particularly anxious to hazard an escape, having spent six months in a Mexico City prison. He had earlier hinted at the possibility of taking his own life if an attempt was not made to overpower the Mexican guards. Haynes, Soldiers of Misfortune, 107. Chapter Twelve ~ Notes1. Zacatecas road. 2. Some of the Mier men believed that the man was an Englishman, sent by the British consul in Saltillo to give the Texans directions. According to Big Foot Wallace, he was an acquaintance of Captain Cameron. George Washington Trahern, "Reminiscences," 8; Duval, Big Foot Wallace, 206-207. 3. In 1840 Samuel W. Jordan led a contingent of Texas mercenaries into northern Mexico to fight alongside federalists who had established the Republic of the Rio Grande (see note 9, Chapter VIII). Nance, After San Jacinto, Chapter 14, passim. 4. Captain John G. W. Pierson, according to George Washington Trahern, was particularly outspoken in his belief that the traveler's advice was a ruse, and announced his intention to separate from Cameron's command if the Texas leader insisted on following the main road. Believing that any division of his force would mean certain defeat, Cameron reluctantly agreed to take his men into the mountains. It is by no means certain, however, that the Texans would have managed to effect their escape had they followed the traveler's advice. Within forty-eight hours after their escape from the Hacienda del Salado, General Francisco Mejia, the governor of Coahuila, had arrived at Venadito, a ranch on the Monclova Road, to block the Texans' escape route. Troops from Monterrey arrived soon afterward, bringing the total Mexican force in the area to 750 men. Trahern, "Reminiscences," 8-9; Haynes, Soldiers of Misfortune, 109. 5. Carter and William Sergeant took no part in the fighting at the Hacienda del Salado, but afterwards took two horses and attempted to make an escape on their own. Israel Canfield, "Israel Canfield on the Mier Expedition," Texas Military History 3:177. 6. Known as Faye's comet, it was visible throughout North America. 7. Cuatro Cienegas. 8. The military tribunal convened to investigate the episode at the Hacienda del Salado concluded that Nuevo Leon governor Manuel Ortega had provided an insufficient and untrained escort for the Texas prisoners, and further censured Colonel Barragán for failing to maintain discipline among his troops. Haynes, Soldiers of Misfortune, 122. 9. At the time of the Texans' escape, Santa Anna had returned to his Veracruz estates, leaving the government in the hands of Acting President Nicolas Bravo. When General Mejía received orders from the capital to execute all the prisoners, he declined to carry out the directive and promptly resigned. Meanwhile, the U.S. and British ministers to Mexico, Waddy Thompson and Richard Pakenham, had learned of the escape and recapture of the Mier prisoners and called upon the centralist government to revoke the death sentence. In early March, after Santa Anna returned to the capital and met with Pakenham, the Mexican government issued new orders, to the effect that one out of every ten prisoners would be shot. Haynes, Soldiers of Misfortune, 116-120. 10. Colonel Domingo Huerta was the mayor de la plaza of Saltillo. |