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 ILLUSTRATED. 
 

SAN AiNTONIO 
 
 ENVIRONS 
 
 By GEO. P. GOFF, ^. 1^., 
 
 Author of " Nick Baba' s Last Drink." and other Sketches. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 
 ' DEC lA 
 
 LANCASTER. PA. : '^ 
 
 INQUIRER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., 
 1881. 
 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year i8So, by 
 
 GEO. P. GOFF, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
 
TO MY FRIEND 
 
 CHARLES W. HOFFMAN, LL. D., 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 AS A MARK OF ESTEEM AND RESPECT 
 
 BY ONE WHO KNOWS 
 
 AND VALUES HIS 
 
 FRIENDSHIP. 
 

 
 T. 
 
 W IV' 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 " Land of the prairies, hail ! 
 Of birds and music, of flowers and beauty, 
 Of loveliness and hope, — Peace be thy lot, 
 Joy thine inheritance, and Holiness thy praise." 
 
 j^"^' HE City of San Antonio, Bexar county, 
 Texas, was at one time the capital of the 
 Mexican province of Coahuila and Texas, 
 and was settled by Spaniards about the 
 year 1730. It is one of the principal cities in the 
 State. 
 
 Although a frontier town, and presumably, on 
 that account, containing a rcugh element, it is 
 noted for its obedience to law and order. It pos- 
 sesses as much wealth, refinement, and good 
 society, in proportion to its population, as any 
 city in the Union. 
 
 It is situated in the western part of Texas, on 
 (9) 
 
lO SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 both sides of the beautiful San Antonio river, in a 
 charming and healthful valley, six hundred and 
 fifty feet above the level of the sea, and lies in the 
 midst of a gently undulating region of country. 
 
 It is two hundred and fifty miles from the nearest 
 port on the Gulf of Mexico, and one hundred and 
 fifty from the Mexican border. 
 
 The population is about twenty thousand, and is 
 rapidly increasing. 
 
 On account of its mild and genial atmosphere, 
 the town is fast becoming a winter resort for trav- 
 elers, especially consumptives. The balmy air, laden 
 with half-tropical perfumes, the bright sunshine 
 and the brilliant verdure, all seem to inspire the 
 sojourner with new life. The highways are brilliant 
 with wild flowers of every hue, in the greatest pro- 
 fusion, and intermingled in such harmony as only 
 nature /can produce. The climate during a part 
 of the year is very fine, and has been compared, 
 by travelers and writers, to that of Italy. 
 
 It cannot be better described than by the 
 following lines : 
 
 "Whatever fruits in different climes were found, 
 That proudly vie, or humbly court the grountl ; 
 Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear. 
 Whose bright succession decks the varied year; 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I I 
 
 Whatever sweets salute the Northern sky, 
 With vernal tints that blossom but to die ; 
 These, here disporting, own the kindred soil, 
 Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil ; 
 While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand, 
 To winnow fragrance round the smiling land." 
 
 This quaint old Spanish town, with its contracted 
 streets and its ancient adobe houses projecting 
 their roofs over narrow sidewalks, is built on the 
 river, which takes its rise from springs of the same 
 name, about four miles above the town, where the 
 whole stream seems to break loose — bursting up 
 in one great flood and sparkling on toward the 
 city, through which it flows in a constant current 
 of pure, clear, transparent, blue-tinted water. The 
 stream receives in its course, below the city, the 
 Medina, unites with the Guadalupe near the Gulf 
 of Mexico, and is finally lost in the waters of 
 Espiritu Santo Bay. 
 
 This shining river is very tortuous, and has been 
 aptly described as being everywhere. It winds its 
 way, silent and rapid, over gravelly beds ; gliding 
 through the city between mossy banks glowing 
 with flowers and foliage. One never tires of 
 watching it as it disappears under bridges, or is 
 lost in the many turns in its course. It is eighty 
 
12 S.-VN ANTOXIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 feet wide, seldom rises or falls, and is of a most 
 delightful temperature. 
 
 The town at its settlement was so laid out that 
 many of the dwellings, and even the stores, have 
 gardens extending down to the river. Some of the 
 inhabitants have taken advantage of this and im- 
 provised a sort of bath-house formed of light frame- 
 \vork, covered with cotton cloth, the whole resting 
 on a float, made of two large casks caulked and made 
 water tight. Nothing can exceed the picturesque 
 appearance of these floating baths as they sway and 
 bob in the rapid running stream, their pure white 
 coverings contrasting so charmingly Avith the 
 green sloping banks of the river, and the waving, 
 luxuriant semi-tropical vegetation. 
 
 The San Pedro Springs are about one mile from 
 the Alamo Plaza, where a very pretty park has 
 been laid out, and made more lovely by collecting 
 the water from the springs into a series of small 
 lakes, bordered with shady walks and crossed by 
 rustic bridges. This park is the resort of the 
 people for recreation, contains some native animals, 
 many curiosities, and a restaurant. 
 
 San Antonio presents to the observant traveler 
 the aspect of a staid ancient city being slo\vly but 
 surely crowded out of existence by the irresistible 
 and ceaseless march of progress. 
 
14 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 A new people have rushed in, and the thin- 
 blooded native shrinks aside for the new-comer, 
 basks in the sun, and beholds, in amazement, the 
 rising palace, towering far above his low, flat- 
 roofed adobe or stone hovel, and sees also, the 
 modern business structures push from their places 
 the one-story, half-battlemented, loop-holed dwell- 
 ings of a long past period. He draws his once 
 rich and bright, but now faded poncho about his 
 stooped shoulders, and slinks away, breathing a 
 curse, and a sigh for the past, when he sat unmo- 
 lested, in plenitude of idleness and sunshine, free 
 from the bustling ways and strange habits of the 
 intruder. 
 
 This odd old place is truly cosmopolitan in its 
 mixture of races, costumes, languages, architecture, 
 and religion ; an aggressive promoter of new ideas, 
 and a silent, fading witness of the past — linking an- 
 tiquity to the car of modern progress. 
 
 Here one may hear a confusion of tongues — a 
 melange of nationalities — Americans, Irish, Eng- 
 lish, Germans, Poles, Jews, French, Swiss, Mexi- 
 cans, Spaniards, Italians, Indians, and Negroes. 
 
 The extremes of wealth and poverty may also 
 be observed, with every intermediate grade — the 
 beggar, mounted on a forlorn-looking mule or ass, 
 

1 6 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 seeking alms in a princely sort of way; the boot- 
 black, smiling and happy in his rags and independ- 
 ence, CGntente?nent sans richesse, with the imple- 
 ments of his trade slung over his shoulder, and the 
 persistent business-like '■^ Shine 'cm up;'' the fash- 
 ionably dressed lady ; the meek-looking, scantily- 
 clad Mexican woman ; the aristocratic caballero, 
 mounted on a mustang and wearing a rich Spanish 
 costume, composed of a broad-leafed hat decorated 
 with solid silver ornaments, short buckskin vest 
 with sleeves open to the elbow, and fastened with 
 silver buttons ; pantaloons of skin or cloth, also 
 trimmed with silver buttons, and bordered with 
 wide bands of velvet, open to the hips, but but- 
 toned from the knee upward, and a rich sash of blue 
 or red silk, fringed ; the serious-looking business 
 man ; the gentleman without apparent occupation ; 
 the saucy-looking market boy serving his customers 
 from a low, two-wheeled cart, drawn by a brisk 
 donkey not much larger than a full-grown New- 
 foundland dog : the Mexican hay-vender, mounted 
 on the same style of donkey, minus the cart, and 
 completely covered with his own merchandise ; 
 trains of ox-teams hauling strong but rudely con- 
 structed two-wheeled carts, covered with canvas, 
 and drawn by as many as twenty yoke of oxen, 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 17 
 
 with the yoke not upon the neck, but lashed to the 
 horns of the animals ; shop windows gaudy with a 
 mixed display of Yankee notions, Mexican needle- 
 work, earthenware, wax figures and leopard skins; 
 and the female bird -trappers, or Pagarias, their 
 cages filled with a collection of both gay and sober 
 plumaged birds, waiting for a customer, with their 
 patient, expectant faces half concealed in the folds 
 of a well-worn shawl, drawn about the face in the 
 manner of a hood. A fitting accompaniment to 
 this human medley is the '' Hackal," the home of 
 indigent Mexicans and half-breeds. 
 
 This place of residence is like nothing else of all 
 the known habitations of mankind, and is very 
 little better than the abodes of the cave-dwellers. 
 To the uninitiated it seems an impossible structure, 
 and yet it is there. 
 
 Commencing with a hard-packed dirt floor, it 
 rises a composite of sticks, old tin roof, sail cloth, 
 broken stove-pipe, boards and poles, the whole 
 roofed in with dried prairie grass, matted together 
 and kept in its place by weights. Here the in- 
 mates dwell in listless idleness and hopeless pov- 
 erty, with the usual quantity of dogs and children, 
 living to-day on what they got yesterday, and hop- 
 ing to have to-morrow the same as they had to- 
 day — heavily seasoned with red pepper. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I9 
 
 The history of San Antonio has been an event- 
 ful one, and runs far back into the past. While 
 Mexico yeti belonged to Spain, the Marquis de 
 Casa Fuerte explored and surveyed in the immedi- 
 ate vicinity of the present city, and, on account 
 of the exceeding richness of the soil, the temperate 
 climate, and the ease of irrigation, recommended 
 it to the King of Spain as a most desirable place 
 for a settlement, and, in 1693, advised the Spanish 
 monarch to send settlers to found a city at or near 
 the place of his surveys. It was not, however, until 
 1730 that any emigrants arrived, when thirteen 
 families, and one single man, natives of the Canary 
 Islands, came by way of Monterey. These way- 
 farers were of pure Castilian blood, of wealth and 
 distinction. Their names, Rodriguez, Yturri, 
 Garza, Navarro, Flores, and Garcia, are perpet- 
 uated in the neighborhood of San Antonio, by 
 existing families descended from each. 
 
 They built on what is now known as the Military 
 Plaza, and named it Plaza de las Islas, in honor 
 of the Canary Islands, the home they had left. 
 
 This settlement was called San Antonio de 
 Bexar, in honor of the Duke of Bexar, Viceroy of 
 Mexico at the time the town was laid off, 17 16, 
 while the town on the east side of the venerable 
 cathedral was known as San Fernando. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 2 1 
 
 San Antonio has been the scene of many bloody 
 conflicts; the banners of freedom and oppression, 
 each borne aloft to the battle's front by their 
 respective champions, have mingled in sanguinary 
 strife ; both have at times been trailed in the dust 
 and bathed in the blood of the contestants ; out of 
 this chaos of crimson slaughter has arisen the 
 inspiriting device of universal freedom, and the 
 banner of tyranny has been banished beyond the 
 Rio Grande. 
 
 A writer, in speaking of San Antonio, says: 
 
 " Every stone of this beautiful city has been consecrated 
 with the blood of a patriot, San Antonio has for a century 
 been the battle-ground of human liberty. Its fortified places 
 have been taken and retaken, and retaken again; while the 
 Alamo still stands the monument of a battle greater than 
 Thermopylae ; for, while one Greek lived to tell the story of 
 heroic defence, not one Texan ever opened his lips to relate 
 how his fellows died." 
 
 In 1785 the Comanche Indians, who were 
 always troublesome, gathered in numbers and 
 attacked the town, driving the soldiers within the 
 walls of the mission, and capturing the place. 
 
 The taking of San Antonio by the Texans, 1835, 
 is thus graphically described by Yokum : 
 
 "On the morning of the 3d of December, 1835, Messrs. 
 
22 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Smith, Holmes, and Maverick, who had been detained under 
 surveillance in Bexar since the affair at Gonzales, made their 
 escape, and reached the Texan camp. From information 
 given by them as to the strength of the place, a call was 
 made for volunteers to attack it at four o'clock the next 
 morning. 
 
 " The plan of assault proposed that three hundred volun- 
 teers should be led into the town in three divisions: the first, 
 under Col. Jack, to take and occupy the house of Jose Angel 
 Navarro; the second, under Lieutenant Sommerville, to take 
 and occupy the house of Antonio de la Garza ; and the third, 
 under Major Morris, to take and occupy the house of Vera- 
 mendi. Deaf Smith, John H. Smith, and Hendrick Arnold, 
 were to act as guides to the respective divisions. During that 
 day and night all was preparation and impatience for the 
 hour to march. 
 
 " A serious conference was in session in General Burleson's 
 quarters, which closed by a proclamation that the descent on 
 the town was postponed. The burst of disappointment and 
 indignation can be better imagined than described. A gen- 
 eral parade was ordered for ten o'clock on the morning of 
 the 4th. Many of the companies refused to turn out. The 
 causes assigned for postponing the attack, were the absence 
 of Arnold, one of the guides, together with an opinion that 
 the besieged had received notice of the intended assault. 
 
 "About two o'clock in the afternoon of the 4th of Decem- 
 ber, an order was issued to raise the siege, and to set out for 
 La Bahia at seven o'clock that evening. ' It was then,' says 
 an eye witness, * that the scene was indescribable, and serious 
 apprehensions were entertained that our camp would be the 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 23 
 
 theatre of blood.' But, in the meantime, Arnold, the absent 
 guide, had returned; and Lieutenant Vuavis, of the Mexican 
 army, who had deserted the night before, came up. The 
 latter was conducted forthwith to headquarters, and under- 
 went a strict examination. He stated that the garrison was 
 in a tumult, and much dissatisfied ; and, further, that the 
 enemy had no suspicion of the intended descent that morn- 
 ing. He also stated that the strength of the place had been 
 exaggerated. 
 
 "On receipt of this information, late in the evening of the 
 4th, Colonel Benjamin R. Milam, at the suggestion of some 
 pex-sons, cried aloud : ' PF/io will go with old Ben Milam 
 into San Antonio ? ' The reply was a shout from the offi- 
 cers and men then assembled around the quarters of General 
 Burleson. They were ordered to fall into line, and, after a 
 partial organization, Milam was promptly elected to the 
 command, and notified the men to meet him, early after 
 dark, at the old mill, there to complete their arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 "All this transpired in the presence of General Burleson, 
 and with his approbation. 
 
 " They met at the old mill, and formed the attacking 
 party in two divisions : the first under the immediate com- 
 mand of Colonel Milam, assisted by Colonel Midland Franks 
 of the artillery, and Major R. C. Morris of the Grays, with 
 Messrs. Maverick, Cooke, and Arnold as guides ; the second, 
 under the command of Colonel Frank W. Johnson, assisted 
 by Colonels James Grant and William T. Austin, with Deaf 
 Smith and John W. Smith as guides. General Burleson 
 was waited on, and requested to hold his position till the 
 
EXPLANATIONS. 
 
 A. Old Mill. 
 
 B. House of Veramendi. 
 
 C. House of de la Garza. 
 
 D. Main Plaza. 
 
 E. Military Plaza 
 
 F. Powder House, 
 
 G. Reboubt 
 H, Quinla. 
 I. Priest's House. 
 J. Antonio Navarro I 
 K. Zambrano Kow. 
 
 F f^artia. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 25 
 
 result of the attack on the town was known, which he cheer- 
 fully agreed to do. Colonel J. C. Neill was directed to 
 make a feint on the Alamo, to divert the enemy's attention 
 while Milam was marching into the place. 
 
 " There were three hundred and one men that made the 
 descent, composed mostly of parts of the companies of Cap- 
 tains York, Patton, Dickinson, English, and Ward, in the 
 first division, under Milam, and of the companies of Cook, 
 Breese, Peacock, Swisher, and Edwards, in the second 
 division, under Johnson. 
 
 " On the morning of the 5th of December, about twenty 
 minutes before daylight, the assault was made on the town. 
 
 " Colonel Neill, making an earlier start, had crossed the 
 river, descended toward the Alamo, and opened a fire upon it, 
 completely diverting the enemy's attention. This he con- 
 tinued until he heard the report of the guns in the town, 
 when he withdrew to the camp. The division of Milam 
 marched in a direction a little south of west to the entrance 
 of Aceqtiia street, so named from the ditch running on the 
 west side ; while, at the same time, that of Johnson advanced 
 to the entrance of Soledad street. These two streets from their 
 entrance run south for a thousand varias to the main plaza — 
 he first entering the square on the northwest, and the other on 
 the northeast corner. At these points of entrance into the 
 square the enemy had erected breastworks and batteries, so as 
 to command them. Milam's division took possession of the 
 house of De la Garza, and Johnson that of Veramendi, 
 
 " These houses were nearly opposite, on the east side of 
 each of the two streets, and about a hundred yards from the 
 main square. 
 
26 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 " In approaching the Veramendi house a sentinel fired 
 upon the column, which was returned with efitect by Deaf 
 Smith. This aroused the Mexicans in the town. The fire 
 from the town and the Alamo soon became tremendous. The 
 Texans had taken with them two pieces of artillery, a twelve 
 and a six pounder. The former was dismounted, and, for 
 want of a cover for the other piece, it was but little used. 
 
 " So well-directed was the enemy's fire, that, for a time, 
 the Texans could not cover their lines, or keep up a safe 
 communication between the two divisions. They relied, 
 however, upon their rifles, with which they slackened the 
 enemy's fire, and silenced the artillery within range of their 
 pieces. During the 5th, the Texans had one killed, and two 
 colonels, one lieutenant-colonel, and twelve privates 
 wounded ; these were sent back to the camp, 
 
 " The night of the 5th was occupied by the Texans in 
 strengthening their works, and opening a communication be- 
 tween the two divisions. The enemy kept up a constant fire 
 during the night, which slackened somewhat toward day- 
 light. They were also engaged in placing armed men on 
 the tops of the surrounding houses, and in strengthening their 
 defences. The Texans at length succeeded in opening a 
 safe communication between their two divisions. This they 
 did under a raking fire from the enemy's battery at the en- 
 trance of Soledad street. 
 
 " At daylight, on the 5th of December, the enemy were 
 discovered to have occupied the tops of the houses between 
 the Texans and the plaza, and to have cut loop-holes in the 
 parapet-walls crowning the buildings. From these points 
 they opened and kept up through the day a brisk fire of 
 
FAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 27 
 
 small arms ; at the same time a steady fire of artillery was 
 maintained from the town and the Alamo. The greatest 
 danger to the Texans was in passing from one house to an- 
 other. A detachment of Captain Crane's company, under 
 Lieutenant William McDonald, with others, advanced under 
 a severe fire and took possession of the house to the right and 
 somewhat in advance of the Garza house. This extended 
 the Texan line westward, and toward the military plaza. At 
 the same time, the assailants were strengthening their works, 
 and returning the fire of the enemy. They also succeeded in 
 mounting their cannon, with which they did some execu- 
 tion. 
 
 "The communication between the two divisions of the 
 assailants was strengthened. 
 
 " During this, the second day of the attack, the Texans 
 had five wounded. The night of the 6th was occupied by 
 the enemy in keeping up a languishing fire, in opening a 
 trench on the Alamo side of the river, and in strengthening 
 their batteries on Main street, leading from the plaza to the 
 Alamo. The Texans were engaged in strengthening their 
 lines. 
 
 " On the morning of the 7th, the enemy opened a brisk 
 fire from the trench constructed the night before, also of ar- 
 tillery and small arms from other positions. By eleven 
 o'clock that day, the deadly fire of the Texan rifles had 
 silenced that from the trench, and also from some of the 
 Mexican artillery. The only house between the Garza house 
 and the buildings on the plaza was about midway, but back 
 from the street. About noon, the gallant Karnes advanced 
 with a crowbar, under a heavy fire from the enemy, and 
 
28 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 forced an entrance. Captain York's company followed, and 
 held the position. 
 
 "In the evening the fire of the Mexicans became active 
 from all their works. Colonel Milam, in passing from his 
 position to that of Johnson at the Veramendi house, was in- 
 stantly killed by a rifle-shot in the head. He fell just as he 
 entered the yard, and was buried where he fell. In his 
 death, Texas lost a commander and a soldier whose place 
 could not be easily supplied. The Texans, however, felt a 
 new incentive to avenge his death. They immediately set 
 on foot a party to take possession of the house of Antonio 
 Navarro, situated on the north side of Main street, one block 
 west of the main plaza, but commanding a portion of the 
 military plaza, and the Mexican redoubt on the second block 
 west of the main square. The party consisted of portions 
 of the companies of Captains Llewellyn, English, Crane, and 
 York. They advanced from the house taken by Karnes, and 
 forced an entrance. The enemy endeavored to retake it by 
 firing through loop-holes made in the roof, but the Texans 
 returned the fire through the same loop-holes, and drove 
 them off. 
 
 " Immediately north of and adjoining the Navarro house, 
 fronting on Flores street, stood a row of buildings known as 
 the ' Zambrano Row.' The taking of these buildings was 
 part of the work of the 8th of December. The morning v/as 
 cold and wet, and but little was done. 
 
 "About nine o'clock, however, the same party who had 
 taken the Navarro house, being reinforced by tlie Grays, 
 commenced the attack. The row consisted of a series of 
 rooms, separated by thick partition walls. These walls were 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 29 
 
 pierced, and thus the Texans advanced from room to 
 room. 
 
 " The enemy disputed every inch of the ground, and kept 
 up a tremendous fire of artillery during the day. At last, 
 however, they were forced to abandon the row. During this 
 time, a small reinforcement, under Lieutenant Gill, came in 
 from the camp of General Burleson. The Mexicans, in 
 order to produce a diversion, sent out a party of about fifty 
 men from the Alamo toward the Texan camp, but they were 
 quickly driven back by the fire of a six-pounder. 
 
 " After dark, on the 8th, the occupants of the Zambrano 
 row were reinforced by the companies of Captains Swisher, 
 Alley, Edwards, and Duncan. Thus the Texans had, in 
 fact, the command of the northwest portion of the enemy's 
 main defences. 
 
