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Mier Expedition Chronology

This chronology is intended to include events mentioned on the muster rolls and lists.
  25 Dec 1842  Mexico: Command crosses Rio Grande into Mexico
26 Dec 1842  Mier: Battle of Mier, capitulation
31 Dec 1842  Mier: 217 prisoners marched for Mexico City, leaving 21 in hospital Mier [2, p.94]
========== 1843 ==========
4 Jan 1843  Nueva Reynosa: Saml. McDade died on the march [2, p.100]
9 Jan 1843  Matamoros: on the 12th, Texan officers: Fisher, Green, Murray, Lyon, Henrie and Dr. Shepherd marched for Mexico City [2, p.101]
14 Jan 1843  Matamoros: Prisoners are marched for Mexico City, leaving 7 men in hospital and 3 boys on parole [2, p.105, 201]
11 Feb 1843  Salado: Charge on the guard at Salado; 5 killed, 5 wounded Mexicans; prisoners escape, leaving Reese brothers, 5 dead and 6 wounded who are taken on to hospital at San Luis Potosi [2, p.224, 229, 238]
15 Feb 1843  Salado: Lost in the mountains without water the men eat their horses; all but a few who died or reached Texas are eventually retaken [2, p.246-260, 279]
20 Feb 1843  San Luis Potosi ("St. Louis"): Fisher, Green and 5 companions arrive [2, p.227]
1 Mar 1843  San Luis Potosi: Fisher, Green and 17 Texans marched to Perote Castle via San Juan del Rio, Cuautitlan and Tacubaya (at Mexico City), arriving Mar. 25 [2, p.229, 234]
4 Mar 1843  Matamoros: 10 prisoners forwarded to Santiago prison (at Mexico City) via Tampico [2, p.310]
?18 Mar 1843  Mier: recovered prisoners marched to Matamoros, where some remained in hospital, then to Tampico and Mexico City [2, p.210]
25 Mar 1843  Salado: "Black bean" episode, 17 of 176 prisoners executed [2, p.283-297]
26 Mar 1843  Salado: Prisoners marched for Mexico City via Vanegas, Rancho Laguna Seca (Samuel McClelland dies), San Luis Potosi ("St. Lewis") where 14 stay in hospital [2, p.300-301], Queretaro where 2 sick were left and San Juan del Rio where William Martin dies [2, p.304]
25 Apr 1843  Huehuetoca: Captain Ewin Cameron shot by order of the Supreme Government; prisoners marched to Santiago prison at Mexico City [2, p.305]
8 May 1843  Prisoners at Santiago Prison moved to Molino del Rey (Power Mill or King's Mill Prison) at Tacubaya for road work [2, p.320]
3 Jun 1843  Mexico: 189 of original 248 Mier prisoners still in the country at Perote Castle (17), Matamoros (5), Tacubaya (159) and escapees from Mier (8) [2, p.327]
2 Jul 1843  Perote Castle: T. J. Green, C. K. Reese and Daniel Drake Henrie escape from Perote Castle, with 14 Bexar men; Richard Barclay, R. Cornegay, John Forester, John Dalrymple, John Toowig, reached Texas; Thomas Hancock, Isaac Allen, John Young, D. J. Davis, Samuel C. Stone, T. B. Beck, Augustus Elley, D. C. Ogden were recaptured.[1, p.218]
29 Jun 1843  Tacubaya: 9 escape from Powder Mill Prison before prisoners moved back to Santiago Prison on 9 Sep. 1843 [2, p.331-337]
12 Sep 1843  Santiago Prison: 126 prisoners moved to Perote Castle via Puebla, 21 left in Santiago prison hospital, 1 in Puebla hospital [2, p.339, 342]
21 Sep 1843  Perote Castle: 177 Texans of 202 still in Mexico [2, 347]
========== 1844 ==========
13 Jan 1844  Texas: Law for real estate tax relief for 5 years for Mier men who died and for prisoners until released. [2, p.397]
28 Jan 1844  18 Mier men have died from epidemic. [2, p.350]
2 Feb 1844  Texas: Law to prohibit forced sale of Texan prisoners' property, protect such property and suspend creditor's claims. [2, p.400]
5 Feb 1844  Texas: Congress provides $15,000 for relief of prisoners in Mexico. Government can't deliver funds. [2, p.400]
