4. The Texas Revolution: Part D (March 8-May 1836)
(Back to Texas Revolution Table of Contents)
Suggestion: One might also find it useful to consult the list of documents and collections of documents at List 2, "Texas in the Nineteenth Century: General."
William Fairfax Gray. The Diary of William Fairfax Gray, from Virginia to Texas, 1835-1837. Author was in Texas for most of the time period covered by this list. He had come to Texas as an agent for two Washington, D.C. land speculators. He attended the convention at Washington-on the Brazos until its adjournment, then followed the government in its retreat for several weeks. He left Texas for a return journey to Virginia on April 25. Material relevant to the period covered by this list is found in Vol. VII, p. 117 and following; Vol. VIII, p. 136 and following, and Vol. IX, pp. 156-162. [Pages are numbered consecutively through all of the volumes. Use the "Go to Page" link to reach the desired pages.] Link to document
Stephen F. Sparks, "Recollections of S. F. Sparks." [Written many years after events described.] Author recounts his participation in the Texas Revolution from the fall of 1835 to the summer of 1836. Link to document
The Convention. Journals of the Convention, March 1-17, 1836. [The link is to a Table of Contents. Click on the links for a specific date. The files are in pdf format; Adobe Acrobat required.] Link to Table of Contents
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Manifesto relating to the Texas Campaign, May 10, 1837. [Relates to events of early 1836.] Evidently written at Vera Cruz. Link to document
Juan Nepomuceno Almonte. Private Journal, February 1-April 16, 1836. Colonel Almonte was a member of General Santa Anna's staff. [Scroll down to "Feb. 1st At 8 A.M." for the beginning of the document.] Link to document
Miles S. Bennett. Reminiscences of the Texas Revolution in 1836. Written many years after the fact by an eyewitness. Link to document
DeWitt Colony Papers: Documents and correspondence, 1836. Link to documents
Lewis M. H. Washington. "Fannin and his Command," [n.d.]. Written no later than 1853. Was a participant in the events described (early months, 1836). Link to document
Jose Urrea. Diary of military operations, February-March, 1836. Begins with February 16; ends with March 31. Link to document
Thomas B. Rees to Gerald Burch, March 8, 1836. A member of the Georgia Battalion writes from Goliad to someone in Columbus, Georgia, that he expect a large Mexican force to attack "before day." Link to document
John Sowers Brooks to James Hagarty, March 9, 1836. It is feared at Goliad that the Alamo has fallen. The men at Goliad have had no bread for several days. "I am nearly naked, without shoes, and without money." [For the fate of Brooks, scroll down to Jack Shackelford to N. C. Brooks, August 5, 1836.] (Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
B[urr]. H. Duval to William P. Duval, March 9, 1836. Author, one of James W. Fannin's officers at Goliad writes that no one expected Santa Anna to invade. The post has 400 men. Their preparations are sufficient to give any Mexican army "a desperate fight." Much dissension; Fannin unpopular. Link to document
Sam Houston to James W. Fannin, March 11, 1836. The commander-in-chief of the Texan forces writes from Gonzales that he has learned from a supposedly reliable Mexican source that the Alamo fell the previous Sunday. Link to document
Joseph Lawrence. Account of experiences in the Texas Revolution, March-April 1836. [Written much later.] Author was part of a company of volunteers sent by Houston to relieve the Alamo. Arrived too late. Fought at San Jacinto. [Scroll down to near the end of the page for the document.] Link to document
Sam Houston. Order to James W. Fannin, March 11, 1836. Orders him to abandon Goliad, fall back to Guadalupe Victoria, and send some of his men to Gonzales. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Benjamin Briggs Goodrich to Edmund Goodrich, March 15, 1836. Delegate to convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos reports that the enemy is marching toward Washington. Women and children may have to be evacuated beyond their reach. Enemy fights under a red flag signifying "no quarter." [The source for this document is The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Alamo website.] Link to document
Constitution of the Republic of Texas, March 15, 1836. Adopted by the convention at Washington-on-the Brazos on that date. Link to document
Texas. Constitutional Convention. Executive Ordinance, March 16, 1836. Contains fourteen articles that establish the ad interim government of the Republic of Texas. Major subjects: officers of the government, election of the officers, authorization of a loan, appropriation of funds, and authorization to make treaties with other nations. The link to the document is on a Table of Contents Page. [Scroll down to find the link to the ordinance dated March 16, 1836. The document is a pdf file; Adobe Acrobat required.] Link to Table of Contents to the documents For a version (using the plural "Ordinances") that is easier to access, select this link.