 " On the night of the 8th a further advance was made, 
 on the north side, and opposite the centre of the main plaza, 
 stood a strong building, known as the ' Priests' House.' It 
 commanded the plaza, and its capture was considered the 
 crowning work of the assault. Just before midnight, a party 
 of about a hundred men, destined to attack this place, set 
 out from the Garza house. In passing an out-building con- 
 nected with the wall around the yard of the priests' house, 
 they were exposed to a heavy fire from the Mexicans occu- 
 pying that out-building; but by a rapid movement the assail- 
 ants reached the wall, broke it down, drove the enemy from 
 his position, entered the priests' house, secured and strength- 
 ened the doors and windows, and commenced cutting loop- 
 holes. 
 
 '• The fire of the enemy had by this time become general, 
 
30 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 and was kept up with artillery and small arms until nearly 
 daylight. Finding the Texans unpleasantly near them, they 
 did not wait for daybreak to see the effect of their rifles 
 from the loop-holes in the priests' house upon the main 
 plaza, but retreated to the Alamo. At half past six o'clock 
 on the morning of the 9th, General Cos sent in a flag of 
 truce, expressing a wish to capitulate. 
 
 " General Burleson, having received notice of the flag, 
 proceeded to the town, and by two o'clock, on the morning 
 of the LOth, the articles of capitulation were concluded. 
 
 "Cos and his officers were permitted to retire with their 
 arms and private property, upon their word of honor that 
 they would not in any way oppose the re-establishment of 
 the constitution of 1824; the Mexican convict soldiers were 
 to be taken beyond the Rio Grande; all public property 
 belonged to the victors ; such of the troops as wished to 
 remain or leave the Mexican army, had the liberty of doing 
 so. Commissioners were appointed to carry the articles 
 into effect. 
 
 <* It is proper to state here that during the attack, notwiih- 
 standing General Burleson had out a constant patrol, Ugar- 
 tachea made his way into San Antonio uith five hundred 
 convicts, guarded by a hundred regular infantry. This force, 
 added to the eight hundred previously there, made an ag- 
 gregate of fourteen hundred. The number of the enemy 
 killed has been variously estimated — it probably did not ex- 
 ceed a hundred and fifty. The Texan loss was trifling, 
 though they had several wounded. 
 
 " Among the occurrences of the assault, it may be stated 
 that on the same evening of the death of Milam, the officers 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 3 1 
 
 assembled and conferred the command on Colonel Frank 
 W. Johnson, who had the high honor of raising the flag of 
 victory over the walls of Bexar. 
 
 " The reinforcement of convicts brought in by Ugartachea 
 were conducted in chains, and their fetters were only taken 
 off when they were introduced within the lines. Such men 
 added nothing to the Mexican strength, but served only to 
 hasten the consumption of the scanty provisions of the be- 
 seiged. 
 
 " After the occupation of the priests' house by the Texans, 
 the town was fairly in their possession. They were in a 
 position, as soon as daylight appeared, to clear every battery 
 on the plaza. The terms of the capitulation were, then, hu- 
 mane. It is true the enemy could have held out for some 
 time in the Alamo, but they had no provisions. The Texans 
 agreed to furnish them with a supply at a fair price, and 
 their sick and wounded were permitted to remain behind, 
 and were duly cared for. Thus the humanity following the 
 victory was more glorious than the victory itself, and was a 
 noble lesson of moderation in the hour of triumph, which the 
 enemy failed to learn. Twenty-one pieces of artillery, five 
 hundred muskets, together with ammunition, clothing, etc., 
 fell into the hands of the victors. 
 
 " On the 14th, General Cos left the town with eleven hun- 
 dred and five troops, the remainder having abandoned his 
 flag. He encamped that night at the mission of San Jose. 
 
 " The next day he set out for the Rio Grande, to report to 
 Santa Anna, his distinguished relative and superior, the re- 
 bellious character of the Texans, and their obstinacy in battle. 
 
 •' General Burleson, who, although opposed to the attack 
 
32 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 when it was begun, did all he could to contribute to its suc- 
 cess, on the 15th retired to his home, leaving Colonel John- 
 son in command of the Alamo, with a sufficient force to 
 maintain it. The remainder of the army dispersed. Thus 
 was Texas again free from the footsteps of the enemy." 
 
 The following is from the Pittsburgh Gazette : 
 " To Colonel Benjamin R. Milam belongs, as commander, 
 the deathless renown of that heroic exploit. For six succes- 
 sive nights did he unceasingly grapple with the enemy; his 
 own life was the price of his triumph, and he was destined, 
 like Wolfe and Pike, to sleep the sleep of death in the arms 
 of victory. As long as unimpeached integrity, uncompro- 
 mising patriotism, and undaunted valor, are esteemed among 
 mankind, so long will his name be fresh and sacred in the 
 memory of every friend of virtue and freedom." 
 
 " Oft shall the soldier think of thee, 
 Thou dauntless leader of the brave, 
 Who on the heights of tyranny 
 Won freedom, and a glorious grave. 
 And on thy tomb shall pilgrims we-ep, 
 And pray to heaven in murmurs low, 
 That peaceful be the hero's sleep 
 Who conquered San Antonio. 
 Enshrined on honor's deathless scroll, 
 A nation's thanks will tell thy fame ; 
 Long as the beauteous rivers roll. 
 Shall freedom's votaries hymn thy name. 
 For, bravest of the Texan clime. 
 Who fought to make her children free, 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. ^^ 
 
 Was Milam ! and his death sublime 
 Linked with undying liberty." 
 
 General Vasquez, early in 1842, marched to- 
 ward San Antonio, which he took without opposi- 
 tion and the American residents abandoned the 
 town. Vasquez remained but two days, when he 
 retreated toward the Rio Grande. 
 
 In Septeiiiber of the same year Gen. Woll, with 
 another Mexican army, took possession of the 
 town. At that time the District Court was in 
 session, and the American inhabitants, the Judge 
 of the Court, and the lawyers in attendance, were 
 taken prisoners of war. In a short time, however, 
 the citizens rallied, sallied out to attack the en- 
 emy, and defeated him at the Salado, a few miles 
 from the town 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ALAMO. 
 
 (^^^^^N 18^6 took place the memorable battle 
 ^^M of the Alamo, where a few brave Texans 
 1^^ were opposed to a large army of Mexi- 
 ^5^ ' cans ; crushed by superior force, were 
 slaughtered, and their bodies mutilated and burned 
 by order of the vindictive Santa Anna. 
 
 Although the story of the Alamo belongs as 
 much to that of San Antonio as to that of the Old 
 Missions, and equally to both, yet, it stands out 
 so boldly, with a history of its own, that we shall 
 give it apart from its surroundings. The church 
 and fortress of the Alamo faces the Alamo plaza, 
 and stands there a monument of past faith and 
 heroic courage. 
 
 It was the second mission in Texas, and was 
 
 founded in 1703, by Franciscans of the Apostolic 
 
 College of Queretaro, in the valley of the Rio 
 
 Grande, under the invocation of San Francisco 
 
 (36) 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 37 
 
 Solano. It remained there five years, when, for 
 some reason not explained fully, it was removed to 
 San Ildephonso, where it remained until 1710. It 
 was then removed back to its former position and 
 re-invocated as the mission of San Jose, where it 
 rested, under the guidance of Father Jose de Soto, 
 until 1 7 18, when, on account of scarcity of water, 
 it was taken, by order of the Marquis de Valero, 
 Viceroy of New Spain, in honor of whom it was 
 partly named, to the west bank of the San Pedro, 
 about three-fourths of a mile from the present 
 parish church of San Antonio. Here it assumed 
 the name of San Antonio de Bexar, under the pro- 
 tection of which post it remained until 1722. 
 
 In May, 1744, the first stone of the walls of the 
 Alamo was laid, but the structure was never en- 
 tirely finished, and it was called and conducted as 
 the mission of San Antonio de Valero, where a 
 company of troops were stationed, for the protec- 
 tion of the town and church, until 1783, when it 
 ceased to be a missionary station. The Indians 
 brought in for conversion having been, for some 
 time previously, sent to the lower missions, it lost 
 its ancient prestige and became an humble parish 
 church, where worship was conducted until about 
 1825. It was an oblong structure, enclosing about 
 
38 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 an acre of ground, Mdthin which was the church 
 and convent. It was surrounded by a wall three 
 feet thick and ten feet high. The Bishop of Mon^ 
 terey, in January, 1793, directed that the church 
 records of the mission be put in custody of the 
 curate of San Antonio de Bexar, which was done 
 the following August by Father Lopez, the last of 
 the followers of St. Francis, who had labored as 
 missionary in the Alamo. 
 
 January, 1836, Santa Anna, the Dictator of Mex- 
 ico, equipped an anny of 7,500 men, and, deter- 
 mining to crush out the Texas rebellion, took the 
 command in person and marched to San Antonio. 
 
 The whole force of the patriots, at this place, was 
 commanded by Colonel William B. Travis, and 
 did not exceed 170 men. This little band of 
 Texans, on the arrival of Santa Anna with his 
 army, retreated within the sacred walls of the 
 Alamo, where they prepared to sustain a siege. 
 
 The entire Mexican army immediately sur- 
 rounded the garrison, which they summoned to 
 surrender. On their refusal, a furious bombard- 
 ment was at once begun, and, almost without 
 intermission, continued from the 25th of February 
 until the 8th of March. On the 24th of February 
 Colonel Travis issued the following stirring appeal, 
 
i 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 39 
 
 which he sent, by a trusted messenger, through the 
 Mexican lines: 
 
 " COMMANDANCY OF THE AlaMO, ) 
 
 Bexar, Feb. 24, 1836, / 
 
 " 71? t/ie People of Texas and all Americatis in the World — 
 Fellow Citizens and Compatriots : I am besieged by a 
 thousand or more Mexicans, under Santa Anna. I have 
 sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 
 twenty- four hours, and have not yet lost a man. 
 
 " The enemy have demanded a surrender at discretion, 
 otherwise the garrison is to be put to the sword if the fort 
 is taken. I have answered the summons with a cannon- 
 shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. 7 
 shall never surrender or retreat. Then I call upon you, in 
 the name of liberty, patriotism, and everything dear to the 
 American character, to come to our aid with dispatch. 
 
 "The enemy are receiving reinforcements daily, and will 
 doubtless, in a few days, increase to three or four thou- 
 sand. 
 
 "Though this call may be neglected, I am determined to 
 sustain myself as long as possible, and die like a soldier who 
 never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his 
 country. Victory or death. 
 
 " W. Barrett Travis, 
 
 ^'Lieutenant Colonel Commanding. 
 
 " P. S. — The Lord is on our side. When the enemy 
 appeared in sight, we had not three bushels of corn. We 
 have since found, in deserted houses, eighty or ninety 
 bushels, and got into the walls twenty or thirty head of 
 beeves." 
 
40 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Santa Anna called a council of his officers on 
 the morning of the 6th of March, at which he 
 declared that the Alamo must be taken at once, 
 and at whatever cost. 
 
 The particulars of that terrible struggle can 
 never be known. More than 1.500 Mexicans were 
 killed and wounded — nearly ten to every one of 
 the Texans. The brave defenders of the Alamo 
 were vanquished ; the little band of 170 patriots 
 was overpowered by the large army of merciless 
 Mexicans opposed to them ; every one of the 
 defenders of the ''Lone Star" was cruelly 
 butchered. 
 
 The taking of the Alamo by the Mexicans : 
 
 " It will be remembered that Santa Anna reached the 
 Alazan at noon on the 23d of February ; and Urrea arrived 
 at San Patrico before the dawn of the morning of the 
 27th. 
 
 " At two o'clock in the afternoon, Santa Anna marched 
 into San Antonio. 
 
 " The Texan guard in the town retired in good order to 
 the Alamo. Colonel Travis, in anticipation of an attack, 
 had done what he could to strengthen the walls, and provide 
 means for defence. The Alamo, though strong, was built 
 for a mission and not for a fortress ; the walls are thick, but 
 of plain stone work, and without a redoubt or bastion to 
 command the lines of the fort. The main wall is a rect- 
 angle, one hundred and ninety feet long, and one hundred 
 
SAN AXTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 4 1 
 
 and twenty-two feet wide. On the southeast corner was 
 attached the old church, a large building, and contained the 
 magazine and soldiers' quarters. Adjoining this on the 
 east side was the stone cuartel for horses. About midway 
 of the east side of the main wall, but within it, was a two- 
 story stone building; the upper story being used for a hos- 
 pital, and the lower one for an armory, soldiers' quarters, 
 and other purposes. 
 
 " There were four pieces of artillery mounted on the side 
 toward the town, and a like number facing the north; two 
 on the side of the church, and four to defend the gate 
 which looked toward the bridge across the San Antonio 
 river. ^ 
 
 " The place was supplied with water from two aqueducts 
 running on either side of the walls. But Travis was greatly 
 deficient in men, provisions, and ammunition. 
 
 "Santa Anna immediately demanded a surrender of the 
 Alamo and its defenders, without terms. The demand was 
 answered by a shot from the fort. The enemy then hoisted 
 a blood-red flag in the town, and commenced an attack. It 
 was intended to be by slow approaches, for at first the bom- 
 bardment was harmless. 
 
 "Early on the 25th, Santa Anna in person crossed the 
 nver with the battalion de Cazadores of Matamoras, with a 
 view of erecting a battery in front of the gate of the 
 Alamo. 
 
 "Travis made a strong resistance, and the Mexicans were 
 re-inforced by the battalion of Ximenes. The enemy, accord- 
 ing to their own account, lost in this action, which continued 
 until the afternoon, eiHit in killed and wounded. 
 
42 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 " They, however, succeeded that night in erecting their 
 battery, being protected by some old houses between the gate 
 of the Alamo and the bridge. It was three hundred yards 
 south of the place. They also erected another, the same 
 night, near the powder-house, or Gaj-ila, a thousand yards 
 to the northeast, and posted their cavalry at the old Casa 
 Mata on the Gonzales road, toward the east. At night, 
 Travis burnt the straw, and wooden houses in the vicinity 
 of the fort. 
 
 " Early on the morning of the 26th, there was a slight 
 skirmish between a portion of the Texans and the enemy's 
 cavalry stationed east of the fort. A norther having sprung 
 up on the previous night, the thermometer fell to thirty-nine 
 degrees above zero. Meanwhile, Santa Anna had received 
 reinforcements, and now enlarged his guard, the sentinels 
 being placed nearer the fort. The Texans sallied out for 
 wood and water, without loss ; and at night they succeeded 
 in burning some old houses northeast from the fort, and near 
 a battery erected by the enemy on the Alamo ditch, about 
 eight hundred yards distant. 
 
 " During all this time the Mexicans kept up a constant 
 firing, but with little effect. On the 28th, they erected an- 
 other battery at the old mill, eight hundred yards distant, 
 and attempted to cut off the water from the fort. The 
 Texans were engaged in strengthening their works, by throw- 
 ing up earth on the inside of the walls. 
 
 " It i? proper here to state that Travis wrote on the 23d to 
 Colonel Fannin, then at Goliad, making known his position, 
 and requesting him to march to his relief. The letter 
 reached Goliad on the 25th. Fannin set out on his march 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 43 
 
 for Bexar on the 28th, with three hundred men and four 
 pieces of artillery, leaving Captain Westover in command at 
 Goliad, with about a hundred men. But he had only pro- 
 ceeded two hundred yards, when one of his wagons broke 
 down, and, having but one yoke of oxen to each piece of ar- 
 tillery, he was compelled to double his teams in order to get 
 them, one at a time, across the river. Besides, his only pror 
 visions consisted of a tierce of rice and a little dried beef. 
 
 " A council of war was thereupon held, when it was deter- 
 mined to return to Goliad, which was accordingly done. 
 
 " The intelligence of Fannin's departure for Bexar was re- 
 ceived by the enemy at the latter place the same day on 
 which he started, and, before the council of war above al- 
 luded to was closed on the 29th, General Sesma, with de- 
 tachments of cavalry and infantry, was on his march to 
 meet him. 
 
 "On the morning of the 1st of March, thirty-two gallant 
 men from Gonzales were safely conducted by Captain John W. 
 Smith into the Alamo, making the effective force under Travis 
 one hundred and eighty-eight men. The bombardment of 
 the fort still continued. The Texans, being short of ammuni- 
 tion, fired but seldom. In the evening, however, they struck 
 the house occupied by Santa Anna in Bexar with a twelve- 
 pound shot. 
 
 " On the 2d the attack was still maintained. The Texans 
 continued the fight as their means and strength would allow. 
 
 " On the 3d, the enemy erected a battery on the north of 
 the fort, and within musket- shot. 
 
 " Travis added a last appeal to the President of the Con- 
 vention, setting forth fully his position and determination. 
 
 \ 
 
44 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 " He stated that the 'blood-red banners which waved on 
 the church at Bexar, and in the camp above him, were tokens 
 that the war was one of vengeance against rebels.' 
 
 " Perhaps by the same courier he sent the affecting note to 
 his friend in Washington county — ' Take care of my little 
 boy. If the country shall be saved, I may make him a 
 splendid fortune ; but if the country should be lost, and I 
 should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollec- 
 tion that he is the son of a man who died for his country.' 
 
 " In a letter dated the 3d of March, to a friend, he said : 
 • I am still here, in fine spirits, and well to do. With one 
 hundred and forty-five men, I have held this place ten days 
 against a force variously estimated from fifteen hundred to 
 six thousand; and I shall continue to hold it till I get relief 
 from my countrymen, or I will perish in its defence. We 
 have had a shower of bombs and cannon-balls continnually 
 falling among us the whole time, yet none of us have fallen. 
 We have been miraculously preserved.' " 
 
 "On that day, J. B. Bonham, who had gone as 
 express to Fannin for aid, returned and made his 
 way safely into the fort at eleven o'clock in the 
 morning. At night the Texans made a sally, and 
 had a skirmish with the Mexican advance. The 
 enemy continued the fire on the 4th ; but few 
 shots were returned from the fort. 
 
 ''In the afternoon Santa Anna called a council 
 of war, to advise on the question of assaulting the 
 place. After much discussion, Cos, Castrillon, 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 45 
 
 and others, were of opinion that the Alamo should 
 be assaulted after the arrival of the two twelve- 
 pounders expected on the 7th. The President, 
 Generals Ramnez, Sesma, and Almonte, were of 
 opinion that the twelve-pounders should not be 
 waited for, but the assault made. 
 
 *' Santa Anna, without making a public decision, 
 determined upon an assault, and made his prepa- 
 rations accordingly. His troops then in Bexar 
 exceeded four thousand in number, the most of 
 whom had been refreshed during the time they had 
 spent there. The Texans, on the contrary, were 
 worn down by incessant watching and labor 
 within the walls. 
 
 *'0n Sunday morning, the 5th of March, a little 
 after midnight, the Alamo was surrounded by the 
 entire Mexican army. The cavalry were placed 
 without the infantry, to cut them down if they 
 offered to give way. The latter were provided 
 with scaling-ladders. The enemy, thus forming a 
 circle facing the fort, advanced rapidly under a 
 tremendous fire from the Texan rifles and artillery. 
 
 ''Just at daylight the ladders were placed against 
 the walls, and an attempt made by the enemy to 
 enter the fort, but they were driven back by the 
 stern defenders within. Again the charge was 
 
46 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 sounded, and a second effort made to reach the 
 top of the walls, but again the assailants were 
 repulsed. 
 
 *' For a few minutes there was a pause. By the 
 presence, threats and promises of Santa Anna, a 
 third assault was made, and with more fatal suc- 
 cess. The enemy, reaching the tops of the ladders, 
 wavered and fell ; but their places were supplied 
 by the hundreds pressing onward and behind 
 them on each ladder. 
 
 "At length, killed, cut down, and exhausted, the 
 Texan defenders did not retreat, but ceased to 
 keep back the Mexicans. Instantly the fort was 
 filled by the latter. The survivors within the 
 Svalls still continued to do battle. They clubbed 
 their guns, and used them till they were nearly all 
 cut down. It is said that a few called for quarter, 
 but the cry was unheeded. One would suppose 
 that admiration for such unequaled heroism would 
 have saved these few. Travis and Crockett fell — 
 the former near the western wall, the latter in the 
 corner near the church — with piles of slain around 
 them. 
 
 *' It had been previously agreed on by the be- 
 sieged that the survivor should fire a large quantity 
 of damaged powder in the magazine Major 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 47 
 
 Evans, the master of ordnance, was shot as he 
 attempted to perform that last high duty to his 
 country. Colonel Bowie, who had been for some 
 days sick in his bed, was there butchered and 
 mutilated." 
 
 Thus fell the Alamo and its heroic defenders ; 
 but before them lay the bodies of five hundred 
 and twenty-one of the enemy, with a like number 
 wounded. 
 
 "At an hour by sun, on that Sabbath morning, all was 
 still : yet the crimson waters of the aqueduct around the 
 fort i-esembled the red flag on the church of Bexar ! The 
 defenders of Texas did not retreat, but lay there in obedience 
 to the command of their country; and in that obedience the 
 world has witnessed among men no greater moral sublimity. 
 
 * Those in the fort that survived were : Mrs. Dickerson, 
 wife of Lieutenant Dickerson, who fell in the defense, her 
 child, a negro servant of Colonel Travis, and two Mexican 
 women of Bexar. The bodies of the Texans, after being 
 stripped and subjected to brutal indignities, were thrown 
 into heaps and burnt. The most of them were American 
 colonists, who emigrated to Texas under the assurance of 
 the colonization laws, that their rights and liberties should 
 be protected. The Mexicans in Bexar were mostly hostile ; 
 only three of them were among the defenders of the Alamo." 
 
 The following account of the fall of the Alamo 
 is from the Sa7i Felipe Telegraph of March 24th, 
 1836: 
 
48 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 '• At daybreak of the 6th inst. the enemy surrounded the 
 fort with their infantry, with the cavahy forming a circle 
 outside to prevent an escape of the garrison; the number 
 consisted of at least 4000 against 140. General Santa 
 Anna commanded in person, assisted by four generals and a 
 formidable train of artillery. Our men had been previously 
 much fatigued and harassed by night watching and inces- 
 sant toils, having experienced for some days past, a heavy 
 bombardment and several real and feigned attacks. 
 
