Juan Seguin (5 page)

We fought for many hours. The sound of the guns echoed off the walls. Finally the noise began to die down. A man ran into our house and knelt next to Juan.

“General Cos has sent a messenger. He wants to talk to us. General Burleson wants you to act as an interpreter.”

“Where’s Ben Milam?” Juan asked.

“He was shot by a sniper. General Burleson’s leading us again.”

Juan stood up. “All right. I’ll talk to this messenger. Come on, Pablo.”

We spoke with the enemy messenger. We gave him the terms that General Burleson had told us to give him. The messenger returned to the Alamo. In a short period of time, he came back and told us that General Cos would accept the terms.

The men stood in two lines and cheered as the enemy army marched out of San Antonio.

“What’s wrong, Juan? Aren’t you happy that General Cos is leaving?” I asked.

“Of course I’m happy,” Juan said. “I just have a feeling that he’ll be back and he’ll bring a whole lot of his friends.”

After General Cos left, we settled down in San Antonio. The Texans argued about what to do next. Some men wanted to attack the Mexican city of Matamoros. They believed that if we took the war into Mexico, many people who were not happy with Santa Anna would join us.

Burleson left the army and Colonel Neill took over. He believed that we should stay and make the Alamo strong so we would be able to stop Santa Anna when he came. Juan and his company were sent on scouting patrols all the way to the Rio Grande. This kept him out of the fight over what to do. One day we rode back into the town after a patrol. The town was strangely empty. We rode over to Colonel Neill’s headquarters and walked inside. Colonel Neill looked up from his desk as we entered.

“Juan, good to have you back. Did you see anything?”

Juan shook his head. “No. We rode down to the Nueces River. There is no sign of Santa Anna.”

“That’s good,” Neill said. “We’re in no shape to fight him now.”

Juan walked over to a window and looked out on the nearly empty street. “Where is everyone? This town looks deserted.”

Neill nodded. “A couple of days ago most of the men left to go to Matamoros. They took most of the ammunition and medical supplies. I have barely one hundred men left, and some of them are sick or wounded.”

“Are you planning on staying here?” Juan asked.

Neill pointed to a paper on his desk. “I’m writing to General Houston now. I’m telling him what happened and asking for more men. I think San Antonio is the key to Texas. If we turn this town over to Santa Anna, there is nothing to stop him from going straight into the colonies. We have to stop him here. I hope Houston will think so too. I need one of your men to take this message to Houston. The sooner it gets there, the sooner he can send more troops and supplies.”

Juan turned to me. “Tell Jose to get ready. Have him get a fresh horse.” He turned to Colonel Neill. “Let me know when the letter’s ready.”

Several days passed and we watched for the return of the messenger with news from General Houston. One day we saw him riding into San Antonio. He pulled his horse to a stop and leaped from the saddle. Juan stood up and walked over to meet him.

“What’s the news, Jose?” he asked.

“General Houston is going to send Jim Bowie and some men in the next few days.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Juan asked.

“I don’t know. Houston said he would give Bowie orders about what to do.”

Juan nodded. “All right, Jose. You did a good job. Go get some rest.”

We watched Jose walk away.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

Juan took off his hat and looked down the dusty street. “We just have to wait for Jim Bowie to get here,” he said.

A week later, Bowie and his men rode into town. It was good to see him again. He had left San Antonio after the grass fight and we had not seen him since. He smiled as he shook Juan’s hand.

“Good to see you, Juan. Where’s Colonel Neill?”

Juan pointed toward Neill’s office. “He’s in there. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Jim started walking toward the office. “Come on, Juan. You need to hear this too.”

We followed Jim into Neill’s office. Neill shook Jim’s hand and motioned for all of us to sit down.

“Good to see you, Jim. I hope you’ve brought good news from General Houston.”

Jim pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “Houston gave me this and told me to bring it to you.” He handed the paper to Colonel Neill.

We watched Neill as he read the letter. He frowned and tossed the paper onto his desk. “Surely Houston isn’t serious,” Neill said.

“He looked serious when he gave me that. He told me to come to San Antonio and blow up the Alamo. Then we need to bring the cannons to him.”

Juan looked surprised when Jim said we should blow up the Alamo. He turned to Jim. “Do you agree we should blow up the Alamo and leave San Antonio to Santa Anna?”