William Bryan to "His Excellency the Governor and Hon Council of Texas," March 16, 1836. Texas general agent in New Orleans reports receipt of two iron field pieces [the "Twin Sisters], presented by the citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. Will be delivered to the revolutionary government. Link to document
[Sam] Houston to James Collinsworth, March 17, 1836. [Copy.] Houston writes to the chairman of the military affairs committee of the Texan government [from a location near the Colorado River south of present-day La Grange] about his military situation vis-ý-vis the Mexican force marching eastward toward his army. Vows to fight. Details. Link to document
James W. Fannin and Jose Urrea. Articles of capitulation, March 20, 1836. Followed Fannin's defeat at the Battle of Coleto. Link to document
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Manifesto, 1837. A defense of his actions in Texas, especially his ordering that the prisoners at Goliad be executed after their surrender in March, 1836. Link to document
David G. Burnet to M. B. Menard, March 19, 1836. Interim president of Texas instructs Menard to negotiate neutrality with Indian tribes of eastern Texas without promising land. Link to document
Juan Jose Holzinger to John A. Wharton, June 3, 1836. Reports the capitulation of James W. Fannin at Coleto, March 20, 1836. Link to document
David G. Burnet. Proclamation, March 1836. Interim president of Texas issues statement to calm fears and rally men to join the Texas army. Link to document
Jose Urrea to the Mexican minister of war and marine, March 21, 1836. Report on the Battle of Coleto, March 19, 1836. Link to document
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to Jose Maria Tornel, May, 1837. Denies that James W. Fannin capitulated on March 20, 1836. If he had, he might well have petitioned the Mexican congress to pardon him and his men. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to Nicolas de la Portilla, March 23, 1836. Writes to the Mexican commander at Goliad that General Jose Urrea had sent him 234 prisoners taken at the Battle of Coleto, March 19 and 20. As the Mexican government had declared all foreign troops fighting against Mexico to be pirates, Santa Anna trusts that Portilla will soon be able to inform him "that public vengeance has been satisfied by the punishment of such detestable delinquents." Link to document
San Felipe Telegraph and Texas Register, March 24, 1836. Image of interior page. There is some information about the current situation in Texas, with Mexican forces marching eastward. Included is a letter from Mosley Baker, dated March 22 and written from the Texan army encampment on the Colorado River. Link to document
Nicolas de la Portilla to Jose Urrea, March 26, 1836. In compliance with orders from General Santa Anna, the prisoners Urrea sent will be shot the following morning at 4:00 a.m. Link to document
Nicolas de la Portilla. Diary extract, March 26, 27, 1836. Describes execution of James Fannin and his men at Goliad. Link to document
Joseph H. Spohn. Account of James W. Fannin's execution, [summer, 1836]. Although written in the third-person this is supposedly Spohn's own account,. It appeared in the New York Evening Star sometime in the summer of 1836. An excerpt appeared in a Pennsylvania newspaper, August 9, 1836. Tells of events of March 27, 1836, at Goliad. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Joseph Henry Barnard. Journal. [n.d.] Deals with this physician's being at Goliad in the early months of 1836. Author was spared from execution to tend to the Mexican wounded. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Joseph Henry Barnard. Partial list of the men under James W. Fannin's command at Goliad, March, 1836. [This is just page one of a multi-page document. Difficult to read this image of the original document.] Link to document
Samuel T. Brown. Account of the Georgian Battalion at Goliad, 1859. Written for the Texas Almanac by an eyewitness who survived the massacre in March of 1836. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Dillard Cooper. Remembrances of the Goliad massacre. Written long after the events described. Deals with March 27, 1836, and the days following. Mainly about the author's escape from the execution site. Link to document
John C. Duval. Account of Battle of Coleto and events that followed in March of 1836. Written after the fact by an eyewitness. Probably somewhat fictionalized. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
