Episode 257 - Texas History Thursday: Mary Maverick's Memoirs Part 8

The Mexican Army arrives in San Antonio and captures the city. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good afternoon. This is Emma, and this is the fourteenth
and today is Thursday. So we are doing Texas History
Thursday with Mary Maverick's memoirs, and this week we'll be
doing chapter eleven. We're about I think I said we
were halfway before, but I think we're really halfway now.

(00:22):
So we're gonna read this chapter. This is a little
bit longer for a chapter, but this is after they
remember in their last chapter they had to start fleeing
because they heard the Mexicans were coming to San Antonio. Well,
guess what, in this chapter, they actually do come to
San Antonio. So let's hear what happens. Now. I'm gonna
give an You know, I think I do this every

(00:43):
time we have a we read this, but I'm gonna
give a disclaimer. This is going to talk about slavery,
and if that's a problem for you, it's gonna have
to just be one. Don't listen to this section. We
are going to read this exactly as she wrote it,
because these are her words, and that is the whole

(01:04):
They are not my words, they're her words, and this
is exactly what she said. And we're not going to
assign twenty first century values to a nineteenth century person. Okay,
so just keep that in mind when I get to
that part. This chapter is entitled Perote, and that is

(01:29):
where vera cruz vera Cruz is in Mexico. So that's
way down south in Mexico. That's a long way. I
don't know if that means by the time we get
to the end of this chapter that's going to come
into play, but that's what she named the chapter. September eleventh,
Sunday morning, at daybreak, General Adrian Wole, with a large

(01:52):
force of Mexicans, consisting of cavalry and artillery to the
number of thirteen hundred, suddenly appeared before San Antonio and
captured the place. It was a complete surprise. Now I'm
not really sure how it was surprised, because I've been
hearing these rumors, but anyway, that's what she said. The
court was in session at the time, and including the

(02:12):
members of the bar and the judge of the district court,
fifty three Americans were captured, one of whom was mister Maverick.
Before the little band surrendered, they showed a bold and
vigorous front, even in the face of such fearful odds.
They fortified themselves in the Maverick Residence at the corner

(02:33):
of Commerce and Soladad Streets, probably in January. I'm gonna
be in San Antonio for something for work. I'm gonna
have to go find Commerce. We'll be on Commerce, but
I'm gonna have to go find Solodads so I can
find the corner and imagine in my head where the
Maverick residence was. Some of them mounted upon the roof

(02:58):
when mister John Tuhig received a wound from which he
never entirely recovered. When the Mexican troops entered Maine Plaza,
the Texans fired upon them, briskly, killing two and wounding
twenty six, six of whom died of the wounds. General
Wohll beat a parley, and after he had shown the

(03:19):
Texans they could not escape him, and had promised to
treat them as honorable prisoners of war, and used some
other plausible talk with them, the Texans had held a
consultation among themselves when a majority voted to surrender. After
they surrendered, they were kept in the Maverick Residence, where

(03:41):
they were closely guarded until the fifteenth. Missus Elliot was
in San Antonio when my husband was captured, and she
was allowed to visit the prisoners once or twice before
they were taken off to Mexico. Mister Maverick found an
opportunity to hand missus Elliot twenty gold balloons for me.

(04:02):
No one can imagine how dreadful this news was to me,
especially when I learned that our poor prisoners were marched
off on foot for Mexico on the fifteenth. Now, it
is not a small trip from San Antonio to just
from San Antonio to the Rio Grand River is not
a small trip. I'll try to go back and look

(04:23):
that up and see exactly how far that is on
my handy dandy MapQuest or Google maps or whatever. At
this time, my poor little Lewis was dangerously ill with
fever then prevalent in the neighborhood. Our slave Griffin had
come back from San Antonio and was greatly troubled about

(04:44):
his master, to whom he was much attached. I called
him to me, talked to him about going to San
Antonio to pass himself off as a runaway fallow to
Mexico and do anything he could to free or even
aid mister Maverick. And he could have his freedom. He
answered that to do anything for his master would delight him,

(05:04):
and he had been waiting to ask me to let
him go. And then this part is in quotes, as
she's quoting him. As for my freedom, he added, I
do not want any more than I have. Master has
always treated me more like a brother than a slave.
And he choked up, unable to say more. He took
a gun, a good mule, some money, and made ready

(05:27):
and started within a few hours, happy to think he
might do something to help his master. The fifteenth once
again killed doctor Smithers, McDonald and McGray at the Sulfur
springs on the Sibilow. Seventeenth, one hundred and sixty three
men under Matt Caldwell were on the Sibylow going west.

