The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909 Page: 63
332 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Recollections of S. F. Sparks. 63
It was a complete panic. One man, living a few miles from
Washington, together with his wife and three or four little chil-
dren started.They had ten or twelve head of cattle, and a pony;
they were driving the cattle, and his wife was riding the pony,
with the youngest child on behind her. Before they got to Wash-
ington some people passed them, and told them to go as fast as
they could, for the Mexicans were close behind. This was
more than the heroic man could stand. He told his wife
that it would be better for one of them to escape, than
for all to be killed; then he took her and the child off the horse,
left them in the road, and came on and crossed the river. But his
wife and children drove the cows, and in an hour or so they crossed
the river, too, and found him sitting by a tree. She went to him
and said, "Now you get behind this breast-work of cotton bales
and fight." But he said it was not worth while, for they would
kill everybody that stayed and fought them. She said, "Well, I
will. If I can get a gun, I'll be durned if I don't go behind that
breast-work and fight with those men." We had an old musket
with us, and my mess-mate, Howard Bailey, said, "Madam, here
is a gun." She took the gun and remained over half the night
behind the breast-works.
The next morning my captain said to me that the country was
gone, and that he, his brother and his cousin were going home, and
said, "Your father told me to advise you just as I would my
brother, and I advise you now to go home; this is the advice I gave
my brother." 1 thanked him, and told him to tell my father, he
need not look for me; that if the country had to go I would go
with it; that I would fight Santa Anna at every creek, river, and
thicket to the Sabine River. They left us then with the orderly
sergeant. The same day, I, with four others of our company,
T. D. Brooks, Sam McGlothin, Howard Bailey and Henry Chap-
man, were ordered by the president to Harrisburg to press horses
and guns for the army. We served two weeks in that capacity, and
had some very exciting times. The whole country was fleeing from
Santa Anna's army.
The first horses we pressed were at Lynchburg. We went there
late in the evening, and just after dark Lynch told McGlothin that
two young men had ridden into town on two good horses, and
that the men ought to be in the army. McGlothin told me to take
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909, periodical, 1909; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101048/m1/71/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.