 " But American valor and American love of liberty dis- 
 played themselves to the last ; they were never more con- 
 spicuous ; twice did they receive a check ; for our men 
 were determined to verify the words of the immortal Travis, 
 ' to make the victory worse to the enemy than a defeat.' 
 
 "A pause ensued after the second attack, which was 
 renewed the third time, owing to the exertions of Santa 
 Anna and his officers ; they then poured in over the walls 
 * like sheep'; the struggle, however, did not even there 
 cease ; unable from the crowd and for want of time to load 
 their guns and rifles, our men made use of the butt-ends of 
 the latter, and continued to fight and to resist until life ebbed 
 out through their numberless wounds, and the enemy had 
 conquered the fort, but not its brave, its matchless defenders ; 
 they perished but they yielded not ; only one, Warner, 
 remained to ask for quarter, which was denied by the unre- 
 lenting enemy. Total extermination succeeded, and the 
 darkness of death occupied the memorable Alamo, but 
 recently so teeming with gallant spirits, and filled with deeds 
 of never-failing remembrance. 
 
 " We envy not the feelings of the victors, for they must 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 49 
 
 have been bitter and galling, not proud ones. Who would 
 not be rather one of the Alamo heroes, than of the living of 
 its merciless victors ? Spirits of the mighty, though fallen, 
 honors and rest are with you ; the spark of immortality 
 which animated your forms shall brighten into a flame, and 
 Texas, the whole world, shall hail ye like demi-gods of old, 
 as founders of new actions, and as patterns for imitation. 
 
 " We must not omit to mention here the solemn ceremony 
 of collecting and devoting to funeral honors the ashes of 
 the heroes of the Alamo. It was performed on the 25th of 
 February by Colonel Sequin and his command, under orders 
 from the general-in-chief of the army. The dead had been 
 burnt in three piles. The ashes were collected and placed 
 in a neat black coffin, on the inside of the lid of which 
 were engraved the names of Travis, Bowie, Crockett ; a 
 solemn procession was formed, and the remains borne to the 
 place of interment, where, after suitable orations, they were 
 buried with military honors." 
 
 After the fall of the Alamo, Gen. Houston thus 
 addressed the patriots : 
 
 ^* Fellow Soldiers: The only army in Texas is now 
 present. Travis has fallen with his men at the Alamo. 
 
 " Fannin's troops have been massacred at La Bahia. 
 
 " There are none to aid us. There is here but a small 
 force, and yet it is all that Texas has. We might cross the 
 river and attack the enemy. We might be victorious ; but 
 we might be overcome. There are but few of us, and if we 
 fall, the fate of Texas is sealed. For this reason, and until 
 I feel able to meet the enemy in battle, I shall retreat." 
 4 
 
Jo SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 " San Antonio ! My country, the hour 
 Of your promising splendor has past, 
 And the chains, which were spurned in your 
 
 moments of power, 
 Hang heavily on you at last." 
 
 HYMN OF THE ALAMO, BY COL. R. M. PORTER, FIRST SECRE- 
 TARY OF THE NAVY OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. 
 
 I. 
 
 " Arise ! man the wall — our clarion blast 
 
 Now sounds its final reveille — 
 
 This dawning morn must be the last 
 
 Our fated band shall ever see. 
 To life, but not to hope, farewell. 
 
 Yon trumpet's clang and cannon's peal. 
 And storming shout and clash of steel, 
 Is ours — but not our cotint-ys knell. 
 Welcome the Spartan's death ! 
 
 'Tis no despairing strife ; 
 We fall — we die — but our expiring breath 
 Is Freedom's breath of life 
 
 Here on this new Thermopylae, 
 
 Our monument shall tower on high. 
 
 And Alamo hereafter be 
 
 On bloodier fields the battle-cry ;" 
 
 Thus Travis from the rampart cried ; 
 And when his warriors saw the foe 
 Like whelmine billows move below. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 At once each dauntless heart replied, 
 " Welcome the Spartan's death ! 
 'Tis no despairing strife ; 
 We fall, but our expiring breath 
 Is Freedom's breath of life." 
 
 III. 
 They come — like autumn leaves they fall ; 
 Yet hordes on hordes they onward rush ; 
 With gory tramp they mount the wall, 
 
 Till numbers the defenders crush. 
 
 The last was felled the fight to gain — 
 
 Well may the ruffians quake to tell 
 
 How Travis and his hundred fell, 
 
 Amid a thousand foemen slain. 
 
 They died the Spartan's death, 
 
 But not in hopeless strife ; 
 Like brothers died — and their expiring 
 breath 
 Was Freedom's breath of life. 
 
 51 
 
52 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 MONUMENT ERECTED 
 
 TO THE 
 
 HEROES OF THE ALAMO. 
 
 STANDING AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE STATE HOUSE AT AUSTIN. 
 
 The following are the inscriptions on the four 
 sides : 
 
 TO THE 
 
 GOD 
 OF THE 
 
 FEARLESS 
 AND TRUE 
 
 IS 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
 THIS 
 
 ALTAR, 
 
 MADE FROM 
 
 THE RUINS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ALAMO. 
 
 BLOOD OF 
 
 HEROES 
 
 HATH 
 
 STAINED ME. 
 
 LET THE 
 
 STONES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ALAMO 
 
 SPEAK, 
 
 THAT THEIR 
 
 IMMOLATION 
 
 BE NOT 
 FORGOTTEN. 
 
 MARCH 6tH, 
 1836, A. D. 
 
 MARCH 6th, 
 1836, A. D. 
 
 CROCKETT. 
 
 BONHAM. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 53 
 
 BE THEY 
 ENROLLED 
 
 WITH 
 LEONIDAS 
 IN THE 
 
 HOST 
 OF THE 
 MIGHTY 
 DEAD. 
 
 THERMOPYL^ 
 
 HAD HER 
 
 MESSENGER 
 
 OF 
 
 DEFEAT, 
 
 BUT 
 
 THE ALAMO 
 
 HAD 
 
 NONE. 
 
 MARCH 6tH, 
 1836, A. D. 
 
 MARCH 6th, 
 1836, A. D. 
 
 TRAVIS. 
 
 BOWIE. 
 
56 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT STANDING 
 IN FRONT OF THE CAPITAL AT AUSTIN. 
 
 "This monument is ten feet high, and made 
 from stones taken from the ruins of the Alamo. 
 The style of architecture is the composite, and is 
 divided into ten sections. The first section, or base 
 of the monument, is one solid piece, bearing the 
 whole structure. The second section is a square 
 plinth, neatly impaneled. The third section is a 
 sub-plinth, with Gothic molding and roped head, 
 symbolical of binding the whole structure firmly. 
 
 "The 4th section is the die, or main body of the 
 monument, consisting of four panels in recess, 
 supported by rude fluted pilasters at each corner. 
 
 On two of these panels are raised shields, on 
 which are inscribed, in carved letters, the names 
 of every man who fell at the ever-memorable battle 
 of Alamo. Each shield is suspended from a taste- 
 ful wreath, in the centre of which is a beautiful 
 bouquet of flowers. The shields and wreaths 
 sustaining them are encircled by honeysuckle and 
 vines. On the other panels of section four is rep- 
 resented the skull and bones crossed. Above the 
 skull are two angels facing each other, blowing 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 57 
 
 trumpets. Below the cross-bones are the symbols 
 of time — the hour-glass, scythe, and wings. 
 
 " Section five is a solid cap resting on the main 
 body, projecting with Gothic moldings hand- 
 somely carved, representing oak leaves at the 
 corners. On the top of the cap is a square facia 
 forming recesses in which are inscribed, in large, 
 raised Gothic letters, the names of the gallant 
 spirits who fell at the head of the heroes of the 
 Alamo. Each name — that of Crockett, Bonham, 
 Travis, and Bowie — stands out singly in bold 
 relief, on each of the four fronts. From the centre 
 of this cap springs the main shaft or spire and 
 upper structure. 
 
 ''Section six is a Corinthian base, forming four 
 square angles. At each angle is a dolphin, in 
 solid carved work. On each side, in the centre, 
 is a bomb-shell of full size, and made of solid 
 stone. 
 
 ''Section seven is the base of the shaft, with 
 raised fluted corners, and rests upon the Corinth- 
 ian base, supported at the corners by the tails of 
 the dolphins, and at each side by the bomb- 
 shells. 
 
 "In the panels on the base and over the bomb- 
 shells, are raised hands in the grasp of friendship. 
 
58 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 '* Section eight is the first division of the shaft, 
 with raised fluted corners and panels in recess. 
 
 ''At the base of each panel are cannons crossed 
 in bold relief. Above these cannon, on each panel, 
 is the Cap of Liberty, surrounded by branches of 
 oak and laurel. Immediately above these, in 
 raised letters, is inscribed, on each of the four 
 fronts, March 6th, 1836, the date of the memor- 
 able battle. On the top of this section of the 
 shaft is a cap, with raised fluted corners and recess 
 panels. In two of these panels stand in relief the 
 heads of angels with wings. On one of the other 
 panels is, in relief, a heart pierced with two 
 crossed daggers, and on the other panel is a skull 
 with twigs crossed underneath. 
 
 ''Section nine is the second division of the shaft, 
 with the devices in raised Gothic letters, as printed 
 on each side of the wood-cut of the monument 
 above. 
 
 " Section ten is a cap on top of section nine, 
 forming four Gothic points, and in each, in a 
 recess panel, stands in bold relief. The Lone Star 
 OF Texas. Underneath the stars are raised dag- 
 gers. In the centre of the cap above the stars 
 stands an urn with flame issuing from it, and at 
 each corner of the cap on which the large urn 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 59 
 
 rests, are four smaller urns, out of which also 
 issues flame. 
 
 "This monument was made in the Republic of 
 Texas, by American artists. Viewing the work as 
 a whole, both as to boldness and appropriateness 
 of design and beauty of execution, it would reflect 
 credit on any artist of ancient or modern times." 
 
 The following names, of persons who were 
 slaughtered at the Alamo, are inscribed upon the 
 north and south fronts : 
 
 M. Autrey, 
 
 R. Allen, 
 
 M. Andress, 
 
 Ayres, 
 
 Anderson, 
 
 W. Blazeby, 
 
 J. B. Bowman, 
 
 Baker, 
 
 S. C. Blair, 
 
 Blair, 
 
 Brown, 
 
 Bowin, 
 
 Balentine, 
 
 J. J. Baugh, 
 
 Burn el I, 
 
 Butler, 
 
 J. Baker, 
 
 Burns, 
 
 Bailey, 
 
 J. Beard, 
 
 Bailess, 
 
 Bourn, 
 
 R. Cunningham, 
 
 J. Clark, 
 
 J. Cane, 
 
 Cloud, 
 
 S. Crawford, 
 
 Cary, 
 
 W. Cummins, 
 
 R. Crossan, 
 
 Cockran, 
 
 G W. Cottle, 
 
6o 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 J. Dust, 
 J. Dillard, 
 A. Dickinson, 
 
 C. Despalier, 
 L. Davell, 
 
 J. C. Day, 
 J. Dickens, 
 Devault, 
 W. Dearduff, 
 J. Ewing, 
 T. R. Evans, 
 
 D. Floyd, 
 J. Flanders, 
 W. Fishbaugh, 
 Forsyth, 
 
 G. Fuga, 
 
 J. C. Goodrich. 
 
 J. George, 
 
 J. Gaston, 
 
 J. C. Garrett, 
 
 C. Grimes, 
 
 Gwyn, 
 
 J. E. Garwin, 
 
 Gillmore, 
 
 Hutchason, 
 
 S. Holloway, 
 
 Harrison, 
 Hieskell, 
 J. Hayes, 
 Horrell, 
 Harris, 
 Hawkins, 
 J. Holland, 
 W. Hersie, 
 Ingram, 
 John, 
 J. Jones, 
 L. Johnson, 
 
 C. B. Jamison, 
 W. Johnson, 
 T. Jackson, 
 
 D. Jackson, 
 Jackson, 
 
 G. Kemble, 
 A. Kent, 
 W. King, 
 Kenny, 
 J. Kenney, 
 Lewis, 
 W. Linn, 
 Wm. Lightfoot, 
 J. Lonly, 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 6i 
 
 Lanio, 
 
 W. Lightfoot, 
 
 G. W. Lynn, 
 
 Lewis, 
 
 W. Mills, 
 
 Micheson, 
 
 E. T. Mitchell, 
 
 E. Melton, 
 
 M'Gregor, 
 
 T. Miller, 
 
 J. McCoy, 
 
 E. Morton, 
 
 R. Mussulman, 
 
 Millsop, 
 
 R. B. Moore, 
 
 W. Marshall, 
 
 Moore, 
 
 R. McKenny, 
 
 McCafferty, 
 
 J. McGee, 
 
 G. W. Main, 
 
 M. Querry, 
 
 G. Nelson, 
 
 Nelson, 
 
 J. Noland, 
 
 Nelson, 
 
 Wm. G. Nelson, 
 
 C. Ostiner, 
 
 Pelone, 
 
 C. Parker, 
 
 N. Pollard, 
 
 G. Paggan, 
 
 S. Robinson, 
 
 Reddenson, 
 
 N. Rough, 
 
 Rusk, 
 
 Robbins, 
 
 W. Smith, 
 
 Sears, 
 
 C. Smith, 
 
 Stockton, 
 
 Stewart, 
 
 A. Smith, 
 
 J. C. Smith, 
 
 Sewall, 
 
 A. Smith, 
 
 Simpson, 
 
 R. Star, 
 
 Starn, 
 
 N. Sutherland, 
 
 W. Summers, 
 
 J. Summerline, 
 
62 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Thompson, 
 
 Tomlinson, 
 
 E. Taylor, ■\ 
 
 G. Taylor, V brothers. 
 
 J. Taylor, ) 
 
 W. Taylor, 
 
 Thornton, 
 
 Thomas, 
 
 J. M. Thruston, 
 
 Valentine, 
 
 Williamson, 
 
 D. Wilson, 
 
 Walsh, 
 
 Washington, 
 W. Wells, 
 
 C. Wright, 
 R. White, 
 
 J. Washington, 
 T. Waters, 
 War nail, 
 J. White, 
 
 D. Wilson, 
 J. Wilson, 
 
 L. J. Wilson, 
 Warner, 
 A. Wolf. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE OLD MISSIOI^S. 
 
 Stern impress of time, thy implacable sway 
 
 Extends over all that I see; 
 The great and the mighty must yield to decay, 
 
 All nature is subject to thee ; 
 But as I look back on the years that have fled, 
 
 Since those missions first rose from the sand. 
 As I sigh o'er the moss-covered tomb of the dead, 
 
 I can trace out a merciful hand.'" 
 
 •^^ HE adventurous Spanish soldier, after 
 having gained Texas for conquest and 
 spoil only, abandoned it to the crown, and 
 the King ceded it to the Church, which 
 became the trustee, as it were, for the Indian. 
 
 Following in the tracks of the conqueror, the 
 Spaniards, under the auspices of the Church, late 
 in the seventeenth century, and early in the eigh- 
 teenth, between the years 1690 and 1720, founded 
 many missions in Mexico, Texas and California. 
 (64) 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 65 
 
 Among the number, and which were probably 
 the first Spanish grants in Texas, were the mis- 
 sions of Alamo, Concepcione, San Jose, San Juan, 
 Espada, and Goliad, or La Bahia, all in the vicinity 
 of San Antonio. 
 
 These missions were the work of those brave 
 Franciscan monks, Cliristian messengers, who en- 
 tered an unknown wilderness, peopled with savage 
 tribes and wild animals, to plant the cross — the 
 emblem of peace and good will — and to conquer 
 with it a new domain for the aggrandizement of 
 the Church and State. They raised lofty temples 
 in praise of religion, and brought bowing to their 
 altars the heathen tribes surrounding them. 
 
 The structures they erected are now, after the 
 lapse of more than a century, but the crumbling 
 ruins of an eventful past — massive architectural 
 wonders, abandoned to the wilderness from which 
 they sprang — and they stand there now but dumb 
 witnesses of by-gone times, when the solitude was 
 first startled by the strained voices of the con- 
 queror and conquered, mingled with sounds of 
 war and the more peaceful sound of the tools of 
 the busy workmen, as they shaped and reared stone 
 upon stone into these holy edifices. One after 
 another, by the ravages of war, discordant opinion. 
 
66 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 and the passage of time, the missions have lapsed 
 into ahnost pre-existing isolation ; the desert has 
 gathered about them again, and a few devout 
 Mexican families only remain as the relic of all 
 their pristine grandeur, moral influence, and hos- 
 pitality. 
 
 These missions were half military, half ecclesi- 
 astical — a Church to teach the story of the Cross, 
 and a fort to maintain and protect it from the very 
 beings whom it was sought to bring to its foot. 
 
 The natives were called by the missionaries Los 
 Indios, and were divided into two classes : the con- 
 verted ones were Los Indies Rcducidos, and the un- 
 converted Los Indios Bdrbaros, They were formed 
 around the missions into communities, having 
 governors chosen from the converted Indians, to 
 whom were assigned various duties — as to see that 
 the laws, ecclesiastical, moral, and sanitary, were 
 complied with ; to take care of the church or 
 chapel, and to report those who did not attend 
 regularly to their religious duties. The children 
 were taught to speak, read and sing in Spanish. 
 
 The manner of taking possession of mission land 
 is thus described : 
 
 " The Captain of the Presidio of San Antonio, Jan, i?, 
 1 731, decreed the establishment of the missions named. 
 
SAN ANTOxN'lO AND ENVIRONS. 67 
 
 "All these formalities being attended to, and the acts of 
 each party being written down, and attested by assisting 
 witnesses, ihe Captain of San Antonio proceeded, 5lh March, 
 1731, to the first mission ground, called, 'Our Lady of the 
 Concepcion de Acuna,' accompanied by several of the 
 officers of the presidios, and Father Bergera, and seized the 
 land of the captain of the tribe, in the name of all the other 
 Indians who had attached themselves to said mission, and 
 led him about over the locality, and caused him to pull up 
 weeds, throw stones, and perform all the other acts of real 
 possession, that by virtue thereof they might not be dispos- 
 sessed without first being iieard and defended by Father 
 Bergera, president of the Texas Missions, or such other of 
 the clergy as might have administration over them. 
 
 *' After declaring the bounds of the mission, there were at- 
 tached to it pasture lands, watering places, irrigating privi- 
 leges, uses, and services, and the further right, in planting 
 time, to drive their stock out West for pasture, so as not to 
 prejudice the crops. The act of possession concluded by 
 notifying the Indians, through an interpreter, what they 
 should do in advancement of Christian doctrine, and in 
 avoidance of crime, the same formality being observed iu 
 each case." 
 
 By reading the above carefully, it will be ob- 
 served that the title to the land was assumed to be 
 in the King of Spain, and was transferred to the 
 Indians, and not to the priests, whose vows would 
 not permit them to own any worldly estate. 
 
 Whildin, in his Western Texas y says : 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 69 
 
 " The Mexican clergy were missionaries of tlie order of 
 St. Francis, known as Franciscan friars. Tiiey were ani- 
 mated -with great zeal, and occasionally returned to Spain to 
 recruit their ranks. Their custom was to visit the convents 
 of the Order, lay before the young men of the fraternity the 
 claims of America, and ask for volunteers to carry the Cross 
 into the New World. On one of these occasional visits, 
 they found a young man who impatiently volunteered the 
 moment he was asked. He was overflowing with fervor and 
 determination. The missionaries inquired of the Superior 
 of the convent what sort of a man he was. ' Oh,' was the 
 reply, ' you will have in him another Paul ; he will be a 
 second Ignatius.' And so it proved." 
 
 Father Antonio Morgil, whose name, so far as the 
 writer knows, is here printed for the first time for 
 American information, had been reared in pov- 
 erty. 
 
 Educated by the Church, he was a student of 
 wonderful attainments. He was deeply versed in 
 scholastic lore, and in the elegant arts of life. 
 
 His mind was thoroughly cultured, and beneath 
 his coarse frock there beat a heart overflowing 
 with love for his fellows. His parents, knowing 
 that he had a brilliant future in the Church of 
 Spain, and that if he went to America they should 
 see him no more, endeavored to persuade him to 
 abandon the proposed work. But he was not the 
 man to lay down the Cross having once lifted it. 
 
70 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 He went to Mexico. There his zeal and talents 
 soon gave him high place in the order. In 1715 
 he began the mission work of Texas. How many 
 posts he established is not known, but there are 
 still the ruins of five to be seen in the vicinity of 
 San Antonio. They were all founded about the 
 year 1720, and are now objects of general interest 
 and wonder. 
 
 That of Alamo was the first of these. The 
 name in its religious signification was San Antonio 
 de Valero. The word Alamo signifies cotton- 
 wood. 
 
 The Mission buildings were, of course, erected 
 subsequent to tlie first establishment of the Mis- 
 sion. 
 
 The Reverend P'ather Johnson, who courteously 
 permitted me to make an examination of the 
 original records of the Missions, now in the 
 archives of the Cathedral of San Fernando, states 
 that the Alamo Mission was originally established 
 on the Rio Grande in 1703, but was removed to 
 its present location in 17 18 by the Reverend San 
 Buenstchad y Obsofis, a Franciscan friar. The 
 corner-stone of the building now standing was 
 laid May 8, 1745. The description of this build- 
 ing, given with the details of the battle, render 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 7 I 
 
 further account unnecessary here. In fact the 
 sword has so nearly absorbed the memory of the 
 Cross, that the Alamo is seldom spoken of as a 
 Mission. The second Mission, therefore, properly 
 becomes in our narrative 
 
 THE FIRST MISSION. 
 
 The foundation of this was laid in 1731, and 
 until its abandonment was the seat of hospitality 
 and refuge, for the savage, the warrior, and the 
 wanderer. It was first located on the St. Mark 
 river; but there being a scarcity of water at that 
 place, the Viceroy of Mexico, Casa Fuerte, com- 
 missioned the Governor of Texas to make a new- 
 location. 
 