Jim coughed, then said, “I’m just telling you what Houston said. I agree we have a better chance of fighting Santa Anna in the open. We don’t have enough men to get penned up in forts.”

Colonel Neill got up from the desk. “Jim, the only chance Texas has is for us to hold Santa Anna here until Houston can raise an army. Think about it. If he is free to move into our settlements with no one to delay him, Texas is lost. Agree with me on this, Jim. We’ll send a letter to Houston saying we think this place is too important to be turned over to Santa Anna without a fight. Where is Houston?”

Jim waved his arm. “He’s gone to make a treaty with the Indians. He won’t be back for a while.”

Neill smiled. “Good. I’ll write to the governor asking for more men. We can hold this place if we get more troops. What do you say, Jim? Will you back me?”

Jim looked over at Juan. I saw Juan nod his head. Bowie sighed and turned to Colonel Neill. “Houston’s going to be mad if we don’t obey his orders. But by the time he gets back we’ll probably have run Santa Anna back to Mexico.”

Neill smiled. “Good.” He turned to Juan. “I’m going to need another messenger. I’m going to ask the governor to send us more troops right away.”

Juan stood up. “All right Colonel. I hope he has a lot to send.”

The next few weeks were busy. Men worked to strengthen the crumbling walls of the Alamo. Green Jameson took charge of the building, and soon the Alamo began to look like a fort. Juan kept our company busy scouting the area looking for signs of enemy troops. A few men came to San Antonio. One of them was William Travis. He rode in with a small group of men and immediately got involved in the command of the troops.

Travis was not an easy man to like. Many of the volunteers were used to easygoing commanders. Travis demanded more military discipline, and the men did not like it. They preferred Jim Bowie. Bowie was a fighter, but he also liked to have fun with the men. Juan liked Bowie. He put up with Travis, but he thought Bowie was a better leader.

One day a scout came riding into town. He stopped his sweating horse in front of Juan and me and jumped to the ground.

“What’s wrong, Andres?” Juan asked.

The rider gulped in some air and then pointed in the direction he had come from.

“Santa Anna’s army. It’s on its way here. They have thousands of men, with cannons and horses.”

Juan looked where the rider pointed. “How far away are they?”

“The troops I saw were on the Rio Grande. That was several days ago. I don’t know if there were any in front of them.”

“All right, Andres. Go get some food.” Juan turned to me. “Come on, Pablo. We need to tell Bowie and Travis.”

We found Bowie and Travis sitting in the headquarters. Colonel Neill was not there. Both men looked up as we walked in.

“Hello, Juan,” Bowie said. “It looks like you’re in a hurry.”

Juan walked over and looked at a map lying on the desk. He pointed at the map. “Right here. This is where Andres saw Santa Anna.”

Bowie and Travis stood up. “What are you talking about?” Travis asked.

“One of my men just rode in. He saw Santa Anna’s army crossing the Rio Grande here. He wasn’t sure if there were any troops ahead of them. That was several days ago. They are closer by now.”

Jim looked at the map. “Is he sure it was Santa Anna?” he asked.

“I don’t know if Santa Anna’s with them, but it’s his army. Thousands of them. They have cannons and cavalry, too.”

Travis shook his head and sat back down. “It’s not possible, Juan. He would have to move thousands of troops, not to mention animals, across a desert in the middle of winter. I think he’ll wait until spring when the grass is green. By then we’ll be ready for him.”

“What did Andres see then?” Juan asked. “I don’t believe he’s making this up.”

“I don’t know what your man saw, Juan. But I feel sure it wasn’t Santa Anna. Maybe it was an advance unit looking for the best way for the army to come next spring.”

“Advance units don’t have thousands of men and cannon. What do you think, Jim?”

Jim rubbed his chin and looked at the map. “I don’t know, Juan. I agree with Travis that it doesn’t make much sense to try and cross the desert in the middle of winter. But, if anybody would try, it would be Santa Anna.”

Juan looked from Bowie to Travis. “You have had my men looking for Santa Anna for weeks. Now we tell you he’s coming and you don’t believe us. Why send us out? We can stay in town and wait for the enemy army to walk up and knock on our door.”

