Alamo Traces

by Thomas Ricks Lindley

  The available evidence indicates the enemy did not know exactly what had occurred on their northern line. Almonte, if he was aware of it, made no mention of the rebels’ mad ride through the Mexican line. In 1837 Ramon Martinez Caro, Santa Anna’s civilian secretary, reported: “. . . two small reinforcements from Gonzalez that succeeded in breaking through our lines and entering the fort. The first consisted of four men who gained the fort one night, and the second was a party of twenty-five who introduced themselves in the daytime.” Thirteen years later General Vicente Filisola, second in command of the Texas campaign, wrote about “. . . 32 people of the Town of Gonzalez who under the cover of darkness joined the group two days before the attack on the fort.”41

  Alamo artillery

  Top: gunade twelve-pounder, bottom: Spanish twelve-pounder

  Either Martin or Smith probably carried a letter from Major R. M. Williamson to Travis. Most certainly they told Travis that couriers had been sent east, north, and south from Gonzales to spread the news of the Alamo’s investment. Also, Travis would have learned that men were assembling at Gonzales to join Fannin’s force at the Cibolo ford on the Gonzales road and that those men would soon ride into the Alamo.42

  Sometime before daylight, Ben Highsmith, who probably entered the Alamo with Martin and Smith, rode from the Alamo and headed for Goliad. Travis was worried that Fannin might not come to the Alamo’s relief. In 1897 Highsmith said that Travis had ordered Fannin “to blow up the fort at Goliad and come to him with his men.”43

  Later that day John Ballard, who had been separated from the Martin and Smith detachment of Gonzales rangers during the night, joined Tumlinson’s command at the Cibolo ford. The other four men, Bastian, Rigault, and the two unnamed men, remained in the thick brush north of the Alamo on the west side of the river. Bastian claimed: “He [Rigault] went into the town and brought us intelligence. We were about three hundred yards from the fort concealed by brush, which extended north for twenty miles. I could see the enemy’s operations perfectly.”44

  General Ramirez y Sesma’s expedition to cut off Fannin’s main force returned to Bexar during the day. The general had sent riders as far as the tinaja, or water hole, which may have been near the ford on Salado Creek. That was the site where Fannin’s advance would probably have been if they had continued their march to Bexar. The Mexican horsemen returned to their camp outside the city, and the infantry to a position in the city. Then Ramirez y Sesma informed Santa Anna that he had not found any evidence of an enemy advance from Goliad.45

  South of Bexar, among the Tejano ranches on the San Antonio River, Seguin appears to have raised a volunteer company of Mexican-Texians.46 The Tejano volunteers were probably the following men:

  Manuel Flores

  Antonio Manchaca

  Nepomuceno Flores

  Ambrosio Rodriquez

  Jose Maria Arocha

  Eduardo Ramirez

  Lucio Enriques

  Matias Curvier

  Antonio Curvier

  Simon Arreola

  Pedro Avoca

  Pedro Herrera

  Manuel Tarin

  Tomas Maldonado

  Cesario Carmona

  Jacinto Pena

  Nepomuceno Navarro

  Andres Barcenas

  Juan Abamillo

  Damacio Jimenes

  Guadalupe Rodriquez

  Andres Nava

  Salvador Flores

  Antonio Cruz

  Ignacio Guerra

  Jose Alemeda

  Antonio Balle

  Juan Rodriquez

  Vicente Zepeda

  Juan Ximenes

  Phillip Coe

  Manuel Maria Flores

  Juan A. Badillo

  Macedonio Arocha47

  Antonio Manchaca, Jose Maria Arrocha, Ambrosio Rodriquez, Eduardo Ramirez, Matias Curvier, Pedro Herrera, Lucio Enriques, Simon Arrerlo, Cesario Carmona, Ignacio Gurrea, Vicente Zepeda, and one or all of the Flores men appear to have been in the Alamo with Seguin at the start of the siege. These men and perhaps other Tejanos seem to have exited the Alamo sometime after Seguin’s departure for Gonzales.48

