The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 471
641 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
shot in the back, the ball breaking a rib loose from the backbone,
checking the force of the ball and turning it out through the side,
which saved his bacon.'24 If the ball had missed the rib the world
might have been deprived of this truthful chapter of history, of a
patriotic, but much slandered expedition. The Americans drove back
the enemy's force on the left wing, and the whole line advanced
leaving their cannon, and charging on the ravine, driving the enemy
out; and when the Americans advanced into the ditch their packmen
and supernumerary force, being without arms except small swords,
commenced pelting them with stones they had piled on the bank.
The Americans mounted the bank and charged on the stone piles,
driving the men back into their ranks, and attacking their whole
line, which was defended with great skill and courage. The Americans
pressing them at all points, they finally gave way, contesting every
foot of ground until they arrived at their pens. Availing themselves
of their protection, they made a last effort to repulse their foes. But
the Americans, undaunted, charged the pens, shooting them down
until they begged for quarter. The rest of their force, with Elisondo
at their head, having abandoned the field some time previously. The
Americans lost in this closely contested battle of about four hours
duration, five killed and about twenty wounded-one mortally.125
Two of the Americans were killed by the premature discharge of
their cannon. The enemy's loss was over three hundred killed and
about the same number wounded; and four hundred prisoners,126
12In Irene Viesca, H. H. McLane gives a much more romantic account of the
wound, ascribing the stopping of the bullet to a sash worn by the hero, the gift
of his Mexican sweetheart. McLane, Irene Viesca, 284-286.
1"'The mortally wounded man was Louis Masicot, secretary to Gutierrez, who
acted in this battle as aide to Colonel Perry. He was shot through the body, and
Villars, who was also wounded, said that he died like a brave man. Gaines gives
the republican loss as fourteen killed and forty-two wounded. Gutierrez says the
loss was thirty-two killed and forty-two wounded, while Yoakum gives the figures
as forty-seven in each category, and a report to Shaler gives ten and twenty. The
best figures come from the Plan of Battle; Anglo-American volunteers killed, six;
since died of wounds, three; Mexicans killed, seventeen; Mexicans since died of
wounds, three; volunteers wounded, seventeen; Indians wounded, one; Mexicans
wounded, none. Information derived from John Villars, in Gulick and others,
Lamar Papers, VI, 150; Information from Capt. Gaines, ibid., I, 282; Gutierrez de
Lara to the Mexican Congress, August 1, 1815, ibid., I, 17; Yoakum, History of Texas,
I, 172; Plan of Battle included with Shaler to Monroe, July 14, 1813, Shaler Papers.
1"eThe above quoted Plan of Battle sets the Spanish strength at 1550 of whom
350 were killed, eighty-two wounded taken and fifty unhurt. Villars is on the con-
servative side, setting 15o as the figure for killed and a proportionate number
(whatever that may be) wounded. Gutierrez, as usual, gives the extreme figures of
400 killed and soo prisoners. Information derived from John Villars, in Gulick
and others, Lamar Papers, VI, 15o; Gutierrez de Lara to the Mexican Congress,
August 1, 1815, ibid., I, 17; Plan of Battle included with Shaler to Monroe, July 14,
1813, Shaler Papers.471
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, periodical, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196/m1/507/?rotate=270: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.