22 Feb 1844  Perote Castle: Capt. of the Guard Jose Maria Diaz de Guzman ("Old Guts") dies [2, p.392]
3 Mar 1844  Perote Castle: 12 prisoners pass by from Santiago prison to Castle of San Juan de Ulua in Vera Cruz, leaving 3 in Santiago hospital and 3 in Puebla hospital. The 3 British prisoners are freed. [2, p.374]
8 Mar 1844  Perote Castle: 22 Mier men have died from the epidemic and been buried in the north side of the castle moat [1, p.128f; 2, p.353]
23 Mar 1844  Perote Castle: 31 Bexar-Dawson prisoners freed, the last (Geo. Van Ness) freed 13 Apr. 1844. [2, p.378, 384, 387]
25 Mar 1844  Perote Castle: Sixteen more men escape, nine reaching Texas: A.B. Laforge, Cyrus K. Gleason, John Johnson, Edward Kean, Richard Kean, Wiley Jones, William Moore, T. Smith and E.D. Wright; seven retaken: Francis Arthur, John Toops, William T. Runyan, John Tanney, William H. Frensley, Stephen Goodman and William Wynn.[1, p.178; 2, p.381]
3 Jun 1844  Texas: Reuben M. Potter becomes secret agent for government to deliver funds to prisoners in Mexico via L. S. Hargous, U.S. consul in Vera Cruz. [2, p.403]
10 Sep 1844  Vera Cruz: L. S. Hargous secretly reports 118 prisoners in Mexico at Perote Castle (104), Mexico City (3), Puebla (1) and Castle of San Juan de Ulua in Vera Cruz (10) [2, p.407]
16 Sep 1844  Mexico: All Texan prisoners freed except Jose Antonio Navarro of the Santa Fe Expedition, being held in Castle of San Juan de Ulua, who was rescued in Dec. 1844. [2, p.408; 3, p.236]
========== Later Years ==========
3 Feb 1845  Joint Resolution for the Relief of the Mier Prisoners and Others, passed by Congress, vetoed by Pres. Anson Jones. [2, pp.449-450]
27 Jun 1845  Deadline for filing suits to clear land titles extended to 1 Jan. 1847 for prisoners of war in Mexico in 1842-42. [2, p.450]
circa 1848  The Mexican War: remains of the Texans buried at Hacienda del Salado were exhumed and returned to Texas. [1, p.280]
9 Feb 1849  Legislation passed for Mier and Santa Fe prisoners, for $22.50/month "from the date of mustering into service until one month after the main body of prisoners were released by Mexico", plus up to $65 for loss of personal horse, arms and equipment. The Camp Guard and escapees from Mier Battle to get $67.50 for 3-months service plus $65 for horse and equipment. [2, p.452]
  [Some Mier individuals obtained lands and money via special legislation in the 1840s and 1850s.] [2, pp.447-453]
 
Notes:   
1.  Green, Thomas J., JOURNAL of the TEXIAN EXPEDITION AGAINST MIER, Edited by Sam W. Haynes, Austin: W. Thomas Taylor, 13 illus., index, biblio., notes, 325 pp., 1993. (A republication of the original published by Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 82 Cliff Street, New York, 487 pp., 1845.)   The 1993 edition is online with scans of the Plan of Mier and the Ground Plan of the Castle of Perote from the 1845 book. Page numbers of the 1845 edition are included in the text, within square brackets. See Research Help for Internet address.
2.  Nance, Joseph M., DARE-DEVILS ALL; The Texan Mier Expedition, 1842-1844, Archie P. McDonald, Ed., Eakin Press, Austin, Texas, illus., photos, 608 pp., 1998. Story of the ill-fated expedition, list of men. Nance's page references to T. J. Green's Journal are to the 1845 edition.
3.  Kendall, George W., NARRATIVE OF THE TEXAN SANTA FE EXPEDITION, Volume II, Gerald D. Saxon and William B. Taylor eds., DeGolyer Library and William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, 2004.

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