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“THE DAY WAS SOON OURS”

REVEREND DANIEL PARKER BELIEVED in the gun as much as he did the Bible in 1835. He was not a man prone to fight but he lived on a frontier where violence was likely to find him or his family.

Parker gazed at the scraggly collection of log cabins and stores nestled on the bank of the Brazos River. And yet this town was the economic and political hub of Stephen Austin’s colony. San Felipe de Austin had been founded as the unofficial capital in 1824. Seven separate postal routes converged in San Felipe, as both the Old San Antonio and Atascosito roads were easily accessible. The town population was pushing six hundred, and four schools served the capital community. The colonial land office was located in town, as were general stores, two taverns, a hotel, a blacksmith shop, and even a brand-new printing press owned by Gail Borden Jr. His first issue of the Telegraph and Texas Register had just been published on October 10. An earlier paper, the Texas Gazette, had moved from San Felipe to Brazoria years earlier.

Fifty-four-year-old Reverend Parker, a former state senator in Illinois, was now representing the Municipality of Nacogdoches. His family had settled near present-day Groesbeck in eastern Texas and built Parker’s Fort on their vast landholdings. The wily Baptist preacher, knowing that Mexican law forbade the creation of non-Catholic churches in Texas territory, had found these same laws could not prevent the immigration of an already organized Protestant church. So, on July 26, 1833, Daniel Parker and his family formed the Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church and prepared to move to Texas.

The subject of proper frontier protection was on Parker’s mind when he arrived at the Brazos capital with his brother James Wilson Parker, who had been elected a delegate for the Municipality of Viesca. The provisional government had on September 19 called for a consultation, at which representatives from each Texas district would attend. Due to the state of the young revolution, two-thirds of those previously elected were in the field and unable to attend when the Consultation convened on October 15. Those who had gathered chose to proceed as a temporary “Permanent Council” until a proper quorum of the elected representatives could be gathered in the near future. They elected Richardson Royall of the Matagorda District as their president and commenced official business.

The delegates met in the grist mill of Joseph Urban. Martin Parmer, the delegate for the District of Tenaha, griped aloud about the meeting hall. The old stove smoked up the room badly and the crude grist mill made such an irritating grinding sound that it was hard for the delegates to hear. Daniel Parker served on many committees and made his feelings known that he opposed a war with Mexico. He felt that the land granted to the early settlers and tax exemptions were more than generous. He had a more pressing concern: how to deal with guarding the frontier settlements from Indian attacks. On October 17, he proposed an idea that had been suggested to him by Captain Robert Coleman, whose ranging company had retreated to Parker’s Fort after fighting Tawakonis in July.¹

Parker’s resolution called for “creating a corps of Texas Rangers to consist of small detachments stationed on the Indian frontier.” Three men were selected to be superintendents of the regional ranging units, two of them having close ties to Parker. Garrison Greenwood, an ordained minister in the Parker church, would oversee a ten-man ranger unit to serve in the east between the Trinity and Neches rivers. Silas Mercer Parker, a brother of Daniel, was picked to supervise twenty-five rangers between the Brazos and Trinity rivers. The third superintendent, Daniel Boone Friar, would oversee another thirty-five rangers who were to operate between the Brazos and Colorado rivers. These three men were authorized to draw on the council for money to defray personal expenses.²

Daniel Parker then served on a five-man committee formed to consider his resolution. On October 17, they agreed on specifics regarding the new Texas Rangers corps. Greenwood’s men would be based out of the developing little East Texas settlement of Houston, located in present Anderson County. The companies under Friar and Silas Parker would both rendezvous at the Waco Indian village on the Brazos River. Each company was to elect its own officers and report to the regional superintendent every fifteen days. Individual rangers were to be paid $1.25 per day served.³

The ranger proposal passed on October 18, and several men were dispatched to spread the word. Among them was James Parker, who would alert his brother Silas that he was now authorized to serve as a ranger superintendent. The Permanent Council then authorized three commissioners—Jacob Garrett, Joseph L. Hood, and Peter J. Menard—to meet with various Indian tribes to advise them of their rights and privileges under the new Texas leadership. The Permanent Council continued in session through October 26. Still unable to achieve a proper quorum to conduct business, the members were adjourned until November 1.

Gail Borden’s Telegraph and Texas Register printed in its October 26 edition the news that the council had “made arrangements for raising three companies of Rangers.” Their services would be well utilized in the months to come on the Texas frontiers as the colonists pursued their war of rebellion against the Mexican forces of Santa Anna’s government.

