nding pointed against our enclosure, the
artillerymen standing by them with lighted matches, and near them was
drawn up a battalion of infantry, in parade uniform, but coarse and
ragged enough. The infantry had no knapsacks or baggage of any kind; but
at the time I do not believe that one of us remarked the circumstance,
as the Mexican soldiers in general carry little or nothing. For our
part, we required but a very short time to get ready for the march, and
in a few minutes we were all drawn up, two deep, with the exception of
Colonel Miller's detachment, which was quartered outside the fort.
Fanning and the other wounded men, the doctor, his assistants, and the
interpreters, were also absent. They were to be sent later to New
Orleans, it was believed, by a nearer road.

After the names had been called over, the order to march was given, and
we filed out through the gate of the fortress, the Greys taking the
lead. Outside the gate we were received by two detachments of Mexican
infantry, who marched along on either side of us, in the same order as
ourselves. We were about four hundred in number, and the enemy about
seven hundred, not including the cavalry, of which numerous small groups
were scattered about the prairie. We marched on in silence, not however,
in the direction we had anticipated, but along the road to Victoria.
This surprised us; but upon reflection we concluded that they were
conducting us to some eastern port, thence to be shipped to New Orleans,
which, upon the whole, was perhaps the best and shortest plan. There was
something, however, in the profound silence of the Mexicali soldiers,
who are usually unceasing chatterers, that inspired me with a feeling of
uneasiness and anxiety. It was like a funeral march, and truly might it
so be called. Presently I turned my head to see if Miller's people had
joined, and were marching with us. But, to my extreme astonishment,
neither they nor Fanning's men, nor the Georgia battalion, were to be
seen. They had separated us without our observing it, and the detachment
with which I was marching consisted only of the Greys and a few Texian
colonists. Glancing at the escort, their full dress uniform and the
absence of all baggage, now for the first time struck me. I thought of
the bloody scenes that had occurred at Tampico, San Patricio, and the
Alamo, of the false and cruel character of those in whose power we were,
and I was seized with a presentiment of evil. For a m