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Republic of the Río Grande and Texas

gling for the liberty which we, in times past, obtained by arresting the power of that same despotism which now rules that unfortunate people with an iron rod.

You must remember, he continued, the Mexican Federalists

. . . have come into our country humbly and imploringly soliciting our aid in the achieving of their Independence -- in the rescuing of their Liberty from the iron grasp of Priestcraft and Despotism -- and in return for our aid in the glorious cause, they offer to give us all in their power to bestow, or that would be demanded by a Texian, to wit: their lands, their silver and their gold. The people of Texas are too philanthropic to refuse granting the prayer of the unfortunate. . . . The Texian youth will surely take "the tide at its flood" and triumphantly ride to glory, honor, and fortune.

All those who might be interested in wresting from the "worst of slavery" that unhappy people now "inhabiting the most fertile portion of the Western Continent," were requested to rendezvous at either San Patricio or Live Oak Point by June 20 to join with the Federal army, consisting, at this time, of about six hundred Texan volunteers and fifteen hundred Mexicans, he said.[105]  It was reported that the "provisional government" intended offering a bounty of half a league of land and it was said that the spoils were to belong exclusively to the Americans.[106]  The Texans who had been in northern Mexico described the country about Monterey in glowing terms -- "snow on the mountains -- clustering and luscious fruits in the valleys -- abundance spreading around, and a people, to judge by specimens and descriptions, far superior than accounts from other parts of Mexico have led us to suppose. Can better prospects with less amount of risk be pointed out?" they asked. "No portion of the world presents a fairer field for enterprise, enthusiasm, enjoyment, eventual wealth and happiness."[107]

Not only did civil officers in the frontier counties often join the Federalists, but desertions from the Texan military post at San Antonio de Béxar became so great during the ensuing weeks that the utmost vigilance had to be used to apprehend the deserters, and even then very few were ever caught. "It is highly probable," wrote George W.



105. John McDaniel "To the Young and the Brave," Matagorda, June 5, 1840, in Colorado Gazette and Advertiser, June 6, 1840.

106. R. B. T. to the Editor of the Colorado Gazette, Victoria, April 8, 1840, in ibid., April 18, 1840.

107. Ibid.

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