GENERAL STEPHEN AUSTIN NEEDED a few good men to achieve his goal.

His position near the Mission San Francisco de la Espada in late October was too far from Béxar to effectively serve as an operations base. He needed a search party willing to fight if necessary while they scouted out a new position closer to San Antonio. He thus ordered Jim Bowie, James Fannin, and Andrew Briscoe to head a ninety-man scouting party. The reputations of fabled fighters Bowie and Briscoe, who had been jailed during the most recent Anahuac uprising, were solid.⁴

The third leader selected by Austin had never commanded men in battle but he held great promise. James Walker Fannin Jr. had entered West Point in 1819 but dropped out after only two years. He returned to his home state of Georgia and later married Minerva Fort, with whom he had two daughters. In 1834, the Fannins moved to Texas and settled at Velasco, where he became a plantation owner and slave trader. Fannin believed in the Texas independence movement and was appointed by the Columbia Safety Committee in August 1835 to solicit financial aid and West Point officers to command the rising volunteer army in Texas.

Bowie was in tactical command of the companies under Fannin and Briscoe, although they were supported by additional volunteers led by Robert Coleman, Valentine Bennett, and Michael Goheen. They departed Mission Espada on October 27 in company with a small group of Captain Juan Seguín’s mounted tejanos. They moved up the San Antonio River, examining first Mission San Juan Capistrano and then Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo. Neither appeared to be worthy as a solid, defensible base for operations. By nightfall, Bowie’s forces reached Mission Purísima Concepción.

Some five hundred yards above the mission, Bowie located a perfect spot for defense within a U-shaped bend of the San Antonio River. Captain Seguín and his men “passed the night in making preparation to resist an attack which we considered imminent.” Bowie sent a rider back to Mission Espada to inform General Austin of their decision to make camp near Mission Concepción. The general was outraged that Bowie would split his forces from the main body and potentially subject themselves in such small number to a strong attack from the troops under General Cos.⁵

The intelligence of the camping Texian scouting party did indeed make it to Cos. He moved for Concepción with one hundred infantrymen and three hundred Mexican dragoons to seek battle. Jim Bowie allowed some of his men to sleep by their weapons, while pickets were kept on lookout duty until dawn. The lookout posted in the old Spanish mission’s bell tower found little to see at dawn’s first light: a heavy fog rolling off the river had reduced visibility to mere feet.

The first indication of trouble came when sentry Henry Karnes and rifleman Creed Taylor were fired upon by a Mexican soldier. They fell back on their command, who quickly prepared for battle. Bowie had his men secure their horses below the riverbank and then positioned his companies to achieve the best firing points. The Mexican force under Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea advanced with two cannon and proceeded to fire them toward the entrenched Texians at about eight in the morning.

“When the fog lifted, we found ourselves pretty well surrounded,” recalled Noah Smithwick. The Texans lay below the riverbanks as grape and canister shot crashed through the ripe pecan trees above, raining nuts down upon them. “I saw men picking them up and eating them with as little concern as if they were being shaken down by a norther,” said Smithwick.⁶

Bowie ordered his riflemen to remain cool and be deliberate with their shots. The Mexicans advanced but suffered many casualties in the process. The Texans particularly concentrated on killing anyone attempting to fire the cannon. The Mexican Brown Bess muskets were ineffective beyond seventy yards while Texan snipers with their long rifles could kill a soldier at two hundred yards. Several Texans were hit by musket balls fired from such a long range that their impact left only a heavy bruise without even breaking the skin. One Texan, Pen Jarvis, escaped injury when a musket ball struck the broad blade of his Bowie knife. The first Texan killed in the revolution was Richard Andrews of Captain Coleman’s company. His unit was moving to give firing support to other Texians in the river bend when Andrews brazenly dashed across an open area above the river bluff. He was taken under fire by every soldado within range and even a round of cannon fire. Andrews crumpled with grapeshot that tore through his right side and lacerated his bowels.⁷

Smithwick watched the Mexican troops make three charges. Three times they were turned back by deadly fire, until he felt “a panic seized them, and they broke.” Bowie then ordered a general charge and managed to capture one of the enemy’s cannon. “The day was soon ours,” recalled Juan Seguín. The Texans turned the artillery piece around and fired the Mexicans’ own grapeshot into them as they fled. General Austin and the remainder of his Texas Army reached the field about a half hour after the Mexican troops had been broken. Lieutenant William Travis led some of his mounted cavalrymen in pursuit of the fleeing soldiers.⁸

Austin rode about, shouting for his men to prepare to chase the soldados right into Béxar. He was met with strong objections from Fannin, Bowie, and Briscoe, however. Their concentrated fire had been deadly against their foes. Their fortunes might not be so kind should they charge foolishly into a town that was well fortified by General Cos’s men. The Mexicans had suffered fourteen killed and thirty-nine wounded, some of whom later died. The Texians lost only Dick Andrews of Coleman’s company killed and one man wounded.

