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Federalist Wars: Second Phase

engagement. Handing his sword to Benjamin Hill, instead of to Canales, who demanded it, Pavón boldly declared: "I do not surrender, Sir, to such a cowardly recreant as you but I yield to those brave Americans."[113]  The Mexican flag was handed to Major Joseph Dolan of the Texan forces.[114]  After the enemy had stacked their arms, Pavón's sword was restored to him.

When Pavón hoisted the white flag, a large section of his command bolted. Abandoning their ammunition, artillery, and camp equipage, they fled to the protection of a cattle pen at a ranchería, about five miles distant, where they meekly surrendered to the some fifty Anglo-Texans who had pursued them. On the battlefield of the Alamo the Texans lost two killed and a number wounded, five of whom subsequently died of their injuries.[115]  The priest of Mier, although professing



113. Quoted in "Information derived from Anson G. Neal," in Lamar Papers, VI, 101. Bustamante refers to the Federalist victory over Pavón as a "triumph of perfidy." He claims that on November 1, 1839 [wrong date], the Centralists completely defeated Canales, who on the following day signed an agreement offering to place himself at the disposition of the government. Relying upon this commitment, Pavón's troops relaxed their guard and were attacked and routed by the Federalists. Bustamante, El gabinete mexicano, I, 213. Bustamante's account was probably based on a report made by Pavón to the Secretary of War, dated Monterey, November 7, 1839, in which he claimed a victory over Canales' forces on November [?] 1 and asserted that his surrender the next day was caused by an unexpected attack by Canales after the two had agreed upon a truce. Francisco G. Pavón, [Account of the revolutionary activities of the Texans], San Luis Potosí, Noviembre 30 de 1839, published as a 5 p. double column Suplemento a la Gaceta, numero 101, San Luis Potosí, Diciembre 3 de 1839. From the account given in the present work, based upon original source materials, it may be readily seen that not only are Bustamante's dates of the battle incorrect but his account of Pavón's surrender is at variance with those of the actual participants in the battle.

114. Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 276.

115. Among those Texans who lost their lives were Jacob ("Jake") Hendricks, late of Pennsylvania and formerly a merchant in the frontier trade and a cowboy, who had recently spent some time in a Matamoros prison; "Tonkaway" Jones (so-called because of his association with the Tonkawa Indians) of Lavaca and Gonzales, who was a blacksmith by trade; John Aikins; _______ Quail of Goliad; _______ Hammons of Lavaca; and two others. Among the wounded was a man named _______ Black. Captain Benjamin Hill says the Texans lost five killed and fourteen wounded. Jones and Hendricks were among the cowboys engaged in cattle stealing. While in the process of stealing a drove of cattle near San Patricio, a group of Texans had been surprised in 1837 by a party of Mexicans. "They all fled with the exception of Hendricks, who, in trying to get off with the cattle, was taken prisoner, and carried to Matamoros where he remained one year and

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AFTER SAN JACINTO: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841
Joseph Milton Nance, 1963