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In
the winter of 1837, the young son of a Union, Maine, preacher sat
down at a table in San
Augustine and wrote his father about his journey to Texas.
Milton Irish's letter, printed in the Lincoln Patriot at Waldoboro,
Maine, on February 10,1837, has become a classic story of a simple
soldier involved in the momentous events that gave birth to Texas
the year before. In a few months, Milton -- an ancestor of Jack
Irish of Lufkin --
found himself involved in the Siege
of Bexar, the battle that preceded the fall of the Alamo,
and barely escaped with his life during the massacre of Texas prisoners
at Goliad.
In writing to his father, Rev. Cornelius Irish, Milton reported
that he arrived in San
Augustine July 5, 1835, and soon joined a company of volunteers
headed for San Antonio.
In early December, 1835, when troops led by James Bowie and Juan
Sequin defeated a Mexican garrison, it was the first time Milton
had been involved in a battle. "In this action, I for the first
time heard the groans and beheld the agonies of death by the hand
of man," he wrote.
The battle ended when "a capitulation was soon agreed upon." and
the Mexicans gave up the Alamo.
While more than 170 men were killed and wounded on both sides, Milton
received only "a slight wound to the neck from a musket ball."
On December 31 Milton left San
Antonio for Mission LaBahia, near Goliad,
joining another company of soldiers attempting to protect settlers
from Mexican troops.
He was soon involved in several skirmishes with Mexicans and local
Indians. "This was the first time I had ever heard the horrid yells
of the savages," he wrote to his father. In one incident, Milton's
group was surrounded by Mexican soldiers and he and only six men
escaped back to Goliad.
Milton also described the retreat of Colonel Fannin's Texas soldiers:
"My rifle, having become useless, I repaired to a six-pounder, and
having procured several charges for her, and with the aid of a cowardly
Irishman and a brave Pole, I fired with good effect on a body of
horses advancing upon us."
Milton and his companions dug a ditch and spent the night, but in
the morning "the Mexicans appeared with several pieces of artillery
and large reinforcements (and) hoisted a flag truce, which was followed
by a capitulation honorable for us to accept, throwing us into their
hands." Taken to LaBahia, Milton and his fellow soldiers were guarded
until they "were paraded for what purpose we knew not." But it soon
became apparent the Mexicans intended to execute their prisoners.
"The maneuvers first intimated to us what was to be our fate. Here,
death for an instant stared me in the face. I inwardly cried, OLord,
have mercy on me." I had spent my life in wickedness and it was
now too late for hope. From that moment, all fear left me; a desperate
indignation took its place."
A young gentlemen from Alabama, Milton said, spoke in a firm tone,
"Gentlemen, let us meet our doom like men."
As the Mexican troops began firing into the Texas ranks, Milton
miraculously remained unhurt while "death shrieks" rang in his ears.
Running toward a fence, he leaped over, and evaded the Mexicans
and Indians for six weeks, surviving on provisions left by settlers
during their flight. Milton later returned to La Bahia where he
witnessed the funeral of the more than 300 Goliad victims. As one
of only 28 survivors of the massacre, Milton returned to San
Augustine on June 25, 1836 -- two months after Texas won its
independence at San
Jacinto.
All
Things Historical March
28, 2005 column
Bob Bowman's East
Texas ›
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers
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