 After some search they selected three sites: two 
 on tlie San Antonio River, and one on the Me- 
 dina. 
 
 The Viceroy submitted the report to Ribera, 
 former inspector oi \\\^ presidios of New Spain, for 
 his opinion, who replied, on the 22d of Septem- 
 ber, 1730, concurring in the report of the commis- 
 sion, except in ''regard to the location for tiie 
 lower mission on the Medina, at twenty leagues 
 distance from the presidios San Antonio and La 
 Bahia, where it may be liable to «attack from the 
 Apaches, who on many occasions appear in a 
 
72 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 hostile nianner in that territory — which danger 
 would not exist if the said mission were located in 
 the same vicinity of the other two." 
 
 A battle between a band of Texans and a body 
 of Mexicans was fought at this mission, of which 
 the following is an account : 
 
 "On the 27th of October, 1835, a detachment of Texans, 
 under command of Captains Fannin and Bowie, ninety-two 
 men, were encamped on the San Antonio River, on a beauti- 
 ful spot near the old mission of Concepcione. On the morn- 
 ing of the 28th the Texans found themselves surrounded by 
 a large body of Mexicans, four hundred and fifty, who had 
 planted a battery of artillery on a neighboring hill. 
 
 "A fire was opened on the little band, under the protection 
 of which the Mexican cavalry made a furious charge. 
 
 " The rifles of the Texans poured a deadly fire upon the 
 advancing enemy, who fled This attack was repeated three 
 times with the same result, when the order was given to 
 charge the cannon. Then the handful of brave Texans 
 dashed up the hill, captured the field-pieces, and turned them 
 upon the routed foe." 
 
 Whildin observes : 
 
 " This was called La Purissima Concepcio7ie de Aciaia, 
 and was located two miles below the city. It is, as are the 
 others, of an architectural style peculiarly their own. 
 
 " It might not be inaptly named Christianized Moorish. 
 
 " The front is a square, flanked on either side by a dome- 
 covered belfry. The principal door is surmounted by a 
 triangular facade, all of which is deserving of deep and 
 
74 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 careful study. The whole outside of the building is covered 
 with a coat of cement or mastic, which was painted in 
 various geometrical forms, somewhat after the fashion of 
 tiles. One tower contained a room in which the sacred 
 vestments and articles not in daily use were kept. The 
 other was the baptistery, which also had an altar. 
 
 "The walls of this last are painted with various emblems, 
 among which the cord of the Franciscans, a serpent, and the 
 seven dolors, or sorrows, which pierced the ^icart of the 
 Virgin Mother, are conspicuous. The entrance to the church 
 is between the towers and through a vestibule. The audi- 
 torium is not large, but is lighted by a dome which, though 
 less massive, is far more beautiful in its proportions than 
 that of the Capitol at Washington. 
 
 " The church is open for occasional service, and the altar 
 is furnished with the gaudy decorations of a barbaric Chris- 
 tianity. Here the humble Mexicans assemble when their 
 good priest comes around, and strive to be as good as is with- 
 in their capacity. The cells of the monks furnish an abode 
 for, perhaps, the most untidy German family in Texas. 
 
 " If the stalwart matron dwelling there ever knew or ex- 
 perienced the luxury of a bath, it must have been in very 
 early childhood. Through her apartments the sight-seer 
 may pass, ascend to the roof by a ladder, and view, not 
 only its singular construction, but also a landscape of surpass- 
 ing beauty. Beneath the eye are the broad leagues where 
 thousands of Christian Indians once industriously tilled 
 their fields, and where the brave missionaries of the Church 
 raised the Cross and buried the tomahawk. These fields, 
 now abandoned to wild growth, were then rich with crops. 
 
 " Their aqueducts and irrigating canals still remain, ex- 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 75 
 
 amples of patient industry and frugal toil. At a distance, 
 the blue hills rise heavenward in all their misty grandeur, 
 while at one's feet the river gurgles over its stony bed iu a 
 murmur of praise to the author of all beauty. At all the 
 Missions there were large stone inclosures, like that of 
 Alamo, in which thousands of Christian Indians could as- 
 semble for their solemn festivals, or find shelter from a sud- 
 den attack of hostile tribes. Attached to them were also 
 usually stations for troops, which protected the country 
 around, and purchased supplies from the surplus of the 
 Church. All the Missions were under the supervision of 
 Father Morgill, who visited each in its turn and directed its 
 general administration. 
 
 " Some of the most bloody fights of the Texan Revolution 
 were fought at the Mission de la Concepcione. One of the 
 most brilliant victories that the army achieved was gained 
 on this very ground. 
 
 THE MISSION OF SAN JOSE. 
 
 This was founded about 1720, by Father Mor- 
 gill, and had collegiate and scholastic institutions 
 attached to it. 
 
 The lands were claimed by Don Domingo Cas- 
 telo, one of the King's ensigns, for his services at 
 the Presidio de San Saba ; but, after a protracted 
 lawsuit between himself and the Mission, the title 
 was vested in the Indians of the Mission, on the 
 1 8th of November, 1776, by purchase for one hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars. 
 
76 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Whildin, in describing it, says : 
 
 " It is on the west side of the river and four miles from 
 the city. It was the grandest of them all, and its ruins still 
 tell of the arts and attainments of the heroic missionaries. 
 
 " So far as these afford an indication, its appearance was 
 like that of the Concepcione. It will be seen in the engrav- 
 ing that there is but one tower remaining. No attempt has 
 been made to supply the ruined parts, or to picture the build- 
 ings as they originally were. 
 
 " Some published engravings represent San yose as hav- 
 ing had but one tower. The opinion of the writer is that at 
 first there were two, as at Concepcione. The principal door- 
 way is a wonderful work of sculptural art. Its height is 
 about thirty-five feet. Fronting the door, which is semi- 
 circular, there is a sculpture of foliage and scriptural em- 
 blems intermixed. On the right stands a statue of St. 
 Joseph ; on the left, statues of the Virgin Mother and infant 
 Saviour. Above the keystone of the arch is a statue repre- 
 senting the Virgin in the position which, in ecclesiastical 
 art, indicates the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, 
 the arms partly raised and extended, with the palms of the 
 hands turned outward. Above this is a large window, with 
 ornamental surroundings of sacred emblems, flowers and 
 foliage. There are also three statues of friars, in the habit 
 of their Order. It is noteworthy that the female statues are 
 less true to nature than those which represent the men and 
 children, of which latter there are several in the form of 
 winged cherubs. The Madonna has the square jaw and 
 hard features which are seldom found save in women whose 
 lot has been full of danger, hardship, and suffering. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 77 
 
 *' The statue of St. Joseph and those of the friars are ex- 
 cellent. 
 
 "In size, San Jose was perhaps four times that of any of the 
 others. Its baptistery window is almost equal to the main 
 door in sculptural beauty. The portion in ruins is very ex- 
 tensive, more than half the walls having fallen. A few 
 Mexicans live near and care for the chapel, which was a 
 model of rude neatness. The clever, and evidently pious, 
 Mexican matron who brought the key for our entrance, had 
 hung the altar with gaudy patchwork quilts of her own manu- 
 facture. The most exquisite tapestry could not have told 
 the story of devout love more plainly. There were some 
 old pictures which, in the dim twilight of the setting sun, 
 could not be well seen. Every part of tiie ruined chapel 
 was arranged with neatness and decency. The floor of the 
 sacristry and that of the baptistery, which we could not 
 enter, had been paved with tiles of home manufacture. 
 
 " The clay of which these were made was procured in the 
 vicinity; and they are equal to any of European manufacture. 
 
 This clay will, doubtless, one day be the foundation of a 
 valuable industry. 
 
 " The third mission is that of 
 
 " SAN JUAN DE CONCEPCION. 
 
 " It is six miles from San Antonio, and on the east bank 
 of the river. Its natural location is most delightful. The 
 bends of the river at this point are of surpassing loveliness. 
 
 " It was located on its present site about 1731. 
 
 ♦• This Mission is in a style of architecture much less ornate 
 than that of the others, unless, as seems to be the case, the 
 
78 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 buildings now standing were intended to be the parts of a 
 large and grand design. The architecture, though of the 
 same general character, seems to be somewhat different in 
 style in the third and fourth Mission from that of the first 
 and second. From the cursory examination that our time 
 permitted to be given to it, the impression was that the 
 present chapel was intended for permanent use as a granary 
 or storehouse, when the main building, of which it seems to 
 be the. left wing, should be finished. Be this as it may, this 
 Mission was evidently far from being complete. 
 
 " The festival of the patron saint had been celebrated a 
 few days before our visit, and the altar had been arranged 
 for service. Before it stood two life-sized images — the one, 
 Ecce Homo, and the other the Virgin Mother. Doubtless 
 they served to suggest holy thoughts and pious emotions to 
 the uncultured Mexicans who worshiped there ; but it may 
 not have been sinful to smile at the art which arrayed the 
 '* Mother of Our Lord" in a dress of white Swiss, wanting 
 only a pin-back to be in the latest style of the dressmaker s 
 art. It is noteworthy that the Mexicans who still surround 
 these Missions are more cleanly, orderly, and reverential 
 than those of the city. Intellectually they appear no 
 higher ; morally they are better. 
 
 "THE FOURTH MISSION, 
 
 Of San Francisco de Espada, is nine miles down the river, 
 and has suffered more from time and hostility than the 
 others. The front wall, or rather a portion of it, still 
 stands. All the rest is a pile of ruined stones. 
 
 " Tourists will discover nowhere in America ruins more 
 
8o SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 interesting than these Missions. Artists will nowhere find 
 inspiration for their pencils like that which the landscape 
 that surrounds them affords. 
 
 " It is much to be hoped that Concepcione, at least, will be 
 restored and preserved to future generations. A pious 
 Catholic lady once devised a scheme to renovate the build- 
 ings and make them a home for health— an Hotel des In- 
 valides, where consumptives an'd others could resort for 
 relief and cure. It is a great pity that the war ended this, 
 as it did so many other good projects. 
 
 FIFTH MISSION. 
 
 This Mission, though not in the immediate 
 vicinity of San Antonio, has, nevertheless, a cer- 
 tain interest for travelers, and we give a short 
 description of it. 
 
 Goliad, or La Bahia, by which name it is bet- 
 ter known, was founded soon after the Spaniards 
 arrived in Texas. It is situated on the west bank 
 of the river, and at one time had a population of 
 nearly two thousand inhabitants, but now contains 
 but about sixty or seventy families. There is a 
 pretty new town on the north side of the stream, 
 principally American, which has been built within 
 the last twenty years 
 
 While Mexico and Spain were at war, Gutierez, 
 a Mexican general, was besieged in this Mission 
 by a large Spanish force, which he repulsed. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 8 1 
 
 It was once an important business point, enjoy- 
 ing a remunerative trade between it and the Rio 
 Grande. 
 
 The ruins of a custom house may yet be seen 
 near the Mission. The church was built in an 
 oblong form, twenty feet by eighty, with an arched 
 roof of solid masonry — as all of the Missions were. 
 
 A stone wall, three hundred and fifty feet square, 
 surrounded it, and the fort attached to it com- 
 manded the river and the town, and had a bastion 
 at each corner. 
 
 Colonel Fannin, on the 19th of March, 1836, 
 was, with four hundred and fifteen men, captured 
 here by a large body of Mexicans. On the morn- 
 ing of the 27th of the same month, his men were 
 marched out in line and shot. Fannin himself, 
 calmly seated in a chair, was shot within the Mis- 
 sion walls. 
 6 
 

 i( frusiiii 
 
 •^ 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PUBLIC BUILDII^QS. 
 
 THE POST OFFICE. 
 
 HE Post Office building is leased for 
 ten years; from December i, 1877, to 
 December i, 1887, at ^1,000 per annum. 
 It is a two-story stone building — tlie 
 lower portion only being used for the post office. 
 It was built by Peter Gallagher, (now dec'd), 
 especially for the post office, according to specifi- 
 cations submitted with his proposition, which was 
 made, it is thought, more out of public spirit than 
 with a view of making money. Mr. Gallagher 
 was an Irishman, very shrewd, of good business 
 habits and judgment — made a very large fortune, 
 mostly it is thought, by trade with the Mexicans 
 — a man of good heart, good head, and with a 
 great deal of pride in his city. 
 
 It is said to be the finest rented post office 
 (84) 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 85 
 
 building in the southwest. The boxes are all Yale 
 lock boxes, and the fitting up generally is said to 
 have cost Mr. Gallagher ^3,500. The building is 
 situated on the Alamo Plaza, near the Menger 
 House, the first hotel in the place. It is now 
 owned by the Gallagher estate. 
 
 The post office at San Antonio, Texas, was es- 
 tablished 2 2d May, T846, and is of the second 
 class; the postmaster's compensation is ^2,500. 
 The surplus proceeds of the office are deposited 
 with the postmaster at Austin, Texas. It is also a 
 money-order office. 
 
 Gross revenue for fiscal year ending June 30. 
 
 1880 ^27,856 65 
 
 Expenses of office, salaries, etc iIj452 78 
 
 Net revenue $16,403 87 
 
 Number of money domestic orders issued, fiscal 
 
 year ending June 30, 1 880 6,892 
 
 Amount of same $106,790 77 
 
 Amount of fees on money-order business (do- 
 mestic) $901 10 
 
 Number of domestic orders paid 7^541 
 
 Amount of same $180,522 99 
 
 Number of international orders issued 345 
 
 Amount of same $6,521 74 
 
 Fees on international money-orders 160 70 
 
 » 
 
 Postmaster James L. Truehart appointed May 22, 1 846. 
 
86 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Postmaster O. C. Woodward appointed July 7, 1847. 
 Postmaster Ralph W. Peacock appointed Nov. 18, 1847. 
 Postmaster John Borden appointed May 9, 1848. 
 Office became subject to Presidential Appointment, and 
 Postmaster John Borden appointed March 16, 1853. 
 Postmaster A. G. Brown appointed July 24, 1855. 
 Postmaster Henry L. Radaz appointed June 25, 1856. 
 Postmaster Sidney P. Gambie. appointed June 23, 1865. 
 Postmaster Mrs. Margaret E. Morris appointed April 19, 
 1876. 
 
 Postmaster John C. Manning appointed Aug. 15, 1879. 
 John C. Manning present incumbent. 
 
 SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS MAILS. 
 
 SenL Rec d. 
 Route 31002, Houston to San Antonio. 
 
 Railroad Mails ... 6 6 
 
 Star Mails 
 
 Route 31 148, San Antonio to Corpus Christi 6 6 
 
 31149, " Helena 6 6 
 
 3 11 50, " Laredo 6 6 
 
 31 151, " Stockdale 6 6 
 
 31 152, " Friotown 6 6 
 
 31 153, " Eagle Pass 7 7 
 
 31 154, " Bandera 6 6 
 
 31155, " Fredericksburg.... 7 7 
 
 31621, " Spring Branch i i 
 
 31677, " Rossville 6 6 
 
 Total mails received and sent per week .... 63 63 
 UNITED STATES QUARTERMASTER'S DEPOT. 
 
 Brief history and description of the United States 
 Quartermaster'' s Depot, San Antonio, Texas. 
 Ever since the Mexican war, it has been consid- 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 87 
 
 ered that San Antonio was the most eligible point 
 in Texas for Military Headquarters, and for a gen- 
 eral depot of military supplies ; except at short 
 intervals, and for short periods of time, from 1848 
 to 1861, this has been the military centre of Texas. 
 
 A permanent government establishment here was 
 a matter equally important to the United States 
 and to the people of this city and section. 
 
 The old historic Alamo buildings, and a spacious 
 structure erected by Messrs. Vance & Bro., af- 
 forded accommodation for the Military Headquar- 
 ters and Depot, for many years previous and up 
 to 1861. 
 
 After the restoration of the United States author- 
 ity in Texas, in 1865, San Antonio again assumed 
 its military importance. 
 
 On the 17th December, 1867, Judge S. A. Pas- 
 chal offered a donation to the United States 
 Government, through its department commander, 
 of 20 acres of city lots, adjoining a tract of 70 
 acres of government land, known as the Goot Tan- 
 nery, on the west side and just below the head of 
 the river, as a site for headquarters and depot. 
 
 That offer was not favorably considered. 
 
 In February, 1869, the city authorities offered a 
 donation of sixty (60) acres, situa*ted a quarter of 
 
88 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 a mile below the United States Arsenal, on the 
 west side of the river, as a site, and also tendered 
 free use of the rock quarries at the head of the 
 river. This was declined by the War Department 
 on account of certain conditions annexed to the 
 donation. 
 
 In May, 1869, another site -was tendered by the 
 city to the government, of about (100) one hun- 
 dred acres, on the river, north of the city on the 
 east side. This offer was not accepted. 
 
 In February, 1870, the city again offered a site 
 of forty (40) acres of city lots located on the 
 Alamo ditch, northeast, and about two and one- 
 half (2j4) niiles from the main Plaza; this tract 
 now forms a part of the present depot grounds. 
 
 This donation was strongly recommended by 
 the Department Commander, approved by the 
 Quartermaster-General, and accepted by the War 
 Department. 
 
 On the 25th April, 1870, the Secretary of War 
 authorized the Quartermaster-General to establish 
 and erect upon this site a depot for military sup- 
 plies; the Quartermaster-General having stated 
 under date of April 21st, that he was " of opinion 
 that nearly all the military establishment of San 
 Antonio can be concentrated within the limits of 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 89 
 
 this depot, and that nearly the whole rent roll, 
 now near ^25,000, can be saved." 
 
 On May 5th, 1870, ^100,000 was placed to the 
 credit of the Chief Quartermaster in Texas, with 
 instructions that no part thereof was to be expended 
 until the deed to the land was examined and ap- 
 proved by the Attorney-General. 
 
 The city executed an unconditional deed, to the 
 United States, of this site, dated May 6th, 1870; 
 that, with the proclamation of the Governor, re- 
 linquishing jurisdiction of the State of Texas over 
 said tract, dated June 3d, 1870, was handed to the 
 Chief Quartermaster of Department of Texas, on 
 the 23d of June, 1870, and forwarded to the 
 Quartermaster-General, and by him forwarded to 
 the Attorney General in July following. 
 
 Plans for depot buildings were submitted by the 
 Quartermaster-General to the Secretary of War, 
 August 14, 1870. 
 
 It was not until March 23, 187 1, that the Attor- 
 ney-General decided that the title was good and 
 valid to the United States ; and on the 31st of the 
 same month the Quartermaster-General instructed 
 the Chief Quartermaster, Department, of Texas, to 
 ''push forward the work of erecting buildings, and 
 to transfer public stores thereto, and abate the 
 heavy rents paid, as fast as possible." 
 
90 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 On the 22d of April, 1871, it was discovered that 
 plans sent to the War Department in August, 1870, 
 had been overlooked, and not sent to Department 
 Headquarters in Texas; and it was also ascertained, 
 then, that the land donated and accepted did not 
 include the site desired ; all action, therefore, was 
 suspended until August, 1871. 
 
 The city of San Antonio, on the nth of August, 
 
 1 871, made an additional donation of adjoining 
 lots, on the east line of former donation, compris- 
 ing forty-three (43) acres, making a tract of eighty- 
 three (83) acres. 
 
 Deeds to this second donation were forwarded, 
 through the War Department, to the Attorney- 
 General, and by him, on the 8th of January, 1872, 
 returned disapproved for want of certain evidence. 
 
 The requisite evidwice was obtained, and re- 
 turned to the Attorney-General in February, 1872 ; 
 and, on the nth of June, following, the Attorney- 
 General decided that the Government had a valid 
 title to the land of the second donation. 
 
 On the 28th of June, 1872, the Quartermaster- 
 General informed the commanding officer. Depart- 
 ment of Texas, that under a law approved May 18, 
 
 1872, the Secretary of War had decided that the 
 ^100,000, previously set apart for building the 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 9 1 
 
 depot, must be covered back into the Treasury, and 
 no further action about building the depot could 
 be taken. 
 
 The President, in his message to Congress, De- 
 cember, 1872, recommended a re-appropriation of 
 ^100,000 for the San Antonio depot. 
 
 On the 2d of January, 1873, ^^^^ Secretary of 
 War — then W. W. Belknap — addressed a commun- 
 ication to the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 in which he '* withdrew the recommendation for 
 the construction of a permanent depot for military 
 supplies in San Antonio, Texas, contained in his 
 annual report of November, 1872." 
 
 The city of San Antonio, in January, 1873, took 
 measures to have the importance of the subject — 
 economy to the Government, its good faith in- 
 volved (having accepted eighty-three (8;^) acres 
 of city lots as a donation for the purpose) — duly 
 and properly represented to Congress by a special 
 agent selected and sent to Washington for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Congress, at that session, re-appropriated $too,- 
 000 for a military depot of supplies at San Antonio, 
 Texas, by act approved the 3d of March, 1873. 
 
 On the 24th of March, 1873,, the Secretary of 
 War instructed the Quartermaster-General to "al- 
 
92 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 low no action to be taken by any officer of his 
 department looking to the erection of these depot 
 bnildings until further instructions from him;" 
 and it was not until May 6th, 1875, that said 
 further instructions were given, Congress, mean- 
 while, having continued the appropriation. 
 
 The Quartermaster- General on the 12th May, 
 1875, informed the Chief Quartermaster Depart- 
 ment of Texas, that the "Secretary of War has 
 given orders that this long delayed and important 
 work shall now go on." Plans and instructions 
 were then again prepared and forwarded. 
 
 A third donation from the city to the United 
 States of g^-^Q acres of city lots, adjoining on the 
 south the two previous donations, making a total 
 of 92y^-q\ acres — for a site, was made on the j6th 
 of June, 1875, ^'"^^ ^^^^^ thereto was decided to be 
 valid by the Attorney-General on the 5th October, 
 1875. Proclamation by the Governor, ceding ex- 
 clusive jurisdiction over the last two donations of 
 land to the United States, was made May 27th, 
 1878. 
 
