The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation (52 page)

John H. Moore’s 1835 Indian expedition is discussed in Stephen Moore’s superbly researched
Savage Frontier
, pp. 21–29. Further evidence of the ranging service of James Neill’s sons can be found in the ROT (Republic of Texas) claims made by Samuel Clinton Neill (reel 77, frame 353) and George Clinton Neill (reel 77, frame 272), TSLA.

Bowie’s admiration of the Béxar garrison is from his February 2, 1836, letter to Henry Smith, reprinted in Chariton,
100 Days in Texas,
p. 203. Jameson’s similar sentiments are from his January 18, 1836, letter to Houston, in
100 Days in Texas,
p. 155.

The quote beginning “If we succeed, the Country is ours” is by Daniel Cloud, from his December 26, 1835, letter to his brother, I. B. Cloud, reprinted in
100 Days in Texas,
p. 73.

E
IGHT
: T
HE
N
APOLEON OF THE
W
EST

The epigraph is quoted in Haley,
Sam Houston,
p. 100.

Several primary sources reported Santa Anna’s height at 5 feet 10 inches, including an eyewitness description reprinted in PTR 6, p. 148. Santa Anna’s glowing reviews of Texas are quoted in Fowler,
Santa Anna,
pp. 28–29; Fowler’s book is also the source of much of this description of the campaign culminating in the Battle of the Medina. The exact size of each of the armies involved, and the casualties incurred, is impossible to verify; I have used the most reasonable numbers, as discussed in Schwarz,
Forgotten Battlefield,
pp. 63–64. See also Hatcher, “Joaquín de Arredondo’s Report,” pp. 226, 234. The beheadings are mentioned by Navarro in
Defending Mexican Valor,
p. 87, and also in his “Apuntes Históricos Interesantes.”

Santa Anna’s “end of hatreds” platform is quoted in Hatch,
Encyclopedia of the Alamo,
p. 161. The Texian resolution admiring Santa Anna is quoted in Rives,
The United States and Mexico,
p. 210. Santa Anna’s opinion regarding Mexico’s readiness for democracy is quoted in Callcott,
Santa Anna,
p. 109, and Wharton,
El Presidente,
p. 64. The government circular discussing the Texian colonists is quoted in Rives,
The United States and Mexico,
pp. 318–19.

The letter from consul Anthony Butler to Andrew Jackson of December 19, 1835, is reprinted in PTR 3, p. 252. Santa Anna’s preference for the hazards of war is quoted in Fowler,
Santa Anna,
p. 163. The authorization for the 500,000-peso loan is noted in Filisola,
Memoirs,
vol. 2, p. 126.

This discussion of the 1836 Mexican Army of Operations owes much to the following sources: Hardin,
The Alamo 1836
and
Texian Iliad;
Santos,
Santa Anna’s Campaign;
Castañeda,
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution;
Shelby, “Notes”; DePalo,
The Mexican National Army;
Filisola,
Memoirs
; Chartrand,
Santa Anna’s Mexican Army;
Young, “Finding a Face”; and Haythornthwaite,
The Alamo and the War of Texas Independence
.

De la Peña, in
With Santa Anna in Texas,
p. 81, notes the shifting allegiances of Santa Anna’s top officers: “Nearly all the commanders and officers who were then serving under the orders of our commander had fought against him when they had been in the ranks of the people; hatreds were not completely extinguished, and there were many reasons why they were aroused again.” He also notes the fact that Castrillón was one of the few officers who dared to disagree with Santa Anna (
With Santa Anna in Texas,
p. 93).

While English-language narratives (dating back to at least the July 1836 issue of
North American Review,
p. 247) of the battle of the Alamo and the Mexican army’s operations in Texas during 1835 and 1836 have often described General Martín Perfecto de Cós as Santa Anna’s brother-in-law, no evidence has been found to support that assertion. However, three of Santa Anna’s officers on the expedition—all highly familiar with His Excellency—identify Dromundo as his brother-in-law: see the account of Ramón Caro, Santa Anna’s secretary, in Castañeda,
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution,
p. 100; de la Peña,
With Santa Anna in Texas,
p. 39; and Filisola,
Memoirs,
vol. 2, p. 145. Filisola writes, concerning the stockpiling of supplies for the Army of Operations: “But in the order and manner of handling that [which] was being brought in as well as the manner of receiving it one noted the greatest sluggishness, slowness and lack of organization since the quartermaster named had neither the ability nor the energy necessary for carrying out his duties as he should” (
Memoirs
, p. 139). See also de la Peña,
With Santa Anna in Texas,
p. 59, for that officer’s assertion that Santa Anna and Dromundo were plotting to “exploit the sufferings of the soldiers,” and Caro in Castañeda, p. 100, for his suspicions of embezzlement by Dromundo.

The biographical information on Ramírez y Sesma is from Valadés,
México, Santa Anna,
p. 160.

Of the conscripts in the Mexican Army of Operations, Santa Anna later wrote: “At least half were raw recruits from San Luis, Querétaro, and other departments, hastily enlisted to fill out the ragged companies” (quoted in Castañeda,
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution,
p. 11). See also Filisola,
Memoirs,
vol. 2, pp. 127, 140: “The days that the army spent in Leona Vicario were put to use in the training of the recruits who made up the larger part of the forces”; and Caro in Castañeda, p. 100: “The wretched recruits who in the main were conscripts.”

After his capitulation in Béxar and during his march back to Mexico, General Cós described his bedraggled conscript troops as “desnudas, sin instrucción ni amor al Servicio”—naked, without understanding or love for the service (Cós to Santa Anna, December 29, 1835, reprinted in PTR 3, p. 358). Several officers later wrote of the low morale of the troops involved; see, for instance, Castañeda,
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution,
p. 100.

