Alamo Traces (19 page)

Long's use of the phrase “suicidal melody” is certainly without foundation. Travis was the stereotypical man caught in the wrong place at the
wrong time. He had not wanted to go to Bexar and had done everything, short of disobeying orders, to return to his home in San Felipe. If events had gone Travis's way, he might have died trying to reinforce the Alamo, but he would not have died as its commander.
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During that second day the Gonzales rangers continued their recruitment. Unfortunately, little information has survived concerning the Gonzales company. Initial organization of the unit appears to have occurred around February 8, 1836. Though Albert Martin was in the Alamo at the start of the siege, he seems to have been the unit's captain. Thomas Jackson was first lieutenant of the company. George C. Kimbell was the second lieutenant.
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A muster roll was supposed to have been submitted to the government, but only a partial list exists today. The roster was completed after the fact on June 20, 1838. The document does not appear to be complete and may not be totally correct. The roll identifies twenty-two men as being mustered on February 23 by Byrd Lockhart. Despite the date, most of the men probably joined the unit between February 8 and 23, 1836.
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The men were:

Joseph Kent and James Gibson, while not listed, also appear to have been members of the unit. Clearly, there were other men in the company, but at this time evidence has not been found that identifies those soldiers.
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Although the unit was organized at Gonzales, all of the members were not from that settlement or the Green De Witt colony. Sewell and Harris were from Nacogdoches. Millsaps and Summers were from the upper Lavaca River on the western edge of Stephen F. Austin's colony.
White and Duvalt had been members of James W. Fannin's Brazos Guards during the siege of Bexar; thus they were also most likely from Austin's colony. After the Texian victory at San Antonio in December 1835, a number of the Brazos Guards remained in the city and reorganized as the Bexar Guards. The unit disbanded on February 14, 1836, with White, Irwin, and Ballard traveling to Gonzales. Irwin, first sergeant of one of the Gonzales ranger units, had been a member of Captain George English's company at the siege and storming of Bexar. That company was from San Augustine in East Texas. Ballard had been a member of James Cheshire's company in the same actions in 1835. Cheshire's unit came from Bevil's Settlement in far East Texas, between the Neches and Sabine Rivers.
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Dr. Smither arrived at Gonzales sometime that day. After meeting with Judge Ponton, Smither quickly penned a note that described the conditions at San Antonio and in the Alamo when he had departed at 4:00 p.m. on February 23. He wrote: “In a few words there is 2000 Mexican soldiers in Bexar, and 150 Americans in the Alamo. [Ramirez y] Sesma is at the head of them, and from best accounts that can be obtained, they intend to show no quarter. If every man cannot turn out to a man every man in the Alamo will be murdered.” This document and Travis's note of the twenty-third to Ponton were then sent to San Felipe as Travis had requested—riding “night and day.”
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Albert Martin appears to have been the courier who carried Travis's February 24 missive to Gonzales. John W. Smith most likely accompanied Martin. They probably left the Alamo sometime during the early morning hours of February 25 under the cover of darkness. The east side road to Gonzales was still open at that time. Nevertheless, there would have been enemy cavalry patrols. The Mexican horsemen, however, might have been napping as they were probably not that used to night duty.
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At Gonzales a courier was sent to Mina (Bastrop) with the news that Smither had detailed in his short note. The rider probably arrived that evening and reported to Major Robert M. Williamson, the ranger commander. Williamson was known as “Three-Legged Willie” because of a peg leg. Soon afterward, he issued orders to Captain J. J. Tumlinson, the commanding officer of the first detachment of rangers at Mina. In part the orders read: “. . . they [Alamo defenders] implore aid from their
fellow citizens and solicit it speedily – Provisions and men is the cry, are the frontiers of Colorado safe? Are there no hostile Indians bearing materially upon the frontier of Texas? If there be none you will forthwith fall down to Bastrop and wait further orders from me. It would be well for the inhabitants of Bastrop to keep out spies in the direction of San Antonio lest a foraging party of Mexicans surprise them, every inch of ground must be disputed by us until we can communicate and march against and crush them. . . .”
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John Johnson, the Alamo's first rider to Fannin, arrived at Goliad, probably in the afternoon. John Sowers Brooks, an aide-de-camp to Fannin, wrote: “An express from San Antonio de Bexar received here a few moments since, with intelligence that the Mexican army under Santa Anna, were in sight of that place and preparing to attack it. He heard the firing of cannon after he had gained some distance towards us.” Brooks then wrote that they would march to Bexar in the morning with “320 men, and 4 pieces of artillery, – 2 sixes and 2 fours.”
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Fannin was busy with administrative duties when Johnson rode into the old Spanish fort in Goliad. The Colonel's first mention of the Alamo situation is found in the closing note of a letter dealing with military expenditures written that day to the acting governor and the council. Fannin wrote: “I am well aware that my present movement toward Bexar is anything but a military one. The appeal of Cols. Travis & Bowie cannot however pass unnoticed – particularly by troops now on the field – Sanguine, chivalrous Volunteers – Much must be risked to relieve the besieged.”
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Government officials at San Felipe learned of the Alamo situation that evening. Travis's note of the twenty-third to Ponton and Smither's note arrived at San Felipe at 9:00 p.m. that evening.
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Albert Martin and John W. Smith most likely arrived at Gonzales in late afternoon or early evening. Martin quickly added a note to Travis's letter of February 24 that reads: “send this to San Felipe by Express night & day – Since the above was written I heard a very heavy cannonade during the whole day. Think there must have been an attack made upon the Alamo. We were short of Ammunition when I left. Hurry on all the men you can in haste.” Smither added a message to the missive that reads: “When I left there was but 150 determined to do or die tomorrow I leave for Bejar with what men I can raise [& we] will be [on our way] at all events –