 In the interval, between June and October, 
 1875, proposals for constructing the Depot had 
 been invited, bids received and opened August 20, 
 1875. All these bids were rejected. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 93 
 
 About June ist, 1875, Brevet Major-General 
 M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster- General, was ordered 
 to Europe; and no active steps were taken in erect- 
 ing the buildings until the resignation of Secretary 
 Belknap, and the return of General Meigs to duty 
 as Quartermaster-General, in April, 1876. 
 
 Measures were then taken for the completion of 
 the work. Proposals invited by advertisement, 
 published May 12, were opened on the 31st May, 
 1876, and the contract for building the Depot 
 awarded to Ed. Braden & Co., of San Antonio, 
 at ^83,900.00, and a preliminary contract signed 
 June 7th, 1876. The work was vigorously pushed 
 by Chief Quartermaster A. G. Perry — Deputy 
 Quartermaster-General Captain Geo. W. Davis, 
 14th U. S. Infantry, having immediate supervision 
 and direction, aided by Col. W. H. Darn, Civil 
 Engineer. 
 
 On the 4th of February, 1878, the contract was 
 officially reported as having been fully complied 
 with, and the Depot buildings completed. 
 
 Total cost of buildings up to that time, includ- 
 ing certain extra work provided for in contract, 
 was ^98,366.62. Since then, to provide offices 
 for Department Headquarters, an addition to the 
 second story of the south front of the depot lias 
 
94 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 been constructed. This work was ordered by the 
 Secretary of War, July 9th, 1878, and executed 
 promptly by Brevet Brig. -General B. C. Card, 
 Chief Quartermaster, Department of Texas, cost- 
 ing ^19,952.00. This was completed November 
 4th, 1878. 
 
 The Depot buildings are located upon the land 
 donated by the city of San Antonio, in the South-- 
 east corner of the tract, which comprise ()2^-^j^ 
 acres, situated northeast of the main Plaza, and 
 distant therefrom two and one-half (2 j^) miles. 
 
 The buildings cover four sides of a square of 
 six hundred and twenty-four (624) feet, outside 
 measurement. Built of rubble stone masonry, 
 with tin roof. Stone, a gray limestone from the 
 quarries near the head of the San Antonio river. 
 
 On the east, west, and first story of south sides 
 of square are the store rooms ; size, generally 
 30x40 feet in the clear ; on the north side are the 
 shops and wagon sheds, and storage room for 
 rough material ; two cellars under the two store 
 rooms of east end of south side of square, for sub- 
 sistence stores of a certain class. In the second 
 story of south front are the offices. l\\ all there 
 are thirt)--eight (38) store rooms and two cellar 
 rooms, opening only upon the inner court yard. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 95 
 
 There are twenty-four (24) office rooms, gen- 
 erally 20x20 feet, in the clear, opening upon a 
 veranda and arcade on the north front of south 
 side of square. Veranda and arcade (10) ten feet 
 wide, extending the whole length of that side. 
 
 In the centre of south front is the main arch- 
 way entrance ; also, one gateway in the east point 
 near the north end, and another gateway near the 
 north end of west point. 
 
 In the centre of the court yard there is a water 
 and watch tower fifteen (15) feet square at the 
 base, and ninety (90) feet high to eaves of roof. 
 
 In the apex of the roof of the tower is placed a 
 lantern, at night lighting the whole couri-yard, 
 and making every store-room door and gateway 
 plainly visible to the watchman from his room 
 near the top of the tower. 
 
 Just under the roof is an iron tank containing 
 6,400 gallons of water; below that is the watch- 
 man's room, 64 feet from the ground, with triplet 
 French casement windows, in each face of the 
 tower, opening upon narrow ornamental balconies 
 of iron, supported by stone brackets. 
 
 A brick shaft four (4) feet square is constructed 
 in the centre of the tower from base to the floor 
 of the watchman's room; between the shaft and 
 
96 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 the walls of the tower is the stairway ; up through, 
 well in the centre of the shaft, are passed the 
 water pipes to the tank. 
 
 Adjoining the north side of the square is an en- 
 closure 638x728 feet, the north and east sides of 
 "which are formed by a close board fence eight (8) 
 feet high ; the west side an open board fence five 
 (5) feet high ; the north side of Depot walls form- 
 ing the south line. Within said enclosure are 
 located the stables, corrals, and men's quarters; 
 the stables afford stall-room for 404 animals ; the 
 men's quarters are 120x20 feet. To the west and 
 adjoining this enclosure, is the stack or hay yard. 
 
 A complete system of water supply is provided 
 at the Depot. 
 
 The machinery of the water works is located in 
 a building near the Acequia Madre, or Alamo 
 ditch, at the western end of Government Depot 
 land, on ground 77 feet lower than the earth's sur- 
 face at the foot of the towers, eight (8) feet above 
 the level of water in Acequia which is 50 feet dis- 
 tant, and 26 feet above surface of water in San 
 Antonio river, 1,430 feet distant. A forty horse 
 power engine works the steam pump. There are 
 two suction pipes 6 inches in diameter ; one with 
 Acequia, the other to the river. A 4-inch main 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 97 
 
 carries the water to the Tower, and the tank therein 
 can be filled — 6,400 gallons — in 35 minutes. 
 
 The engineer can at all times see an indicator, 
 upon the face of the Tower, showing the height 
 of water in the tank. 
 
 Elevation of water level in tank above water in 
 San Antonio river, at entrance of suction pipe, is 
 one hundred and ninety-one (191) feet. 
 
 From the tank in top of Tower, supply pipes 
 take the water to hydrants conveniently located at 
 various points in the court yard and stables, corral 
 and stack yard, and with hose kept always at hand 
 the arrangements would seem to afford complete 
 protection from danger of fire. 
 
 Two underground cisterns, one in each of the 
 rectangular spaces nearest the south front of Depot, 
 serve to store rain water falling upon the east, 
 west and south fronts, by a system of tin gutters, 
 conductors and earthenware drains. Capacity of 
 each cistern, 77,000 gallons. A two-inch water 
 pipe is laid from the foot of the Tower to flagstaff 
 of the National Cemetery south of Depot, distant 
 3,117 yards; elevation of ground at foot of Tower 
 over that at the flagstaff is 20 feet. 
 
 The suction pipe from pump, house on the 
 Acequia to the river is laid over lands belonging 
 7 
 
98 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 to two citizens, each of whom has granted to the 
 United States a free and perpetual right of way for 
 the pipe, and the right to maintain and repair it 
 whenever necessary ; said grants are in the form 
 of deeds of gift, and are duly recorded in the 
 records of the county. 
 
 By permission of the city authorities, the pipe 
 from the Depot to the National Cemetery is laid 
 along streets dividing the city lots between Depot 
 grounds and the Cemetery. 
 
 The whole area covered and enclosed by Depot 
 buildings, including — 
 
 Sheds , 9.17 acres. 
 
 Area of court 7.39 " 
 
 " covered by store rooms 1.23 " 
 
 " " " shops 6,000 sq. feet. 
 
 " " " sheds 29,904 " 
 
 " (clear) of store room floors 42,630 " 
 
 " " of (2) two cellars 2,306 " 
 
 " concrete floors laid 9,022^ " 
 
 " of wooden floors, store rooms, oflice 
 
 buildings 4>230 " 
 
 Cubical contents storerooms including cellars. 705,140 *' 
 
 Area of whole surface of roofs except Tower. 85,804 " 
 
 Area of roofs measured horizontally in rela- 
 tion to rain fall 79,030 " 
 
 Area of court laid out in streets 89,065 j^ " 
 
 Storage capacity for rain water, two cisterns, 
 
 each 77,000 gallons. Total 154,000 gallons. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 99 
 
 WATER WORKS. 
 
 San Antonio has been supplied with water from 
 its foundation by two streams, San Antonio River 
 and San Pedro Creek, together with ditches taken 
 from each, which irrigate the valley on both sides, 
 not only in the city, but for a distance of twenty- 
 five miles from the head down. An artificial sys- 
 tem of water works was completed last year. 
 
 Powerful machinery, located just below the head 
 of the San Antonio River, is driven by two large 
 turbine wheels, the power being derived from the 
 river ; this is sufficient to force water to every part 
 of the city. But besides, on an elevation about 
 three hundred feet above the city, an immense 
 reservoir has been constructed, and is filled by the 
 same power. The spring waters are very pure and 
 limpid, are in greatest supply, and the most 
 invariable known anywhere on the continent. 
 
 San Antonio may well be proud of the advance- 
 ment made in the past year, and particularly as 
 being the possessor of a most thorough and com- 
 plete system of water works. They are now com- 
 plete, in working order, and giving perfect satis- 
 faction in every respect. 
 
 The works are a combination of the reservoir 
 and direct pressure system ; the reservoir has 
 
lOO SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 a capacity of five million gallons, and its elevation 
 above the Main Plaza is one hundred and fifty 
 feet. 
 
 The total length of the mains now laid is about 
 ten miles; and the capacity of the works is between 
 two and a half and three million gallons per 
 day. 
 
 The building of these works will add much to 
 the city's prosperity, in the way of furnishing the 
 motive power for the successful running of all 
 classes of manufacturing enterprises, and at a small 
 cost. 
 
 The water works company was organized by 
 one of San Antonio's ablest and most enterprising 
 citizens, Mr. J. B. Lacoste, who secured the inter- 
 est and co-operation of the well-known bridge 
 builders, Messrs. Z. King & Son, of Cleveland, 
 Ohio, who entered into the contract to complete 
 the works by the ist of July, and w^io filled their 
 contract to the letter. 
 
 This firm also displayed their usual enterprise 
 and liberality in the undertaking, and confidence 
 in the future of San Antonio as well as that of the 
 water works, when they accepted the bonds of the 
 company in payment therefor. 
 
 The Secretary, Mr. W. R. Freeman, was the 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. lOI 
 
 able engineer of these works, which adds another 
 standing monument to his already enviable reputa- 
 tion as a superior engineer. 
 
 The Treasurer of the company is Mr. S. A. 
 Oliver, a gentleman in every way qualified for the 
 position. He is also the local agent of Z. King & 
 Son, iron workers and bridge builders; and has 
 done much and added not a little to the advance- 
 ment of the water works company, and the suc- 
 cessful completion of the same. 
 
 THE CHURCHES. 
 
 Religious denominations are : 
 
 Roman Catholic, Irish American. 
 
 '' " Mexican. 
 
 " '' German. 
 
 " " Polish. 
 
 *' " Convent. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal. 
 Methodist Episcopal, South. 
 '' " North. 
 
 Presbyterian. 
 Lutheran. 
 German Methodist. 
 Episcopal Metiiodist, Colored. 
 
 " '* Mexican. ' 
 
 Baptist. 
 
 ** Colored. 
 
I02 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 From ^^ Western Texas ^ 
 
 The churches of San Antonio are remarkable for 
 their architectural beauty. First stands the old 
 Cathedral of San Fernando, founded in 1722, from 
 whose dome waved the blood-red flag when the 
 Alamo fell. Much of the structure is modern, but 
 the dome still surmounts the sacristy — a model of 
 venerable beauty.' In the baptistery there stands a 
 sculptured font, executed in the days when the 
 San Franciscans had possession, and is beautifully 
 wrought. 
 
 St. Mary's, the English church, is of composite 
 architecture, most of it having been built since the 
 war, under the direction of Father Johnson, a priest 
 of great learning and urbanity. The reverend father 
 is as profound an antiquarian as ever was Monk- 
 barns, and delights to revel in the old histories of 
 the missions which surround the city. It is to be 
 hoped that ere long there will be committed to 
 him the pious work of their restoration — a work in 
 which he will have the sympathy and assistance of 
 Protestants, as well as Catholics, for America has 
 too few ruins to afford the loss of one. The Ger- 
 man Catholic church is a large and fine structure. 
 
 The appointment of the Right Rev. Dominic 
 Pellicier, Bishop of San Antonio, has given the 
 
I 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I03 
 
 Catholic Church new 'vigor, and will, without any 
 doubt, greatly enhance the religious and civil wel- 
 fare of Texas. 
 
 St. Mark's (Episcopal) church is destined to 
 exercise a great influence in the change which 
 must shortly overtake San Antonio and Western 
 Texas The energetic Bishop Elliott, whose home 
 is in San Antonio, contemplates, as already stated, 
 great things for his diocese ; and among them is 
 the organization of St. Mark's on the cathedral 
 plan, and the establishment of a fine college at 
 San Antonio, to be called in remembrance of that 
 man of God who was called home from the floor 
 of the General Convention, Rev. Dr. Montgomery. 
 
 These plans will greatly advantage the city, by 
 enhancing the beauty of its religious, and improv- 
 ing its educational facilities. 
 
 St. Mark's, which has been erected and adorned 
 by the untiring efforts and artistic skill of its 
 rector, the Rev. Dr. W. R. Richardson, would be 
 accounted beautiful and be esteemed an ornament 
 in the largest city. It is in all its appointments 
 constructed in exquisite taste, and in strict con- 
 formity with the traditions of the English Church. 
 Each stained window is a memorial offering. 
 
 The ceiling is decorated by the pencil of the 
 
I04 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 rector, while the altar cross is delicately carved by 
 the pen-knife of the same artist. The bell is rich 
 in historic associations, having been cast from 
 cannon found near the Alamo. It is more than 
 probable that the gun which Travis served now 
 proclaims the glad tidings of peace where once 
 was raised the red flag of bloody carnage, and that 
 the organ of St.* Mark's melodiously proclaims the 
 glad tones of gloria in exceisis, where the assassin 
 notes of the duello sounded on that dreadful 
 Sunday morning. 
 
 The Presbyterian church will be, when com- 
 pleted, a fine building. 
 
 The Methodists have a thriving church. 
 
 The Baptist church ministers to a flourishing 
 congregation. 
 
 In speaking of the schools. Rev. B. Harris, pastor 
 of the M. E. Church South, San Antonio, says: 
 
 "San Antonio is well supplied with schools." 
 There is a Roman Catholic College, with a 
 spacious building, well furnished and fully offi- 
 cered. The average attendance of students is 
 about four hundred. The institution enjoys the 
 highest degree of prosperity. 
 
 "The Convent of the Ursuline Sisters has an 
 average attendance of three hundred and forty 
 
I06 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Students, the patronage from abroad being exten- 
 sive. 
 
 ''The free schools of the city are thoroughly 
 furnished and largely attended. Two new and 
 elegant structures of stone are now completed, and 
 with a full corps of teachers, free instruction is 
 offered to every child within the city limits." 
 
 Mr. Harris then enumerates four private schools, 
 which have an average attendance of four hundred 
 and nine, and adds that '' there are other private 
 schools which are well attended." 
 
 We would state that in all ther6 are fifteen pub- 
 lic schools in operation in the city, and that those 
 of scholastic age in the county number forty-five 
 hundred. 
 
 WATER POWER OF THE SAN ANTONIO RIVER. 
 
 The level of the water surface was taken at differ- 
 ent points, indicated by letters A, B, C, D, etc., the 
 distance between which can be readily estimated 
 with the assistance of the scale. The elevations 
 and the fall from point to point are given in the 
 table accompanying the sketch. 
 
 This sketch shows also some of the principal 
 springs that supply the river. 
 
 The Olmos Creek is a dry stream, so that the 
 whole volume of water in the river may be reck- 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I07 
 
 oned as coming from these springs. The irrigating 
 ditches are taken out with sHght falls, and conse- 
 quently indicate the contour of the ground and 
 the extent of the valley. The point A is at the 
 head of the upper Labor Ditch. The water sup- 
 ply above this is considered less reliable. From 
 A to B, there is now in process of construction a 
 canal to conduct the water to the turbines of the 
 projected water works. The fall, as shown, is 
 6^ feet. 
 
 In the section C D, somewhat over a mile in 
 length, there is considerable power, as indicated 
 by the fall, 14^^ feet. The thick underbrush 
 on one side and cultivated land on the other pre- 
 vented our reaching the river with the level be- 
 tween these points. Between F and G, in the 
 suburbs, is the site of the Alamo Mills, with a 
 canal of about one-eight of a mile and a fall of 
 about seven feet, which could be considerably in- 
 creased. 
 
 After passing this point, the fall of the river is 
 slight, until we reach the Mill Bridge in the city, 
 near the Lewis Mill. There is a distance across a 
 bend, L M, of 650 feet ; we have a fall of 5^^ 
 (say 5^) feet. N is just belq^w the dam of 
 Guenther's upper mill. This uses two feet at 
 
I08 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 present, which could be increased by raising the 
 dam. 
 
 O is below Guenther's lower mill, where there 
 is a fall of slightly over four feet. When the river 
 is high the fall of the lower miil is increased to 
 the prejudice of that at the upper — the water 
 backing up to the latter. 
 
 In the sections O P and P Q, there is available 
 power, and in the last more especially. 
 
 Commencing at Q is the line of a survey for a 
 canal or ditch, designed to follow the general con- 
 tour of the ground to R. Thence, to the river at 
 S, there is a fall of 29^ feet, making a total fall 
 from A, near the head of the river, of lo'Jf^j\ 
 feet. Further than this, we have made no exami- 
 nation. 
 
 The volume of the river, determined by actual 
 experiments, is about 16,149 cubic feet per minute, 
 equivalent to 30^ horse power for each foot of 
 fall. The h. p. for any fall may be found by mul- 
 tiplying 30^ by this fall. 
 
 The overflows ^f the San Antonio are occasional 
 rather than periodic. They are invariably caused 
 by the rising of the Olmos creek, which, draining 
 some twelve leagues of land, empties into the San 
 Antonio near its head. (See sketch). The plan 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I09 
 
 of cutting a canal from the Olmos to the Alazan, 
 a deep dry creek, about one mile west of the city, 
 is, we are convinced, practicable, and not very 
 expensive. It is believed that by this plan all the 
 water coming down the Olmos, after heavy rains, 
 could be taken through the Alazan without detri- 
 .ment to property of any description. The river 
 rises sometimes, although rarely, from this cause, 
 ten to twelve feet. Throwing aside these rises, 
 the San Antonio, as it runs through the city, is 
 practically an unvarying stream. 
 
 The banks are, in most places, over eight feet 
 high, so that it is improbable that valuable lands 
 would be injured by back water. 
 
 The building stone of the neighborhood (lime- 
 stone) may be called good in a climate where 
 there are no severe frosts. The cost of good rub- 
 ble masonry is about ^4.25 per j^erch, and that of 
 ashlar masonry ^7. 
 
 Most of the sites suitable for factories can be 
 purchased. That in the city, near the Lewis Mill 
 (L M), is now upon the market. The land below 
 the lower mill is believed to be for sale pretty gen- 
 erally. The survey for the '* Proposed Ditch " on 
 the sketch was made, when the question of locating 
 a branch penitentiary at San Antonio was agitated. 
 
no SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 This ditch would take the water upon a tract 
 of some 300 acres, known as the Cook Tract. 
 
 Supposing the water power and labor problems 
 solved satisfactorily, the adaptability of San An- 
 tonio to wool manufacturing seems beyond a doubt. 
 
 The quantity of wool coming to this market is 
 yearly increasing, and its quality rapidly improving. 
 
 We consider it equally well adapted to the man- 
 ufacture of cotton. It is true, but little cotton is 
 now sold here. There is, nevertheless, considerable 
 raised within easy distance, which goes to Gal- 
 veston, being bought on the ground by Galveston 
 agents. Much of this, it is thought, would be de- 
 livered by the planters themselves anywhere in the 
 city or suburbs, at prices slightly below the Gal- 
 veston value. Stimulated by a ready market, the 
 quantity raised would increase. 
 
 It is the opinion among many of the older resi- 
 dents that the Mexican labor, of which there is an 
 abundance, is well calculated to meet the require- 
 ments of large factories These would need disci- 
 pline and skillful management; but it is thought 
 they would prove apt and faithful. There are also 
 a great many Germans in the city and in the sur- 
 rounding country, from whose families factory 
 hands might be obtained. 
 
I 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. Ill 
 
 While we do not regard it certain that any class 
 of population is adapted to factory labor, we pre- 
 sume that with a healthy climate, a rich surrounding 
 country, and a progressive community, San Antonio 
 can command immigration to supply any need that 
 may arise. 
 
 The local demand for domestic cotton goods is 
 large — much being required for the Mexican trade. 
 
 Furthermore, there is a good market here for 
 almost all articles of domestic manufacture. 
 
 Irrespective of its advantages as a manufacturing 
 point, the future of San Antonio is bright. Its 
 climate is healthful and health-giving. Hundreds 
 visit it annually to restore broken constitutions. 
 
 And it is the centre of a rich country, gradually 
 being appropriated to agricultural and grazing 
 purposes, with improved stock and modern ap- 
 pliances. 
 
REFERENCE 
 j1— Entrance. 
 /?— rrison. 
 C Convent. 
 i>— Alamo. 
 £— Bairacka. 
 
 GROUND PLAN OP THE ALAMO. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 miscella:n^eous. 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF THE ALAMO. 
 
 HE Chapel of the fortress was seventy-five 
 feet long, sixty-two feet wide; and the 
 wall, which was of solid masonry, was 
 twenty-two feet high, and four feet thick. It was 
 originally in one story, but had upper windows, or 
 openings, under which platforms were erected for 
 mounting cannon. A wall, fifty feet high and four 
 feet thick, connected the Alamo with the convent, 
 and continued around, enclosing the square of the 
 mission, and enclosing also the barracks. The 
 barracks and convent were of stone. The former 
 was a long, low building, one story, one hundred 
 and fourteen feet long, and seventeen feet wide. 
 The convent was a two-story building, one hun- 
 dred and eighty- six feet long, eighteen feet high, 
 and eighteen feet wide. The original walls of this 
 house were about thirty inches thick, parts of 
 ^ ("3) 
 
114 ^^N ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 which are still standing. They had at the time 
 flat terrace roofs of beams and planks, coated 
 thickly with the same kind of cement as that used 
 on the roofs of the old missions ; it was solid, hard 
 as stone, and entirely impervious to water. The 
 barracks have long since disappeared, the '^ mis- 
 sion square ' ' has lost its enclosing walls, and the 
 space is now a, part of the street. The convent is 
 still standing, or a part of it, but the old Spanish 
 roof has been replaced by a more modern one. 
 
