The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 2, July 1898 - April, 1899 Page: 313
[335] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Battle of Gonzales.
313
THE BATTLE OF GONZALES, THE "LEXINGTON" OF
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION.
MILES S. BENNET,
CAPTAIN COMPANY E, TEXAS EX-RANGER BATTALION.
On the fourth of July, 1838, at Gonzales, I met at a festive occa-
sion some of those who had been prominent in the defense of that
town and its brass cannon in 1835; and associating with them and
others for many years afterwards I had opportunities for hearing
from them narratives of stirring incidents of that period. Al-
though these incidents were considered of small importance at the
time, I like to recall them and place them on record, that they may
not be completely forgotten.
In company with my father, Major Valentine Bennet, who had
actively participated in those scenes and who was one of the first
officers commissioned at Gonzales by General Stephen F. Austin, I
went to some of the places of the vicinity made historic by the
movements of the colonists and the events of the battle and retreat,
notably the celebrated mound (De Witt's) where the Mexicans en-
camped; also, the prairie bluff below the town watering place just
above where the timbered bottom begins, the place where the can-
non was thrown into the river when the town was burned by the
retreating army, and the stricken inhabitants terribly weakened by
the slaughter in the Alamo of forty of their men, were constrained
to abandon the place and try to save themselves in the disastrous
flight known as the "Runaway Scrape." It occasioned melancholy
feelings to view the ruins of the burnt town, which had evidently
been quite a thriving little city, having comfortable two-story dwell-
ings, storehouses said to have been stocked with valuable goods, a
cotton gin and mills, and a brick yard, and was able to boast of a
regular city incorporation.
My father was acquainted with the circumstances attending the
beginning of hostilities at Gonzales, he having located there with
some colonists in 1832. He had been in feeble health, having been
severely wounded in the battle of Velasco in June of that year.
He had been acquainted with the forty citizens who had ridden to
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 2, July 1898 - April, 1899, periodical, 1898/1899; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101011/m1/317/?rotate=270: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.