the locust family, full of thorns, and at a little distance resembles the common peach tree in size and appearance. While the par

ty were threading their way through this thicket, the horse of one of them started in affright at an object beneath a bush. The rider checked his horse and said who's there?' A voice answered in Spanish. One of the party supposed that he recogni zed in the voice an old acquaintance of La Bahia, and asked if it was not such an one, mentioning the name. No,' was the reply, 6 my name is Milam.'

"Col. Milam is a native of Kentucky. At the commencement of the Mexican war of independence he engaged in the cause, and assisted in establishing the independence of the country. When Iturbide assumed the purple, Milam's republican principles placed him in fetters-dragged him into the city of Mexico, and confined him in prison until the usurper was dethroned. When Santa Anna assumed the Dictatorship, the republican Milam was again thrust into the prison at Monte Rey; but his past services and sufferings wrought upon the sympathies of his hard-hearted jailors. They allowed him the luxury of the bath. He profited by the indulgence, and made arrangements with an old compatriot to place a fleet horse, suitably equipped, upon the bank of the stream at a time appointed. The colonel passed the sentinel as he was wont to go into the water-walked quietly on-mounted the horse and fled.

"Four hundred miles would place him in safety. The noble horse did his duty, and bore the colonel clear of all pursuit to the place where our party surprised him. At first he supposed himself in the power of his enemy; but the English language soon convinced him that he was in the midst of his countrymen.

"He had never heard that Texas was making an effort to save herself. No whisper of the kind had been allowed to pass to his prison. When he learnt the object of the party, his heart was full. He could not speak-for joy.

"When the company arrived at the lower ford, they divided themselves into four parties of twelve men each. One party remained as a guard with the horses. The other three, each with a guide, marched by different routes to the assault.

"Their axes hewed down the door where the colonel commanding the place slept, and he was taken a prisoner from his bed. A sentinel hailed, and fired. A rifle ball laid him dead upon the spot. The discharge of fire-arms and the noise of human voices now became commingled. The Mexican soldiers fired from their quarters, and the blaze of their guns served as targets for the colonist riflemen.

"The garrison were called upon to surrender, and the call was

translated by a gentleman present who spoke the language. They asked for terms.

"The interpreter now became the chief speaker. 'No,' answered he. 6 They say they will massacre every one of you, unless you come out immediately and surrender. Come outcome out quick. I cannot keep them back-come out if you wish to save your lives-l can keep them back no longer.' 'O do for God's sake keep them back!' answered the Mexicans in their own language: we will come out and surrender immediately' and they rushed out with all possible speed and laid down their arms.

6

"And thus was the fort of Goliad taken-a fort which, with a garrison of three hundred and fifty patriots in the war of 1812-13, withstood a siege of an army of more than two thousand Spanish troops, and forced them to retire, discomfited.

"At the capture of the fort, three Mexican soldiers were killed and seven wounded, and one colonel, one captain, one lieutenant, with twenty-one petty officers and privates were made prisoners. Others of the garrison escaped in the dark and fled.

"In the fort were found two pieces of brass cannon, 500 muskets and carbines, 600 spears, with ammunition and provisions. "One of the colonists was wounded in the shoulder.

"Col. Milam assisted in the capture of the fort, and then he spoke: I assisted Mexico to gain her independence; I have spent more than twenty years of my life; I have endured heat and cold, hunger and thirst; I have borne losses and suffered persecutions; I have been a tenant of every prison between this and Mexico-but the events of this night have compensated me for all my losses and all my sufferings.'

"The colonists were commanded by George M. Collinsworth -but it would be difficult to find in the company a man not qualified for the command."

A great part of the provisions, arms, and munitions captured at Goliad, was destined for the use of the garrison at San Antonio. It now found its way there, but for a very different use. The Texian force which had advanced from Gonzales had ta. ken a temporary position on the river, about eight miles below the town. Here they endeavored to obtain intelligence of the strength and means of the garrison. This was not difficult, as there were many Mexicans friendly to the Texian cause, in and about the town.

Finding by the best estimates he could obtain, that the Mexican force must exceed a thousand men, well supplied with arms, and all the munitions of war, that the streets of the town had been strongly barricadoed and defended with cannon, Austin, whose force was less than half that of his enemy, and as yet without a

single piece of ordnance, relinquished the intention of an immemediate attack upon the town, and decided to wait the arrival of reinforcements, which were daily coming in, and a few pieces of ordnance which were hoped for rather than expected.

In the mean time, he made an effort to draw the Mexican General, Cos, into a correspondence in relation to the affairs of the country. This was closed at once by the reply of General Cos, that he could treat with them only as rebels, and then only upon the terms of their submission. Slight skirmishes happened almost every day after the arrival of the Texian force in the neighborhood, which uniformly terminated to their advantage, and without loss on their part, while, on the side of the Mexicans, several men had been killed and many more wounded and made prisoners.

