On this day 110 volunteers under Captain Allen and Captain Benjamin Fort Smith were detached to march south and seize Victoria and Goliad, so as to cut off the Mexicans’ line of communication with the Gulf. Now there were not enough men left at Gonzales to capture San Antonio, and if Colonel Ugartechea and his Mexican regulars arrived, for that cannon, before reinforcements came in, Colonel Moore’s riflemen certainly would have their hands full.
However, amidst the wild rumors, scouts brought word that Ugartechea had not yet marched out of the Alamo mission of Bejar, but that General Cos was nearing Bejar with his 500 soldiers. Something therefore must be done soon.
Ernest was a strong Sam Houston “man.” But when he tried a little electioneering, himself, for his candidate, he found, as Trapper Karnes had said, that the camp was all “split up.” He could not swing even Leo and Jim.
“Aw, who’s Sam Houston?” opposed Leo. “He may be a right smart of a man, but we’ve got a lot as good one’s who’ve been in Texas longer than he has. We Lower Brazos fellows aren’t going to vote for anybody we don’t know. We’ve got a man of our own.”
“Didn’t you ever see Sam Houston?” asked Ernest.
“Naw, I never did. I hear tell he’s a politician who’s come into East Texas hoping to get something. Did you ever see him?”
“I should say I did!” defended Ernest, hotly. “I saw him up at Fort Gibson before ever he came into Texas, and I’ve seen him at Gonzales, too. He’s the finest, kindest man anybody ever met. He’s a friend of President Jackson’s, and a friend of Texas――and didn’t Texas send for him, and hasn’t he been at the head of things around Nacogdoches, and taken part in the conventions, and haven’t they elected him their commander-in-chief already?”
“Shucks!” scoffed Leo. “We don’t care what they’re doing up ’round Nacogdoches. We’ve got a leader picked out that we know and can depend on. He’s from down our way.”
“But Houston’s been in the United States army, and he’s lived with the Indians, and he’s not afraid of anything,” argued Ernest. “He can fight the way the white men fight and he can fight the way the Indians fight; and if he was commander then maybe all the Cherokees and Comanches would join us.”