(05:50):
Eighteenth Caldwell moved with two hundred and twenty five men
to the Tolado and on the morning in the yard
and mister Gaudier's fann Emily took a shed along the
side of the shop. The Bradleys remained housed with the Erskines,
and the Hutchinsons went on east. We had great fun

(06:10):
decorating our domicile. Okay, it's always amazing to me in
this narrative, how she goes from you know, the worst
news possible, that her husband's been captured by the Mexicans,
being marched off to Mexico. And now she's having fun
decorating whatever little house she's in Okay. And in the

(06:33):
last one where she was going, they were fleeing from
the Mexicans. But yet she wanted her sister to come
from Alabama and put her lot in with them. It's
it's kind of the contrast. There is kind of a
lot to take in. Let's see, we placed flowers and

(06:53):
green boughs in the chinks so they were in like
a log cabin, and erected a shelf on which we
placed a bar, our own mirror, and our perfumery bottles
and bric a brac. And we made ourselves at home.
Generally the servants stretched tents nearby and cooked us a
nice supper. March sixth, early to wed At. Now we've

(07:13):
gone from September to March, so let's prey a long
period of time. Early to wed At three, a m
Captain high Smith rapped loudly on our door, and when
we had answered, called out in a solemn voice ladies,
San Antonio has fallen. It was startling news, indeed, and
the night before was very dark and cold. We were

(07:35):
seized with a vague sense of terror. Missus Jacques lit
a candle and commenced, weeping bitterly. Missus Elliott fell on
her knees and counted her beads oftener than what as
soon as you was Catholic, and this was her rosary.
And I took a shaking agu and could not speak
for the chatter of my teeth. The children waked and cried,

(07:59):
and the Negro's came in with sad and anxious looks,
and we were in fact seized with a genuine panic.
Then mister Gaudier learned from Captain Highsmith that the Americans
had fallen back in good order with their cannon, that
General Rafael Vasquez with a large force had entered San
Antonio on the fifth, and that the Americans, believing Vasquez

(08:23):
forces to be the vanguard of a large army, had
decided upon making sagein our rendezvous rendezvous, and were gradually
retreating to that point. And then there is a little
asterisk down at the bottom. It says on March the
six forty two, General Vasquez with fourteen hundred Mexican troops

(08:45):
appeared and captured San Antonio. No battle was fought, and
they retreated across the Rio Grande. During the same month,
this was the time when John Tuhig blew up his
oh well that's interesting. Okay, back to Mary, Let's see, okay,

(09:11):
uh believing Americans, believing Vasquez forces to be the vanguard,
a very large army had decided upon making sagin Or,
and they be the town of sagin it's east of
San Antonio, our rendezvous, and we're gradually retreating to that

(09:32):
point that miserable day. All day, rumors came, Couriers passed
in haste, and we were informed that an army of
thirty thousand Mexicans had cut our forces up and were
marching directly toward the Capodi farm. And remember that's where
she is presumably intending to cross the Guadalupe. At that point.

(09:53):
During the excitement in the morning, Missus Jacques buried her money,
and Missus Elliott constructed re bustles for herself and her
two servant women. And in the bustles she deposited her
gold to balloons. And we had all prepared and recited
what we should say to the Mexican officers upon their arrival.

(10:14):
After dinner, we all went out to the public road
and sat down on a log, all in a row,
and watched to see them approach, whilst the invalid mister Douglas,
wearing his comical lungs red silk smoking cap, tried to
cheer and amuse us with his jokes and witticisms. Soon
towards the fatal west was seen an approaching horseman, urging

(10:36):
his tired steed with whip and spur. A courier cried, Douglas,
now we shall know all sure enough. It was my
dear brother Andrew, come to set us at ease about
the personal safety of our absent husbands, as he had
a better horse than they. For our husbands appreciated our
anxiety and had sent him forward as their advance avant courier,

