before the echoes of the bugles which sounded general woll’s retreat had finally died on the air, volunteers came flocking to san antonio eager to pursue him, and determined to cross the rio grande at all hazards and release the texans languishing in mexican prisons.
on the 18th of november seven hundred men, armed and equipped for a campaign, were assembled in the shadow of the twin towers of the old mission concepcion. general alexander somervell, appointed by president houston to the command, put himself at the head of this small army; the order to march ran down the line, and with a shout the men set their faces toward the west.
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after several days’ march they camped at laredo on the banks of the rio grande river. they expected to cross at once into mexico and take the enemy by surprise. but at the moment when everything seemed to them favorable for this movement, general somervell issued an order for his soldiers to return to gonzales, where they would be disbanded.
the men were dumfounded. three hundred flatly refused to obey the order. the others, after much wrangling, followed general somervell to san antonio.
captain william s. fisher was elected colonel in command of those who remained, and the expedition proceeded down the rio grande to a point opposite the mexican town of mier.
mier was occupied by general pedro ampudia (am-poo′dee-a) with two thousand troops. on christmas morning, before daylight, colonel fisher led his men over the river. the mexicans came out to meet them, but were forced to retreat before the hot fire of the texans. by daylight the texans had captured the enemy’s cannon and cut their way into the town. here the fight went on, hand to hand, from street to street, from house to house.
but the superior numbers of the enemy enabled them to keep up the struggle, which lasted seventeen hours.
at the end of that time a flag of truce was sent by general ampudia to colonel fisher. fisher had been severely wounded early in the action; he was weakened by loss of blood and unnerved by pain; and he advised surrender, although up to this time his men had been victorious. he knew general ampudia, he said, and he answered for his good faith.
after much discussion the majority of the men agreed to the surrender. the terms were most honorable.
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no sooner were the articles signed and the texan arms stacked, than the unfortunate prisoners began to suffer from the cruelty of their treacherous foes. they were put in irons and marched to matamoras, thence to the interior. at the hacienda of salado, beyond saltillo, they rose upon their guards, overpowered the soldiers, seized their weapons and horses, and escaped. but they found themselves in a strange country. they soon lost their way in the wild mountain passes, and after enduring great torture from hunger and thirst, they were finally recaptured and taken back to salado.
on their arrival there they were met by an order from santa anna. every tenth man of them was to be shot! one of their own number who understood spanish was compelled to read this order to his companions. the rattle of handcuffs, indicating the surprise of the startled prisoners, was promptly silenced by the guards; and, amid a deadly stillness which succeeded the reading, an officer entered the shed where they were confined. he carried an earthen jar. the jar contained one hundred and seventy-five beans (the number of the prisoners). seventeen of the beans were black, the others were white. the jar was placed on a bench and a handkerchief thrown over it. the roll was then called. each prisoner stepped forward as his name was called, placed his hand in the jar, and drew out a bean.
the black beans in this fatal lottery meant death.
some of the mexican officers grew faint as they looked, and turned away their heads. but others bent forward eagerly, as if watching the throw of dice in an everyday game of chance.
it was sunday afternoon, at the hour when the church bells were everywhere calling the people to vesper prayer, when this fearful drama began. not one of the actors in it faltered or changed color at finding in his hand the black token of death. when the ordeal was ended, the shackles of the seventeen doomed men were knocked off. they were then hurried to a yard adjoining the shed and shot without further ceremony. their comrades, crouched against the wall within, heard but too plainly the whispered prayers, the echoing shots, and the dying groans.
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the survivors were carried to the castle of perote near the city of mexico, where they found the prisoners taken by general woll at san antonio. they were immediately put to convict labor. “they were hitched to a wagon, twenty-five to a team, and compelled to haul rocks from the mountains to the castle of perote. the prisoners at no time, however, lost their buoyant spirits, nor did they ever lose an opportunity for fun. mcfall, a powerful man, was put in the lead, and was always ready to get scared and run away with the wagon. this was often done, and the corners of the adobe houses always suffered in such cases. the mexican officers would laugh, and the owners of the houses would swear in bad spanish. the overseers were kept busy. they had the power of using the lash, but they did not do this very often, as the texans made it their business, at the peril of their lives, to return such civilities with ample vengeance.”[31]
several of the prisoners made their escape. among these was colonel thomas jefferson green, who had been fisher’s second in command. he was bitterly opposed to the surrender at mier, and broke his sword across his knee rather than hand it to general ampudia. mr. john twohig, of san antonio, who had been carried into captivity by woll, and several of his fellow-prisoners made a tunnel under the prison wall, through which they succeeded in getting out of the castle and thence safe home again.
anson jones.
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mr. wright of de witt county was not so lucky. he was a very large man; after making his preparations for flight, he crawled into the tunnel, where he got along famously until he was about half way through. there he stuck fast, equally unable to go forward or to come back. finally, with a despairing effort he slid back an inch or two, then a little further, until at last bruised, breathless, and torn, he got back into his dungeon, glad to settle down to prison life once more.
among the captives was samuel h. walker, afterwards famous as a captain of cavalry in the mexican war with the united states.
in september, 1844, these prisoners were finally released by santa anna, at the dying request, it is said, of his young and beautiful wife.
about the time the mier expedition started from san antonio, the capital was again removed from president houston’s beloved town on buffalo bayou; this time to washington on the brazos.
