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Thursday, December 29, 2022

The Deadly Beans

 

The Drawing of the Beans at Salado



During the Autumn of 1842, Sam Houston, the President of the Republic of Texas, was in a quandary.  General Santa Anna, his defeated adversary at San Jacinto, had regained power in Mexico and reneged on his promise to support Texas independence.  Financial problems and government instability prevented the wily dictator from launching another invasion on what he still considered a rebellious Mexican province.  Instead, Santa Anna dispatched a number of military expeditions into Texas to raid its settlements.  After San Antonio had been occupied and plundered by Mexican troops under General Raphael Vasquez, enraged Texans wanted immediate revenge.  Texas, however, was flat broke and had no standing army, relying instead on ill-disciplined militia units.  To make matters worse, the Texas arsenal was practically empty, consisting of only 2 brass cannons, 581 kegs of powder, and 395 muskets - barely enough for a single company.  Aid from the U.S. was not forthcoming because Texas was a slave republic.  Northern politicians were opposed to slavery and had little enthusiasm for the Lone Star State, much less its annexation.  As a result of these shortcomings, Houston was opposed to conducting military operations in Mexico.  When the Texas Congress passed a bill to raise an army, he vetoed it.

 

That all changed after Mexican General Adrien Woll surprised and briefly occupied San Antonio with 1,500 men.  After looting San Antonio for the second time, Woll left with 52 prisoners in tow.  Near Salado Creek, he confronted an 80 man militia force under Colonel Matthew Caldwell.  Woll’s cavalry tried to break Caldwell’s defensive line and took a drubbing from his sharpshooters.  Captain Nicholas Mosby Dawson arrived on the scene with 50 men, only to be slaughtered by Woll’s artillery.  Sheltered in a mesquite thicket, Dawson’s remaining men tried to surrender but were cut down in what would later be called the “Dawson Massacre.”  The public’s clamor for revenge intensified, too much for Houston to simply ignore; he issued a call for volunteers.

 

Houston had no illusions of immediate success against Mexico’s army; he favored a defensive position along the Texas border where volunteers could be properly trained and readily supplied with what little was on hand. Instead of appointing a tough, two-fisted commander that would take the fight into Mexicos interior, Houston chose a portly, feckless town merchant who he could micromanage - Brigadier General Alexander Somervell.  One militia member remarked, His very looks and deportment combined to prove him no General.”

 

Militias from all over Texas converged on San Antonio, where Somervell set up a loosely managed headquarters and nightly fandangos offered a less than military regimen.  Many were volunteers from the U.S., later described by a historian as “a rabble of adventurers and self-willed men unable or unwilling to subordinate their impetuous desires to the general good.”  Instead of issued uniforms, they wore an odd assortment of coonskin hats, sombreros, buckskin breeches and moccasins.  Nevertheless, their long rifles gave them a decided edge over Mexico’s antiquated muskets and spirits ran high.

 

On November 13, Somervell’s ragtag army of 700 set out for the Medina River.  Its first target was the border town of Laredo; a town decimated from Comanche and Apache raids.  Plagued by freezing rain, mud, misdirection and malnourishment, the Texans arrived in Laredo and found out the Mexican soldiers there had withdrawn.    Pleased that they wouldn’t have to fight entrenched troops, they were less pleased with Laredo’s utter lack of provisions.  The only thing the town alcalde could offer were 6 scrawny cows and a few sacks of flour.  Angered by the meager offering, many of the Texans began plundering Laredo’s ramshackle homes.   Furious over the looting, Somervell ordered his men to return the items they stole.    After he apologized to the alcalde, a mound of lifted booty was grudgingly assembled for return to Laredo’s residents.  Somervell next marched across the Rio Grande and captured the town of Guerro.  Like Laredo, there were only threadbare civilians and little loot to plunder.  With minimal support from President Houston, no military objectives in the offing, an army devolving into chaotic mob, and converging Mexican troops, Somervell prudently ordered his men to disband and return home.  Outraged at Somervells orders, 308 chose to continue the expedition, mostly to search for horses, cattle and sheep herds to rustle.  They would soon wish they had left with Somervell.