(11:02):
and before dark mister Maverick and mister Elliot came, followed
soon afterwards by mister Bradley and mister Jacques. So they
apparently got loose. Hayes sent us word to go right
on to Gonzales, and we were informed that he, with
some three hundred men, had concluded to march on San
Antonio and attempt its recapture. Hayes had satisfied himself that

(11:28):
no additional forces were sustaining Vasquez. On March ninth, Hayes
with three hundred men entered San Antonio, and on his
approach Vasquez with eight hundred men, fell back across the
Rio Grand, after having done considerable damage to property in Santonio. Again,
it's a long way from San Antonio to the Rio Grand. Meanwhile,

(11:51):
we had gone to Gonzales, where mister Maverick left us
again and returned to San Antonio. We remained in Gonzales
until April sixteenth. The Bradleys remained with the Erskins a
while and then went to the Brasses. So they're continuing
to go east in company with the Chalmers. At Gonzalez,
Missus Riddle overtook us and joined us in the house.

(12:14):
I was occupying a house vacated by the owners who
had fled farther east. Mister Robinson, partner of her husband,
brought Missus Riddle from San Antonio in a buggy behind
a fleet horse. She became very sick and for a
time could not nurse her baby a little more than
three weeks old. I gave her little Sally a portion

(12:35):
of Agatha's milk until missus Riddle recovered. On the way
from Capodi Farm to Gonzalez, we had passed King's Rancho,
which had just been deserted by the owners. Here was
desolation immist plenty. The corn crib was full, the smokehouse

(12:56):
well supplied, and the chickens and hogs moved around as
you usual. But on the front door a notice was
posted to all refugees welcome, help yourselves to what you need.
Also to all marching to repel the invaders. Take what
you want, but leave the remainder to the next comers.
This at first appeared remarkable, but it was founded in wisdom.

(13:20):
All along the Guadaloupe and even the Colorado families ran
away from their homes in the same way, and great
losses followed. My brothers William and Andrew, living on the
San Marcas, sent their negroes with each with a quote
runaway family, and went to the front with Caldwell and McCullough.

(13:41):
And while they were absent, some wanton passerby left their
fences down, and their hogs were killed and stolen. Their
cattle strayed, and finally a flood came in May swept
away their bottom fences and broke them up. Andrew left
affairs with Williams, and then in the summer went back
to Alabama to complete his medical studies at Tuscaloosa and

(14:05):
intending to return eventually with his diploma. He also had
some property there for mother's estate to attend to. While
we were in Gonzales, I met mister and Missus Vanderslip,
young people living there, who afterward came to San Antonio.
Missus Vanderslip had a piano and was very pretty and

(14:26):
not long from New York City. I bet this was
a serious change of pace. I met also Missus Ballinger
of South Carolina and her sister Miss Roach, afterwards Missus
Frank Paschal. A singular panic occurred in Gonzales when we
were there. One evening, an old and respected citizen came

(14:49):
in from the country northwest of town, and in a
state of greatest excitement, reported that a large force of
Indians was en route, coming down the river direct fore
Gonzalez and would certainly arrive during the ensuing night. He
said they could easily take and destroy the town. Weakened
in force as it was. This report spread swiftly and

(15:13):
created the wildest excitement the people from the nineteenth Selecting
a ravine for his force, he ordered Hayes, with fifty
mounted men to draw the Mexicans out of San Antonio
the Battle of Salato. This ground was on the left
bank of the Salado, about six miles from San Antonio

(15:37):
and a mile below the Austin crossing of that creek.
Hayes maneuvered to success and feigned and feigning flight was
hotly pursued by the two hundred Mexican cavalry to the Salado,
who then halted and awaited the arrival of the main
body of one thousand infantry. Quote, and she said she

(16:01):
lets that be put in quote parentheses, dismounted men. That
means men marching and a battery of two guns. My
brothers William and Andrew were both with Caldwell, and they
afterwards told me all about the battle. The Mexicans charged
in style. The Texans held their fire until they could
quote see the whites of their eyes where we heard

(16:23):
that before of their foes. Then each picked his man
and laid him low, and the Mexicans were repulsed with
considerable slaughter. They returned to the charge again and again,
but were repulsed each time with great loss. The battle
lasted from eleven o'clock eight m until five in the afternoon,

