requested him to stand aside, so that Cameron's company could fire into them. Colonel Fisher peremptorily refused to do so.13 I then requested permission to take them prisoners, and march them unharmed, at the head of our column, to the camp, upon the east side of the Rio Grande, where, under any possible circumstances, we would be safe. This was also refused. Captain Reese, whose company was formed some forty yards still higher up, in the direction of the square, came up and requested the same thing; he was also refused. Under these circumstances, these officers returned to their lines with a full knowledge of everything concerning ourselves, and a full knowledge of all that was important for them to know; granting, before they departed, one hour for the matter to be determined.

[100] This hour I believed of the most vital importance. Several of the officers and a respectable minority of the men had signified their willingness, some avowedly, and others tacitly, to accept the terms. I believed that it would be easy to convince these men of their error. I therefore went to the brave Cameron, and asked him "if it was possible that he was in favour of a surrender." The bare mention of the word choked him: he was too full for utterance; but, taking me by the hand, he carried me into the building where our wounded were. Here he had seven of his old company, who had followed him for three years through many dangers and hard-fought battles. Most of these men called upon us not to leave them in language which would have wrung tears from hearts of stone. Some implored us, for mercy's sake, to blow out their brains, and ease them of their misery; while there were some, more iron-nerved than the rest, who rolled out withering imprecations upon the enemy, and called upon us, for the honour of our country, never to surrender. One of these brave fellows, whose thigh was broken, called me to him, and drew from his belt a pair of silver-mounted pistols, which he placed in my hand, with tears in his eyes, saying, "General, this is all I can do for you now."*14 This scene was distressing beyond any power of utterance. Our twenty-three wounded, some with broken limbs, others shot through the body, and one poor fellow with both eyes shot out, lay scattered over [101] the floor, interspersed with the dead, presenting a scene calculated to excite one's deepest sympathies over all other feelings. Cameron said, "General, what would you do?" My answer was, "Men, if by staying with you we could ease your pains or heal your wounds, the sooner my voice would be to remain; but you will have your own physician, and will doubtless be treated as well by our going as if we were to remain and surrender, for even then we would be separated." We passed out of the house, and I immediately sought the gallant Captain Ryan, of the Fort Bend company. He informed me that most of his company were for fighting it out; and while in conversation with him, Cameron returned, and in a voice of harsh determination, which his Highland Scotch accent

* This was young Bobo, of South Carolina.