Texas
History: The Battle of
Rosalis
(Also Known as the Battle of Salado)
Major Kemper was promoted to the rank of
colonel, and commander-in-chief de facto, and Captain Ross was chosen
major. A council of war was held, at which it was resolved to obtain
reinforcements and march on San Antonio. Captain McFarland was
dispatched to the Lipan and Twowokana Indians for aid. An express was
also sent to Nacogdoches, to the commandant Guadiana, to forward in
haste all the recruits to be had there. The volunteers from Nacogdoches,
one hundred and seventy in number, soon arrived. Twenty-five Coos battle
Indians, of the old missions, also joined them. With these additions,
the Americans set out on their march up the left bank of the San
Antonio, and crossed the Salado, a small creek emptying into that river,
about the 28th of March. Here they were joined by Captain McFarland with
three hundred Lipan and Twowokana warriors.
The viceroy Venegas, notwithstanding he
was sorely pressed by the republicans at home, found an opportunity for
throwing reinforcements into San Antonio. Salcedo, receiving information
of the advance of the Americans, sent out his troops to form an ambush.
The whole regular force, consisting of fifteen hundred men, and about a
thousand militia, were placed under the command of the officer who
brought on the reinforcements —he having solicited it, and pledged his
sword and his head to the governor that he would kill and make prisoners
the whole of the republican army! The latter consisted of eight hundred
Americans, under Colonel Kemper; one hundred and eighty Mexicans from
Nacogdoches, nominally under Colonel James Gaines, but really led by
Manchaca, a rough, uneducated, but strong-minded Mexican of Texas; and
three hundred and twenty-five Indians. The Americans, expecting a
conflict, had prepared for it. They marched in order of battle. The left
wing, under the command of Major Ross, moved in front; the right, under
Kemper, was in the rear. A select corps of riflemen, under Captain
Luckett, acted as flankers on the right. The American left was protected
by the San Antonio river, along the bank of which they marched.
About nine miles from San Antonio there
was a ridge, of gentle slope, dividing the waters of the San Antonio and
the Salado. The side of this ridge next to the San Antonio, from the
crest to the road, consisted of prairie; the side bordering the Salado
was covered with chapparal, a species of thick Underwood. In this
chapparal the Spaniards were lying in ambush. They were
discovered by the riflemen, who were marching on the crest of the ridge,
and who opened a fire upon them. They immediately formed, and presented
themselves to the American army about four hundred yards below. The
Spanish line, in the centre of which were twelve pieces of artillery,
crowned the crest of the ridge for three quarters of a mile.
The Indian auxiliaries were placed in
front of the American lines, to receive the charge of the Spanish
cavalry, until suitable dispositions could be made to charge in turn. At
the first onset, they all fled, except the Cooshatties and a few others;
these withstood two other charges, in which they lost two killed and
several wounded. By this time the Americans had formed at the foot of
the ridge, having placed their baggage-wagons in the rear, under the
protection of the prisoners they had taken at La Bahia. The charge was
sounded, and orders given to advance to within thirty yards of the
Spanish line, fire three rounds, load the fourth time, and charge along
the whole line. The order was obeyed in silence, and with a coolness so
remarkable, that it filled the Spaniards with terror. The Americans had
greatly the advantage in ascending the hill, as the enemy overshot them.
The Spaniards did not await the charge of their adversaries, but gave
way along the entire line, and then fled in the direction of San
Antonio. They were pursued and killed in great numbers; and many who had
surrendered were cruelly butchered by the Indians. When the Spanish
commander saw his army flying, and that the day was lost, he turned his
horse toward the American line, and rushed into their ranks. He first
attacked Major Ross, and then Colonel Kemper; and, as his sword was
raised to strike the latter, he was shot dead by William Owen, a private
in Captain Joseph Taylor's company.
In this great Texan battle, there were
nearly a thousand of the enemy slain and wounded, and a few taken
prisoners; though the inhuman conduct of the Indians greatly reduced the
number of those captured.
The next day the Americans pursued their
march to the borders of the town of San Antonio, and sent in a flag,
demanding the surrender of the place and garrison. Governor Salcedo
asked till morning to make his arrangements for the capitulation of the
place. A second flag was sent in, notifying him that, if he and his
staff did not immediately proceed to the American camp, with the flag,
they would storm the town. Salcedo with his staff, fourteen in all,
complied with this demand. The governor approached Captain Taylor, and
presented him his sword. Taylor referred him to Colonel Kemper; the
latter declined to receive it, but referred him in turn to General
Bernardo Gutierres. This was too much; Salcedo stuck his sword into the
ground in front of Bernardo, and left it there The latter took it up.
The Spanish troops, stores, arms, and military chest, were all
surrendered. The Americans marched into the Alamo, and released
seventeen of their countrymen whom they found there imprisoned, put arms
in their hands, and placed them in the ranks of the "Republican Army of
the North." The spoils were distributed. Each man in the army received
his wages, a gratuity of fifteen dollars, a suit of clothes, and an
order for two horses or mules out of the public caballada. The Indians
were supplied with two dollars' worth of vermilion, together with
presents of the value of a hundred and thirty dollars, and sent away
rejoicing. The Spanish soldiers taken as prisoners were set at liberty.
Some joined the ranks of the republicans, and the rest repaired to their
homes. Salcedo and his staff were permitted the liberties of the town on
their parole of honor.
Governor Salcedo Murdered
About the first of April, 1813, General
Bernardo (who, being among his own people, had begun to assume a little
more authority) ordered the army to be paraded, and read to them what he
affirmed was a letter informing him that two vessels, at Matagorda bay,
were about to sail to the United States, and stated that he considered
it safest to send Salcedo and his staff to
New Orleans, there to remain on their parole until the war was over.
This proposition was acquiesced in by the troops; and that evening the
governor and his suite started on their march, under the guard of a
company of Bexar Mexicans commanded by Captain Delgado. They were taken
about a mile and a half below the town, to the point of a small ridge
that runs down to the river; and there, on the east bank of the stream,
the prisoners were stripped and tied, and their throats cut! Among them,
besides Governor Salcedo, were the brave and accomplished ex-governors
Herrera and Cordero. The next morning, the Americans, discovering that
Delgado and his company were back in their quarters, suspected some
treachery. The American officers, having their honor pledged for the
safety of these victims, caused Delgado to be arrested and tried. His
defense was, that Colonel Delgado and General Bernardo, having been
engaged under the banner of Hidalgo, when the latter fell, were making
their escape to
Louisiana; that Colonel Delgado—who was his father—was taken and
executed by Salcedo in San Antonio, and his head exposed on a pole, as
the Americans saw when they marched into the town and that for this
reason General Bernardo had given him permission to put the prisoners to
death. Upon this statement, Captain Delgado was released, and Bernardo
himself brought to trial. He made the same defense as the former, with
this addition, that the younger Delgado had implored him on his beaded
knees thus to avenge his father's death. The tribunal, however, found
Bernardo guilty of treachery and barbarity, and deposed him.
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