 From ' ' Western Texas. " 
 
 THE SAN MARCOS RIVER. 
 
 Although not in the immediate vicinity of San 
 Antonio, it belongs essentially to it, and we insert 
 the poem for that reason, and also for its rare 
 beauty. 
 
 The beautiful stream called the San Marcos is in 
 the western part of the County, and affords water 
 power for any number of mills, which will ere long 
 make this a great manufacturing county. . 
 
 Far o'er the hills and toward the dying day, 
 Set like a heart, a living heart, deep, deep 
 Within the bosom of its wide prairies, 
 Lies the Valley of San Marcos. And there, 
 A princess roused from slumber by the kiss 
 Of balmy Southern skies, the river springs 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. II5 
 
 From out her rocky bed, and hastens on 
 Far down the vale, to give her royal hand 
 In marriage to the waiting Guadalupe. 
 
 Like some grim giant keeping silent watch, 
 While from his feet his recreant daughter flies, 
 Above, the hoary mountain stands, his head 
 Encircled by an emerald-pointed crown 
 Of cedars, strong as those of Lebanon, 
 That bow their sombre crests, and woo the wind, 
 Drunken with fragrance from the vale below. 
 About his brow, set like a dusky chain. 
 The mystic Race-Paths run — his amulet — 
 And nestled squarely 'gainst his rugged breast, 
 Perched quaintly 'mong the great scarred rocks that hang 
 Like tombstones on the mountain-side, the nest 
 The Falcon built still lingers, though the wing 
 That swept the gathering dust from off our shield. 
 Hath long since drooped to dust ! 
 Now wooed by dusky glooms on either side, 
 Now whirling round the craggy banks, now stayed 
 By tangled vines that stretch their arms across, 
 The river glideth farther from her sire. 
 Below, an ancient mill, with laggard wheels, 
 Is mirrored in her glassy depths, and broad 
 The mill-race reaches out his arms, all decked 
 With pebble-stones, and fringed with purple flags, 
 And strives to bar her onward course — in vain, 
 For, nerved with sudden fear, she springs, and bright 
 Her rainbow garments glitter in the sun, 
 .•\s on she pants toward the shallow ford. 
 
Il6 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 And here, down sloping to the water's marge, 
 The fields, all golden with the harvest, come ; 
 And here the horseman, reining in his steed 
 At eve, will pause and mark the village spires 
 Gleam golden in the setting sun, and far 
 Across a deeply-furrowed field will glance 
 With idle eye upon a stately hill. 
 That, girt with cedars, rises like a king. 
 To mark the further limit of the field. 
 'Twas there, between the hill and river, stood 
 A shaded cottage ; and its roof was low 
 And dark, and vines that twined the porch but served 
 To hide the bleakness of its wall. But then 
 'Twas home, and ^'■Heaven is near us in our childhood^'' 
 And I was but a child ; and summer days. 
 That since have oftentimes seemed long and sad, 
 Were fleeter then than even the morning winds 
 That sent my brother's fairy bark, well balanced, 
 In safety down the river's tide. Alas ! 
 Is there, can there be aught in all the world 
 To soothe the sick soul to such perfect rest 
 As filled its early dreams ? Is there no fount, 
 Like that of old so madly sought by Leon, 
 Where the worn soul may bathe and rise renewed ? 
 
 And u'-> and down the banks before our door. 
 Now gathering up the yellow lily-buds. 
 That lay like golden flagons on the stream. 
 Now idly bending down the ragged sedge 
 That rustled in the lazy summer breeze, 
 And now among the grape-vines, where they hung 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. II7 
 
 In light festoons above the water-edge, 
 With careless step I roamed. 
 
 Well I remember, 
 Down where the river makes a sudden bend, 
 Below the ford, and near the dusky road, 
 Upon her bosom sleeps a fairy isle, 
 Enwreathed about with snowy alder-boughs 
 And tapestried with vines that bore a flower 
 Whose petals looked like drops of blood 
 (We called it " Lady of the Bleeding Heart"). 
 And through it wandered little careless paths, 
 That writhed like wounded snakes among the buds 
 Of tufted grass; and o'er this living gem 
 The very skies seemed bluer, and the waves. 
 That rippled round it, threw up brighter spray. 
 Upon the banks for hours I've stood and longed 
 To bask amid its shades ; and when at last 
 My brother dragged, with wondrous care, his boat. 
 Rude-fashioned, small, and furnished with one oar. 
 Across the long slope from the stately hill 
 Where it was built, ne'er did Columbus' heart 
 Beat with a throb so wild upon that shore. 
 Unknown to any save to him, as ours 
 When, with o'erwearied hands and labored breath, 
 We steered in safety o'er the dangerous way, 
 And stood the monarchs of that fair realm ! 
 My brother, how I wish our wayward feet 
 Once more could feel that lordly pride — our hearts 
 Once more know all their cravings satisfied ! 
 
Il8 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Sweet valley of San Marcos ! few are the years 
 That since have linked their golden hands and fled 
 Like spirits down the valley of the past — 
 And yet it seems a weary time to me ! 
 Sweet River of San Marcos ! the openings seen 
 Between thy moss-hung trees, like golden paths 
 Th<^t lead through Eden to heaven's fairer fields, 
 Show glimpses of the broad, free, boundless plains 
 Ihat circle thee around. Thine own prairies 1 
 How my sad spirit would exult to bathe 
 Its wings, all heavy with the dust of care. 
 Deep in their glowing beauty ! How my heart, 
 O'ershadowed with this cloud of gloom, would wake 
 To life anew beneath those summer skies ! 
 
 My home is nestled now among the hills, 
 The wooded hills, like those of that fair State, 
 That queen among the daughters of the South, 
 That gave me birth ; and gaily flits the breeze 
 Among the boughs of oaks whose trunks 
 Are wedded with the rings of centuries : 
 And maples, clothed like princes, wave their flags 
 Above the serried armies of the fern, 
 That march along the forest stream, where low 
 The beeches sweep their brightly-gleaming leaves; 
 And one tall pine, a sentinel, keeps watch 
 Before my very door. 
 
 The trees, the forest trees ! My heart beats full 
 And high beneath their stately limbs ! And yet, 
 At times methinks our mountain air seems thick ; 
 And the green tresses of our forest trees, 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. II9 
 
 They choke my very breathing ! Then, then 
 I fam would spurn my native shades, and fain 
 Would sweep with untamed wing across the broad 
 And boundless prairies of the West, and breathe 
 ISIy freedom back beneath unshadowed skies ! 
 
 Oh, river of my childhood ! fair Valley Queen ! 
 Within thy bosom yet at morn the sun 
 Dips deep his silver beams, and on thy tide 
 At night, the stars, the yellow stars, are mirrored ; 
 Through emerald marshes yet thine eddies curl, 
 And yet that fairy isle in beauty sleeps 
 (Like her of old who waits the wakening kiss 
 Of some true knight to break her magic sleep). 
 And yet, heavy with purple cups, the flags 
 Droop down toward the mill ; but I — oh, I 
 No more will wander by thy shores, nor float 
 At twilight down thy glassy tide ! — no more. 
 And yet, San Marcos, when some river flower, 
 All swooning with its nectar-drops, is laid 
 Before my eyes, its beauty scarce is seen 
 For tears which stain my eyelids, and for dreams 
 Which glide before me of thy fairy charms. 
 And swell my heart with longing. 
 
 Sweet River of San Marcos ! 
 
 THF. WATER POWER OF WESTERN TEXAS. 
 
 While Western Texas is comparatively a dry 
 country, and has a reputation in this regard far 
 beyond the reality, yet it has some of the finest 
 and most permanent streams to be found any- 
 
I20 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 where. At the base of the mountains running 
 across Texas from southwest to northeast, begin- 
 ning about Lampasas and Salado in Bell county, 
 there is a series of springs of a magnificent charac- 
 ter, extending at intervals to San Antonio. The 
 Lampasas and Salado springs form streams on 
 which there is valuable water power. They are, 
 however, by no means equal to the very large 
 springs of San Marcos, Comal and San Antonio. 
 At each of these points vast volumes of water gush 
 out from various places, forming rivers large 
 enough to float a steamboat. 
 
 At the head of the San Marcos river there is 
 sufficient fall to command an immense power for 
 propelling machinery. All along down that stream 
 for fifteen or twenty miles, at intervals of two 
 or three miles, there are fine sites for mills. 
 The amount of water is ample to carry on very 
 large factories ; so that we may expect that river to 
 be studded with large manufacturing towns, from 
 its source down pretty nearly to its junction with 
 the Guadalupe. 
 
 The Comal spring, on the Guadalupe, near New 
 Braunfels, is a vast volume of water. It is about 
 three miles from its source to its entrance into the 
 river. The two form a body of water several times 
 larger than the San Marcos. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 121 
 
 A little above the town of Braunfels a fall is 
 obtained of about fifteen feet, by simply turning 
 the water out of the bed of the stream by a brush 
 dam, which causes the water to flow in a natural 
 race or canal ; conducting it to a dry creek, and 
 forming a natural outlet for the water into the 
 river again. At this point, with a head of fifteen 
 feet, which might be increased by elevating the 
 dam, there is a saw mill and grist mill, and one or 
 two cotton gins. At this site power sufficient can 
 be had to propel machinery for vast factories. 
 
 Between that point and the Guadalupe there is 
 a fall of sixteen feet or more. Mr. Torrey, at his 
 mill and factory, has a fall of about eight feet. 
 When all of his works were in motion he used 
 comparatively a small part of the water. 
 
 On the San Antonio, beginning at Goliad, quite 
 up to the city of San Antonio, there are frequent 
 shoals and falls, rendering the w-ater of that river 
 available as a propelling power. I shall only 
 speak particularly of the falls at Marcelena and 
 Conquista, as I have not examined the other 
 places. Marcelena and Conquista are some fifteen 
 miles above Helena, in Karnes county, and about 
 fifteen miles below San Antonio. In a space of 
 two or three miles, the river has a fall of about 
 
122 
 
 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 thirty-two or thirty-three feet. There are three 
 falls, with some rapids between. The first is at the 
 Conquista crossing of the river. It is not a per- 
 pendicular fall, but a gradual slope over a bed of 
 rock for a hundred or a hundred and fifty yards, 
 in which the water falls about ten feet. A dam of 
 ten feet at the beginning of the fall would give a 
 head of about twenty feet. There is plenty of 
 suitable rock', of any desired size, for building 
 such a dam at the spot, so that the expense would 
 not be very great. 
 
 CLIMATOLOGY OF WESTERN TEXAS. 
 
 The seasons, as shown by the leafing and flowering of plants — as ob- 
 served by Prof. C. G. Forshey, in Fayette County. 
 
 > 
 
 BOTANIC NAME. 
 
 /Esculus Texanus.. 
 Agrostis Stellata.... 
 
 COMMON NAME. 
 
 LEAFING. 
 
 FLOWERING. 
 
 1858 
 
 i8s8 
 
 Dwarf Bucke\'e.. 
 Wild Leek 
 
 March 13... 
 
 March 18. 
 March 15. 
 
 1859 
 
 
 
 February 25. 
 February 17. 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 i860 
 
 Avena Sativa 
 
 Oats 
 
 India Rubber.... 
 
 Black Hickory... 
 
 Hackberry 
 
 Swamp Dogw'd. 
 
 April 10 
 
 April I 
 Feb'y 27 
 April 28 
 
 1858 
 1858 
 1858 
 1859 
 i860 
 
 Bumelia (?) 
 
 Carya Orliviformis. 
 Celtis Crassifolia.... 
 Cornus Paniculata. 
 
 June 10. 
 
 May 20. 
 
 April 23. 
 March 10. 
 M.ay 18, 25. 
 
 ;hS 
 
 Cornus Florida 
 
 Crataegus Col 
 
 Upl'nd Dog'wd. 
 
 Thorn (red ber- 
 
 . [ries 
 
 March 6.... 
 March 10... 
 Feb'y 20 
 Feb'y....... 
 
 1859 
 i860 
 
 
 Draba Cuneifol 
 
 White Draba 
 
 February 15. 
 February i. 
 February 12. 
 Jan'y and Feb. 
 February 13. 
 February 4. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1858 
 1859 
 i860 
 
 Houstonia Cerulea. 
 
 Bluets 
 
 January .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 1858 
 
 Inglaus Pecan 
 
 
 
 18S9 
 
 
 April 10-15 April 10, 15. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 ^25 
 
 BOTANIC NAM K. i COMMON NAME. I LEAFING. 
 
 Krigia Dandelion... 
 Lupinus (?) 
 
 Oxalis Stricta 
 
 Poa (various kinds) 
 858 Primulse 
 
 859J 
 
 860 
 
 858 Phlox (?) 
 
 S59 
 860 
 
 . I March 
 
 Dandelion 
 
 Purple Lupines.. 
 
 Sheep Sorrel. 
 
 Grasses 
 
 Primroses .... 
 
 February... 
 March 2..., 
 
 Winter 
 
 March i 
 February.., 
 
 FLOWERING. 
 
 April 15, 30. 
 Feb. 28, Mar. 20. 
 Mar. 15, May i. 
 Mar. 20, Ap. 20. 
 Mar. I, 20. 
 
 859 Pisum(?) jWildPea,purpl 
 
 858 Prunus Amer Wild Plum jMarch 
 
 859' 
 
 Mar. 18, May 10. 
 
 Feb. 28, Mar. 19. 
 
 Mar. 31, May 2. 
 
 Woods Phlox.... -.Mar. 12. 
 
 I SFeb. 26, Mar. 19. 
 
 March 7. 
 
 March 5, 20. 
 
 March i, 10. 
 
 [Feb'y 15.... Feb. 12, 23. 
 
 ol , I Feoruary... Feb. 18,29, 
 
 858 Persica vulg jPeach Tree Feb'y 20.... [Feb. li. Mar 
 
 859! i 
 
 860' .1 
 
 858 Quercus ObtusilobalPost Oak March 15 
 
 859! ! 
 
 86o| I ! 
 
 15. 
 
 Quercus Nigra. 
 
 Quercus Virens. 
 
 Black Jack.. 
 
 Live Oak. 
 
 Quercus Palustris... Pin Oak..., 
 Rubus Trivialis 'Dewberry 
 
 859 Secale cereale IRye 
 
 859|Taraxicum iDandelion 
 
 860 [dest , .... 
 
 859 Tillandsia Usneoi-'L'g Gray Moss 
 
 86o|Triticum /Estivum., 
 859[Triticum Compos... 
 858 Ulmus Amer 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Linden 
 
 American Elm. 
 
 859; 
 
 86o!Ulmus Alata 'Flat Limb. 
 
 8:;9 Vitis Teanua (?) IMustang Grape.. 
 
 860' i 
 
 859iVioia (?) jWild Violets 
 
 859|Viburnum prun 'Black Haw 
 
 860! I 
 
 859 Yucca (Mexicana?). Spanish Dagger. 
 
 860 I 
 
 March 10... 
 Feb'y 24.... 
 
 March 
 
 Feb'y 24. 
 
 Feb'y "is." 
 
 Feb'y 25. 
 Feb'y 25. 
 
 Feb'y 20... 
 March 6... 
 Feb'y 23... 
 Feb'y 24... 
 
 Feb'y 21... 
 Feb'y 24.... 
 
 Feb. 5, 20. 
 Feb. 20. 
 March 8. 
 Feb. 24, Mar. 10 
 March 7. 
 March 15. 
 Feb 21. 
 March i. 
 'Mar. 20, Ap. 10. 
 Mar. 6, 25. 
 March 13. 
 Feb. 26, 28. 
 March i, 27. 
 March 10, 20. 
 Feb. 26, 28. 
 March 31. 
 iSL-ir. 6, April 6. 
 April 10. 
 April 7. 
 March 5. 
 May ID. 
 May 5. 
 April ID, 25. 
 February 20. 
 March 6. 
 February 23. 
 Mar. 25, Ap. 20. 
 Mar. 24, Ap. 4. 
 February 21. 
 Mar. 6, 10. 
 March 23. 
 March 6. 
 March 2. 
 
124 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 STORMING OF THE ALAMO. 
 
 From ''New York Worlds 
 
 Santa Anna halted a day on the west bank of 
 the Medina river, where he received accurate 
 information as to the strength of the Americans in 
 San Antonio. A sudden rain-storm and "norther" 
 made the river impassable. Next day he resumed 
 the march, General Mora in advance, with orders 
 to seize the mission of Concepcion — a massive 
 stone structure two miles below San Antonio 
 — deemed by Santa Anna a more defensible 
 stronghold than the Alamo. A cannon shot was 
 fired when the head of the advancing column 
 reached the cemetery. The town was not de- 
 fended, and Colonel Mora was ordered to take 
 position north and east of the Alamo, to prevent 
 the escape of the garrison. This was late in Feb- 
 ruary, 1836. Santa Anna led four thousand men, 
 and awaited the coming of General Talza with two 
 thousand more. A battalion crossed the San 
 Antonio river and took possession of houses below 
 the Alamo, in order to build a bridge across the 
 river. Thirty men of two companies, sent the next 
 day to make a reconnoisance, were killed. A light 
 earth- work was thrown up above the Alamo. The 
 firing from the fort, now invested, was ceaseless. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 25 
 
 An earth-work nearer the fort was constructed at 
 night. On the third day of March General Talza 
 arrived, and the plan of assault was defined and 
 made known to the division commanders. On 
 the 5th of March, scaling ladders were distributed. 
 At three o'clock on the morning of the 6th, ever 
 memorable in song and story, the battalion Mata- 
 moras was moved to a point nearer the river and 
 above the Alamo. They were supported by two 
 thousand men under General Cos, this wing of the 
 army being commanded by General Castrilion, 
 General Talza leading that below the Alamo. 
 
 Santa Anna spent the night in the eartli-work 
 near the Alamo. The whole force was to move 
 silently upon the fortress at the sound of the 
 bugle, and were not to fire until in the trenches of 
 the Texans. The sound of the bugle was heard 
 at four o'clock. General Castrilion's division, 
 after an hour's desperate fighting, repulses, and 
 unheard-of losses, succeeded in effecting an en- 
 trance into the upper part of the Alamo, in a sort 
 of out-work, now a court-yard. The fighting had 
 only begun. The windows and doors were barri- 
 caded and guarded by bags of dirt heaped up as 
 high as a man's shoulders, while on the roof were 
 rows of bags of dirt behind which the Texans 
 
126 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 fous^ht as never men fousrht before, muzzle to 
 muzzle — hand to hand Each Texan rifle-shot 
 exhausted its force and spent itself in successive 
 bodies of Mexicans packed together like a wall of 
 flesh. Muskets and rifles were clubbed, and bowie- 
 knives never wrought such fearful carnage. The 
 ceaseless crash of firearms, the shouts of the defi- 
 ant, desperate, beleaguered Texans, the shrieks of 
 the dying, made the din infernal, and the scene 
 indescribable in its sublime terrors. 
 
 Each room in the building was the scene of a 
 terrible struggle with fearless men driven to 
 desperation, and conscious that escape was impossi- 
 ble. They fought even when stricken down, and 
 when dying still struggled, not with death, but to 
 slay Mexicans. In the long room used as a hos- 
 pital, the sick and wounded fired pistols and rifles 
 from their pallets. A piece of artillery, supposed 
 to be that which Crockett used during the siege, 
 was shotted with grape and canister, and turned 
 upon the helpless occupants of this apartment. 
 After the explosion, the Mexicans entered and 
 found the emaciated bodies of fourteen men, torn 
 and rent, and blackened and bloody. Forty-two 
 dead Mexicans lay at the doorway of this room. 
 Bowie, whose name tells of his feartul knife and 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 27 
 
 deeds, lay stark and stiff on a cot in the room. 
 He was helpless and in bed when the place was 
 invested, ten days before. Eleven Texans fired 
 with terrible effect from the roof of the building, 
 where they used three or four pieces, which they 
 charged with nails and pieces of iron. Buerra 
 gives his peculiar version of the story affecting the 
 death of Travis and Crockett. These two were 
 found living, yet exhausted by fighting, and lying 
 among the dead. When Travis was discovered 
 he gave gold to a Mexican, and while conversing 
 with him Gen. Cos, with whom Travis had dealt 
 most generously when San Antonio was captured 
 by the Americans, appeared. Cos embraced 
 Travis, and induced other officers to join him in 
 asking Santa Anna to spare Travis' life. The 
 President-General sternly refused. Then Crockett, 
 from among the dead, stood up utterly exhausted 
 by weary, sleepless days and nights, and by five 
 hours' constant fighting. Santa Anna was enraged 
 beyond measure that his orders were not executed. 
 He directed the soldiers near him to fire on the 
 two Texans. Travis was shot first in the back. 
 He folded his arms across his breast, and stood 
 stiffly erect till a bullet pierced his neck. He fell 
 upon his face, while Crockett's body was riddled 
 
128 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 with bullets. The corpses of two thousand Mexi- 
 cans were buried; those of the dead Americans 
 were gathered and burned, a holocaust whose fires 
 lighted the way to the freedom of Texas. 
 
 THE CITY OF SAN ANTONIO. 
 
 Froui ^^San Anto7iio Herald'^ 
 
 Any one who will reflect upon the resources of 
 the region that is now, and that which may be 
 made tributary to San Antonio, cannot but be 
 convinced of the great future that awaits it, pro- 
 vided the people are alive to the necessities 
 required. It possesses an area of surrounding 
 country capable of ministering to and supplying 
 the wants of a large population. 
 