  In 1902 Enrique Esparza, the son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza, claimed that Santa Anna had called an armistice of three days and that a number of the Mexican-Texians left the Alamo. That year Esparza said only one woman, Trinidad Saucedo, had exited the fort. In 1907 Esparza identified ______ Menchaca, ______ Flores, ______ Rodriquez, ______ Ramirez, ______ Arocha, and ______ Silvero as having left the Alamo during the alleged armistice. Also, Madame Candelaria most likely left with the Tejanos. They probably departed at night and melted back into the Bexar population—except for the men who appear to have moved downriver to the Tejano ranches.49

  The total force that awaited Fannin and his artillery at the Cibolo Creek ford on the Bexar/Goliad road is unknown, but it was probably around fifty to eighty mounted men. Colonel Fannin, however, had turned back, but that fact was not known outside of Goliad. Fannin, at 5:00 p.m., penned a missive to Chenoweth and De Sauque. He informed them of what had happened at Goliad since their departure and of the council of war’s decision to remain at Goliad. Lastly he did not rule out an attempt to reach the Alamo. He wrote: “If you can . . . communicate with Gonzales and know how many volunteers will form a junction & if informed speedily I will push out 200 [men] and cooperate.”50

  At that time twenty Tennessee men were speeding toward Bexar to join the Alamo defenders. The men were part of a unit that had originally been a company of thirty-five men commanded by a Captain William Gilmore. The men enlisted for six months in the Volunteer Auxiliary Corps on January 14, 1836. On February 9, 1836, Gilmore’s company purchased clothing from the Jones and Townsand store in San Felipe. Later that day the command split into two groups. One of the company’s members, W. P. Grady, wrote: “. . . at San Felipe his captain became dissatisfied and returned to Tennessee leaving him with twenty other men in the country.”51 The rupture appears to have been over which Texas political faction the men would support. A written agreement shows that ten or more of the men sided with acting governor James W. Robinson and the council:

  We the undersigned do agree to proceed on to the Army of Texas under the directions of the governor & council –

  1. Samuel Sprague

  2. Daniel Murphy

  3. John W. Thomson

  4. Nathaniel Hazen

  5. Charles Linley

  6. R. R. Pritty

  7. J. F. Pittman

  8. C. S. Hardwick

  9. David G. Jones

  10. Clark M. Harmon

  Samuel Sprague has been selected to head the company whose many [names] are attached to this paper.52

  Nevertheless, government officials at San Felipe continued to think of the unit as “Gilmore’s” company. On February 9 the acting governor ordered the group to report to the commanding officer at Copano, who was Captain Chenoweth. On February 14 Robinson wrote Sam Houston that “most of Gilmore’s men” had left for Goliad.53

  The “Gilmore” company, however, did not depart for Goliad. In late May 1836 James Gillespie, one of Gilmore’s men who commanded a company at San Jacinto, wrote of their pre-San Jacinto activities:

  . . . We left home about the 25 of November 1835 [and] was in Texas on Christmas and received the right of citizenship and enrolled our names as volunteers about the 15 January. We were then ready to do any service the country demanded. We remained you know in Nacogdoches sometime and were furnished with means to move on towards the frontier of the country, by the ______ of a few individuals, among whom we rank you among the most ______ the small fund we received was exhausted before we got to Washington [-on-the-Brazos]. We were then again on our own hook. We consulted Genl.Houston whom we found at ______, as to what course was most advisable to pursue. He gave us no satisfaction as we thought. We then went to San Felipe the seat of government, hoping that the government would make some disposition of us but unfortunately we found the Governo
r & Council at war with each other, neither capacitated to act without the consent of the other. The governor I first understood him wanted us to go to San Antonio. The Council thought we ought to go to Labahea [Goliad] and join Fannin, but neither gave us the means to go to either place & the fact is neither wanted us & both seemed to be jealous of us. We found out in a few days that we were trifled with and Gilmore who was then our captain disbanded the company and he himself went home together with a few others while those of us who were determined to try Texas a little longer rambled about the country waiting to see if our service would be needed. As soon as we heard of the approach of the Mexican army towards Bexar we hastened towards that place. This was about the first of March. . . .54