Santa Anna’s directive to Ramírez y Sesma is quoted in Santos,
Santa Anna’s Campaign,
p. 9. His “no quarter” orders are reprinted in the same volume, p. 11. The description of the orders and steps involved in the loading and firing of the Mexican army musket is also in that volume, p. 36.

There were several variations to the basic uniform; see Chartrand,
Santa Anna’s Mexican Army,
pp. 28–30, and Kevin Young’s excellent “Finding a Face.”

The information about the Mexican medical corps, or the lack thereof, is found in Castañeda,
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution,
pp. 100–101, as is the information concerning the rations.

The Indian confederations and their impact on their raiding is noted in Shelby, “Notes,” p. 13.

Santa Anna’s orders about “whatever you find available there” is reprinted in Filizola, “Correspondence of Santa Anna,” p. 21. His letter to Tornel commenting on the splendid appearance of the army is quoted in Shelby, “Notes,” p. 52. The lack of proper footwear is noted in Castañeda,
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution,
p. 100. The discussions about the proper route to Texas are from Filisola,
Memoirs,
vol. 2, p. 119.

José Enrique de la Peña’s
With Santa Anna in Texas
is a well-written, sharply observed memoir of the author’s participation in the Texas campaign. His notion to ask his soldiers to shoot him so that he “might be buried in this vast garden,” p. 102, is typical of his romantic inclinations. For other rapturous descriptions of nature, see pp. 34–35 and 112–13.

Besides de la Peña’s reconstructed memoir, I have relied on the diligent research into de la Peña’s life and writings conducted by Roger Borroel, who has published his findings in several volumes, chief among them
The J. Sánchez Garza Introduction to the Rebellion of Texas: The Diary of Lt. Col. José Enrique de la Peña
.

De la Peña’s opinion of the Santa Anna–Napoleon comparison is in
With Santa Anna in Texas,
p. 12. For a good discussion and analysis of Napoleon’s strategy, tactics, and overall career, see Ross,
From Flintlock to Rifle,
chapter 3, “Napoleonic Warfare.”

Filisola discusses the ill effects of the conscripts’ journey to Béxar in his
Memoirs,
vol. 2, p. 73.

The possibilities of a civil war within Mexico are noted in Shelby, “Notes,” p. 48, and Castañeda,
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution,
p. 8. The accusations of dishonor regarding Cós and his officers are mentioned in Filisola,
Memoirs,
vol. 2, p. 120.

Ramírez y Sesma’s humiliating comment, and the discussion between Sánchez and Castrillón, are related in Sánchez-Navarro,
La Guerra de Tejas,
pp. 68, 77 (my translation).

Santa Anna’s order to his aide to strike him with a pistol is mentioned in de la Peña,
With Santa Anna in Texas,
p. 83.

N
INE
: T
HE
B
ACKWOODSMAN

This sketch of Crockett is based on the following sources: Crockett’s
A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett;
James Shackford’s
David Crockett;
Joseph Arpad’s dissertation “David Crockett”; Mark Derr’s
The Frontiersman;
James R. Boylston and Allen J. Wiener’s
David Crockett in Congress;
Manley F. Cobia’s
Journey into the Land of Trials;
and William C. Davis’s
Three Roads to the Alamo.

The epigraph, Crockett’s famous line about Texas, can be found in Shackford, p. 212.

Crockett in his autobiography claimed that his father was of Irish descent (Crockett, p. 14). His quotes regarding his acquaintance with hard times, and his father being “hard run,” are also from his book (p. 22), as is his quote about family and fortune (p. 68). Recent scholarship points to some French ancestry also.

The description of Elizabeth Crockett is found in Ellis,
The Life of Colonel David Crockett,
p. 58.

Crockett’s quote concerning his method of justice is from his autobiography, p. 135.

The description of Crockett at the ventriloquist’s show is in a letter from Helen Chapman to Emily Blair dated May 1, 1834 (box 2C433, William W. Chapman Papers, BCAH). She also mentions his “drawling accent.”

Crockett’s quote about supporting measures and principles rather than men is in Boylston and Wiener,
David Crockett in Congress,
p. 217, as is his quote about leaving the United States (p. 319), and his still being a Jackson man (p. 112).

Cobia, in
Journey into the Land of Trials,
p. 15, makes a convincing case that Crockett most likely made a public pronouncement in which he said his opponent could go to hell and he would go to Texas—or something similar to it.

The details of the scene of Crockett coming home after receiving the election results is from an 1882 newspaper interview with his daughter Mrs. Matilda Fields in the David Crockett file, DRT, as are the details of his barbecue and bran dance. “Bran dance” has usually been regarded by twentieth- and twenty-first-century historians as a misspelling of “barn dance,” and corrected accordingly—and almost surely in error. A bran dance was a frequent occurrence on the southern frontier, where the absence of a proper building or plank floors obliged dancing to be performed outdoors. Here is one definition: “A plat of land was cleared off and leveled down hard and smooth, after which a layer of one or two inches of wheat bran was scattered over the surface, and the ‘ballroom’ was declared completed, and ready for the dancers” (
History of Newton, Lawrence, Barry and McDonald Counties, Missouri,
p. 124). An account and description of a bran dance is rendered in the anonymously written 1833 biography of Crockett,
Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett, of West Tennessee
(London: O. Rich, 1834), p. 148, and there is an illustration of a bran dance on p. 157 of Sherwood Bonner’s
Dialect Tales
(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1883).

The quote from the letter Crockett wrote on the eve of his departure is in Shackford,
David Crockett,
p. 210. Crockett’s description of William Patton is quoted in Boylston and Wiener,
David Crockett in Congress,
p. 285.