 

The expedition was now under Colonel William S. Fisher, a reckless, bombastic former Secretary of War under Houston.  Always searching for praise and glory, Fisher’s saw his chance to shine.  The shine took a dull tone when he entered the Mexican town of Mier on the Rio Grande.  Again,  the Texans requested supplies from the town’s alcalde, taking him hostage to ensure delivery.  Mexican troops arrived in Mier and cut off Fisher from the supplies.  Undeterred, he decided to attack Mier and seize them.  Hours of bloody street fighting ensued with the Texans seemingly getting the upper hand.  A staggering eight hundred Mexicans became casualties compared to thirty on the Texas side.  However, they were outnumbered, running out of ammo, and low on moral.  Fisher was in agony after his thumb was shot off.  Only the fear of a “no quarter” defeat kept them fighting.  The Mexican commander, General Pedro de Ampudia, deceptively offered a way out - surrender and be honorably treated as prisoners of war.   Fisher fell for the ruse; he surrendered. 

 

Now prisoners, they were dishonorably forced to march on foot to Mexico City.  Referred to as “Los Diablos Tejanos,” they were jeered by Mexican villagers along the way while church bells signaled their approach.  At the town of Salado, they decided to cheat an uncertain fate; they overpowered their guards and then escaped into Mexico’s treacherous countryside.  To avoid recapture, they took a circuitous route through the mountains only to become lost.  The escapees, worn-out from the march, became exhausted and dehydrated to the point of collapse - only three made it back to Texas.   The rest were recaptured and returned to Salado, where they were placed in irons.  Santa Anna wanted to execute all of them but was persuaded to take a less drastic measure - execution by lottery.  The prisoners were forced to draw dried beans from an earthen jar.  If a white one was drawn, you were spared.  A black bean meant execution by firing squad.  Seventeen selected black beans.  William “Bigfoot” Wallace cleverly felt the beans after noting the size of the black beans; he drew a white one.  After writing letters to their loved ones, the condemned were blindfolded and seated on a log bench.  A local priest sprinkled holy water over the execution site.  Because of the poor quality of the Mexican muskets, the prisoners were shot multiple times to ensure their deaths.  The remaining prisoners, manacled in pairs, were again force marched to Mexico City and internment at a dark, foreboding prison.

 

Perote Prison was a massive, medieval-like stone fortress that could hold 10,000 people.  Once called the Castle of San Carlos, it took seven years to build.  Perote had only one entrance and was surrounded by a moat.  Water was provided by an underground reservoir, but the food was sorely lacking.  The daily fare consisted of a few ounces of bread, a half pint of cornmeal, and potatoes covered with sprouts.  There was no furniture in the cells, just a cold stone floor with a mat to sleep on.  Though they surrendered to be treated as prisoners of war, the Texans were forced to perform grueling manual labor such as road repair and shoveling out latrines.  The few comforts allowed were writing letters to loved ones, receiving money and gifts, and purchasing goods outside the prison.  Overall, conditions were very harsh and the prisoners, especially those without money, suffered extensively from illness and starvation.   Seventeen managed to tunnel out through their cell floors or walls before bribing their way to Vera Cruz and boarding ships bound for the United States.  The rest had to rely on the goodwill of Santa Anna for a release date.  After pressure from British and U. S. Government officials,  Santa Anna released the prisoners on September 16, 1844.  One hundred five made it back home after two years in captivity.  Mostly forgotten, no warm public welcome awaited them.  The republic they had fought for was about to become the newest addition to the United States.  Texas no longer had a need for freebooting, rogue armies.  It wasn’t until 1850 that members of the Mier Expedition were awarded $300 in back pay.  Unlike Texas veterans from other wars, they didn’t receive land grants.  The prisoners executed and buried at Salado were exhumed during the War with Mexico, stuffed into sacks, and then reburied at Monument Hill in La Grange, Texas.             

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