his mattress. William Ransom Hogan, The Texas Republic, 277-280; Telegraph and Texas Register, September 16, 1837.
12. Centinela alerta: sentinel is alert.
Chapter Eighteen ~ Notes
1. William Bugg, a laborer, was among the Bexar residents captured by General Adrian Woll in September 1842. Winkler, ed., "The Bexar and Dawson Prisoners," 312.
2. Travelers in Mexico at this time frequently commented on the high incidence of robberies along the country's major thoroughfares. The problem was particularly severe along the road from Veracruz to Mexico City, and travelers wishing to reach their destination unmolested were well advised to procure an armed escort. Ladrones captured by the authorities were publicly garotted.
Chapter Nineteen ~ Notes
1. The Puente Nacional, or National Bridge, crosses the Rio Antigua, spanning a deep ravine on the road to Veracruz. It was known as Puente del Rey in colonial times.
2. Santa Anna owned two large estates in the state of Veracruz: Manga de Clavo, situated twelve miles from the coast, and El Encero, outside the town of Jalapa.
3. The Castle of San Juan de Ulloa had guarded the mouth of the harbor of Veracruz since the sixteenth century. In 1843 the fortress was situated on an island that has since been connected to the mainland.
4. The vomito negro - black vomit, or yellow fever - claimed hundreds of lives each year during the summer months in Veracruz, then a city of some five thousand inhabitants. One month prior to Green's arrival 850 cases of yellow fever were reported, resulting in thirty-five to forty-five deaths per day. Daily Plebien, June 17, 1843.
5. Of the sixteen prisoners who escaped from Perote, eight were soon recaptured; the remainder succeeded in making their way back to Texas.
6. James Truehart, one of the San Antonio prisoners, gave this description of Captain Guzmán's reaction to the news of the Texans' escape: "It is almost impossible to describe the mingled emotion of surprise, mortification and fear detected in his face, the vaines [sic] in his neck swelling and appearing as though he was laboring under some dreadful malady. He asked in what way they had escaped, and seemed to have lost in a measure, his power of speech." Truehart, The Perote Prisoners, 218.
7. The recaptured Texans were thrown into the calabozo for a few days, then treated like the other prisoners. Colquhoun to Green, August 27, 1843, Green Papers.
8. The fate of these officers was probably not as grim as Green would have liked to believe. General Durán did not leave his post until September, owing to reasons of ill health, officially resigning his post two months later. Isidro Pombo and José Guzmán were probably transferred with the rest of the garrison, which was replaced in early October, shortly after the Texans from Molino del Rey arrived at Perote. Haynes, Soldiers of Misfortune, 166-167.
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