John C. Duval. Account of events following the Battle of Coleto, March 1836. Author, an eyewitness to the events, writes to refute claim by General Santa Anna that James W. Fannin surrendered unconditionally. No date for the manuscript. Does not appear to be the same information as found in the document preceding this one. Link to document
Herman Ehrenberg. Account of the Battle of Coleto and the Goliad massacre. Eyewitness account. Written some time after the fact. Author not friendly to Goliad's commander, James W. Fannin. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Joseph Fields. Account of events at Goliad in early 1836. Author, a physician, begins the narrative early in 1836. Was spared execution to tend to the Mexican wounded. Later escaped. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Abel Morgan. Account of the Goliad massacre, [n.d.] Written by an eyewitness sometime after the events described. Extensive coverage of the Battle of Coleto as well. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Andrew A. Boyle. "I Survived the Goliad Massacre," True West, June, 1958. Author wrote eyewitness account of his experiences shortly before his death in 1870. Link to document
Andrew A. Boyle. Account of the Battle of Coleto and the Goliad massacre [March 1836]. From undated Republic pension application. Link to document
Benjamin Holland. Account of Goliad events of March 1836. Author, an eyewitness to the Goliad massacre, wrote the account no later than 1839. Begins on March 12, ends March 27. Link to document
"S.H.B." Account of Goliad massacre on March 27, 1836. Eyewitness account written no later than 1861. Link to document
Jack Shackelford. Account of Goliad massacre, [March 27, 1836]. Written in 1841 by an eyewitness. [This document is from the Texas Education Agency's Social Studies Center Primary Sources website.] [This is a pdf file, which requires that you have an Adobe Acrobat Reader in your computer. It may be possible to obtain a free download from the Internet.] Link to document
Unnamed commander of a firing squad at Goliad, March 27, 1836. Detailed description. The killings seemed to make him very sorrowful. Link to document
Vicente Filisola. Account of events associated with the massacre at Goliad, March, 1836. Written by a Mexican officer who was on the scene. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Ramon Martinez Caro. Account of events associated with the massacre at Goliad, March 1836. Author was not an eyewitness to the events but writes from the perspective of his being President Santa Anna's secretary. Link to document
Joseph Lawrence. Account of his experiences in the Texan army in the early months of 1836. Written some years later for the Hallettsville Planter. Was one of the Texan soldiers from Gonzales who rode to San Antonio and brought back the news of the fall of the Alamo. He then participated in the retreat eastward and the Battle of San Jacinto. Link to document
Creed Taylor. Account of the muster and retreat of Houston's army at Gonzales, March, 1836.The author, a participant, wrote his account in about 1900. Link to document
Captain Sharpe. Report of the burning of Gonzales March 13, 1836. [Author's first name not supplied.] The burning was done on orders of Sam Houston. [The account was reported to Henry S. Foote sometime before 1841.] Link to document
Creed Taylor. Account of the "Runaway Scrape," spring, 1836. Author, an eyewitness, wrote his account about 1900. Link to document
Jeff Parsons. Account of the "Runaway Scrape," spring, 1836. Author was a slave at the time. Account part of an interview in the Galveston News many years after the event. Link to document
Frances Menefee Sutherland to Sarah Norment, June 5, 1836. Tells of her participation in the "Runaway Scrape" in the spring of 1836. Link to document
J. H. Kuykendall. Account of the muster of the Texan army and the evacuation of Gonzales, March 1836. The author, a participant in the events described, wrote this at some later but unspecified time. Link to document
William Zuber. Account of the "Runaway Scrape and Houston's retreat from Gonzales, spring, 1836." Excerpt from author's My Eighty Years in Texas. Zuber, a participant in the events, wrote the account many years later in his old age. Link to document
Sion Record Bostick. Reminiscence of his service in Houston's army, March, 1836. Link to document
Alphonso Steele. Memoir of the San Jacinto campaign, March-April, 1836. Written long afterward. Author was the last survivor of the battle. Died in 1911. Link to document
