The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961 Page: 93
574 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
The Brazoria proceeded down the river to the fort, twenty-five
or thirty miles distant. This post was about 150 yards from both
the Brazos River and the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The com-
mander, Lieutenant Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea, refused to
grant permission for the vessel to pass, so the Texans decided to
capture the fort.
This was a formidable undertaking; in fact, the Mexican com-
mander declared that he could hold the fort against i o,ooo troops
-and the Texans numbered only i 2. The Mexican garrison con-
sisted of 150 men.5
The garrison was well-fortified. There was an outer row of
posts and an inner row; the six feet of space between was filled
with sand, earth, and shells. John Henry Brown, the historian,
described the fort: "Inside of the walls was an embankment on
which musketeers could stand and shoot over without exposing
anything but their heads. In the center was an elevation of the
same material, inclosed by higher posts, on which the artillery
was planted and protected by bulwarks."
Between the fort and the beach, there was a lodgment of drift-
logs and, Brown says, past these were some slight elevations;
otherwise the surface around the fort was entirely flat. The strategy
was this:
The night of June 25, the Brazoria with eighteen riflemen
aboard was to sail down abreast of the fort; Captain Brown, with
forty-seven riflemen, was to get behind the drift-logs, while Cap-
tain Austin, with an equal number, was to approach from the
north.
Since there was no natural cover for Austin's command, each
man had provided himself with a portable palisade of cypress
plank, three inches thick; each of these shields was supported by a
movable leg.'
A shot-one account says accidental," another says deliberate--
5Henry Smith, "Reminiscences of Henry Smith," Quarterly of the Texas State His-
torical Association, XIV, 38.
6Brown, History of Texas, I, 183.
71bid.
8Ibid.
9P. E. Pearson, "Reminiscences of Judge Edwin Waller," Quarterly of the Texas
State Historical Association, IV, 38.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 64, July 1960 - April, 1961, periodical, 1961; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101190/m1/113/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.