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Authors: Charles M. Robinson III
Tags: Fiction
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Caddo chief Canoma, who, traveling under a safe conduct, had managed to find the raiders and recover the horses and was en route back to the settlement. Without bothering to inquire, Burleson’s men killed Canoma and his son, alienating the Caddos. Soon after, Indian depredations prompted some Brazos settlers to raid a Keechi village on the Trinity River, killing several people, destroying the village, and capturing horses, disrupting the fragile truce between the Indians and the Brazos whites. 35
Then, in July 1835, a company of men under Capt. Robert M. Coleman attacked a Tawakoni village in what is now Limestone County, east of Waco. Though surprised, the Indians outnumbered the whites, forcing them to retreat to Parker’s Fort, seat of the Parker clan, some forty miles east of Waco. Coleman sent for help and was reinforced by three companies under Col. John H. Moore. The Indians retreated. Moore’s Rangers combed the countryside as far as the present site of Dallas before returning home. 36 These various skirmishes, insignificant on their own, would have far-reaching repercussions, not only with the local tribes but with the powerful Comanches of the Plains.
For all its efforts to bring this fighting to an end, the Permanent Council itself aggravated the situation by giving command of one of the new official Ranger companies to Capt. John Tumlinson. Like Burleson with his ad hoc rangers, Tumlinson was unlikely to inquire about an Indian’s intentions before killing him. Neither he nor his brothers ever forgot the murder of their father, and “the Fighting Tumlinsons,” as the clan would be known, nursed a lifelong hatred of Indians. 37
Because they were moving into Comanche country, Tumlinson’s Rangers could expect all the justification they needed for starting a fight. The sixty-man company probably organized in late 1835, because by early January 1836 it was ready for duty. The Rangers were assigned to rendezvous at Hornsby’s Station on the Colorado, collect equipment, and ride to the headwaters of Brushy Creek, about thirty miles northwest of the site of modern Austin. There they were to build and garrison a blockhouse.
One of the privates in the company, Noah Smithwick, left a memoir that has become a classic account of Texas’s early years. Smithwick came to Texas in 1827, when he was about twenty, “with all my worldly possessions, consisting of a few dollars in money, a change of clothes, and a gun, of course, to seek my fortune.” 38 He lived for a while in DeWitt’s Colony before settling in San Felipe, where he established himself as a blacksmith. He was part of the force that captured San Antonio and, erroneously believing the fighting with Mexico was over, joined Tumlinson’s company to see more action. This probably saved his life, because it kept him away from the Alamo. 39
A FORMER MISSION secularized and converted to a military post by the Spaniards, the Alamo was garrisoned by regular troops and volunteers commanded by Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis. 40 On February 23, 1836, a vanguard of Mexican dragoons under Gen. Joaqúin Ramírez y Sesma arrived in San Antonio. Later that day, Santa Anna himself rode into the city with the main Mexican force and invested the fort. Faced with the prospect of a long siege, Travis penned a hasty note to the nearest help, seventy miles away in Gonzales.
The enemy in large force is in sight. We want men and provisions. Send them to us. We have 150 men and are determined to defend the Alamo to the last. Give us assistance.
W. B. Travis, Lieut.-Col. Commanding
P.S. Send an express to San Felipe with the news night and day.
Travis 41
The note was given to Dr. John Sutherland and Capt. John W. Smith, who arrived in Gonzales the following day. Among those who saw it was Major Williamson of the recently authorized Ranger Corps, who wrote a letter advising the provisional government:
By express from San Antonio under date of 23rd inst. I have received
Then, in July 1835, a company of men under Capt. Robert M. Coleman attacked a Tawakoni village in what is now Limestone County, east of Waco. Though surprised, the Indians outnumbered the whites, forcing them to retreat to Parker’s Fort, seat of the Parker clan, some forty miles east of Waco. Coleman sent for help and was reinforced by three companies under Col. John H. Moore. The Indians retreated. Moore’s Rangers combed the countryside as far as the present site of Dallas before returning home. 36 These various skirmishes, insignificant on their own, would have far-reaching repercussions, not only with the local tribes but with the powerful Comanches of the Plains.
For all its efforts to bring this fighting to an end, the Permanent Council itself aggravated the situation by giving command of one of the new official Ranger companies to Capt. John Tumlinson. Like Burleson with his ad hoc rangers, Tumlinson was unlikely to inquire about an Indian’s intentions before killing him. Neither he nor his brothers ever forgot the murder of their father, and “the Fighting Tumlinsons,” as the clan would be known, nursed a lifelong hatred of Indians. 37
Because they were moving into Comanche country, Tumlinson’s Rangers could expect all the justification they needed for starting a fight. The sixty-man company probably organized in late 1835, because by early January 1836 it was ready for duty. The Rangers were assigned to rendezvous at Hornsby’s Station on the Colorado, collect equipment, and ride to the headwaters of Brushy Creek, about thirty miles northwest of the site of modern Austin. There they were to build and garrison a blockhouse.
One of the privates in the company, Noah Smithwick, left a memoir that has become a classic account of Texas’s early years. Smithwick came to Texas in 1827, when he was about twenty, “with all my worldly possessions, consisting of a few dollars in money, a change of clothes, and a gun, of course, to seek my fortune.” 38 He lived for a while in DeWitt’s Colony before settling in San Felipe, where he established himself as a blacksmith. He was part of the force that captured San Antonio and, erroneously believing the fighting with Mexico was over, joined Tumlinson’s company to see more action. This probably saved his life, because it kept him away from the Alamo. 39
A FORMER MISSION secularized and converted to a military post by the Spaniards, the Alamo was garrisoned by regular troops and volunteers commanded by Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis. 40 On February 23, 1836, a vanguard of Mexican dragoons under Gen. Joaqúin Ramírez y Sesma arrived in San Antonio. Later that day, Santa Anna himself rode into the city with the main Mexican force and invested the fort. Faced with the prospect of a long siege, Travis penned a hasty note to the nearest help, seventy miles away in Gonzales.
The enemy in large force is in sight. We want men and provisions. Send them to us. We have 150 men and are determined to defend the Alamo to the last. Give us assistance.
W. B. Travis, Lieut.-Col. Commanding
P.S. Send an express to San Felipe with the news night and day.
Travis 41
The note was given to Dr. John Sutherland and Capt. John W. Smith, who arrived in Gonzales the following day. Among those who saw it was Major Williamson of the recently authorized Ranger Corps, who wrote a letter advising the provisional government:
By express from San Antonio under date of 23rd inst. I have received
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