The Men Who War the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers by Charles M. Robinson III Page A
Authors: Charles M. Robinson III
Tags: Fiction
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Both eventually recovered.
The Indians were sacking the house when Cavina arrived home with his black retainers. Being unarmed, they had to retreat and wait until the Indians left. Cavina then raised a company of about sixty men under the command of Capt. Aylett C. Buckner, a veteran Indian fighter, who tracked the Karankawas to a spot on the Colorado River. Nearing their camp, he sent Moses Morrisson ahead to reconnoiter.
In the eight years since he had been placed in command of the very first ranger company, Morrisson had become an experienced Indian fighter. Slipping quietly up to a bluff overlooking the Indian position on the riverbank, he leaned over to get a better view. But the bluff crumbled under his weight, and he slid some forty feet into the middle of the startled Indians. He managed to keep hold of his rifle, and before the Karankawas recovered from their surprise, he dove into a hole in the riverbank and opened fire.
Buckner’s men heard the shots and hurried to the rescue, charging into the Karankawas, firing indiscriminately and killing men, women, and children. One man killed a mother and her baby with a single shot that passed through both their bodies. Some of the Indians swam across the river, but were shot down as they tried to crawl up the opposite bank. Altogether between forty and fifty were killed, and one eyewitness later claimed the river was tinted red from their blood. This was the last real engagement between the colonists and the Karankawas. Never a large tribe, they appear to have been devastated by their losses in this fight, and they gradually faded from history; within a generation they were extinct. 21
With the coastal tribes subdued, the colonists began turning their attention toward the western prairies, and beyond to the Great Plains. They were now undergoing a metamorphosis. Despite their brief tenure, they were being transformed by this land, becoming a new people. They no longer identified with the United States, but neither were they truly Mexican. The Mexicans still might consider them Americans, but they were rapidly becoming a different people. They began calling themselves “Texians,” the first stage of a process that would create the classic Texan.
THE INDIAN THREAT aside, the Texans were optimistic, particularly now that it appeared relations might be improving with the government. A liberal general, Antonio López de Santa Anna, vocal in his support for constitutional rule, rose up in revolt against the current regime in Mexico City. Although Austin questioned Santa Anna’s sincerity, he nevertheless violated his usual rule of staying aloof from Mexican politics and urged the colonists to declare for the general as the alternative to continued anarchy. 22
By now, Austin no longer wielded the power he originally had held. Bastrop was dead. The colonists were electing their own officials, and quarrels had broken out with some of the newer American colonizers. Land fees, from which much of his income was derived, had been nullified by the government, and he had sold off much of his holdings to pay debts. His old sense of grandeeism was gone. Whether or not he benefited, the great Texas enterprise was a success, and for him that had become enough. The colonists no longer turned to him for governing authority, but for wisdom and experience, and he was determined to use that wisdom and experience in their best interests. Meanwhile, in Mexico City, the government was undergoing yet another reorganization—Santa Anna had won. 23
If this period has left any common historic bond between Texans and Mexicans, it is their joint loathing for Santa Anna, the man who more than any other influenced events for the next two decades. In Texas, he is remembered as the butcher of the Alamo, Goliad, and Mier. In Mexico, he is viewed as an opportunist at best, and at worst as a traitor who sold out his country for his own wealth and comfort. 24 All of these images are true. It is doubtful
The Indians were sacking the house when Cavina arrived home with his black retainers. Being unarmed, they had to retreat and wait until the Indians left. Cavina then raised a company of about sixty men under the command of Capt. Aylett C. Buckner, a veteran Indian fighter, who tracked the Karankawas to a spot on the Colorado River. Nearing their camp, he sent Moses Morrisson ahead to reconnoiter.
In the eight years since he had been placed in command of the very first ranger company, Morrisson had become an experienced Indian fighter. Slipping quietly up to a bluff overlooking the Indian position on the riverbank, he leaned over to get a better view. But the bluff crumbled under his weight, and he slid some forty feet into the middle of the startled Indians. He managed to keep hold of his rifle, and before the Karankawas recovered from their surprise, he dove into a hole in the riverbank and opened fire.
Buckner’s men heard the shots and hurried to the rescue, charging into the Karankawas, firing indiscriminately and killing men, women, and children. One man killed a mother and her baby with a single shot that passed through both their bodies. Some of the Indians swam across the river, but were shot down as they tried to crawl up the opposite bank. Altogether between forty and fifty were killed, and one eyewitness later claimed the river was tinted red from their blood. This was the last real engagement between the colonists and the Karankawas. Never a large tribe, they appear to have been devastated by their losses in this fight, and they gradually faded from history; within a generation they were extinct. 21
With the coastal tribes subdued, the colonists began turning their attention toward the western prairies, and beyond to the Great Plains. They were now undergoing a metamorphosis. Despite their brief tenure, they were being transformed by this land, becoming a new people. They no longer identified with the United States, but neither were they truly Mexican. The Mexicans still might consider them Americans, but they were rapidly becoming a different people. They began calling themselves “Texians,” the first stage of a process that would create the classic Texan.
THE INDIAN THREAT aside, the Texans were optimistic, particularly now that it appeared relations might be improving with the government. A liberal general, Antonio López de Santa Anna, vocal in his support for constitutional rule, rose up in revolt against the current regime in Mexico City. Although Austin questioned Santa Anna’s sincerity, he nevertheless violated his usual rule of staying aloof from Mexican politics and urged the colonists to declare for the general as the alternative to continued anarchy. 22
By now, Austin no longer wielded the power he originally had held. Bastrop was dead. The colonists were electing their own officials, and quarrels had broken out with some of the newer American colonizers. Land fees, from which much of his income was derived, had been nullified by the government, and he had sold off much of his holdings to pay debts. His old sense of grandeeism was gone. Whether or not he benefited, the great Texas enterprise was a success, and for him that had become enough. The colonists no longer turned to him for governing authority, but for wisdom and experience, and he was determined to use that wisdom and experience in their best interests. Meanwhile, in Mexico City, the government was undergoing yet another reorganization—Santa Anna had won. 23
If this period has left any common historic bond between Texans and Mexicans, it is their joint loathing for Santa Anna, the man who more than any other influenced events for the next two decades. In Texas, he is remembered as the butcher of the Alamo, Goliad, and Mier. In Mexico, he is viewed as an opportunist at best, and at worst as a traitor who sold out his country for his own wealth and comfort. 24 All of these images are true. It is doubtful
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