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Federalist Wars: Final Phase

charges of the men under Vasquez and Montoya, until at length toward dusk the ranks of the Centralists became disordered; a panic followed; and the enemy fled. "Soldiers, citizens, women, and children, all took the road to Saltillo, and in such confusion as though the Texans were in close pursuit at their heels!"[129]  The enemy, reported Jordan, broke and fled in every direction, but as they retreated "their artillery commenced a severe fire with grape and canister," holding the Texans in check.[130]  Seeing that the enemy were rallying and surrounding him in every direction as night approached, Jordan now decided to give up the Federalist cause and return to Texas.

The shooting seems to have been quite contrary to Montoya's expectations. In the bloody repulse, the Centralists had 408 killed and wounded and lost a great quantity of muskets and munitions, whereas, the Texan losses were 3 killed and 9 wounded, two of the latter mortally;[131]  yet, Arista in his report of the battle, according to the



129. Ibid. The late Vito Alessio Robles, one of the leading historians of Mexico, declared in 1946 that he had known for many years from the very old inhabitants of Saltillo that the Centralist troops, after having made the Texans flee, entered triumphantly the capital city of Coahuila. He recognized that there were different versions of the Centralist-Federalist battle circulating among the very old inhabitants of Saltillo. Vito Alessio Robles, Saltillo en la historia y en la leyenda pp. 231-234; Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas, II, 222 n.

130. S. W. Jordan to Gen. Lic. Canales, Laredo, Nov. 2, 1840, in Telegraph and Texas Register, Dec. 16, 1840.

131. In reporting on the battle, Jordan says the Centralists left upwards of three hundred killed and wounded on the field. The Texan losses, says Alessio Robles, following Jordan's account, were five killed and seven wounded. Ibid.; Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas, II, 222. Jordan listed as killed before Saltillo: Lt. James Gallagher, O. S. Stultz, Private _______ Woodruff; and as wounded: Captain _______ Allen, severely; Captain Still [Martin K. Snell]; Private _______ Bratt, mortally; _______ Wiggins, severely and left; _______ Beckham, slight; Sergt. _______ Blood; Private _______ Hull; _______ Blannerhasset/t/; Captain _______ Donnelly, died at Laredo. Missing at the time Jordan made his report at Laredo were: _______ Byrom, _______ Alsbroke, _______ Kelsenger, and Mustard Walsh.

Jordan's report coincides with that later given by Anson G. Neal in regards to the Texan losses, except that Neal does not mention Stultz, Wiggins, Blood, Hull, or Donnelly, but does add that the Mexican bugler was killed. Two of the missing are probably accounted for, in part, by Arista's statement that "two prisoners were taken from those who escaped from Saltillo." Mariano Arista al Jesús Cárdenas, Cadereyta, Nov. 7, 1840, in El Ancla, Nov. de 23, 1840. Neal says Snell got separated from the command in crossing the mountains at Saltillo, remained in the country and taught school at Monterey. "Information derived from Anson G. Neal," Lamar Papers, VI, 111. The American consul at Matamoros

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