  As Gilmore’s men rode toward San Antonio, the people of Gonzales were busy with their own relief activities. James B. Bonham, Travis’s first lieutenant, left Gonzales for the Alamo, probably in the late afternoon. He carried two letters. One missive appears to have been from Governor Henry Smith. The second was a letter of encouragement and hope from Williamson to Travis. Bonham, who had probably been at the convention when he learned of the Alamo situation, also had a verbal message from Sam Houston for the garrison.55

  Ninth Day — Wednesday, March 2

  At Washington-on-the-Brazos, William F. Gray noted in his diary that the morning was clear and cold. That evening a rider arrived with Travis’s letter of the twenty-fifth to Houston. Gray observed: “Col. Fannin was on the march from Goliad with 350 men for the aid of Travis. This, with the other forces known to be on the way, will by this time make the number in the fort some six or seven hundred. It is believed the Alamo is safe.”56

  At San Antonio, the weather was also cold. According to Almonte: “Commenced clear and pleasant – thermometer 34 – no wind.” Lieutenant Manuel Menchaca and a party of soldiers were dispatched to the Seguin ranch to obtain a supply of corn that was reported to be there.57

  At Goliad, Ben Highsmith arrived in the evening with Travis’s most recent message to Fannin. In response, Fannin appears to have called a council of war to reconsider the idea of reinforcing the Alamo.58 Sometime that day John S. Brooks, Fannin’s adjutant, wrote his mother. In regard to the Alamo, he wrote: “If the division of the Mexican army advancing against this place has met any obstructions. . . . 200 men will be detached for the relief of Bexar. I will go with them. Our object will be to cut our way through the Mexican army into the Alamo, and carry with us such provisions as it will be sufficient to hold out until we are relieved by a large force from the Colonies.

  “We have just received additional intelligence from Bexar. The Mexicans have made two successive attacks on the Alamo in both of which the gallant little garrison repulsed them with some loss. Probably Davy Crockett ‘grinned’ them off.”59

  Sometime after Brooks had completed the letter, a group of Fannin’s men, mostly former members of Captain Thomas H. Breece’s company of New Orleans Greys, perhaps as many as fifty men, left for the Alamo. The Greys had disbanded after the fall of Bexar in December, some remaining under command of Lieutenant Colonel James C. Neill. Most of the Greys, however, joined the Johnson and Grant Matamoros expedition that moved down the road to Goliad. Now the men who had remained in Bexar were part of the Alamo garrison. Fannin’s Greys were not just going to the Alamo to help fellow soldiers, they were going to save their friends and former mess mates. Brooks, however, despite his words to his mother, did not ride to the Alamo that day.60

  Tenth Day — Thursday, March 3

  At 11:00 a.m. Bonham entered the Alamo. He rode in without being attacked, having passed between the Powder House, three hundred yards east of the Alamo on a high hill near the Gonzales road, and the enemy emplacement, eight hundred yards northeast of the Alamo, on the Alamo ditch.61

  Within minutes, Travis was reading a letter from his good friend Williamson, which reads:

  Gonzales, March 1, 1836

  Dear Colonel Travis,

  You cannot conceive my anxiety: today it has been four whole days that we have not the least news relating to your dangerous situation and for that time we found ourselves given up to a thousand conjectures about it. From this municipality 60 men have now set out, who in all human probability are found, at this date, with you. Colonel Fannin with 300 men and 4 artillery pieces has been en route to Bejar for three days now. Tonight we are waiting for some reinforcements from Washington, Bastrop, Brazoria and San Felipe, numbering 300, and not a moment will be lost in providing you assistance. Regarding the other letter of the same date, let it pass[;] you must know what is means; if the populace gets hold of it, let them guess [at] it – It is from your true friend R. M. Williamson –

  P.S. For God’s sake sustain yourselves until we can assist you. – I remit to you with major Bhanham [Bonham] a communication from the interim governor. A thousand regards to all your people, and tell them for “Willie” to maintain themselves firm until I go there – Williamson. Write us soon, soon.62

