The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920 Page: 173
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James W. Fannin, Jr., in the Texas Revolution
that if they were disappointed in marching to Matamoros, they
would return to the United States. Concerning these two letters,
Johnson says'" that Dr. Grant's letter was a private one, which
got into print, and that nothing of the contents of Morris's letter
was publicly known in the army before Bexar.
Be that as it may, certainly after the successful storming of
Bexar and the enforced retreat of Cos (December 5-15), the Mata-
moros fever seized the volunteers in earnest, and the Matamoros
Expedition seemed more feasible than ever. The majority of
these soldiers were from the United States, and other volunteers
from the United States were constantly coming in, eager to fight
the Mexicans. Since there were no Mexicans in Texas to fight,
and since no plan of campaign had as yet been definitely arranged,
it seemed all out of reason to these undisciplined fighters to sit
idly in camp for a month or two, waiting for a Mexican army to
attack them before they should have the opportunity of fighting.
Hence it was that the Matamoros Expedition, which would give
them immediate fighting and something to look forward to, ap-
pealed to them so strongly.
The objects of this expedition have been variously stated, but
perhaps no one has expressed them so concisely as has John Sowers
Brooks,"1 Adjutant of the Georgia Volunteers, when the expedition
was actually under way. He says:
The objects of this expedition appear to me to be not a sys-
tematic invasion of Mexico, but primarily to give employment to
the volunteers and lastly to secure, if practicable, a foothold in
Mexico, to carry the war out of Texas and to sustain ourselves
4"His statement is copied in Wooten (editor), A Comprehensive His-
tory of Texas, I, 195-6.
'John Sowers Brooks was born in Virginia in 1814. He had served
in the United States Marine Corps for eleven months before coming to
Texas to fight in the Revolution. Shortly after landing at Velasco,
December 20, 1835, he was made adjutant of the Georgia Battalion of
Permanent Volunteers, and accompanied that battalion when it started
from Velasco under Fannin to undertake the Matamoros Expedition.
The expedition got no further than Goliad, and Brooks was there dur-
ing the trying six weeks the volunteers held that fort. In February,
1836, he resigned his position as adjutant and became aide to Fannin.
He was also chief engineer, and had charge of the ammunition and
artillery. His letters covering the dates December 23, 1835,-March 10,
1836, published in THE QUARTERLY, IX, 157-209, are valuable in that
they give us an accurate contemporary picture of the ill-fated Mata-
moros Expedition.173
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920, periodical, 1920; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101075/m1/179/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.