On the 27th of October, it was decided to occupy a position nearer the town, to watch the movements of the enemy, and if possible to provoke them to a contest without the walls. Accord ingly, a detachment of ninety men, under the command of Colonels Fannin and Bowie, were ordered to proceed in that direction, and to select suitable ground for an encampment. In the evening of that day, this detachment arrived at Mission Conception, distant about one mile, and in plain view of the town; here they rested on their arms for the night. In the mean time their approach had been watched by the Mexicans, and their exact number and position had been communicated to Cos the same night. On the morning of the 28th, they found themselves nearly surrounded by the enemy, who were still at some distance, advancing to close them in. Sentinels had been posted, and suitable precaution taken, to avoid surprise, but a thick fog had thus far concealed the movements and approach of the enemy. Though the Texians were so nearly surprised, they were not intimidated. The Mexican force, numbering little short of 500 men, were now from the clearing up of the fog, brought into full view. Undismayed by the immense odds against them, the Texians decided instantly for battle, and after despatching a courier to their main body, they fell back a few yards, to the bank of the river, where was a slight bluff, which might afford them a breastwork, and there awaited the approach of the enemy.

On the other side, the Mexicans, encouraged by their great numerical superiority, advanced briskly to the charge; they were permitted to approach unopposed within about forty yards, when they were saluted at once with the deadly aim of nearly a hundred rifles. They faltered and retreated, leaving their cannon, (two pieces,) which they had brought up in their advance, but soon rallied and returned to their cannon, which they bore off to the distance of about a hundred yards, where they again halted

and prepared to return the fire of the Texians, and pick them off as they appeared above the bluff, but finding this position also too warm for them, they again fell back beyond the reach of the rifles.

Another expedient was now attempted, to dislodge the Texians from their position. While they affected to keep up a fire from the line, they despatched their ordnance and a few artillerists to take a position on the river, a short distance above, that would enable them to rake the Texian line beneath the bank.

The Texians had been apprehensive of this movement, which if executed, must drive them from their present position, upon the bayonets of a line of infantry, supported by nearly three hundred cavalry, waiting to cut them to pieces; and seeing it now about to be executed, a doubt of the issue came over them for a moment, but to defeat the movement was the resolve of the next mo. ment. A small detachment moved rapidly, covered by the bank of the river, to the exposed point, and before the first gun was discharged at their companions, the gunners were cut down or put to flight, and the guns spiked. In the act of spiking these guns, fell the only Texian killed in the conflict. The main body of the Texians coming in view soon after, the Mexicans made a hasty retreat, leaving their cannon, ammunition-carts, many muskets, and twenty-seven men dead upon the field, carrying with them most of their wounded, the number of which has not been ascertained; the whole Texian loss was the one brave man who fell in spiking the cannon. The spot will be forever consecrated as a monument to his memory, which shall endure until the crystal stream which flows by the spot, and the fountains that feed it, shall be dried up. Thus terminated the battle of Conception, the Texian Bunker Hill, in which the successful combatants won a wreath of victory as well as a halo of glory.

The Texians, now confident of success in the field, and desiring nothing more ardently than to meet the enemy without the walls, however great the disparity of numbers, determined to divide their force, and occupy two positions, to enable them to watch his movements more closely, and cut off every party that should appear without the town.

To assault the town, with their present force and means of annoyance, was still deemed imprudent by General Austin. Barricadoed at the entrance, and affording strong positions within, by its stone houses, where the assailed might shelter themselves from the assailants, while the latter, in the uncovered streets, would be exposed to their fire, these were obstacles sufficiently formidable, but to these must be added the guns of the Alamo, a strong fort which commanded the town, and might open its batteries upon any part of it where an enemy had obtained a lodgment. All

together they might have deterred a less prudent man than General Austin from attempting an assault; yet in anticipation they had already crumbled and fallen before the daring prowess of many of the heroes who composed his little army.

The Mexicans were cautious in venturing without the walls, after the battle of Conception, and the next conflict in the field, called the "grass fight," having with an equal disparity of numbers, resulted equally fatal to them, seemed to extinguish the last of their rural attachments, and shut them up effectually in town. The Texians soon crossed the river and concentrated in a position within a few hundred yards of the town; a cannonade was opened upon them from the Alamo, but with little effect. The shot only served to furnish the Texians, who now had cannon, but no shot; and the balls were many of them actually collected and thrown back upon the town.

Towards the close of November, General Austin having been appointed by the general consultation of Texas, then in session, a foreign commissioner, left the army to enter upon the duties of his new post. New counsels now prevailed, and the spirit of daring, which had been restrained and controlled by a high respect for the character and unaffected regard for the person of the general, now found room to display itself under the guidance of a new leader. The prudent counsels of Austin, which elsewhere might have claimed their respect, were deemed out of place in a field where success has oftener crowned the efforts of the "rashly brave," than of the "over prudent." Let it not be understood that the distinguished individual, now no more, who had planted the colony, and who watched over its every interest, with more than parental care, until his latest breath, was ever ac. cused or even suspected of cowardice, by those who knew him ; far from it. No considerations of personal danger ever for one moment swerved him from what he deemed to be the path of duty. The error with which he was charged in "the field," could scarcely have been deemed an error in a common contest. was insisted that as they had embarked in this contest in spite of the odds against them, they must not hesitate to encounter the odds, and that upon such terms only could they hope for success.

It

Col. Milam had now arrived from Goliad, and to him all eyes were turned to lead them to an assault of the town. The whole Texian force in the neighborhood of San Antonio at this time, was short of seven hundred men. Col. Edward Burleson, a plain unpretending farmer, from the frontier settlements on the Colorado, whose whole stock of military experience had been acquired in the present campaign, had been chosen to succeed Austin, as general and commander in chief of the volunteer army.