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including two Texans, were taken prisoners -- the Texans being in addition to those already taken by Reyes. Among the prisoners were Colonel Antonio Zapata, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Captain Manuel Barberena, Captain Cesario Guajardo,[43] Second Lieutenant Diego Ungaray, Mauricio Carrasco, Colonel Torres, Colonel Luis López, and 69 wounded.[44] Arista declared that his losses were "sensible," and that they consisted of 20 killed "of the character of troops," 40 wounded in the hospital, and others less gravely wounded.[45] Canales, however, claimed that the Centralists lost 600 men and that he lost 81 killed. Supposing that this was the end of the war, Arista was resolved to make the last act, like that of a regular drama, the most bloody and horrible. Zapata and his followers had been captured with arms in hand forcibly resisting the troops of the supreme government and having enlisted Texans, enemies of the country, to fight on their side. Accordingly, on March 28 Zapata, along with the 22 who had been taken prisoner with him, both Texans and Mexicans, were tried by a hastily summoned court-martial and convicted of treason against the Republic of Mexico. The next day at 10 a.m. they were executed at Morelos, and Zapata's head was cut off, "placed in a cask of brandy,[46] 43. Arista gives the name as Captain Cesario Delgado. (Mariano Arista ál Ministro de la Guerra, Cuartel-General en St. Rita de Morelos, Marzo 26 de 1840, in El Ancla, April 24, 1840), but Manuel Reducindo Barragan ál general-en-gefe de la division auxiliar del Norte D. Mariano Arista, Morelos, Marzo 25 de 1840, in El Ancla, April 24, 1840, gives it as Guajardo. 44. El Ancla, April 3 (Supplement to No. 14) and 24, 1840; Manuel Reducindo Barragan ál general-en-gefe de la division auxiliar del Norte D. Mariano Arista, Morelos, Marzo 25 de 1840, in ibid., April 24, 1840; El General de Brigada Mariano Arista á la Division de su Mando, Cuartel general en Morelos, Marzo 27 de 1840, in ibid., May 8, 1840, contains Arista's proclamation to his troops on the victory of March 24-25, 1840; D. W. Smith to John Forsyth, Matamoros, April 4, 1840, in Consular Dispatches (Matamoros), 1840-1848, ms., microfilm. 45. Captain Allen reported 500 Centralists killed and nearly as many wounded, which to the writer seems to be an extreme exaggeration. See Richmond Telescope, April 18, 1840, quoted in Telegraph and Texas Register, April 29, 1840. Francisco de la Garza, a sargeant in the Centralist army, later reported Canales' losses as 300 dead and 60 wounded; and those of Arista as 150 killed and wounded. Lamar Papers, III, 598-599. 46. Probably vino de mescal. Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas, II, 219, says that Zapata and four Anglo-Americans were court-martialed and executed in the plaza of Monclova. This is an error. Mariano Arista á Gobernador del Departamento de Nuevo-León, Monclova, Abril 8 de 1840, in El Ancla, May 8, 1840. |