and had participated in the capture of the Alamo. In 1842 he commanded the First Division of the Mexican Army of the North. From his headquarters in Matamoros, Ampudia had made a forced march in heavy rains to meet the Texan advance, arriving in Mier on December 23. Carreño, Jefes del ejército mexicano en 1847, 141-146.
10. A newcomer to Texas, Samuel Walker had arrived on the frontier in January 1842, following a failed business venture in Florida. After his escape from Molino del Rey, on the outskirts of Mexico City, in July 1843, Walker returned to Texas and continued to serve as a ranger on the frontiers of the Republic. He is credited with popularizing the first Colt revolvers. Walker became a national hero in the Mexican War, serving in both the Taylor and the Scott campaigns, before being shot as the war was drawing to a close. Walker, Account of the Mier Expedition, 3-19, passim.
Chapter Eight ~ Notes
1. The river is more commonly known as the Rio Alamo, although the area was sometimes referred to as El Cantera (pitcher of water), as a result of the town's location at a sharp bend of the river.
2. Cristóbal Ramirez was a lieutenant colonel of the auxiliary forces commanded by Antonio Canales. El Siglo Diez y Nueve, January 7, 1843.
3. Artillery captain Clemente Castro had ten gunners under his command. Ibid.
4. Bate Berry survived the Mier Expedition, and after his release from Perote on September 16, 1844, he made his way back to his home in Fort Bend County. With the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846, he returned to Mexico, determined to avenge his brother's death. His excessive zeal earned him a reprimand from Zachary Taylor, however, when he was caught scalping a Mexican soldier. Haynes, Soldiers of Misfortune, 210.
5. During the Revolution the Texas army impressed the steamer Yellow Stone to ferry troops across the Brazos River. Mexican troops fired on the boat and made unsuccessful attempts to lasso it as the steamer proceeded downriver with Runaway Scrape refugees. Webb, Handbook of Texas 1:944.
6. Fisher made no reference to his wound in his public remarks on the Battle of Mier, although it may be assumed that the injury was not as serious as Green suggests. At no time during the fighting was the possibility of removing Fisher from command discussed by his officers, nor did any of them feel the need to accompany him to discuss the cease-fire with General Ampudia.
7. "Possessing physical strength to an extraordinary degree," according to one Mier prisoner, Ewen Cameron was six feet tall and weighed two hundred pounds. Since the Revolution, he had operated as a cattle rustler in the Nueces area, stealing the herds of Mexican rancheros and driving them north to Goliad for sale. Charles McLaughlin, "Descriptive Notes [of the Mier Expedition]" Hobart Huson, Refugio: A Comprehensive History of Refugio County from Aboriginal Times to 1953 1:430.
8. The elusive Dr. James Humphreys had twice been apprehended for the 1838 murder of Captain Joseph Powell in Brazoria County. Fleeing first to New Orleans, he was arrested and returned to Houston City, where he escaped again and fled to Mexico. "A Requisition for the Capture and delivery of James Humphrey," Williams and Barker, eds., Houston Writings 2: 209-210; Telegraph and Texas Register, July 7, 1838.
9. Canales' reputation for duplicity stemmed from the betrayal of Texas soldiers by their Mexican allies during the recent Federalist War. In 1840 Canales visited Texas on a recruiting mission
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