Nicholas Labadie. Account of the San Jacinto campaign, March-April, 1836. Written probably in the 1850s by an eyewitness to the events. Three sections: "From Gonzales to Harrisburg," "April 19-22 at San Jacinto," and "Capture of Santa Anna and Aftermath." Link to document
George Bernard Erath. Memoir of the San Jacinto campaign, March-April, 1836. Author was a participant from about March 20 through the battle itself. Probably written many years after the events described. Link to document
James Monroe Hill. Memoir of the San Jacinto campaign, March-April, 1836. Written in 1894. Author joined Houston's retreating army at Columbus on the Colorado River. Link to document
J. W. Winters. Account of the Battle of San Jacinto [late April, 1836]. [Written down in 1901.] Brief recounting of his experiences prior to April 1836 in Texas. Most of the narrative deals with the period just before, during, and just after the battle. Link to document
Samuel P. Carson to George Childress and Robert Hamilton, April 1, 1836. The secretary of state of the ad interim government of the Republic of Texas writes to to special agents sent to the U.S. that he has heard a rumor that Mexico will attempt to sell Texas to the U.S. If true, the two are to protest that Mexico has no legal right to make such a sale. Instructs the two to associate themselves with Stephen F. Austin, Branch T. Archer, and William H. Wharton, Texas commissioners to the U.S. to obtain funds for the Revolution, to seek U.S. recognition of Texan independence. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
A. J. Yates to A. C. Allen, April 5, 1836. [Extract.] Yates, assisting the Texas commissioners to the U.S., writes from Baltimore to the future co-founder of the city of Houston that he has just been in Washington. President Andrew Jackson and Congress in favor of recognizing Texan independence and, if Texas so desires, annexation to the U.S. Details. Link to document
B. T. Archer, S. F. Austin, and Wm. H. Wharton to "the Government of Texas," April 6, 1836. They cannot treat with the U.S. government until they can present a declaration of independence from the Convention and they have status as ministers from the Republic. If that had already happened, they believe that recognition would already have been achieved and [they imply] perhaps annexation as well. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
David G. Burnet to Henry Raguet, April 7, 1836. President Burnet calls the "Runaway Scrape" premature, judges the army under Houston to be "in fine condition and high spirits," and calls on eastern Texans to join the fray. Link to document
Mirabeau B. Lamar to Jefferson Lamar, April 10, 1836. Lamar writes from Harrisburg to his brother in Georgia. Is leaving to join the army. Believes that a decisive battle will be fought soon on the Brazos. Is pessimistic about his survival and about the future of Texas. Link to document
G. A. Giddings to "Dear Parents," April 10, 1836. The author, a young volunteer in Houston's army (then camped twenty miles west of San Felipe), expresses his feelings about Santa Anna, Texas, liberty, etc. Link to document
Big Mush to the [unidentified] Committee of Safety, April 13, 1836. Cherokee chief defends his people against charges that they are siding with Mexico in the Texas Revolution. Link to document
Sam P. Carson to "David G. Burnet President and the Cabinet of the Republic of Texas," April 14, 1836. The secretary of state of the Ad Interim Government of the Republic of Texas writes from Natchitoches, Louisiana, of meeting U.S. Army General Edmund P. Gaines about his orders relating to his deploying troops in western Louisiana. Has heard of Indians in eastern Texas readying to aid Mexican forces in the Texas Revolution. Details and these and other matters. Link to document
Lyman F. Rounds. Pension application [no date]. Writer recounts his participation in the campaign that culminated in the Battle of San Jacinto in the spring of 1836. Link to document
William Zuber. Account of the San Jacinto campaign, April, 1836. From My Eighty Years in Texas. Deals with April 18 and 19. Link to document
[Sam Houston] to Cherokee Chief Bowl, [April 18, 1836]. Asserts that the Cherokees will get the land promised in a treaty [which, in reality, the Convention had not ratified] and claims that the Mexicans were not making much effort to subdue the Texan forces. [Scroll down in the document to "My friend Col. Bowl."] Link to document