“Col Almonte is there the troops are under the command of Gen Seisma [
sic
]

“N b I hope every one will Randeves [
sic
] at gonzales as soon as poseble [
sic
] as the Brave soldiers are suffering do not neglect the powder is very scarce and should not be delad [
sic
] one moment.”
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That night, at 10:00 p.m., someplace near San Antonio, Philip Dimmitt and Benjamin Noble departed the area for Dimitt's Point, east of Lavaca Bay. Dimmitt later wrote: “I left the Rovia at 10 p.m., on the 25th and heard no more firing from which I concluded the Alamo had been taken by storm.”
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Dimmitt was close to being right. February 25 was a busy day for the Alamo. That morning two or three hundred of the enemy crossed the river below the Alamo and attacked it from the south, using houses in that area for cover. The Mexican troops were able to advance to within one hundred yards of the Alamo's southern artillery batteries. The action lasted two hours, with the defenders ousting the centralist troops from the wooden structures with point-blank canister and grapeshot fire.
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Later that night Travis and his officers conducted a council of war to discuss their situation and options.
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Afterward Travis wrote to Sam Houston, the “Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Texas.” Travis detailed the day's action and closed with: “. . . The Hon. David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty. Our numbers are few and the enemy still continues to approximate his works to ours. I have every reason to apprehend an attack from his whole force very soon; but I shall hold out to the last extremity, hoping to secure reinforcements in a day or two. Do hasten on aid to me as rapidly as possible, as from the superior number of the enemy, it will be impossible for us to keep them out much longer. If they overpower us, we fall a sacrifice at the shrine of our country, and we hope posterity and our country will do our memory justice. Give me help, oh my Country! Victory or Death!”
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Juan N. Seguin and Matias Curvier were selected to carry the letter to Gonzales. They probably left the Alamo on foot that night as the defenders engaged the enemy outside the walls. Almonte reported the following: “The enemy, in the night, burnt the straw and wooden houses in their [Mexican cavalry] vicinity [Gonzales road east of the Alamo], but did not attempt to set fire with their guns to those in our rear.” This action may have been a diversion to cover the departure of the Tejano couriers to Gonzales. Once outside, Seguin and Curvier appear to have
obtained horses from Antonio Cruz, who lived near the Alamo. Cruz joined them on their mission to Gonzales.
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Santa Anna must have been reading Travis's mind that night. He closed down the southeast and eastern avenues to the Alamo. Almonte wrote: “In the night two batteries were erected by us on the other side of the river in the Alameda of the Alamo – the battalion of Matamoros was also posted there, and the cavalry was posted on the hills to the east of the enemy, and in the road from Gonzales at the Casa Mata Antigua.”
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Colonel Juan N. Seguin – Post Revolution

Photo courtesy Texas State Library & Archives Commission

Almonte's journal entry for the day starts off with: “The northern wind continued very strong; the thermometer fell to 39, and during the rest of the day remained at 60. At daylight there was a slight skirmish between the enemy and a small party of the division of the east, under command of General Sesma.” A cavalry patrol seems to have encountered Seguin, Curvier, and Cruz as they broke through the Mexican line on their way to Gonzales.
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At Mina Major R. M. Williamson departed for Gonzales. He most likely rode out at daylight, leaving Edward Burleson in charge of military affairs for the settlement.
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About the same time, at Washington-on-the-Brazos, acting governor James W. Robinson dispatched a rider to find Sam Houston, who was on the road between Nacogdoches and Washington-on-the-Brazos. The note was addressed to “Gen. Sam Houston Wherever he may be. Send this by express day & night.” Robinson detailed the Alamo's critical situation and asked: “Come quickly and organize our countrymen for Battle. Call the militia out en mass, send your orders East by this Express for that purpose.”
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Officials at San Felipe, however, were not going to wait on the slow-moving Houston. A courier was sent off to Mina with orders for Captain J. J. Tumlinson's ranger company to reinforce the Alamo immediately. Clearly, Robinson and other officers of the government understood that the Alamo command did not have much time. If the courier to Mina departed San Felipe early that morning, he probably arrived at Mina that night or the next morning.
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At Goliad, Fannin was not able to pull men and equipment together until that afternoon. First, he issued a call for a volunteer company of horsemen. The unit, commanded by Captain Francis De Sauque and Captain John Chenoweth, was to ride immediately to the Seguin ranch, thirty-three miles southeast of Bexar on the San Antonio River to await Fannin's main force of infantry and artillery. The special mounted unit was made up of Chenoweth's company of United States Invincibles and mounted men from the other Goliad units commanded by Fannin. John Smith, orderly sergeant of Captain William Wadsworth's company, a unit from the Georgia battalion, later wrote that Wadsworth had “received an order from Col. Fannin to raise a company to get to the Alamo. In company with Mr. David Murphy [
sic
] Capt Chenoweth & others the
company was raised.” The company included, but was not limited to men from Chenoweth's own company, the United States Invincibles.
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