Lesson 63: Battle of the "Powder House"

As few histories of Texas and her revolution give an account of this--the first of the series of battles fought around San Antonio in 1835--I offer the following brief, but truthful history of the achievment, with the assurance to our young readers, that I was a participant in the affair; and with the impression that of the three hundred old Texans, who, on that almost forgotten October evening, chased the red coated lancers of Mexico down the long declivity and into the Alamo, but now and then one remains to tell the tale.

Gen. Stephen F. Austin, the father and founder of Texas, had just returned from his long imprisonment in the dungeons of Mexico; when, finding the colonists had taken up arms, and fixed on him as their leader, he, with many misgivings as to his qualifications, accepted the command of all the troops raised, or to be raised, for besieging the Mexican army under Gen. Coss (General Coss was brother-in-law to Santa Anna, the Mexican President.), at San Antonio. Save the small bands of "brave hearts," settled sparsely on the most inviting spots in the colony, history records no instance of a people (we could not be called a nation) embarking in so perilous a revolution, with such inadequate resources as Texas then afforded. With the exception of Gen. Sam Houston, there was probably not a single professional soldier in the colonies. All were tillers of the soil and herdsmen. Our arms were the rifles that supplied our tables with venison and the large "hack-knives" with which we cut our way after bruin through the dense cane-brakes, with a sheath-knife suspended to the belts, or fastened to the shot-bag strap, for skinning game or scalping Indians. As to artillery, there were not a dozen pieces in Texas, besides those in the possession of our Mexican foes. Every man disposed to fight for his freedom, (and but few were laggard,) had to furnish his own gun, hors, powder and other equipments for the campaign; and, before starting, the corn had to be put in the cribs to feed the animals during our absence. Consequently, the month of October was well advanced before the colonists had collected, in any considerable numbers, around the lone star banner, unfurled for the first time, on the Salado (In the battles prior to this period, we had no flag. During the campaign of 1835, and subsequently, however, we had.), four miles east of San Antonio.

The writer, in company with General Sam Houston, was among the first to arrive at the encampment. The few days to elapse before the meeting of the "Consultation," of which General Houston was a member from Eastern Texas, could not, he thought, be better spent than by gracing the grand enterprise with his presence in camps.

While there, General Houston was most earnestly solicted by General Austin to assume the command in his stead, pleading his own incapacity and unfitness for the position, and arguing the palpable necessity of military experience in conducting the campaign to a successful and early issue, before General Coss should be reinforced and render Santa Anna impregnable. The military ability of General Houston was, at that time, but little known or appreciated in Texas, for he had been but a short time among us; at all events, he could not exchange the civic office with which the people of the Redlands had invested him for the military one so ardently pressed on his acceptance by the people's favorite.

The campaign of 1835, therefore, began with favorable auspices, under as good a man as ever God created, but who had never "set a squadron," or seen a "stricken field" in life.

Our pickets were active and vigilant, and frequently came in collision with those of the enemy in sight of San Antonio, in the environs of the old "powder-house." These picket skirmishes continued for a day or two, when General Summerville contrived a plan for entrapping the wary foe. Some of our mounted men were, accordingly, sent forward to entice the enemy by firing on them, and then retreating in apparent confusion. By this ruse, it was hoped the whole of the Mexican cavalry, some 400 or 500, might be induced to charge over the crest of the ridge, behind which our riflemen lay in ambush. But, as the best laid schemes "of men and mice" often fail, so ours, on this occasion, was in a great measure frustrated by some of our raw Texans firing too soon. For a time, however, on came the scarlet-coated horsemen, firing at random with their scopetts, and then fixing their long lances in rest, as if for the charge, when the imprudence of a few in our ranks warned them of their danger. Never, however, did a cavalry charge meet a more sudden check, or a band of horsemen spur so vigorously down that long declivity toward the Alamo as did the lancers of Coss, pursued by scores of Texans, striving who should be foremost in the race. Our fire, however, being delivered at long range at the moment the enemy was wheeling about in retreat, was by no means as effective as it would have been but for the accident before noted. Our boys chased them up to the very walls of the Alamo, when the cannon on the wall compelled them to retreat. In retracing our steps over the battle-ground, if such it may be called, three or four of the enemy were found dead, while several horses were caught, and a few worthless scopetts and lances were picked up. Our own loss was nothing, not a man scratched save by the mesquite and prickly pear thorns. So unimportant was this affair at the "powder-house," that, but for its being the first blood shed in the campaign of 1835, the writer would not have noticed it. It perhaps, too, merited a passing note on another account, which I will here mention.

So enraged was General Coss that his boasted troopers should be thus disgracefully routed by the despised colonists, that, the morning of the more important battle of Concepcion, of which I will next give you a sketch, he swore, that, if his troops failed to capture, kill or destroy the whole of our little force, he would severely punish every officer in command.

How his myrmidons performed his orders you shall learn in the next chapter. That Coss carried out his threats was proven by one of his best officers deserting to our side on account of bad treatment, not long after.