The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 292
684 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
On February 22, 1836, Charles wrote that he was on the way
to headquarters of the Texan Army at San Antonio.5 He could not
have arrived in Texas at a more crucial time. Open warfare be-
tween Mexican and Texan forces had broken out months before.
On March 2, 1836, delegates to the first Constitutional Conven-
tion at Washington-on-the-Brazos signed the declaration of inde-
pendence from Mexico, and two days later General Sam Houston
was elected supreme commander of the Texan military forces.
Land bounties were offered to those who should serve in the
army; and the convention published an appeal to the people of
the United States, calling for money, supplies, and troops.
Mexican advance forces under command of Santa Anna reached
San Antonio on February 22, and demanded surrender of the
Texan forces at the Alamo. The demand was indignantly refused;
in the final bloody assault of Sunday, March 4, some 182 Texans
died, having killed or wounded more than i500 of their foes.
On Palm Sunday, March 27, by order from Santa Anna, 330 of
Fannin's men who had been captured at Goliad a week earlier
were butchered.
In rage and resentment the people demanded that these slaugh-
ters be avenged and the enemy driven from the country. There
was sharp criticism of Houston's tactics of the next few weeks-
a retreat and gathering of forces for a decisive battle at a time
and under circumstances of his choosing. But the commander's
moves were justified at San Jacinto, where on April 21, 1836, he
trapped and destroyed Santa Anna's army, and the Texan battle-
cry, "Remember the Alamol Remember Goliadl" became a shout
of triumph.
There is no record of the movements of Charles Drake Ferris
between February 22 and San Jacinto Day. An account of the
battle, illustrated by a sketch of the field showing relative posi-
tions of the opposing forces, appeared on June 15, 1836, in the
Daily Commercial Advertiser of Buffalo, New York. This account,
probably unknown to most students of Texan history, was written
by Horace P. Chamberlain from Texas, to his father in Buffalo.
It said in part:
sMrs. Sarah Gray Ferris Lovejoy to Joshua Lovejoy, March 27, 1836 (MS., in
possession of Fred A. Rosenstock, Denver, Colorado).29
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960, periodical, 1960; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101186/m1/366/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.