- Subject: Taylor Memoirs
Date: 11/ 21/98
From: W.L. McKeehan
I am interested in more detail regarding the individuals and events the following from the Memoirs of Creed Taylor speaking of the Siege and Battle of Bexar refers to. Specifically, who was Lt. Vauvis and what was his tragic fate?
"....At this juncture the excitement was further increased when one of the scouts, Bates Berry, rode up with a Mexican officer whom he had captured while scouting below the "Old Mill." Of this villainous fellow and arrant horse-thief and of his tragic fate at a later period, the novelist, Capt. Mayne Reid, has graphically told in his absorbing narrative, "The Headless Horseman."
Lieutenant Vauvis gave a report of the conditions of Cos' army which coincided with that just reported by the three Americans. An interpreter was called and as the excited men drew near to hear and see, their menacing presence gave the lieutenant extreme alarm and, mistaking me for a Mexican, he appealed to me for protection, declaring that he had deserted the Mexican army and was on his way to our camp when intercepted. I gave him assurances that soon allayed his fears."
W.L. McKeehan
Bellaire, TX
Subject: Houston's Conduct
Date: Sat, Nov 21, 1998, 7:54 PM
From: W.L. McKeehan
Although at first cautious toward Hardin's criticism and evaluation of Houston,The San Jacinto Campaign: Generalship of Sam Houston and succeeding Alamo Forum, putting together The Siege and Battle of Bexar for Sons of DeWitt Colony Texas has convinced me that to agree, not with Houston's vicious political enemies who wrote in hindsight, but with Gonzaleans George Huff and Spencer Jack.
"Individuals who stile themselves citizens of the country-but who are in fact its worst & most dangerous enemies....To day Sam Houston of Nacogdoches arrived...His conduct..the most discontented & envious of spirits mixed with the most unmeasured vanity..peremptorily ordered that the company in whose charge is the cannon, proceed no farther towards San Antonio but on the contrary to commence a retreat back to the colonies...endeavored to discourage our men by ridiculing a siege & alledging the impracticability of taking Bexar...tried to induce our men to return by declaring we ought not to march against San Antonio-he has even attempted to pursuade one of our waggoners, to refuse to proceed farther-but to leave the cannon and return, he had the impudence to order the blacksmiths who were at work on the cannon to stop-in fact he has in the course of two or three hours stay in this Town done more to convince every reflecting mind, that he is a vain, ambitious, envious, disappointed, discontented man, who desires the defeat of our army...
Written 28 Oct 1835, just after the victory at Concepcion and when morale was highest to reduce and take Bexar after a month of siege.
It appears that a price should have been put on Houston's head with
similar justification put on that of John Williams at the first of the
month:
- Reward for Cos and Williams VOLUNTEERS TO PUBLIC, 5 Oct
1835 $5000 Will be paid to the individual who kills or takes prisoner General
Martin Perfecto de Cos, and $500 will be paid for the arrest and detention
in close custody of John A. Williams who by the most infamous lying and
by the production of forged letters from Santa Anna and Cos prevented 66
Volunteers from joining their countrymen at Gonzales. Volunteers. Brazoria,
October 5th, 1835.
W.L. McKeehan
Bellaire, TX
Subject: Travis' Line in the Sand
Date: 11/21/98
From: Wallace McKeehan
It is my impression that majority current opinion is that the story of Travis' line in the sand giving choice to those who would want to leave versus stand is that it is likely a legend rather than fact. Could it have come from a similar event at the moment of truth at the storm of Bexar earlier in fall 1835 as related by DeWitt Colonist Creed Taylor in his memoirs:
- "....Ben Milam and Frank Johnson were heard in animated
conversation, and presently they were observed walking rapidly in the direction
of the commanders quarters. Minutes now passed as hours. Suddenly, the
flap of General Burlesons tent was thrown back and a man stepped boldly
out and forward. He drew a line on the ground with the stock of his rifle.
Then waving his old slouch hat above his head, he cried in stentorian voice,
"Boys! Wholl go with Ben Milam into Bexar?" The quick commingled responses,
"I will," were almost deafening. "Well, if you are going with me, get on
this side," shouted Milam. And with a rush , animated cheers, and loud
hurrahs, the men formed in a line to the number of about three hundred...."
Wallace L. McKeehan
Bellaire, TX
The account of Travis drawing the line in the sand is usually attributed to William P. Zuber. In an 1873 article, Zuber first presented the story of Moses Rose and Travis' line in the sand, much of which he admitted later was embellishement. It could be that Taylor's memoirs were known to Zuber by the time he published his story and that he simply incorporated some of Taylor's more heroic elements into his own narrative.
Subject:Re: Brown Bess
Date: 11/22/98
From: Ed Dubravsky
One of the main reasons many Mexicans were killed by their own men has to do with the tatics of the time. Troops were not taught to aim at individual targets, they were trained to point their muskets in a basicly level line in the direction of the enemy and fire upon command. With the darkness and smoke, coupled with the fact that there was a slight incline leading up to the Alamo, the shots from troops in the rear ranks would very possibly strike the men at the front. Other armys of this period record numerous instances of fratracide because of this sort of "point and shoot" tatic. The biggest danger to the Texans on the Alamo walls would have been from the Cazadores, who were trained to aim at their targets and fire individually.
Ed Dubravsky
Subject:Re:
Brown Bess
Date: 11/23/98
From: W.L. McKeehan
The latter statement definitely "hits the target." The difference in sharpshooting capability was apparently a matter of quantity of shooters, not individual quality, between the Texian Volunteers and the Mexican Army. One shudders to think of the alternative scenario if the Mexican Army had been flexible enough to reach parity.
This skill took Texian commanders in both battles of the Alamo out early on in the two battles. Disrespect for sharpshooters brought Commander Travis down quickly in the second battle for the Alamo Spring 1836 (See War Room on Joe's Account, 03 February 1998).
Likewise Old Ben Milam went down from their marksmanship during the
first Battle for the Alamo Fall 1835. From DeWitt Colonist Creed
Taylor's account:
- "There have been many accounts written of Colonel Milam's
death, scarcely any of them agreeing. Being within thirty feet of him when
he fell, I believe myself competent to give a correct statement of the
facts as I saw them. Milam, Johnson, Cook, Morris, Karnes, York, and other
leaders had assembled at the Verimendi house to formulate plans for the
final assault. Milam carried a small field glass (a present to him by General
Austin). With this glass, and while standing in the front yard of the building,
Milam was viewing the Mexican stronghold on the plaza. At this moment a
shot rang out and Milam fell, the ball piercing his head. I heard the shot
and saw Milam fall and instantly turned to ascertain the direction from
which the shot was fired. There was firing going on all the time, more
or less, and this particular shot would have attracted no particular notice
but for its fatal and most deplorable result.
One of those present in the yard called attention to the fact that at the report of the shot he saw a white puff of smoke arising from the branches of a large cypress tree that stood on the margin of the river. At this announcement all eyes were turned in the direction of that tree, the outline of a man was seen, several rifle shots rang out and the corpse of the daring sharpshooter crashed down through the branches and rolled into the river. After the surrender, Colonel Sánchez told Col. Frank Johnson and Captain Bennet, in my presence, that this sharpshooter, Felix de la Garza, was the best shot in the Mexican army, a half-brother of Almonte, and that General Cos was deeply grieved over his death."
W.L. McKeehan
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