  Thus, Travis was confronted with good news and bad news. Fannin had left Goliad to reinforce the Alamo, but he had yet to arrive there. Where was he? Then, there was the bad news. Bonham told Travis that Houston would not be coming to their aid anytime soon. Houston had instructed Bonham to “urge Colonel Travis . . . to fall back and unite his forces with the main army to more successfully defend the country against the invaders.”63

  Nevertheless, Fannin’s former New Orleans Greys had probably joined the Chenoweth and De Sauque company and Seguin’s Tejano unit the previous evening or that morning at the Cibolo ford on the Bexar/Goliad road. That afternoon the combined force rode northwest to join J. J. Tumlinson’s rangers at the Cibolo ford on the Gonzales road. Seguin probably guided the combined force cross country, traveling on the east side of Cibolo Creek. The terrain was open prairie and the distance was about thirty-five miles.64

  Also, this date, the Tennessee men known as Gilmore’s company probably joined the relief group that was massing at the Cibolo ford. Just how many of the men joined the mounted reinforcement is unknown, but at least two of the men died at the Alamo.65

  At Goliad, Ben Highsmith, after a good night’s rest and a couple of meals, departed for the Alamo. He knew it was important to let Travis know of Fannin’s plans.66

  In the afternoon, between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., reinforcements arrived at San Antonio. The troops, however, were the Mexican battalions of “Zapadores, Aldama, and Toluca.” The men were exhausted from their forced march from the Medina River. Santa Anna now had the troops he had been waiting on for the final attack on the Alamo.67

  Travis, soon after the arrival of the Mexican units, wrote the Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos, saying: “In the present confusion of the political authorities of the country, and in the absence of the commander-in-chief, I beg leave to communicate to you the situation of this garrison.” He detailed what had occurred since the start of the siege and requested reinforcements and provisions. He acknowledged that Fannin was supposed to be on the way with aid, but he feared that was not the case. Of his men, Travis wrote: “The spirits of my men are still high although they have had much to depress them. . . . Their [the enemy] threats have no influence on me or my men, but to make all fight with desperation and that high-souled courage that characterizes the patriot, who is willing to die in defense of his country’s liberty and his own honor.”68

  The Alamo force appears to have increased to two hundred men by that time. Travis had started with 150 effectives on the evening of February 23. Five couriers had departed. Fourteen or more Tejanos had left. Three couriers and thirty men from Gonzales had joined the garrison. The total as of March 3 should have been around one hundred and sixty-four men. Where did the other thirty-six men come from? Given that Santa Anna’s soldiers were not going to take any prisoners, the Alamo sick and wounded may have been included in the count of two hundred. Regardless of their condition, the sick and wounded would have to fight to live. Also, a group of ten to thirty men had left the ci
ty on February 14, 1836, to locate headright sites on Cibolo Creek. David P. Cummings, a young surveyor from Pennsylvania, was one of those men. Susanna Dickinson reported that Travis had sent a rider to find the men who were out on the Cibolo. The group appears to have returned to the Alamo, probably during the early days of the investment, most likely on February 24. Travis would not have identified the men as a relief force because they were already members of the garrison.69

  Still, the Alamo was far short of the number of soldiers needed to repulse Santa Anna’s centralist force. Travis, knowing that Houston was involved in political activities and would not be coming to their aid, needed to know the whereabouts of Fannin’s three hundred men and four cannon. The Goliad troops were the only men close enough to the Alamo to do Travis’s people any good. Thus he sent three of his mounted spies (scouts) out to find Fannin.70

  There is limited but tantalizing evidence that David Crockett commanded the scouting mission to locate Fannin. In 1876 Susanna Dickinson reported that Crockett was one of three spies who had been sent out and had returned to the Alamo three nights before the final attack on the Alamo. Crockett probably volunteered for the mission as he was an experienced scout who did not like being shut up in the Alamo.71

  Moreover, Crockett had been concerned for some time about the government’s failure to send troops to the Bexar garrison. Sometime in February, probably around the middle of the month, James Bowie and Crockett sent a courier to the east to raise volunteers for Bexar. They selected a skinny young man named David Harmon to ride to Jefferson with their plea for men to be sent to San Antonio.72