(16:44):
when the Mexicans were repulsed with considerable slaughter again. And
where am I back on sat I'm not sure this
is worded correctly. They returned to the charge, Okay, so
we had the last inances the Mexicans Mecan. The Mexicans

(17:07):
were repulsed with considerable slaughter. They returned to the charge
again and again, but were repulsed each time with great loss.
The battle lasted from eleven o'clock am until five in
the afternoon, when the Mexicans were repulsed with considerable slaughter.
And then I don't have a whole sentence I have

(17:28):
back on San Antonio. This is an old printed version
of this that is free on the internet, So we're
gonna assume we've got some typos here. General Woll reported
his loss as one hundred killed, but our people claimed
three times as many. Among the Mexicans slain were Agaton

(17:53):
and Cordova, two famous leaders of marauding parties. Not a
Texan killed, and only ten were wounded. My brothers told
me it was a pleasure to our boys to shoot
down those Mexicans, for they had broken up all our
homes and taken many of our brave comrades into cruel captivity.

(18:14):
On the morning of the battle, the Texans had butchered
some beaves, and I love this is the old way
of saying that b e e V e s instead
of saying beefs. These are beaves. But before they could
get their breakfast, the order was given to fall in,
you know, because it takes a little while to dress
a cow and eat it for breakfast. But after the

(18:40):
fight committed and they found it was such an easy
going affair. Okay, I'm gonna keep going because we're a
long way into this. And yes, that was a telemarketer
call on my phone, so we're gonna ignore it and
we're gonna keep going with where we were. But after
the fight, come in, and they found it was such

(19:01):
an easy going affair. After each charge was repulsed and
before the Mexicans slowly reformed and advanced again, our boys
would descend into the ravine and take lunch a borol
meat and ought coffee. They joked and sang and were
very gay and wanted nothing better than to have the
Mexicans come up and be shot. It seemed like a

(19:21):
child's play to They themselves were quite secure behind the
banks of the ravine, and the cannon balls passed over
and above them. The Dawson Massacre. During the day of
the Battle of the Salado, Captain Dawson with his brave
fifty nine men from Fayette County, seeking a junction with

(19:43):
the main force under Caldwell, met a bloody and cruel fate.
They fell in with Wol's army and were surrounded by
eight hundred Mexican troops. When within one mile of Caldwell,
our faithful Griffin was with Dawson's company. That was her
slave that was going to see if he could help

(20:04):
mister Maverick. They fought so desperately that the Mexicans brought
their two cannon to bear upon them. When Dawson, seeing
there was no hope of escape, raised the white flag.
This was fired upon, and the Mexican cavalry, disregarding the surrender,
charged upon the gallant remnant and cut them down on

(20:26):
every side. It was then that Dawson was slain. Colonel
Carrasco interfeared at this moment, and fifteen Texans were taken prisoner,
three or four of whom died of their wounds, thirty
three had been slained, and the rest escaped. Mister Miller
escaped on a fine horse before the white flag was raised.

(20:48):
My uncle John Bradley was one of the prisoners. Ten
of them, including mister Bradley, were marched off to Mexico
and finally joined the fifty three that had started on
the thirteenth. Our poor Griffin was slain. He would go
into the fight with them, and though offered quarter several times,
refused because he was thinking of his master, now a prisoner,

(21:11):
and two of his young masters, William and Andrew, now
possibly slain. The desire for vengeance seized his brave and
trusty soul, and he wanted to kill every Mexican he good.
He was a man of powerful frame, and he possessed
the courage of an African line. And this faithful and
devoted African performed prodigies that day. When his ammunition became

(21:35):
useless because of the proximity of the Indian, he fought
with butt end of his gun, and when the gun
was broken he wrenched a limb from a mesquite tree
and did battle with that until death closed his career.
He received more than one mortal wound before he ceased fighting.
The Mexican Colonel Carrasco himself afterwards told mister Maverick that

(21:57):
he had witnessed the feats performed formed by that valiant
black man, and he pronounced Griffin the bravest man he
had ever seen. Mister Maverick grieved over his untimely death,
and more than once did he say, we owe Griffin
a monument. September twentieth, the Mexican citizens of San Antonio

(22:19):
who espoused the Mexican cause, with a guard of four
I've got some more pictures, so let's move on. One
hundred soldiers left San Antonio for Mexico, taking with them
five hundred head of cattle and much plunder. September the
twenty first General Wall, with his remaining forces, evacuated San