 The food-producing capacity of Western Texas 
 is superior for the growth of wheat, barley, oats, 
 corn, and all kinds of vegetables, as well as the 
 varieties of semi-tropical fruits and sugar. Of 
 animal food there is a superabundance, of the best 
 character and at the lowest prices. Cattle and 
 sheep swarm over our prairies in vast numbers, 
 and will ever exist to supply the markets of the 
 constantly increasing people. Horses, mules, 
 oxen, and swine exist in large numbers \ and rap- 
 idly as population may increase in our great pas- 
 toral region, these products must increase in a 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 29 
 
 Still vaster proportion. These are articles of 
 prime necessity in supporting the dense population 
 of a city. 
 
 But having provided for food, there are other 
 wants not less essential, — clothing. The principal 
 materials of which to make clothing are wool, 
 cotton, linen, and leather ; now we all know 
 that these are severally produced in Western Texas, 
 in and adjacent to San Antonio and to the food- 
 producing regions — the best in quality, and the 
 cheapest in price. In addition to these advant- 
 ages, great and vast as they are, our city possesses, 
 in her river, a water power for driving machinery 
 unsurpassed by any other locality in the United 
 States. And yet manufactures have yet to be devel- 
 oped in our midst, and upon their establishment, 
 in reality, depends our great future. It is 
 almost an act of supererogation to enumerate 
 among the requisites for a high state of civiliza- 
 tion an inexhaustible supply of building material, 
 in which we are rich indeed. Possessing in 
 such superabundance all the essential requisites for 
 a large and manufacturing community, what can 
 prevent its establishment and growth among us? 
 For in addition we have a world-renowned climate, 
 balmy and healthful. We lack, confessedly, popu- 
 9 
 
l^O SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 lation and capital. Population we are beginning 
 to receive, and, with the increase of railroads, 
 doubtless capital will flow in upon us. Manufac- 
 tures, heretofore, have not been established because 
 of the difficulty of transportation, want of markets, 
 etc. We have one railroad, whose existence here 
 we hail as the harbinger of others; and we earn- 
 estly hope that our city will now press forward her 
 commercial interests to a larger extent, and at the 
 same time successfully establish the manufacturing 
 interests, the raw material of which we have in 
 such profusion all around us. There is no antag- 
 onism between commerce and the mechanic arts — 
 there could be none ; they are the offspring of 
 industry and intelligence, and are alike dependent 
 on each other for prosperity. San Antonio is 
 remarkable for its location ; it is a salient point in 
 a military, as well as in a commercial point of 
 view. Its prosperity hitherto has arisen from 
 these two combinations, and it requires but the 
 introduction and establishment of the third inter- 
 est, the cheap power which nature has lavished 
 upon us unsparingly, to place us beyond all 
 those contingencies that sometimes befall com- 
 mercial cities, and put our growth and prosper- 
 ity beyond all peradventure. Elevated as she 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I3I 
 
 is above the malarial region of the coast range, 
 about one hundred and forty miles from shipping, 
 railroads already bring us into rapid communica- 
 tion with the several shipping ports on the Gulf, 
 and those communications, likely to increase in 
 number from year to year, make our queen city 
 one of the most favored spots upon the wide earth. 
 Nowhere else are these advantages concentrated 
 in a single city. We are so favorably situated, that 
 a strict adherence to the rules of economy admits 
 of the union of commerce and manufactures, and 
 will aid them to develop in equally rapid progress. 
 We assume this result, because it is an axiom of 
 political economy that the first essential work of 
 any productive people is markets whereat to dis- 
 pose of their products ; and to have markets you 
 must have population — to command permanent 
 population, you must have manufactures. With 
 manufactures and population, value is added 
 to lands and property of every kind, and be- 
 comes, of course, one of the principal sources 
 and causes of wealth. And why? Because it 
 creates a market by causing a demand for property 
 and products, enhancing their price and exchange- 
 able value, rewards the producer for his industry, 
 and encourages and increases industry and pro- 
 
132 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 duction. Again, commerce frequently changes 
 from one city to another — manufactures do not. 
 Hence it is to our interest to invite population 
 among us by using every exertion to establish 
 manufactories for cotton, wool, leather, and of 
 linen, so that we can acquire the necessary popu- 
 lation to create a market for our food production, 
 and our raw material for manufactures, of which 
 the cereals would become a very prominent export, 
 whether Galveston or New Orleans becomes the 
 great grain mart of the Gulf. We earnestly en- 
 treat our people to give the subject of manufactures 
 their serious consideration ; certainly no people 
 under heaven have been more bountifully endowed 
 than the people of Western Texas, and especially 
 those of San Antonio. 
 
 From '■^ Baker' s Scrap Book.''^ 
 
 ANECDOTE OF GENERAL HOUSTON. 
 
 In the year i860, while Houston was Governor 
 of Texas, an expedition was fitted out for frontier 
 protection. In the purchase of medical supplies 
 the Governor had given strict orders that no 
 liquor should be included, under penalty of his 
 serious displeasure. In the requisition for medical 
 stores made by Dr. T., surgeon of the regiment, 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 33 
 
 were included Spts. Vini Gallici, bottles 24. This 
 was duly furnished with the other articles, and the 
 bill was taken to General Houston for his approval. 
 The old gentleman settled his spectacles upon his 
 nose, and, gravely putting his eagle quill pen 
 behind his ear, read the bill through slowly and 
 carefully until he came, to the item in question, 
 when he turned to the druggist and said, "Mr. B., 
 what is this Spts. Vini Gallici?" "That, Gen- 
 eral, is brandy." "Ah, yes; and do you know 
 that I have given positive orders that no liquor 
 should be furnished for this expedition ?" "No, 
 General, I was not aware of it!" The General 
 rang his bell. "Call Dr. T." The doctor was 
 summoned. "Dr. T., what is this Spts. Vini 
 Gallici for?" "That, Governor, is for snake 
 bites." Appealing to the druggist, the Governor 
 continued, "Mr. B., is Spts. Vini Gallici good 
 for snake bites ! " " Yes, sir, it is so considered." 
 "Yes," replied General Houston, in slow and 
 measured tones, "and there is Dr. T., who would 
 cheerfully consent to be bitten by a rattlesnake 
 every morning before breakfast, so as to obtain a 
 drink of this Spts. Vini Gallici." Having thus 
 delivered himself, he approved the account. 
 
134 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 SAM Houston's exile — explained after many 
 
 YEARS. 
 THE MYSTERY MADE CLEAR IN A LETTER FROM THE REV. 
 DR. SAMSON, EX-PRESIDENT OF THE COLUMBIAN UNIVER- 
 SITY, AND GENERAL HOUSTON'S OLD PASTOR — WHY HE 
 ABANDONED HIS WIFE, HIS OFFICE, AND CIVILIZATION. 
 
 To the Editor of the Tribune. 
 
 Sir: The St. Louis Globe-Democrat published 
 some weeks since a private letter of President 
 Jackson to General Sam Houston, dated Washing- 
 ton, D. C, June 21, 1829, preserved by an old 
 Texan, a former friend of Houston's, which has 
 more than a personal history attached to it. 
 President Jackson recalls his delightful meeting 
 with his friend one year before, when, as Gover- 
 nor of Tennessee, he was *' about to be united to a 
 beautiful young lady of accomplished manners and 
 of respectable connections." As to his sudden 
 determination to " settle with the Indians and 
 become a savage," he exclaims: ''Surely it is a 
 dream," and he hints that though now addressed 
 at the Cherokee Agency, Territory of Arkansas, 
 his intention is to found in Texas a Southwestern 
 Empire, reviving thus a scheme of other men in 
 earlier times. 
 
 The Globe-T)e?nocrat alludes to Houston's act, 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS, 1 35 
 
 which called out this letter from his old friend, as 
 " one of the most singular and utterly unexplained 
 acts ever connected with General Houston or any- 
 other great historical character." As the true 
 explanation has since his death been made known 
 by his widow to those specially intrusted with 
 the preparation of his memoirs, the publication 
 of which is perhaps now indefinitely postponed, 
 justice to truth and to Houston's memory as a 
 model of true loyalty seems to demand the follow- 
 ing statement of the proofs of that loyalty : 
 
 As pastor of Senator Houston from 1845 ^^ 
 1861, intimate with all his private thoughts as 
 well as his public life, the writer, when requested 
 to contribute to the proposed memoir, was made 
 acquainted with the fact of his marriage wound — 
 keener and more lasting than that of the poisoned 
 Indian arrow, whose festering he used sometimes 
 to show to his friends. The attestation of his 
 loyalty in all other relations, heard often from his 
 own lips and read in unmistakable acts, is in per- 
 fect accord with the authentic facts of history, 
 which any reader can verify even in brief encyclo- 
 paedia notices. There is not a particle of evidence 
 in any preserved record which indicates a laint of 
 disloyalty in any relation. 
 
lT,b SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Born in Virginia in 1793, left an orphan in 
 boyhood, Sam Houston went with his mother to 
 Tennessee, where he supported her by his own 
 industry, thus early learning family loyalty. 
 
 In 18 1 3, at the age of twenty, he enlisted under 
 General Jackson in the Creek war, and, for his 
 repeated deeds of gallantry, he so gained the 
 esteem of Jackson, that he urged him to remain 
 permanently in the army. Resigning, however, 
 and studying law in Nashville, he rose from oftice 
 to office, and in 1823, at the age of thirty, he was 
 elected to Congress, and then again, in 1827, was 
 elected Governor of Tennessee. 
 
 Up to this time, Houston was unmarried. Uni- 
 versally admired, and urged by associates to form 
 an alliance which seemed essential to his station, 
 a young lady of beauty and accomplishments was 
 commended to him by family influence. His pro- 
 posal of marriage was accepted, and, late in 1828, 
 the marriage ceremony was performed with unusual 
 pomp. The next day Houston resigned his office, 
 crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas, and, Decem- 
 ber II, 1828, wrote from the agency of his old 
 Cherokee acquaintances, the letter to President 
 Jackson which called forth his letter of January 
 21, 1829. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 37 
 
 No one of Houston's companions knew till his 
 death the cause of his new course, which his best 
 friends, like Jackson, regarded as partial insanity ; 
 no one but his widow could reveal it, and she only 
 through a sense of conjugal and Christian duty. 
 That cause was the highest test of loyalty of which 
 any man could be capable. 
 
 On the eve of marriage. Governor Houston 
 observed a tremor in the voice and in the hand of 
 his bride, when the vow of undivided attachment 
 was pronounced, which convinced him some secret 
 had not been revealed to him. Before retiring, 
 he frankly told her of his suspicion, asked a frank 
 confession, and pledged her that it should not work 
 her injury.* 
 
 His frankness and firmness led to the confession 
 that her affections had been given and pledged to 
 another before their meeting, and that filial duty 
 had prompted her acceptance of his proffer. 
 Houston retired to his own cot, next day resigned 
 his position, allowed the entire fault to appear to 
 be his, permitted and encouraged her application 
 for a divorce on the plea of desertion, and his 
 
 *A11 writers who have mentioned the nnysterious and sudden 
 departure of Gen. Houston before Dr. Sampson, have spoken 
 of some considerable time, some months, passed with his wife. 
 
138 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 bride was married to the man of her former affec- 
 tion. 
 
 Many irregularities, rumors of course, were 
 charged on this man who had really sacrificed 
 everything to save one who had erred only in 
 mistaken duty ; but no charge of domestic infidel- 
 ity could be true in a man who denied it to the 
 estimable lady who afterwards became his wife. 
 
 The suggestion of ambitious designs, naturally 
 assumed as true by Jackson, was disproved by 
 facts known to history. One year after that letter 
 was written, Houston was the chosen representa- 
 tive of the Cherokees at Washington. It was on a 
 visit to Texas a year or two later that Houston 
 was drawn into Texan affairs. The large Connec- 
 ticut colony induced to go into Texas in 1820 had 
 been, in violation of Santa Anna's promises, in 
 1830, incorporated into the neighboring Mexican 
 province of Coahuila, and thus subjected to Mexi- 
 can law and government. These Americans in 
 Texas, with loyal intent, thereupon organized a 
 distinct province, and they elected Houston as 
 their delegate to the Convention that had been 
 called to revise the Mexican Constitution, which, 
 in 1824, had borrowed largely from that of the 
 United States. 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 39 
 
 The colonists had increased in number to 20,000 
 when Houston became their delegate. The crafty 
 Santa Anna, after repeated efforts for peace, did 
 not begin hostilities until 1835. Though superior 
 in ability, Houston did not become commander- 
 in-chief till the post was resigned by Colonel S. F. 
 Austin, the son of the first colonist, in the autumn 
 of 1835. Houston's clemency to Santa Anna after 
 the massacres he had perpetrated was loyalty to 
 the rules of war. 
 
 During the eight years, from 1837 to 1845, ^^ 
 Texan independence, Houston was faithful to 
 every obligation of life. It was during this period 
 that he obtained a divorce from the Legislature of 
 the State of which he was President, and married 
 one of the most accomplished and devout of Chris- 
 tian women, who, with a large family of children, 
 survives him. When, at last, annexation could be 
 effected, instead of aiming at independent empire, 
 Houston promoted to the utmost the annexation 
 of the State of which he had been the father. 
 
 In Washington, as Senator from 1845 ^^ 1861, 
 no truer statesman than Sam Houston sat in the 
 Capitol. In social relations, no sign of vice ap- 
 peared; for he was of the Roman stamp, so honored 
 recently by the Tribune as a type of the Republi- 
 
I40 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 can leaders of France. Though unable to bring 
 his family to the Capital, they were always in his 
 thought. He spent Sunday afternoon in writing 
 to them ; and he ever spoke in all company of the 
 fact that to his wife he was indebted for his chief 
 honor and happiness. 
 
 From his coming to Washington, his seat was 
 never vacant in the place of worship ; he often 
 referred to a* discourse on the words, ''Better is 
 he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a 
 city," as the religious crisis of his life; he rose 
 above the two-fold conviction which restrained 
 most public men from a public profession of Chris- 
 tian faith, namely, the suspicion of hypocrisy and 
 of sectarianism, and was baptized when at the very 
 height of his political expectations. 
 
 When secession and the war following it came, 
 Sam Houston was almost alone in opposing it, in 
 open words and in direct acts. When in varied 
 companies the remark was dropped that Lincoln 
 would not be peaceably inaugurated, Houston 
 firmly said : *' The man that attempts to prevent it 
 shall walk over my dead body!" True to his 
 word, when on the day of inauguration videttes 
 were at every street corner where the procession 
 was to pass, close up to the left side of the carriage 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I4I 
 
 in which Lincohi sat with Buchanan on his right, 
 the tall form of Houston, mounted and armed, was 
 seen throughout the whole route, pressing so closely 
 up to the wheels that no man could have passed 
 between. 
 
 Such a record should set aside any suspicion 
 that Houston was not in every relation a model of 
 loyalty. Retiring to the bosom of his family, he 
 lived two years in yet another political exile ; but 
 adored in his family, and not "an alien from the 
 commonwealth of the redeemed." 
 
 George W. Samson. 
 
 New York, November 5, 1880. 
 
 Froin Texas Scrap Book. 
 
 THE MASSACRE OF FANNIN. 
 BY ONE who escaped. 
 
 In March, 1836, Colonel J. W. Fannin, with 
 between five and six hundred men, occupied the 
 town of Goliad on the San Antonio river. While 
 there, he detached Captain King with a small 
 company of men, to occupy the old mission of 
 Refugio, about twenty-five miles distant. King, 
 after taking possession of the fortress, found him- 
 self threatened by a large force of Mexicans, and 
 sent an express to Fannin for aid. Accordingly, 
 
142 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 Colonel Ward, with one hundred and twenty-live 
 men, were sent to his relief. Having arrived at 
 Refugio, King insisted upon taking command of 
 the whole force, but the men declared themselves 
 in favor of serving under Colonel Ward, who was 
 lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. Captain King 
 then withdrew, with his original company of 
 twenty-eight, men, and they were almost immedi- 
 ately afterward surprised and killed ; the Mexican 
 forces then attacked Ward and his men in the 
 mission, and after a sanguinary fight, which lasted 
 nearly all day, were repulsed with heavy loss. 
 Meantime, orders were received from Colonel 
 Fannin to join him and his command at Victoria, 
 and the line of march for that place was taken up 
 at night. But Fannin and his men, having set 
 out for Victoria, were intercepted, and after a 
 bloody battle were captured and taken back to 
 Goliad. Ward and his detachments, when they 
 arrived at Victoria, instead of finding their coun- 
 trymen, found the place occupied by a large force 
 of Mexicans, and retreated ; but next day were 
 surrounded and taken prisoners by the enemy 
 under command of General Urrea. They were 
 then taken to Goliad, where they found their brave 
 fellow-captives, numbering in all four hundred and 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 43 
 
 eighty men. On the morning of the 27th of 
 March, in defiance of the terms of surrender, 
 which were that they should be held honorably as 
 prisoners of war until exchanged, the whole com- 
 pany of Texans were marshaled in line and 
 counted into four divisions of one hundred and 
 twenty men each. Each division was then placed 
 in charge of a strong guard, and ordered to march 
 in different directions from the fort, for what pur- 
 pose the prisoners could only guess. "When about 
 half a mile from the fort," says our informant, 
 "we were ordered to halt; the guard was then 
 halted, and ordered by the captain to face to the 
 right, and then, almost instantly, to fire. The 
 horrible order was promptly complied with, and 
 nearly all of our brave boys fell in death. A few, 
 myself among the number, made a desperate run 
 for life, and by concealing ourselves in the grass 
 and reeds, finally got away. The men having 
 been shot, the officers, who had been reserved 
 until the last, met the same tragic fate. Colonel 
 Ward, having refused to kneel, was shot as he 
 stood ; and Colonel Fannin, having left his effects, 
 together with his dying request, with the officer in 
 command, calmly seated himself in a chair, and 
 awaited his death. Of the whole number who 
 
144 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 were marched out for slaughter on that memorable 
 Sunday, fifty-five only escaped." 
 
 From the Official Report of General H. D. Mc- 
 
 Leod. 
 
 COMANCHE FIGHT AT SAN ANTONIO. 
 
 On the Tpth day of March, 1840, sixty-five 
 Comanches, including warriors, women, and 
 children, came, by previous appointment, to San 
 Antonio to treat for peace. The meeting had 
 been agreed upon a month before, and the Indians 
 had promised to bring in thirteen white persons, 
 whom they held as hostages. They, however, 
 brought but one, a daughter of Mr. Lockhart. 
 
 Twelve chiefs, leaders of the deputation, were 
 met by our commissioners. Colonel W. G. Cooke 
 and General H. D. McLeod, in the Government 
 House, as it was called, and the question was at 
 once put to them, " Where are the prisoners you 
 were to bring?" Mukwarrah, the chief who 
 had made the promise at the former talk, replied, 
 ''We have brought the only one we had." This 
 was known to be false, from the girl's statement. 
 She said that she had seen several prisoners at the 
 camp a few days before, and that the intention was 
 to get a high ransom for her, and then for each of 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 45 
 
 the others, bringing them one by one. A pause 
 ensued, after which the chief asked, '' How do 
 you like my answer ? ' ' No reply was made, but 
 an order was sent to a company of soldiers to 
 advance into the room. 
 
 Meantime, the terms were explained to the 
 chief, which would have been agreed to in case 
 they had complied with their engagements. The 
 soldiers, under Captain Howard, entered the room, 
 the chiefs were told they were prisoners until they 
 sent for and brought in the rest of the white cap- 
 tives. As the commissioners were retiring from 
 the room, one of the chiefs attempted to escape 
 by leaping past the sentinel, who, in attempting to 
 prevent him, was stabbed by the Indian. Captain 
 Howard was also severely wounded in a similar 
 manner. The rest of the braves drew their bows 
 and arrows and knives, and made a general attack. 
 The soldiers fired and killed the twelve chiefs. 
 The warriors in the yard fought with desperation, 
 but were soon repulsed by Captain Read's com- 
 pany. A portion of them retreated across the 
 river, but were pursued, and finally all killed. 
 The Indian women fought desperately, and several 
 of them were killed. The loss of the Indians was 
 
 thirty-two chiefs and warriors, three women, and 
 10 
 
146 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 two children ; twenty-seven women and children, 
 and two old men, were made prisoners. Our loss 
 was seven killed and eight wounded. 
 
 Fro?n ^^ Field' s Scrap Book.'' 
 
 THE BABE OF THE ALAMO. 
 