George C. Childress to David G. Burnet, April 18, 1836. One of the Texan diplomatic agents sent to the U.S. to negotiate official recognition of the new republic's independence writes from Nashville, Tennessee, to the president of the Ad Interim Government that he doubts that the U.S. will accord that recognition immediately. Reports great interest in the Texas cause in both the South and the West, including the possibility that more volunteers may soon be on the way to Texas from Tennessee. Details. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Samuel Houston to ___________, April 19, 1836. States that his army is preparing to meet that of Santa Anna. "No previous occasion would justify it." Details. [The Texas State Library site states that "this document is one of several copies that Houston made and sent to various friends for safekeeping in case he did not survive the battle."] Link to document
William Zuber to Ben E. McCulloch, December 16, 1909. Account of his participation in the San Jacinto campaign in April 1836. Link to document
Lorenzo de Zavala to the President and Cabinet of the Republic of Texas, April 20, 1936. Zavala tenders his resignation as vice president of the ad interim government of Texas. Provides a very vague explanation for doing so. Link to document
Return of Texan soldiers killed and wounded in the Battle of San Jacinto, April 20, 21, 1836. Report is not dated but was likely written from the battlefield within a day or two of the end of hostilities. Link to document
Return of Mexican soldiers killed, taken prisoner, and wounded in the Battle of San Jacinto, April 23, 1836. Link to document
Thomas Rusk. Report on the Battle of San Jacinto, April 22, 1836. The battle took place the previous day. Link to document
Thomas J. Rusk. Anecdotes on the Battle of San Jacinto. Battle occurred on April 21, 1836. Written perhaps in 1841. Link to document
_________. "Battle of San Jacinto - by One Who Fought in It," The Living Age: 2 (September 7, 1844), 259-265. Describes events of April 21, 1836, and the days following. Link to document
Creed Taylor. Reminiscence of the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Author, a participant, wrote the account about 1900. Link to document
Amasa Turner to Guy M. Bryan, [1874]. Reminiscence of the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Juan N. Seguin. Account of the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. From author's Personal Memoirs of Juan N. Seguin, from the year 1834 to the Retreat of General Woll from The City of San Antonio 1842 (1842). [It may be necessary to scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Description of the Battle of San Jacinto, [written in 1837]. The battle occurred, April 21, 1836. Link to document
Pedro Delgado. Description of the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Colonel Delgado was a member of Santa Anna's staff. Probably written long after the fact. Link to document
Reports on the Battle of San Jacinto, April 1836 and afterward. Excerpts from the reports of Sam Houston, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and Pedro Delgado. Link to documents
Joel Robison. Account of the capture of Santa Anna following the Battle of San Jacinto, April 22, 1836. Link to document
John Forbes. Account of the capture of Santa Anna following the Battle of San Jacinto, April 22, 1836. Link to document
James A. Sylvester. Accounts of the capture of Santa Anna, April 22, 1836. Written in 1872 and 1874. [Scroll down to the accounts.] Link to document
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Three orders having to do with withdrawing troops from southeastern Texas, April 22, 1836. The third orders troops not to cause damage on their retreat. These orders are printed on a broadside titled "Texas Official!!" The broadside is undated but internal evidence indicates that it was printed sometime in May 1836. Link to document
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Orders for his troops to retreat, April 22, 1836. Some are to retreat to San Antonio, others to Guadalupe Victoria. [Scroll down for English translation.] Link to document
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Orders to troops not to cause damage on their retreat, April 22, 1836. [Scroll down for English translation.] Link to document
David G. Burnet to Lorenzo de Zavala, April 22, 1836. Texas Ad Interim President Burnet expresses regret that Zavala is resigning as ad interim vice president. He and the cabinet will miss his counsel "at this interesting time in our affairs." Link to document
