The Lone Star Reloaded Series Box Set

by Drew McGunn

  The words came unbidden to his lips, but Will was amazed how quickly the sobbing was replaced by a smile and a hiccup as Charlie looked into his face and smiled, “I’ve missed you so much, Pa.”

  He set the boy back on the porch and tousled his red hair. The dam broke, and without really understanding it, Will felt as though he knew his part in this new relationship. “My, Charlie, you’ve grown a lot since I had to go off to war.”

  The boy pulled Will back to the bench, where he sat down again. From a hesitant start, when Will asked him about the trip from Alabama, Charlie opened up and told him about the trip westward as well as about life with the Ayres family over the past nine months. Will smiled as the boy prattled on. Like so many young boys before and since, once he started talking, he kept on.

  Eventually Charlie wound down and Will asked him if he’d like to go hear the famous Davy Crockett. The boy bounded off the bench, jumping with excitement. “Really, Pa? The Davy Crockett?”

  Will couldn’t help himself, and laughed at Charlie’s unbridled enthusiasm. “Yes. He may soon be President of Texas and he’s talking to folks at the town green.”

  After finding David Ayres at the store across the street, and thanking him for his hospitality, Will gave into Charlie’s infectious enthusiasm and allowed himself to be pulled out of the store, toward the town’s center.

  He and Charlie walked toward the green and found Crockett in full politicking mode, speaking, “I also told them of the manner in which I had been knocked down and dragged out, and that I didn't consider it a fair fight any how they could fix it. I put the ingredients in the cup pretty strong I tell you, and I concluded my speech by telling them that I was done with politics for the present, and they might all go to hell, and I would go to Texas. And now I stand before the finest people that Almighty God has brought to this fair land, and ask that you join me and tell Andy Jackson that he can go to hell, and we’ll keep Texas!” The crowd, numbering several hundred men, women, and children, clapped and hollered their approval, as Crockett stepped down from the tree stump.

  He was swamped with supporters trying to shake his hand and introduce themselves. It reminded Will of a rock concert. Few politicians elicited the kind of reaction from a crowd as Crockett manufactured. Shaking his head while laughing, Will directed Charlie’s attention to Crockett, pointing him out to the boy, “There’s Davy Crockett, son. It appears he’s a bit busy politicking folks. You’ll get a chance to meet him later. He’ll be swinging by Mr. Ayres’ place this evening.”

  Hours later, Crockett showed up, gave a short speech on the steps of Ayres’ store to his greatly reduced audience, after which they returned to their homes and farms. With his hair plastered on his forehead, and sweat pouring down his face, Crockett ambled across the road, approaching the Ayres’ porch, where Will and Charlie had watched Crockett entertain his electorate. Charlie slid off the bench, watching in awe as Crockett moseyed up to the porch. Will nodded to Crockett, “Looks like you had a good time politicking folks around these here parts, Davy. Allow me to introduce Charles Edward Travis to you. Turns out he’s quite the scholar and has studiously followed all of your exploits in your book ‘Sketches and Eccentricities of Colonel David Crockett,’ which I’m sure you remember.”

  For a fleeting moment, Crockett looked like he had bitten into a lemon. He skillfully slid his smile back on his face and tousled the boy’s hair. “I hope you enjoyed reading the book, but those are just stories another writer wrote. Most of those stories are just tall tales meant to give a boy a couple of hours of reading. I think it may have worked here.”

  Dinner in the Ayres household was a chaotic affair. The meal was served as Mrs. Ayres and her daughters brought a steady flow of food to the dining table. Despite the table’s large size, it was crowded with David and his wife, Ann, their three children, Will, Crockett and Charlie as well as a couple of other children who lived with the family. David Ayres sat at the head of the table and after saying a lengthy grace over the plentiful food, engaged Crockett in conversation. In the middle of Ayres’ probing questions, several families stopped by to see the famous Davy Crockett. While Crockett deftly answered Ayres’ questions, he still managed to make the folks who stopped by feel welcome. Will tuned out the conversation when he recognized most of the Tennessean’s answers were part of his stump speech, which Will had nearly memorized by this time.

  He had been thinking how much better Ann Ayres’ cooking was than what he ate in the military, when his attention was brought back to the conversation upon hearing Ayres ask, “Congressman Crockett, what is your view on how the Republic should spend its money?”

  Crockett leaned back in his chair, eyed his empty plate, then pushed it away before replying, “Mr. Ayres, you’re a God-fearing man. Even if Buck here hadn’t told me about your Methodist persuasion, it’s clear by what I’ve seen this evening. I have no doubt your charity and liberality does you credit. I believe it to be a good and noble thing for you to give as you see fit to those charities that compel you to act. While we have the right, and perhaps a duty to give away as much of our own money to charity, I do not believe that right extends to Congress. As a member of Congress for six years, off and on, I don’t believe we have the right to appropriate a single dollar of the public’s money to charity.”

