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to be a Federalist, refused to permit the Texans to bury their dead in the local churchyard, claiming that they were heretics (i. e., not Roman Catholics). The Centralist losses consisted of 85 killed on the ground and numerous wounded. In all, the Centralist losses were about 150. Pavón was suspected of treachery by his government and was subsequently court-martialed and sentenced to six months in a fort.[116] The 350 captives now joined the victors; their leader (Pavón) and his officers, however, were paroled. News of Pavón's defeat went down the river to Matamoros and inland to Monterey, causing consternation and dismay. At Matamoros, the first alcalde, Jorgé López de Lara, issued a proclamation on November 8, calling upon the local citizenry in high sounding phrases to rise up and place themselves under the commander of the Army of the North to repel the invading Texan horde and recover that fair land for the mother country.[117] Following the surrender, the Federalists remained on the battlefield all that day and the next, and then marched back to Mier. As October and a part of November passed away, the frontier town of Mier "glistened and rang with the colors and music and chatter of the autumn fair with its carnival." Meanwhile the government forces down one month before he escaped. Carnes [Cairns], who was sick at San Patricio, was also taken, and carried to Matamoros with Hendricks. When they returned to Texas they resumed their old trade of driving off cattle." Lamar Papers, VI, 99-105, 134-135; Colorado Gazette and Advertiser, Jan. 4, 1840; Telegraph and Texas Register, Oct. 20, 1838. Richard Roman later reported 18 to 20 of the Texan Federalists and Indians killed. Lamar Papers, VI, 136-137. La Brisa, Nov. 15, 1839, reported Colonel Ross wounded. 116. Carreño, Jefes de ejército mexicano en 1847, p. 217 n. Later, however, in 1841 in an effort to clear his name of the charge of treachery, Pavón issued a Manifiesto, published as a Supplement to Number 37 of the Mosquito Mexicano in which there is an account of the Battle of Alcantro [Alamo] by Canales that shows that Pavón's forces, being without water and food after the first day's engagement, Pavón asked for a truce and when it was granted sought to escape, but was captured. While the latter account tends to clear Pavón of the charge of treason, it shows that he made a false claim in 1839 of his victory the first day of his encounter with the Federalists and that he had misstated facts relative to Canales' conduct in respect to the truce. Francisco G. Pavón, Manifestación que hace de su conducta milita, a la nación, el coronel del 1er Regimiento de Caballeria, Mexico, 1841. 117. Jorgé López de Lara, El Ciudadano Jorgé López de Lara, Alcalde lo Constitucional de Esta Ciudad á Sus Habitantes, Matamoros, Noviembre 8 de 1839, broadside. |