 The beautiful remarks below are extracted from 
 speeches delivered in the House of Representatives 
 of Texas, on a bill proposing a donation to the 
 daughter of Almiran Dickenson, one of the mar- 
 tyrs who fell at the Alamo in the beginning of the 
 Texas revolution : 
 
 History will never record a nobler deed, a more 
 daring stand, a purer, self-sacrificing devotion to 
 the interests and liberties of their adopted country, 
 than the fight and fall of Travis, Bowie, Crockett, 
 and their gallant compatriots. One hundred and 
 fifty men were arrayed against thousands of Mexi- 
 cans under Santa Anna, the then President of 
 Mexico, who styled himself the second Napoleon ; 
 and heroically did they wield the battle-blade, till 
 the last man of that devoted band measured his 
 length upon the earth. No quarter was asked or 
 given ; none were left to tell the tale but the wife 
 of Dickenson and her infant daughter. How 
 heart-sickening to this woman must have been that 
 conflict, that massacre ! 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 47 
 
 Hod. Guy Bryan said: ''I intended, Mr. 
 Speaker, to be silent on this occasion ; but silence 
 would now be a reproach, when to speak is a duty. 
 No one has raised his voice in behalf of this 
 orphan child ; several have spoken against her 
 claims. I rise, sir, in behalf of no common cause. 
 Liberty was its foundation, heroism and martyr- 
 dom consecrated it. I speak for the orphan child 
 of the Alamo. No orphan children of fallen 
 patriots can send a similar petition to this House 
 — none save her can say, ' I am the child of the 
 Alamo.' Well do I remember the consternation 
 which spread throughout the land when the sad 
 tidings reached our ears that the Alamo had 
 fallen ! It was here that a gallant few, the brav- 
 est of the brave, threw themselves betwixt the 
 enemy and the settlements, determined not to sur- 
 render nor retreat. They redeemed their pledge 
 with the forfeit of their lives — they fell, the chosen 
 sacrifice to Texan freedom ! Texas, unapprised of 
 the approach of the invaders, was sleeping in 
 fancied security, when the guns of the Alamo first 
 announced that the Attila of the South was near. 
 Infuriated at the resistance of Travis and his noble 
 band, he marshaled his whole army beneath the 
 walls, and rolled wave after wave of his hosts 
 
148 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 against those battlements of freedom. In vain he 
 strove — the Flag of Liberty, the Lone Star of 
 Texas, still streamed out upon the breeze, and 
 floated proudly from the outer wall. Maddened 
 and persistent, he reared his batteries, and, after 
 days of furious bombardment, and repeated as- 
 saults, he took a blackened and ruined mass — the 
 blood-stained, walls of the Alamo. The noble, 
 the martyred spirits of its gallant defenders, had 
 taken their flight to another fortress, not made 
 with hands. But for this stand at the Alamo, 
 Texas would have been desolated to the Sabine. 
 Sir, I ask this pittance ; and for whom ? For the 
 only living witness, save the mother, of this awful 
 tragedy; this bloodiest picture in the book of 
 time; this bravest act that ever swelled the annals 
 of any country. Grant the boon ! She claims it 
 as the Christian child of the Alamo — baptized in 
 the blood of a Travis, a Bowie, a Crockett, and a 
 Bonham. To turn her away would be a shame ! 
 Give her what she asks, that she may be educated 
 and become a worthy child of the State ; that she 
 may take that position in society to which she is 
 entitled by the illustrious name of her martyred 
 father — illustrious because he fell in the Alamo." 
 Hon. J. C. Wilson said: "The student of 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 1 49 
 
 Grecian history, in every age, in every land, has 
 felt his bosom glow with a noble fire while reading 
 of Leonidas and the three hundred who fell with 
 him at Thermopylae ; but when the Alamo fell, a 
 nobler than Leonidas, a more devoted band than 
 the Spartans, sank amid its ruins. They shed 
 their blood for us ; they poured out their lives as 
 water for the liberties of Texas; and they left us 
 of that bloody, yet glorious conflict, one sole 
 memento — one frail, perishable keepsake — the 
 child whose petition for assistance is now before 
 us. Shall we turn her away? Shall we say, 
 'Though your father served the State in his life; 
 though he fell in the ranks of those men whose 
 names history shall chronicle ajid nations shall 
 delight to honor; though you alone, of all the 
 children of Texas, witnessed that direful scene, 
 whose bare contemplation makes the stout heart 
 quail; though the credit and honor of Texas are 
 alike concerned in taking care of your childhood 
 and watching over your youth, in providing for 
 your happiness and respectability; though you, 
 the babe of the Alamo, will be an object of interest 
 to all who may visit our State in after years, when 
 the pen of the historian shall have recorded your 
 connection with the early glories and sufferings of 
 
150 SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. 
 
 our now happy land — yet for all this, we will 
 suffer you to grow up in uncultured wildness, in 
 baneful ignorance, perchance in vice, rather than 
 make this pitiful appropriation to enable you to 
 render yourself capable of occupying that position 
 in society to which you are in a peculiar degree 
 entitled by the strange and thrilling circumstances 
 surrounding your life.' Sir, I trust such an act 
 may not mar the history of Texas. It is related 
 of Napoleon that, when an officer whom he loved 
 was wounded, and, from the narrowness of the 
 defile in which the conflict raged, was in imminent 
 danger of being crushed to death by the feet of 
 contending friends and foes, while the emperor 
 looked on in deep anxiety for his fate, a female, 
 an humble follower of the army, with a babe on 
 one arm, pressed through the melee to the wounded 
 man, and, passing her other arm around him, con- 
 veyed him to a place of comparative safety near 
 the emperor ; but just as she turned away from the 
 object of her daring and benevolent solicitude, a 
 ball struck her dead at the feet of Napoleon. He, 
 taking the motherless babe in his arms, called a 
 grenadier, saying, ' Bear this child to the rear, and 
 see that it is well attended to, for henceforth it is 
 the child of the empire.' Mr. Speaker, the child 
 
SAN ANTONIO AND ENVIRONS. I5I 
 
 of the Alamo is the child of the State ^ and we can- 
 not treat her with neglect without entailing ever- 
 lasting disgrace upon Texas." 
 
 EPITAPH OF THE TEXAN DEAD. 
 
 BY B. H. DAVIS. 
 
 No slab of pallid marble, 
 With white and ghostly head, 
 
 Tells the wanderers in our vale 
 The virtues of our dead. 
 
 The wild-flowers be their tombstone, 
 And dewdrops pure and bright. 
 
 Their epitaph, the angels wrote 
 In the stillness of the night. 
 
 Austin. 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Arnold, Hendrick ^3 
 
 Austin, Col. W. T 23 
 
 Alley, Capt 29 
 
 Army Dispensed 3^ 
 
 Alamo, Second Mission in Texas 3" 
 
 " , Foundation Laid 37 
 
 " , Taking of. 40 
 
 " , Surrounded by Mexicans 45 
 
 " , Heroic Defence of 47 
 
 " , Fall of 47 
 
 " , Ashes of its Heroes Collected 49 
 
 " , Hymn of 5^ 
 
 " , Persons slaughtered at 59 
 
 " , Signification of Word 7^ 
 
 " , Ground Plan of ^ ^3 
 
 «' , Storming of ^^4 
 
 " , Battle Monumen' of 5^ 
 
 " , Victims of : 59 
 
 " , Babe of the ^6 
 
 Aid Sought by Bonham ? • • • 44 
 
 Appeal of Travis 39 
 
 Almonte, Gen 45 
 
 Account of Battle Between Mexicans and Texans 72 
 
 (153) 
 
154 INDEX. 
 
 FAGE. 
 
 Arms Captured by Texans 72 
 
 Architecture of San Juan. , 77 
 
 Acceptance of Bids for Quartermaster's Depot 93 
 
 Area of Quartermaster's Depot 94 
 
 Adaptability of San Antonio for Manufactures no 
 
 Anecdote of Gen. Houston 132 
 
 Burleson, Gen 22, 30, 3 1 
 
 Breese, Capt 24 
 
 Bodies of Dead Patriots Burned by Order of Santa Anna. 36 
 
 Bonham, J. B . . . ." 44 
 
 Bowie, Col,, Butchered 47, 146, 148 
 
 Battle Monument Described 56 
 
 Battle Between Texans and Mexicans 72 
 
 " at Concepcione 75 
 
 Baths, Floating 12 
 
 Buenstchad y Obsons 70 
 
 Belknap, W. W 91 
 
 Braden & Co 93 
 
 Bishop Elliott. 103 
 
 " Pellicier 102 
 
 " of Monterey 38 
 
 Baptist Church 104 
 
 Bryan, Hon. Guy, Speech of 147 
 
 Babe of the Alamo 146 
 
 Caballero, Description of. 16 
 
 Canary Islands, Emigrants from 19 
 
 Conflicts in San Antonio 21 
 
 Comanche Attack on San Antonio 21 
 
 Comanche Fight at San Antonio 144 
 
 Cooke, Capt 23, 24 
 
INDEX. J 55 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Cooke, Col. W. G I44 
 
 Crane, Capt 27, 28 
 
 Cos, Gen 30, 31,44 
 
 Convict Mexican Soldiers 30 
 
 Commissioners Appointed 30 
 
 Capitulation of Mexicans 31 
 
 Council of War 43 
 
 ' ■ " Called by Santa Anna 44 
 
 Castrillon, Gen 44 
 
 Crockett, Col., His Fall 46, 146, 148 
 
 Character of Old Missions 66 
 
 Converts, Manner of Governing 66 
 
 Church, Recruits for 69 
 
 Capture of Arms by Texans 72 
 
 Concepcione, Walls of. 74 
 
 " , Service in 74 
 
 " , Matron of 74 
 
 , Battle at 75 
 
 Castelo, Don Domingo 75 
 
 Chapel in San Jose 77 
 
 Congress Appropriates for Quartermaster's Depot 91 
 
 Custom House at Goliad 80 
 
 Cost of Quai-ter master's Depot 93 
 
 Completion of Quartermaster's Depot 94 
 
 Card, Brev. Brig. Gen. B, C 94 
 
 Contents of Tank in Quartermaster's Depot 97 
 
 Cisterns, Contents of in " " 97 
 
 Churches of San Antonio loi 
 
 Cathedral of San Fernando 102 
 
 Catholic Church, German 102 
 
156 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Convent, Ursuline 104 
 
 Climate of San Antonio 1 1 1 
 
 Climatology of Western Texas 122 
 
 City of San Antonio 128 
 
 Description of San Antonio 9 
 
 " " " River 1 1 
 
 " " Hackal 17 
 
 " " Battle Monument 56 
 
 " " Concepcione 72 
 
 " " San Jose 75 
 
 Distance of San Antonio from Gulf of Mexico 10 
 
 " " " " Mexican Border 10 
 
 Deaf Smith 22, 23, 26 
 
 Dickinson, Capt 25 
 
 Dickenson, Almiran 146 
 
 Duncan, Capt ... 29 
 
 Departure of Gen. Cos 31 
 
 Dispersion of Texan Army 32 
 
 Desperate Encounter in the Alamo 40 
 
 Dickerson, Mrs 47 
 
 Donation of Land Offered to United States by Judge Pas- 
 chal, for Quartermaster's Depot 87 
 
 Donation of Land Offered to United States by Authorities 
 
 of San Antonio, for Quartermaster's Depot 87 
 
 Donation recommended to Department Commander. ... 88 
 
 Donation Not Accepted . = 90 
 
 Davis, G. W., Capt. 14th Infantry 93 
 
 Darn, Col. W. H 93 
 
 Demand for Goods in San Antonio ill 
 
 Emigrants to San Antonio. 19 
 
INDEX. 157 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 English, Capt 24, 28, 29 
 
 Edwards, Capt 24 
 
 Enemy Driven Back from Walls of Alamo 45 
 
 Espada, San Francisco de 78 
 
 Establishment of Post Office at San Antonio 85 
 
 Enclosure of Quartermaster's Depot 98 
 
 Elliott, Bishop of San Antonio 103 
 
 Exile of Gen. Houston 1 34 
 
 Epitaph of the Texan Dead 151 
 
 Floating Baths 12 
 
 First Emigrants to San Antonio 19 
 
 Franks, Col. Midland 23 
 
 Flag of Truce 30 
 
 " " Victory over Bexar 31 
 
 Foundation of the Alamo Laid 37 
 
 Fannin, Col 42 
 
 " " , Departure for Goliad 43 
 
 " " , Shot at Goliad 81 
 
 " " , Massacre of. 141 
 
 Fall of the Alamo 47 
 
 Franciscan Monks, Their Works 65 
 
 " Friars 69 
 
 First Mission, Location of 71 
 
 Freeman, W. R ico 
 
 Gulf of Mexico, Distance from San Antonio 10 
 
 Guadalupe River 1 1 
 
 Grant, Col. James 23 
 
 Gill, Lieut ... 29 
 
 Garza House 29 
 
 Garrison of Alamo Summoned to Surrender 38 
 
I5S INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Goliad, or La Bahia, Mission of. 80 
 
 " , New Town of 80 
 
 " , Custom House at 80 
 
 Gallagher, Peter 84 
 
 Ground Plan of Alamo I13 
 
 Government of Converts 66 
 
 Hackal, Description of ■ 17 
 
 Holmes 22 
 
 Houston, Address to the Army 49 
 
 " , Anecdote of 132 
 
 " , Exile of 134 
 
 Hymn of the Alamo 50 
 
 Hotel des Invalides 80 
 
 Harris, Rev. B 104, 106 
 
 Howard, Capt 145 
 
 Invalides, Hotel des 80 
 
 Indians, Converted 37 
 
 Inscription on Battle Monument T 52 
 
 Jack, Col 22 
 
 Johnson, Col. Frank W 23, 24, 31, 32 
 
 " Father 70 
 
 Jose, San, Removal of 70 
 
 " " , Purchase of 75 
 
 " " , Mission of 75 
 
 " " , Description of. 75 
 
 " " , Size of. 77 
 
 Juan, San de Concepcione, Architecture of. 77 
 
 " " , Mexicans About It 78 
 
 King of Spain Transfers Land to Indians 67 
 
 King, Z., and Son 100 
 
INDEX. 159 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 King, Capt 141, 142 
 
 Karnes, Capt 27, 28 
 
 Laying out of San Antonio 12 
 
 Lopez, Father 38 
 
 Legal Transfer of Mission Lands ,. 66 
 
 Location of First Mission 71 
 
 Labor In and About San Antonio 1 10 
 
 Lockhart 144 
 
 Mexican Border, Distance from San Antonio. 10 
 
 Mexicans Disputing the Ground 29 
 
 " Make a Division 29 
 
 " Retreat to the Alamo 30 
 
 " About San Juan de Concepcione 78 
 
 " , Number Killed 40 
 
 Medina River 1 1 
 
 Mixture of Races in San Antonio 14 
 
 Maverick 22, 23 
 
 Morfts, Major 23 
 
 Milam, Col, Benj, R 24 
 
 " , Killed 28 
 
 " " " , Poem to 32 
 
 McDonald, Lieut. Wm 27 
 
 Monterey, Bishop of. ^S 
 
 Monument, Battle, Inscription on 52 
 
 " " Description of 56 
 
 Missions, the Old 64 
 
 " , the Character of 66 
 
 " Lands, Manner of Taking Possession of 66 
 
 " Alamo 70 
 
 " , Concepcione, Description of . . . . 72 
 
l6o INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Missions, San Jose '75 
 
 " San Juan de Concepcione 77 
 
 " San Francisco de Espada 78 
 
 " La Bahia, or Goliad 80 
 
 Manner of Taking Possession of Mission Lands. 66 
 
 Matron in Charge of Concepcione 74 
 
 Morgil, Father Antonio. , 69, 75 
 
 Mails to and from San Antonio 86 
 
 Military Centre of Texas, San Antonio 87 
 
 " Depot Authorized by Secretary of War 88 
 
 Murder of Col. Fannin at Goliad 80 
 
 Menger House 85 
 
 Money for Q. M. Depot Covered into Treasury 90 
 
 Meigs, M. G., Q. M. Gen. U. S. A 93 
 
 Montgomery, Rev. W. R 103 
 
 Methodist Church 104 
 
 " " South 104 
 
 Massacre of Fannin 141 
 
 Mukwarrah 144 
 
 Mcl^eod, Gen. H. D 14-1 
 
 Neill, Capt. J. C 24 
 
 Navarro, Antonio 28 
 
 Names of Slaughtered at Alamo 59 
 
 " " Postmasters at San Antonio 85 
 
 New Town of Goliad. 80 
 
 Old Missions 64 
 
 Oliver, S. A loi 
 
 Organ of St. Marks 104 
 
 Poem, " Whatever Fruits," etc lo 
 
 " to Milam 32 
 
INDEX. l6l 
 
 FAGE. 
 
 Poem, " San Antonio My Country." 50 
 
 " " Stern Impress of Time.''. 64 
 
 •' San Marcos River 114 
 
 " , Epitaph on the Texan Dead 151 
 
 Plaza, Spanish Name of 19 
 
 " Cleared 31 
 
 Patton, Capt 24 
 
 Peacock, Capt 24 
 
 Priests' House 29 
 
 Prisoners of War ;^^ 
 
 Persons Slaughtered at Alamo 59 
 
 Purchase of San Jose 75 
 
 Post-Office Established 85 
 
 " " Revenue of 85 
 
 " " Money-orders 85 
 
 Postmasters Since Establishment of 85 
 
 Paschal, Judge, Donation to United States 87 
 
 Proposals for Erection of Q. M. Depot Invited 92 
 
 " " '• " Rejected 92 
 
 " " " " Accepted 93 
 
 Plans for Q. M. Depot Forwarded 92 
 
 Perry, A. G 93 
 
 Pellicier, Bishop 102 
 
 Presbyterian Church 104 
 
 Ouartermaster's Depot, Authority to Erect SS 
 
 " " , Instructions as to 91 
 
 " " , Donation for 91 
 
 " " , Proposals Invited 92 
 
 « " , Cost of 93 
 
 -' " Completed 93 
 
 II 
 
l62 INDEX. 
 
 PAGK. 
 
 Quartermaster's Depot, Location of 94 
 
 " " , Area of 94 
 
 " " , Description of. 94 
 
 " " , Water-works of. 96 
 
 " " , Tower of. 97 
 
 '' " , Contents of Tank 97 
 
 " " , " Cisterns 97 
 
 " " , Water-pipes to 98 
 
 River San Antonio, Description of 1 1, 109 
 
 River San Marcos Poem 114 
 
 Races, Mixture of in San Antonio . 14 
 
 Ramney, Gen 45 
 
 Recruits for the Church. 69 
 
 Ribera, Gen 71 
 
 Ruin of San Francisco de Espada 78 
 
 Revenue of Post-Office 85 
 
 Rejection of Proposals for Quartermaster's Depot. 92 
 
 Richardson, Rev. W. R 103 
 
 Reade, Capt 145 
 
 San Antonio, Description of 9 
 
 " , Distance from Gulf of Mexico 9 
 
 " , Laying Out of 12 
 
 " , How it Looks to Travelers 12 
 
 " , Settlement of 12 
 
 '* , Named in Honor of 12 
 
 " , Conflict in 21 
 
 " , Attacked by Comanches 21 
 
 " , Captured by Texans 21 
 
 " , Attacked by Vasquez ^2 
 
 ♦* , Captured by Gen. Wall j j 
 
INDEX. 163 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 San Antonio, My Country — Poem 50 
 
 , Post-Office 84 
 
 " , Mails to and from 86 
 
 " , Quartermaster's Depot at 86 
 
 " , Military Centre of Texas 87 
 
 " , Water-works 99 
 
 " " , Length of Pipes 100 
 
 " , Pes Churches loi 
 
 " , Its Water Power . 106 
 
 " River 109 
 
 '• , Adapted to Manufactures ...... no 
 
 " , Climate of in 
 
 " , Demand for Goods There in 
 
 ♦• , City of 1 28 
 
 " , Comanclie Fight in 144 
 
 " Shine 'em Up." 16 
 
 Smith, John W 22, 
 
 Smith, Capt 43 
 
 San Pedro Springs 12 
 
 Sommerville, Lieut 22 
 
 Springs, San Pedro 12 
 
 Swisher, Capt 24, 29 
 
 Santa Anna 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 48, 146 
 
 Surrender Demanded by Santa Anna 41 
 
 Skirmish Between Texans and Mexicans 42 
 
 Sesma, Gen 43, 45 
 
 Sally by the Texans 44 
 
 Scaling-ladders 45 
 
 Signilication of Alamo 70 
 
 San Fernando Cathedral 7c. 1C2 
 
lfi4 INDEX. 
 
 TAGH. 
 
 San Jose, Title to 75 
 
 " , Description of 76 
 
 '* , Size of 77 
 
 '• , Chapel in 77 
 
 San Juan de Concepcione, in 74 
 
 '• '• ""• , Service of 77 
 
 " •' " , Architecture in 77 
 
 " " " , Mexicans About it 78 
 
 San Francisco de Espada, Mission of 78 
 
 Sites Selected for Mission 71 
 
 St. Mary's English Church 102 
 
 St. Mark's Episcopal " 103 
 
 " " " Organ 104 
 
 Schools, Free 106 
 
 Storming of the Alamo 1 24 
 
 Settlement of San Antonio, 1716 19 
 
 Spoils of the Victor * 31 
 
 Stern Impress of Time — rPoem 64 
 
 Speech of Hon. J. C. Wilson 148 
 
 " " Guy Bryan , 147 
 
 Texans Strengthen Their Works 26 
 
 " Rifles 27 
 
 " In Command of Enemy's Works , . . . 29 
 
 " Losses 30 
 
 " Dead, Epitaph of — Poem 151 
 
 " Make a Sally 44 
 
 Terms of Capitulation 31 
 
 Travis, Col. Wm. B., His Small Force ^8 
 
 " " , His Appeal 39 
 
 " " , Writes to Fannin 42 
 
INDEX. 165 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Travis, Col. Wm. B., His Determination 43 
 
 , His Fall 46,146,148 
 
 " " , "Take Care of My Little Boy.".. 44 
 
 Terrible Struggle 40 
 
 " Take Care of My Little Boy." 44 
 
 Threats of Santa Anna 46 
 
 Title of San Jose 75 
 
 Title, Valid, to Site for Quartermaster's Depot 90 
 
 Tank, Quartermaster's Depot 97 
 
 Texas, Western, Climatology of 122 
 
 Tower of Quartermaster's Depot 97 
 
 Ugartachea, Gen 30 
 
 United States Quartermaster's Depot 86 
 
 Ursuline Convent 104 
 
 Urrea, Gen 142 
 
 Veramandi, House of 22 
 
 Vuavis, Lieut 23 
 
 Vasquez, Gen,, Marched on San Antonio 33 
 
 Valero, Marquis de ^7 
 
 Victims of the Alamo 59 
 
 Valid Title to Quartermaster's Depot Site 90 
 
 Ward, Capt 24 
 
 " , Col 142 
 
 Wall, Gen., Took San Antonio 2>^ 
 
 '' , Commg to San Antonio iio 
 
 War, Council of, Called by Santa Anna 40, 43, 44 
 
 Water-works of Quartermaster's Depot 96 
 
 Water-pipes to " " 98 
 
 Water-works of San Antonio 99 
 
 Water-power " 106 
 
l66 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Western Texas, Climatology of 122 
 
 Wilson, Hon. J. C, Speech of 148 
 
 Ximenes, Battalion of 41 
 
 York, Capt 24 
 
 Zambrano Row 29 
 
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