  Ayres looked surprised at the Tennessean, “Are you saying that Congress shouldn’t help the distressed people of our nation?”

  Crockett shook his head, “That ain’t exactly what I’m saying. No, but let me explain it by telling you about something that happened a few years back in Washington City. I was standing on the steps of the Capitol one evening with several other members of Congress when our attention was drawn to a great light over in Alexandria. It was evidently a large fire. So, we jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as that old horse would go. When we got there, I went to work, and as God is my witness, I never worked as hard in my life as I did there for several hours. But, in spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned, and many families made homeless. Some even had lost all but the clothes on their backs. Also, it was still winter, and it was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering I felt something ought to be done for them. Everyone else was of a similar mind, so the next morning a bill was introduced, and we appropriated twenty thousand dollars for their relief. We put aside other pressing business of the nation and rushed it through as soon as we could. I reckon I should correct myself, here. I said that everyone felt the same way, and that twern’t completely correct. There were a few, who perhaps sympathized as deeply with those suffering women and children, but who did not think we had the right to indulge our sympathy or excite our charity at the expense of anybody but ourselves.

  “They opposed the bill, and upon its passage demanded the yeas and nays be recorded. There were not enough to force a rollcall vote, but many of us wanted our names to appear in favor of what we considered a praiseworthy measure, so we voted with them to sustain their measure. So, the yeas and nays were recorded, and my name appeared on the journals in favor of the bill.

  “Later, when I was politicking back in Tennessee I approached one of my more noteworthy constituents, a real bellwether in that area, and I asked him for his vote. He told me that he would not vote for me, telling me that I acted outside of the constitution. I was perplexed as I could recall no vote about the constitution. It was then he reminded me of that vote for twenty thousand dollars. I told him that I owned that vote, he had me there. I asked him why would anyone complain that a great and rich country as ours shouldn’t give the insignificant sum to relieve its suffering women and children. Especially when we have a full treasury. I told him that had he been there, he’d have done the same thing.”

  Crockett paused his tale, when Ann Ayres brought over a large blackberry pie to the table. After accepting a large slice, he continued, “Well my constituent told me that it’s not the amount of the money that he complained over. It was the principle. In th
e first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury not more than is enough for its legitimate purposes. But that wasn’t here nor there, as the real reason he was upset was because the power of collecting and disbursing money is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to men, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is, the more he pays in proportion to his means.

  “What is worse is that our tariffs press upon him without the knowledge of where the weight centers, for there is not a man in these United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. He told me that while I had contributed to relieve one, it was being drawn from thousands who are even worse off than the women and children of Alexandria. If Congress had the right to give to their needs, then we could have given twenty million dollars, rather than twenty thousand. If Congress has the right to give to one, then the right exists to give to all and he reminded me that the Constitution never defines charity nor stipulates the amount. That, my friend, Mr. Ayres, opens the paddock to give to any and everything which Congress decides is charity and in any amount they think is proper.

  “Can you imagine, Mr. Ayres, what a wide door this would open for fraud, corruption and favoritism, on one hand, and for robbing people on the other? He told me then and there that Congress has no right to hand out charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for charity. If one tenth of all of the houses in Tennessee had burned down, would Congress lift a finger to help? No. No member of Congress would have thought about appropriating money from the Treasury for relief.

  “There are two hundred forty members of Congress. If each showed sympathy for the plight of the destitute women and children of the fire by contributing only a week’s worth of pay, it would have provided more than thirteen thousand dollars. Also, there are plenty of wealthy men in Washington that could give up twenty thousand without depriving themselves of the luxuries of life.

  “He reminded me that the congressmen chose to keep their own money, which I can assure you, many spend frivolously while the folks in Washington City applaud them for removing from them the burden of their own charity, by giving what was not Congress’ right to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution. Now I have given you," Crockett continued, "an imperfect account of what he said. So, you see, Mr. Ayers, it is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people.”

  As Will listened, wrapped up in Crockett’s words, he realized how far the federal government which he had grown up with, had fallen away from the Constitution, promising people today the rewards of the fruits and labors of a future generation. It took Crockett addressing the issue eloquently with David Ayres to verbalize his own opinion.

  The next morning, they saddled their horses, ready to continue the political campaign. After listening to Crockett’s views on charity, Will felt his own perspective on it had changed. He couldn’t undo Travis’ reckless choices which had ruined his own marriage.

  “I can’t change the past,” was Will’s first thought, but that made him chuckle, given the past was the very thing he was working to change.

  Setting the thought aside, Will decided his own charity would start at home with William B. Travis’ son. The boy stood on the porch, looking at the horses. Will walked back to the boy and said, “Charlie, if you want, you can stay here with the Ayres family and attend school. But it would please me mightily if you came with me to San Antonio. We could get a home in town and you can go to school and make new friends there.”

  The boy’s eyes lit up and he jumped off the porch into Will’s arms, “Pa, take me home with you!”

  Will and Charlie walked into the house. There was packing which needed doing. The day was young and as Crockett was prone to telling him, he was burning daylight. There was an election to win.