(22:40):
Antonio and retired in good order towards the Rio. Grand
Colonel Caldwell, with six hundred and fifty men, pursued them
and at night came upon their camp on the Medina.
At daylight the next morning, the Texans found the enemy
had retreated during the night, They gave chase and caught
up with him early in the afternoon. Caldwell and She's

(23:03):
got in parentheses quote old Paint commanded the first division.
More Head the second John Moore, the third or reserve. J. H.
Moore was the ranking officer, but Caldwell immediately took active
command and prepared for the battle. He commanded Hayes, with
twenty picked men to make a diversion on the enemy's left. Hayes,

(23:26):
with his usual dash and gallantry, entered vigorously into the
spirit of the hour. He charged boldly into the ranks
of the enemy and immediately captured the artillery. The Mexicans
threw their women and children into the space between the
captured artillery and their main army. That's not a very

(23:52):
respectable thing to do. Other words come to mine. Then
came a dreadful pause. A disgrace wasteful scene was being
enacted in the Texas Army. J. H. Moore claimed his
right as ranking officer to conduct the battle. Caldwell's men
refused to be commanded by any one other than the

(24:14):
hero of the Salado. Morehead's men demanded that Moreheads should command.
After some delay, Caldwell awoke to the importance of action
and announced he would follow Moore or any other man,
and take all his men into the fight with him.
But the contention had lasted too long. The important moment

(24:35):
had come and had fled forever. Hayes's small band had
captured the artillery, and the enemy was already casting timorous
glances toward the rear. A charge by the Texans would
have scattered them to the winds. As it was Hayes
in a perilous position, the enemy had time to recover
from the first shock. They charged upon Hayes in force

(24:58):
and drove him from the field. Hayes fell back out
of range and witnessed Woll's army successfull successfully retire from
the field and resumed the march westward. Hayes' gallant spirit
was wounded by this unaccountable and ignoymous scene, and his

(25:18):
feelings found utterance in tears, yes, tears of shame and rage.
The Texas army at last came forward, but it was
too late and the enemy had escaped. The Texans were
so disgusted and mortified that all discipline was lost, and
they returned in angry and humiliated squads to San Antonio.

(25:40):
Hayes had five wounded in his brilliant encounter, one of
whom Judge Lucky died. The Mexicans abandoned their extra baggage
and fled precipitously across the Rio gram. The blame for
the failure was cast principally upon Colonel Caldwell, and he
felt so humilily heated an outrage that he became restive

(26:02):
under the heavy burden, and from a condition of excellent health,
he sank into despondency and died of chagrin two or
three months later. That's pretty bad, but his memory remained
fresh and revered. He had been a noted Indian fighter,
as I have mentioned before, and he had been an
officer in the unfortunate Santa Fe expedition and had suffered imprisonment.

(26:27):
He had a great and good reputation throughout West Texas.
I now returned to mister Maverick and the other prisoners
captured on September the eleventh and San Antonio during the
term of court on March thirtieth, eighteen forty three, Mister Maverick, W.
Jones and Judge Anderson Hutchinson were finally released in the

(26:50):
city of Mexico by San Antonio. I mean sorry, by
Santa Anna. Our obligations to our obligations to General Waddie
Thompson can never be forgotten. General Thompson was a native
of South Carolina and a connection by marriage of Missus
Maverick Mister Mavericks. He was the United States Minister to Mexico.

(27:14):
After securing the release of mister Maverick, Jones and Hutchinson,
he nobly exerted his influence to secure the release of
all other helpless and friendless prisoners, and he did not
cease his efforts until he had succeeded in getting them all.
All of the survivors liberated. April second, eighteen forty three,

(27:37):
mister Maverick, once more free, left the city of Mexico,
and on May fourth, he dismounted at our cabin on
the Colorado, having been absent from his family eight and
a half months and a prisoner for seven months. Mister
Maverick's only sorrow was that he had left so many
friends and comrades comrades in prison, and he felt almost

(28:00):
ashamed when he met any of their families and friends
who all of course came to see him to tell
him of his own good luck and of the continued
ill luck of the other captives. June sixteenth, eighteen forty three,
Santa Anna, as a special favor to General Waddie Thompson,
signed the release for the balance of the perrote prisoners.

