek proved to be a decisive victory for the Texans , at least sixty Mexicans were reported as casualties while only one Texan was killed and nine others wounded . Caldwell pursued Woll ' s force after learning of the retreat and eventually caught up with them at the Hondo River where another battle was fought . In it , Captain Hays captured the enemy artillery but was repulsed soon after by an overwhelming Mexican force who then continued the retreat towards the Rio Grande . During the time of the battle at Salado , another engagement occurred , this time in the form of a skirmish turned into a massacre . Captain Nicholas Mosby Dawson was leading a force of fifty - three men on September 17 to reinforce Caldwell when he was attacked outside of San Antonio by several hundred Mexican cavalrymen , after a skirmish the Texans began to surrender and when they had been relieved of their weapons , the Mexicans opened fire again . Thirty - six of the fifty - three Texans were killed , two escaped the massacre and fifteen others were taken prisoner , of these seventeen men , only nine would survive . Caldwell ' s men found bodies of the Dawson party the next day on September 18 , and buried them . Their bodies were later removed in 1848 to the Monument Hill Tomb with victims of the Black Bean Incident . Also , about 100 more Texans arrived that day to reinforce Calwell ' s command which eventually reached a strength of 500 men before the campaign was over .