  Chapter 4

  Will sat at the table, a copy of the Telegraph and Texas Register lay folded on it. He glanced around the room, with its fresh coat of paint and smiled. Over the past month, since returning to San Antonio, he found a home, recently vacated by a Bexareno, a native of San Antonio, who chose to return to Mexico rather than remain in the Republic. Juan Seguin’s father, Erasmo, acted as a broker, selling the home to Will. He found it to be bigger than he and Charlie needed, but the boy was thrilled to have his own room.

  He thought it a holdover from his life before, but he was an unabashed morning person, and he delighted in sitting at the dining table, which was simply a large extension of the kitchen, and drinking a cup of coffee while reading dispatches and reports brought home the previous night. Of special interest, the Telegraph and Texas Register included the completed returns of the previous week’s election. He unfolded the crinkling pages and read the article.

  12th September 1836

  We are able to assure our readers that one-time congressman, Colonel David Crockett will be the first elected president of our Republic of Texas. While results are still due in from Red River county, in the northern reaches of the republic, the margin of victory accrued by Col. Crockett provides no possible means for any of the other candidates to seize the election.

  The provisional government in Harrisburg confirms nearly six thousand votes in total have been counted. Of this amount, almost four thousand were attributed to Col. Crockett. Gen’l Houston was not able to account for more than a thousand votes. Neither Governor Smith nor Mr. Austin collected more than five hundred apiece.

  Señor Zavala, Col. Crockett’s chosen selection for vice president remains in the lead, with less than 200 votes separating him from his nearest challenger. We are confident that the votes from the Red River will not substantially change the results, and we believe that Señor Zavala will join Col. Crockett’s administration as vice president.

  According to acting President Burnet, the transition will occur on the 22nd October, from whence President-Elect Crockett’s six-year term will commence. The government will convene also on the same in Harrisburg.

  Will set the paper down and said a silent prayer of thanks. Houston’s campaign included promises to settle the matter with the Comanche by treaty. He didn’t need Travis’ memories to know the futility of that course of action. From his own recollection of history, he recalled Houston’s attempts had been failures. He thought the lack of central leadership among the tribe was the likely culprit which scuttled Houston’s efforts.

  He chuckled grimly, as he thought, “One way or another, I’ll know soon enough whether my way will be any better than Houston’s.”

  After taking Charlie by the home of Juan Seguin’s sister and her husband, where the younger Seguin children played on the weekend, Will headed to the Alamo, where he met with James Neill and Green Jameson. Neill now contracted with the army as an engineer, working with Green Jameson on expanding and improving the Alamo’s defenses. He met the two engineers outside the doors to the chapel, where Neill held several rolled schematics on which he was working.

  Will anticipated one of the first things Crockett would do after the inauguration would be to review Will’s plans for the Comanche campaign, but he knew he also needed to provide Crockett a detailed plan for the Alamo’s development as a bastion against invasion from Mexico or incursion from the Comanche to the west.

  Using the low wall separating the chapel courtyard from the plaza as a makeshift table, Neill opened a large diagram of the fort, as Will and Major Jameson looked on. Neill pointed to the north wall on the diagram, “We’ve removed most of the wall, as we can see over yonder, and have started construction on its replacement a dozen feet further out.
The arduous task of repositioning the aquacias, north of the fort, has already been completed. So, the wall will still be inside the aquacia network.

  Will inclined his head, “It’s good work you’re doing, James, but you’ve been working on the north wall all summer. When you do expect to finish?”

  Ignoring the map for a moment, Neill pointed northward, where they could see scaffolding and adobe. “When it’s finished this stretch will be a hundred sixty-two-feet long. It’ll be twelve feet tall and three feet thick. And, General Travis, I’ll have it complete before Christmas.”

  “You should be prepared to evacuate your laborers, James, when we start the campaign against the Comanche. I may hold you to that timetable, as we may need this old fort’s walls before that campaign is over. Now, next to the completed north wall, what is this?” Will pointed to a building extension drawn on the map.

  Neill nodded to Jameson, “It’s a project I’ve given to Green to complete.”

  Major Jameson said, “General, that extension is a barracks. I’ve been told by Colonel Johnston the fort should need to garrison around eight hundred men, and our existing structures are wholly inadequate for the job. This planned barracks will be two stories, topping out at twenty feet. The outer wall is a simple extension of the new north wall, while the barracks will face the stock pen. When completed it could house as many as three hundred men.”

  Will nodded, there were other markings on the diagram.

  Jameson continued, “Another barracks will run along the south wall, parallel to the chapel’s outer wall, and should hold about the same number of men. And the chapel, we’re going to repair the roof and will use it either for its original purpose or storage.”

  Will asked, “What about the façade of the chapel? It could use some repair as well. Any plans there?”

  Both Neill and Jameson shook their heads. Neill said, “Hadn’t much thought of it, General. Do you have any thoughts?”