(28:24):
But the order for release was so slowly carried into
execution that it was more than two months before mister
Bradley reached his family. Okay, so that's the end of
that chapter, and we have lots of things to talk
about from that one of the things, and I will
say I think there are some typos in this. There's

(28:48):
actually a version of these memoirs you can buy, but
this one was copyright free in the public domain on
the these called Internet archive. That's where we've done this before,
where we've talked about old books that I find no interest,
and this is like that. It's in that Internet archive site.

(29:13):
So that's what I've been reading. But we were kind
of confused on our dates in there. We were in
September and then we were in March, and then we
were back in September, so we were kind of all
over the place. And then we had some lines in
the story that were repeated, so that was a little
bit confusing. But the gist of it is is that

(29:36):
you know, San Antonio was captured by the Mexican army
or a small contingent that's really thirteen hundred soldiers wouldn't
have been a huge number. Certainly wasn't what Santa Anna
came with the first time when the Almo fel But anyway,
there weren't that many people in San Antonio, Texans to

(29:58):
push them back. So that's how that happened. And remember
she they're gonna be in this runaway scrape two point
zero here for five years and we're just now and
that was started in forty two and they don't get
to come back until forty seven, so that's five years
that they're gone, and so you know there's gonna be

(30:22):
a lot going on there. Anyway, I think we're to
the maybe to the spring of forty three is what
it sounds like. So first off, you had all of
the really bad things that are happening, and they're pretty terrific,
and they find out that San Antonio has fallen, and
then they turn around and they decorate the little house
they're in and so I think it's one of those

(30:44):
things that you have to think about when people are
in really hard circumstances. Well, first of all, one of
the things that you can do is if you're in
hard circumstances and you can't do anything about those hard circumstances,
that sometimes it's better if you can think of something else, okay,

(31:08):
and get your mind off of it and see if
you can put your mind on something else. So that's
what I think about. I also try to remember that again,
these are very young people, and we've been listening to
her tell this story for a while, but we've got
to remember that she is still in her twenties, because

(31:30):
she was in her teens when she got married, and
her children are still very small. So she is and
if you think about twenty something year olds going through
this kind of situation, it's a lot different. You'll notice
that there's a lot of talk in this about and
this is different than how we think at this point

(31:52):
in time now in our from my generation, since I'm
a baby boomer and you know, I was born in
the first turning back to this book that I mentioned
from time to time, we have not ever experienced a war,
a war for survival we have. You know, when I

(32:14):
was growing up, it was Vietnam, but it was off
somewhere else. It did not end in a victory or defeat.
I mean we just left, okay, we and but it
left such a bad taste in people's mouths that we
didn't go to any kind of military action again until

(32:37):
the nineties. So from the seventies to the nineties, there's
very little going on. And in the nineties we did
the first Golf War, which you know, just took a
matter of days because we went to war against direct
and then you know, we turned around in the two thousands,
we had nine to eleven. We went to war in Afghanistan. Okay,

(32:58):
now we'd been in afghan Is standing in Iraq for
the last twenty or we were for twenty years, and
then we turned around and left that too, and then
that reverted back to whatever it was. But we have
never been My parents' generation knew what this meant. Our
generations and subsequent generations do not know what this means

(33:19):
is to be in a war with people that it
is a matter of your own personal survival. But my
parents' generation and in this case, these people in this
generation knew what that meant, and so they look at
war from a different perspective than we do now. I

(33:42):
will say this, one of the things that they did
is when they came home from World War II and
started building the country. They did such in a way
that they wanted. You know. It was they won World
War two and they wanted to see if they could
build things so that their children had a better life

(34:02):
than they did. But I will say, if you talk
to the men that fought in World War two and
in from America and you asked them how they felt
about the Germans, or you asked them how they felt
about the Japanese, you're not gonna probably like the answer.
Because nowadays, in our lifetime, Germans and Japanese are allies,

(34:27):
and they're in many cases, especially in the case of
Japan is one of our closest allies. So we don't
think of Japanese people in the way that the previous
generation did because we you know, we didn't know somebody
who died as a result of that. The Japanese were
very brutal, especially against the Chinese, but that's, you know,