“Don’t get mad, Juan,” Travis said. “You and your men are doing a great job. But don’t you see, what you are saying doesn’t make sense. No military man in his right mind would attempt to march that many men across the desert in the winter. I’ve heard that Santa Anna is a pretty good general. He wouldn’t risk his army like that.”

Juan walked toward the door. “I guess you can believe what you want. My men will report what they see.”

Juan walked outside. Bowie followed us. “Juan. Don’t let Travis make you mad. He is doing the best he can. He has it in his head that an army can’t cross that desert in the winter, and he’s not going to change it.”

“I know how Travis is, Jim. But sometimes I would like to shake some sense into him.”

We looked down the street and saw a group of men riding slowly toward us. They were dressed in buckskin and carried long rifles. The leader was a big man who smiled at the people looking at him. He stopped his horse in front of us and got off. He walked up to us and put out his hand.

“Howdy, men,” he said, “glad to meet you. My name’s Davy Crockett.”

We stood staring at the tall man in the buckskin clothes. We had all heard of the famous Davy Crockett. He was a well-known hunter and had been a member of the United States Congress. Bowie stuck out his hand.

“Congressman Crockett. It’s nice to meet you.”

Davy shook Jim’s hand. “Please, call me David. Or Davy. I have given up being a congressman.”

Jim motioned toward us. “Davy, I’d like you to meet two good friends of mine. This is Captain Juan Seguin and his friend Pablo Gomez.”

Davy shook our hands. Juan smiled at Davy.

“I hear you’re a great shot with your rifle, Davy.”

Davy smiled. “I’ve been known to hit what I aim at,” he said.

Juan laughed. “I bet I can outride you and outshoot you,” he said.

Jim and I stared at Juan. Neither of us knew what to say. Finally Jim cleared his throat. “What brings you to Texas, Davy?”

Davy turned away from Juan. “Well, you see, I lost the last election I was in for Congress. So I decided I would come and look over Texas. I’ve seen some mighty fine country. I might just move on down here.”

“You know that Santa Anna’s on his way here with an army, don’t you? There’s probably going to be some fighting soon.”

Davy nodded. “I heard some stories about that. From what I’ve seen, Texas is worth fighting for.”

Juan smiled. “I’m glad to hear you say that, Davy. I feel the same way. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Come on, Davy. Let’s go meet Colonel Travis. He’ll be glad to meet you too.”

We walked into the office and introduced Davy to Travis. We talked about Texas and the plans that everyone had. At last Davy said, “Colonel, Juan and the others tell me that Santa Anna’s on the way here with an army. From what I’ve seen around here, you don’t have many men to fight him with.”

Travis waved his hand. “I’ve heard those stories too. One of Juan’s men reported the other day that Santa Anna had crossed the Rio Grande. I don’t believe that. He’ll wait for the grass to grow so his horses can eat. That won’t be for several months. By then we’ll have reinforcements and we’ll be able to fight him right here.”

Davy took off his coonskin hat and scratched his head. “Colonel, my men and I just crossed these prairies. Our horses ate real well on that dry grass. There might be some reasons why Santa Anna won’t come here now, but not having food for his horses isn’t one of them.”

Juan slapped the table. “That’s what I’ve been telling you, Colonel. Now will you believe me that Santa Anna is coming and that he’ll be here before long?”

Travis shook his head. “Juan, I know you want to believe your men, but there’s a lot of difference in Davy’s little group and an entire army. No, I still think we have some time.”

Davy stood up. “I’ve got to go find a place for my men to camp. I’ll talk to you later.” Davy smiled at Juan. “I guess I better practice my shooting.”

We watched Davy walk out the door. Juan turned to Travis. “Colonel, I still say you better start believing the reports about Santa Anna. He’s coming and he’s coming soon.”

I followed Juan outside. We stood on the sidewalk and watched the people walk by. Finally I said, “Why did you say you were a better shot than Davy? You just met him and now you’re challenging him to a shooting contest?”

Juan smiled. “Pablo, Davy knows I didn’t mean anything by it. I like him. Besides, I think he might enjoy a little contest. Come on. I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat.”

The next couple of weeks were busy as we worked to strengthen the walls of the Alamo. Bowie and Travis shared command of the troops, and Davy kept people entertained with his stories and speeches. Messengers still reported that Santa Anna was coming, but Juan could not convince Travis.