Runaway Scrape
Residents on the Gulf Coast and at San Antonio de Béxar began evacuating in January upon learning of the Mexican army's troop movements into their area, an event that was ultimately replayed across Texas.
The civilian refugees were accompanied by the newly forming provisional army, as Houston bought time to train soldiers and create a military structure that could oppose Santa Anna's greater forces.
In 1834, Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna shifted from a federalist political ideology to creating a centralist government and revoked the country's constitution of 1824.
[5] Intending to put down all rebellion in Coahuila y Tejas, he began amassing his army on November 28, 1835, [6] soon followed by General Joaquín Ramírez y Sesma leading the Vanguard of the Advance across the Rio Grande in December.
[25] When Lieutenant Francisco de Castañeda arrived accompanied by 100 soldiers and made a second attempt at repossessing the cannon, Texians dared the Mexicans to "come and take it".
[FN 5] The immediate result of the Texian victory at Gonzales was that two days later the number of volunteers had swelled to over 300, and they were determined to drive the Mexican army out of Texas.
[30] On the banks of the Nueces River 3 miles (4.8 km) from San Patricio on November 4 during the Battle of Lipantitlán, volunteers under Ira Westover captured the fort from Mexican troops.
[33] When Austin was selected to join Branch T. Archer and William H. Wharton on a diplomatic mission to seek international recognition and support, Edward Burleson was named as commander.
[34] On December 5, James C. Neill began distracting Cos by firing artillery directly at the Alamo, while Benjamin Milam and Frank W. Johnson led several hundred volunteers in a surprise attack.
[35] Approximately 300 of the Texian garrison at Béxar departed on December 30 to join Johnson and James Grant on the Matamoros Expedition, in a planned attack to seize the port for its financial resources.
[40] Urrea's troops then turned southwest by some 26 miles (42 km) to Agua Dulce Creek and on March 2 attacked a group of the expedition led by Grant, killing all but 11, six of whom were taken prisoner.
At that point Houston viewed Béxar as a military liability and did not want Santa Anna's advancing army gaining control of any remaining soldiers or artillery.
[FN 4] If you execute your enemies, it saves you the trouble of having to forgive them.As the closest settlement to San Antonio de Béxar, Gonzales was the rallying point for volunteers who responded to both the Travis letter from the Alamo and Houston's recruitment pleas.
By midnight, less than an hour after Dickinson had arrived, the combined army and civilian population began a frantic move eastward,[66] leaving behind everything they could not immediately grab and transport.
Told of the Alamo's fall, Bird's men offered assistance to the fleeing citizens and joined Houston's army at Bartholomew D. McClure's plantation on the evening of March 14.
[75] The government then fled to Groce's Landing where they stayed for several days before moving on to Harrisburgh on March 21, where they established temporary headquarters in the home of widow Jane Birdsall Harris.
The Texian army camped March 15–18 on the Lavaca River property of Williamson Daniels[80] where they were joined by combined forces under Joe Bennett and Captain Peyton R.
[82] The ferry and trading post, as well as the family home of Jesse Burnam, were all burned at Houston's orders on March 17 to prevent Santa Anna's army from making the same crossing.
The estimated 320 troops were low on food and water, and the breakdown of a wagon allowed Urrea's men to overtake them at Coleto Creek, ending in Fannin's surrender on March 20.
For this reason, I intend to retreat, if I am obliged to go even to the banks of the Sabine.Texian survivors of the Battle of Coleto Creek believed their surrender agreement with Urrea would, at worst, mean their deportation.
[102] Houston's plan to move the army north to Groce's Landing on the Brazos River was met with resistance from captains Wyly Martin and Moseley Baker, whose units balked at further retreat.
Amid the confusion of fleeing residents of those counties, two volunteer groups under captains William Kimbro and Benjamin Bryant arrived to join Houston on March 29.
[FN 10] The steamboat Yellowstone[112] under the command of Captain John Eautaw Ross was impressed into service for the Provisional Army of Texas on April 2 and initially ferried patients across the Brazos River when Dr. James Aeneas Phelps established a field hospital at Bernardo Plantation.
[124] After walking 50 miles (80 km) from Harrisburgh, Mirabeau B. Lamar arrived at Bernardo to enlist as a private in Houston's army and suggested using the steamer for guerilla warfare.
[135] Before the Texian army left Bernardo Plantation, they welcomed the arrival of two cannon cast in Cincinnati, Ohio, funded entirely by the people of that city as a donation to the Texas Revolution.
[140] Martin and Baker abandoned the river crossings on April 14 and re-joined Houston's army which had marched from Bernardo to the Charles Donoho Plantation near present-day Hempstead in Waller County.
The main army parted from the refugees at this point, and acting Secretary of War David Thomas[FN 10] advised Houston to move southward to secure Galveston Bay.
While he attempted to secure such involvement, Carson sent a dispatch to Houston on April 14 advising him to retreat all the way to the Louisiana-Texas border on the Sabine River and bide his time before engaging the Mexican army.
[147] Houston's troops stopped overnight on April 16 at the home of Matthew Burnet and the next morning continued marching towards Harrisburgh, 25 miles (40 km) southeast.
[155] In a troop movement that took all night on a makeshift raft, the Texian army crossed Buffalo Bayou at Lynchburg April 19 with 930 soldiers, leaving behind 255 others as guards or for reasons of illness.