CAPTAIN PHILIP DIMITT, LEFT behind to command the rebel garrison of La Bahía at Goliad, was hoping for some action of his own.

He had been writing to General Austin for two weeks in hopes of getting approval to seize Fort Lipantitlán (meaning “Lipan land” in Apache), located on the west bank of the Nueces River along the Atascosito Road about three miles upstream from the old town of San Patricio. Two of Dimitt’s men, sent to deliver dispatches to the town’s federalist leaders, had been seized and were being held prisoners within the fortress. Austin was also informed that Fort Lipantitlán housed a cannon, a herd of horses, and much-needed arms and ammunition.⁹

Major George Sutherland departed Goliad on October 28 with twenty-five men and twelve teams of supplies to deliver to the main camp of the army. A small detachment was sent ahead to report to General Austin near Béxar but they were attacked by Indians the next morning. Lieutenant David M. Collinsworth, brother of Major George Collinsworth, was shot through the neck and killed instantly. Five survivors fled for La Bahía. They returned with more armed men on October 30 to retrieve the body of Collinsworth. He had been scalped and mutilated.¹⁰

Philip Dimitt also dispatched an expedition from Goliad on October 31 to seize Fort Lipantitlán. Adjutant Ira J. Westover headed out with thirty-five men under his command, plus an advisory committee—Consultation delegates John Linn, Major James Kerr, and Colonel James Power. They decided their legislative duties in San Felipe could wait a few days. There was a fort full of Mexican soldiers to overthrow first. As fate would have it, Captain Don Nicolás Rodriguez, the commander of the Lipantitlán post, marched his soldados for Goliad on the same day. He had orders from General Cos to harass Dimitt’s rebels at the La Bahía fort.¹¹

Westover’s Texians did not travel the main road toward Lipantitlán, opting instead for a southeasterly course toward Refugio. They managed to slip into San Patricio on November 3 unmolested while Captain Rodriguez was moving toward Goliad. They moved on to the fortress of Lipantitlán shortly before dark and found that only twenty-seven Mexican soldiers remained there. Westover arrested an Irishman named James O’Riley for sympathizing with the centralists. O’Riley convinced Westover to guarantee his personal safety if he could talk the soldados from the fort. He did just as he promised, and the Texians had control of the fortress before midnight without a shot being fired.

Westover’s men remained at the fort only until midafternoon on November 4, when they began crossing back over the river to head for Goliad. Captain Rodriguez was informed by a spy that the Texians had seized his fort and captured his men. His force of about sixty Mexicans and ten Irish supporters rode hard for San Patricio and arrived in about an hour. The Texans took positions favorable to their long rifles and prepared for a fight. The Battle of Lipantitlán lasted only thirty-two minutes. Once again, the Mexicans’ Pagent carbines and Brown Bess muskets were useless when they opened fire at two hundred yards.

Snipers made their Kentucky long rifles count. The Mexicans and Irishmen moved forward into firing range, but they were cut down as they did. Twenty-eight soldados were killed, including the second in command, Lieutenant Marcellino García. The judge, alcalde, and sheriff of San Patricio—​Irishmen who had fought with the Mexicans—were all wounded in the battle. Westover’s only injury on the Texan side was Sergeant William Bracken, who had three fingers cut off his right hand by a half-ounce lead rifle slug.¹²

Westover’s plans to remove the cannon from the fort were ruined by a bitter cold rain that set in over the field. Feeling his men would be at risk of a Mexican counterattack while hauling heavy cannon down boggy roads, he opted to have the artillery dumped into the Nueces River. Many of the captured muskets and ammunition proved to be so useless that they were also dumped into the river.

The Texans moved downstream to San Patricio, where they were treated like heroes. Westover’s men soon returned to Goliad, bringing with them only fourteen captured horses. The Battle of Lipantitlán was hailed as a Texian victory, even though the fort itself had been quickly abandoned due to a lack of men to man it. The defeated Captain Rodriguez vowed to return to San Patricio soon. He wrote to the town’s leaders, promising their forgiveness if they would join with his ranks. Should they choose to side with the other Texian rebels, Rodriguez promised to unleash “the vengeance of the Mexican army” upon the town.¹³