badly constructed, rendezvoused in late June and early July at Calavasos, on the east side of the Río Grande near Mier, and from there retreated to Lipantitlán, on the Nueces, having previously sent a few prisoners to San Antonio for safekeeping.[45]  As they withdrew on to the Texas side of the river, a portion of the Federalists under Canales met a party of thirty to forty cowboys under Captain Cairns near the Agua Dulce. Seeing the Mexicans approach, the Texans prepared for battle, but, says Benjamin F. Neal, Carbajal advanced under a flag of truce to make known their object and plans, stating that they had no enmity toward Texas and Texans. The cowboys readily accepted the invitation to join the Federalist cause and together they proceeded to the Nueces.[46]

From thence, Canales, a Montereyan, border ruffian, conspirator, and now, in fact, commander of the Federalist forces, accompanied by Carlos Lazo from San Fernando de Rosas in Coahuila, proceeded to San Antonio early in August 1839, with a force of about thirty to thirty-five, where his men were furnished clothing and provisions. Lazo, the father-in-law of Philip Dimitt,[47]  carried papers from José María Carbajal and Luciano Navarro. Among the papers from Navarro that Carbajal had forwarded to Lazo was "one from his Excellency the President of this Republic," reported Erasmo Seguin, chief justice at San Antonio, "which contains the same business made known to Navarro,"[48]  presumably granting them personal protection but no official recognition whatsoever. Lazo informed the Texans at San Antonio that six hundred Comanche warriors ("bucks") were encamped between the Río Frio and the Leona above the Presidio del Río Grande road about thirty leagues from San Antonio with orders from the military commander at Matamoros to intercept all commerce between Texas and the Río Grande settlements. With the Comanches were a