W. C. Swearingen to Lemuel Swearingen, April 23, 1836. First person account of the San Jacinto campaign. Link to document
Broadside. "Texas!!" April 23, 1836. Published in New Orleans. Invites persons to immigrate to Texas. Promises free transportation and land (the latter under certain circumstances). [Scroll down to the image of the document.] Link to documentSam Houston to David G. Burnet, President Ad Interim of the Republic of Texas, April 25, 1836. Official report of the Battle of San Jacinto. Link to document
Thomas J. Rusk. "To the Troops and People of the East," [April 26, 1836]. Probably written from the battlefield at San Jacinto. Texan secretary of war calls on troops to report and be ready to push all Mexican forces out of Texas. Printed on a broadside titled "Texas Official!!" The broadside is undated but internal evidence indicates that it was printed sometime in May 1836. Link to document
Sam Houston to the bearer of the communication from Thomas J. Rusk, April 26, 1836. Very brief report on the results of the Battle of San Jacinto. Has the interesting phrase, evidently directed to settlers: "Tell them to come and plant corn." printed on a broadside titled "Texas Official!!" The broadside is undated but internal evidence indicates that it was printed sometime in May 1836. Link to document
Vicente Filisola. Evacuation of Texas: Translation of the Representation Addressed to the Supreme Government by Gen. Vicente Filisola, in defence of His Honor, and Explanation of His Operations as Commander-in-Chief of the Army Against Texas. The document is dated August 19, 1836, but is placed here because it deals with events beginning in late April. Filisola, on orders of Mexican President Santa Anna, led a retreat of all Mexican forces beyond the Rio Grande. Several briefer documents written during the time of the retreat are appended to the main report. Link to document
Lorenzo de Zavala, Thomas Rusk, and Bailey Hardeman to David G. Burnet, May 1, 1836. Writers protest the conduct of the war in the days following the Battle of San Jacinto. Link to document
David G. Burnet to Thomas J. Rusk, May 6, 1836. Commission making Rusk a brigadier general in the Texas Army . Link to document
Mirabeau B. Lamar to David G. Burnet and his cabinet, May 12, 1836. The secretary of war gives his views on the disposition of Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Link to document
Thomas J. Green. Call for volunteers, May 13, 1836. Texan army general, in New Orleans, calls for volunteers to come to Texas to drive the Mexican forces from the republic. Printed on a broadside titled "Texas Official!!" The broadside is undated but internal evidence indicates that it was printed sometime in May 1836. [It may be necessary to scroll down to this document.] Link to document
David G. Burnet, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and others. Articles of Agreement, [May, 1836]. Statements evidently intended as the basis for the "public" and "secret" treaties adopted on May 14. Link to document
The "public" Treaty of Velasco, May 14, 1836. Santa Anna promises not to take up arms against Texas and to order all Mexican troops to evacuate from Texas. Link to document
The "secret" Treaty of Velasco, May 14, 1836. Santa Anna pledges to fulfill stipulations in six articles "so far as concerns himself." Among them are pledges to work to gain the Mexican government's agreement to the independence of Texas and to a boundary between the two nations not to extend beyond the Rio Grande. Link to document
David G. Burnet to James Collinsworth and Peter W. Grayson, May 26, 1836. The president of the Ad Interim Government of the Republic of Texas appoints the recipients as commissioners to go to Washington, D.C., to solicit the aid of the U.S. government in helping to end the conflict between Texas and Mexico and in procuring from the latter a recognition of Texan independence. Details about their instructions. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
Wm. H. Jack to S. F. Austin and others, May 27, 1836. The new Texan secretary of state informs the recipients that President David G. Burnet has appointed Peter W. Grayson and James Collinsworth to replace them as commissioners to the United States. Explains why. Praises Austin and the others for their efforts. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document
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