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mouth a little before day and entered Guerrero between daylight and sunrise, following a spirited fight with the garrison comprising 200[73] men under José Bernardo Maximiliano Gutiérrez de Lara,[74] one of the early independence leaders in New Spain and ex-governor of the State of Tamaulipas who had been appointed to the command only three or four days before to succeed Captain Pedro Rodríquez. The Centralists fled toward the Salado. Ross crossed below the mouth of the Salado and entered Guerrero after the dispersal of the garrison. Gutiérrez, who had two sons in Canales' command, attempted to ford the river when one of the Texans, seeing him cried out: "Look! There is the priest! Seize him!" The old man, realizing that he was about to be captured, turned back, and as he stepped out of the water, "drawing himself up with quiet dignity," announced, "I am no priest; I am Bernardo Gutiérrez. I desire to see the American commander." A call went up for Col. Ross, which was heard by the venerable prisoner. When Ross reached the place, Gutiérrez inquired, "Are you related to the Major Reuben Ross who was my compatriot in 1812 and 1813?" Ross replied, "I am his nephew." Roman reported the force as 150. "Information from Capt. Benj. Hill," in Lamar Papers, VI, 134-135; "Information from Major Richard Roman," in Lamar Papers, VI, 136. 73. The number is given as 100 men in the Colorado Gazette and Advertiser, Jan. 4, 1840. 74. "Information from Major [Richard] Roman," Lamar Papers, VI, 136; "Information from Captain Benjamin Hill," ibid., VI, 134; "Information from Juan Ramos," ibid., VI, 117; Huson, "Iron Men," pp. 2-7. For a sketch of the renowned José Bernardo M. Gutiérrez de Lara see Kathryn Garrett, Green Flag over Texas: a Story of the Last Years of Spain in Texas; Harris G. Warren, The Sword Was Their Passport: A History of American Filibustering in the Mexican Revolution; Vito Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas desde la consumación de la independencia hasta el tratado de paz de Guadalupe Hidalgo, I; Rie Jarrett, Gutiérrez de Lara, Mexican Texan: The Story of a Creole Hero; Bancroft, History of Texas and the North Mexican States, II; McCaleb, "The First Period of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, IV (1900-1901), 218-229; Handbook of Texas, I, 749-751; "Dr. Willard's 'Tour' from Council Bluffs, Missouri to Santa Fé, New Mexico, thence down the general course of the Río del Norte to its mouth, comprising a distance of 2,000 miles," in "Patties' Personal Narrative," in R. C. Thwaites (ed.), Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, XVIII, 362-364. |