(34:50):
what wars are like, and so in this case it
was the same thing you had the Texans, Uh, you
had the Indians, you had the Comanches, uh, and then
you also had the Mexicans. And so you know, this
is being hit from both sides. And so when they
talk about how glad they were to kill somebody, that
was the prevailing feeling at the time, because if you

(35:13):
didn't kill them, they were gonna kill you first. So
that it's very different, and it's not the kind of
attitudes that we think of ourselves because we've never been
in that kind of situation. The same thing that she
felt about Griffin. Griffin was their slave. They owned Griffin. Yes,

(35:34):
we all believe that one person owning another person is
a is wrong. There's nothing good about it at all.
But they had a close Griffin was as much a
member of their family as anybody else was. And they,
as she said over and over again, her husband said,
we we owe Griffin a monument because Griffin fought very grave.

(36:00):
He fought to the very end. Even the Mexicans realized
what a what a valiant fighter or warrior he was.
And so you know, he has forever memorialized in her
memoirs because you know, we'd probably never known who Griffin
was if it wasn't for her telling this story. The

(36:20):
thing about the whole situation where the Texans get all
in a teazy over who's supposed to be in charge,
that is like a word to the wise, Okay, because
they were disorganized and they didn't get their act together,
they let the enemy escape, which then means they have

(36:43):
to fight fight the enemy again later, when in reality
that had been better off if they just they had
the opportunity to defeat the Mexican army and they missed
it because they were being stupid. I mean, there's really
not any other way to put that. Also, now when
she's talking about the King Rancho, I don't know if

(37:05):
she's talking about King the King Ranch, which is which
is possible because they had thousands of acre or so.
A goodly section of South Texas along the Rio Brand
was part of the King Ranch. You know. That's it's
a famous ranch in Texas. It started a cattle breed,

(37:26):
the Santa catrudis it if they may also I think
they are. I hope I'm not getting this wrong, but
I think I'm right. Is they actually started the horse breed,
the quarter horse. So it's a very very famous ranch
in Texas. Uh, it's still there. It's still run by

(37:47):
members of the king family. I don't think it's as
big as it used to be, but it's kind of
west of Corpus Christille a little bit kind of northwest,
but it's very large. But how they put the sign
on the door that said, you know, they left, so
they had fled the Mexican army as well. But they
put a note on their door that said, help yourself

(38:09):
to what you need, leave what you don't need for
the next people to come along. So that's an interesting
way to do that. Now here's the thing. I'm sure
they figured out that if if the if refugees flee
fleeing east did not get the goods that they had left,

(38:33):
then the enemy army would Well, if that's the case,
then that would be you know, that's not gonna do
anybody good except the invading army, I guess. So. You know,
when you hear about people nowadays, when they talk about

(38:56):
bugging out and that kind of thing, you know, if
you bug out, as in this case, and this is
a good illustration, you can't take everything you have at home.
And that's one reason why a lot of times preppers
would say I get that. I used as an example
sensible prepper as he said, you know, if you bug

(39:18):
out your glorified refugee, and he's right about that, So
you cannot take everything with you that you have at home,
that you have stored for preparations. So you're gonna have
to leave something behind. Well, if you leave it behind,
then what Well, what these people were doing is they
were going ahead and giving permission to the refugees that

(39:40):
came along behind them to get whatever they needed. So
if they had, you know, because they had left corn
and all kinds of stuff was still there. So they
just told of you know, as they said, get what
you need, leave the rest of it for the next
group to come along behind you. That's how things were done. Now,

(40:02):
it could have been that Indian's got their first. Me
it's good's got their first. They're not gonna read the sign,
they're gonna take it off. And so fortunately these people
were able to take advantage of what the King families
had family had left. So and I've read a lot
of history on the King family, but I don't remember them.

(40:26):
I don't remember hearing that they fled in the eighteen
forties like this for the and I. In fact, I
had never heard of a second version of the Runaway Scrape.
Now they call it Runaway Part two. So that's about
all I've got to say about Mary Maverick's memoir from today.

(40:50):
This will be part eight. Then we'll take up We're
still we're still in uh, we're still in refugee status.
So we'll have the next chapter next week. Hopefully we
won't have a phone call or other things happening at
the time, so we'll see. Anyway, Uh, we'll stop here
and we'll talk about something different tomorrow. I'll visit with

(41:13):
you in the morning.