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| Robinson |
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Houston had now been recalled to the command of the
army by the government. He repaired to Gonzales, where the Texans had
gathered in numbers to meet the invaders. There, he assumed command
of these and all other Texas troops. Travis, besieged in the Alamo,
had been making frantic efforts to get reinforcements. He sent Bonham
to Goliad and Gonzales to beg for help. From the latter place a company,
on March third, stole through the enemy lines and joined the band in
the Alamo. Fannin, on February 25, left Fort Defiance, as he had
re-christened old La Bahía, to go to the aid of Travis. As he had broken
off all relations with Governor Smith, Fannin made his reports to Lieutenant
Governor Robinson, whom the Council had endeavored to make governor
in place of Smith, though the-latter refused to resign, and was not,
in fact, superseded by Robinson.
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But to Robinson, Fannin reported:
Yesterday (Feb. 25) after making all preparations
possible, we took up our line of march (about three hundred strong and
four pieces of artillery) toward Bexar, to the relief of those brave
men now shut up on command of this post. Within two hundred yards of
the town (Goliad) one of the wagons broke down, and it was necessary
to double teams in order to draw the artillery across the river, each
piece having but one yoke of oxen. Not a particle of bread-stuff, with
the exception of half a tierce of rice, with us no beef with the exception
of a small portion that had been dried, and not a head of cattle, except
those used to draw the artillery, the ammunition, etc., and it was impossible
to obtain any until we should arrive at Seguin's Rancho, seventy miles
from this place. After crossing the river the troops encamped. This
morning while here I received a note from the officers commanding the
volunteers, requesting in the name of the officers of this command a
Council of War on the subject of the expedition to Bexar, which, of
course, was granted. The council of war consisted of all the commissioned
officers of the command, and it was by them unanimously determined,
that inasmuch as a proper supply of provisions and means of transportation
could not be had, and as it was impossible, with our present means to
carry the artillery with us, and as by leaving Fort Defiance without
a proper garrison, it might fall into the hands of the enemy, with the
provisions, etc., now at Matagorda, Dimmitt's Landing, and Cox's Point
and on the way to meet us; and as by report of our spies (sent out by
Colonel Bowers), we may expect an attack upon this place, it was deemed
expedient to return to this post and complete the fortifications, etc.,
etc., J. W. Fannin
This, from Fannin's own hand, makes it hard for us to understand why,
in view of his information of the coming of the Mexican Army, he did not
keep his small force together after he decided not to go to the relief
of the Alamo. But he did not. The Irish Colonists settlers, realizing
the danger to their lives and properties from the approaching Mexican
Army, had fled eastward, joining others in what is now known as The Runaway
Scrape, though some of them got no further than Victoria. About March
10th, the notorious Lewis T. Ayers then residing at The Mission, as Refugio
was then called by all Texans, sent an urgent request to Colonel Fannin
to send guards to remove his, Ayers, family. Ayers, who, in defiance of
advice and urging of neighbors, remained at Refugio-and so became the
cause of the loss of King's and Ward's men, and the Goliad debacle. |
