Texian Army
Encyclopedia
The Texian Army was a military organization consisting of volunteer and regular soldiers who fought against the Mexican
army during the Texas Revolution
. Approximately 3,700 men joined the army between October 2, 1835 during the Battle of Gonzales
through the end of the war on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto
.
Army was relatively fluid. Originally, it was composed entirely of volunteers or militia
, who came and went at will. To become an officer, a man must simply have had enough money or charisma to convince others to serve under him. In the first half of the Texas Revolution
, many of the units and individual volunteers came from the United States
. Among the units these American volunteers populated were the Kentucky Mustangs, Alabama Red Rovers, Tennessee Mounted Volunteers, Mobile Greys, Mississippi Marauders and New Orleans Greys
.
By the end of the war, the army had grown to include three distinct divisions. Members of the regular army enlisted for two years and were subject to army discipline and the army's chain of command. A squad of permanent volunteers enlisted for the duration of the war. This group was permitted to elect its own officers, outside the oversight of the army commander-in-chief. Most of the men who joined the permanent volunteers had settled in Texas before the war had begun, both Tejano and Texian. The last unit was the volunteer auxiliary corps, comprising primarily recent arrivals from the United States who officially enlisted for a six-month term. On November 24, 1835, the Texas provisional government authorized the creation of ranging companies of rifleman. Robert "Three-legged Willie" Williamson
was asked to raise three of these companies with 56 men each.
Rangers were to be paid $1.25 per day.
s, that is, Spanish-speaking settlers in Texas, joined the army.
from Spain in 1821, the former Spanish province of Texas
became part of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas
. Many of the people who lived in Texas, which had included the land north of the Medina
and the Nueces River
s, 100 miles (161 km) northeast of the Rio Grande
, west of San Antonio de Bexar, and east of the Sabine River, wished to be a separate state again. For the first time, the government of Texas encouraged immigrants from the United States
to settle its lands. By 1834, an estimated 30,000 English speakers lived in Texas, compared to only 7,800 of Spanish heritage. The bankrupt Mexican government was unable to offer Texas much military support. Many of the settlements had created small militias to protect themselves against raids by Indian tribes.
Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna
the government of Mexico
began to drift towards a more centralist
form. In 1835 Santa Anna revoked the Constitution of 1824 and began reigning as a dictator. In various parts of the country federalists
revolted.
In September 1835, Colonel Domingo Ugartechea
, the military commander of the Mexican forces at San Antonio de Bexar set troops to recover a small cannon that had been given to the people of Gonzales for protection. When the Mexican troops, under Lieutenant Francisco Castaneda
reached Gonzales, the head of the local militia, Captain Albert Martin, convinced the troops to wait for several days. Martin then sent messengers to other English-speaking settlements, asking for reinforcements to help protect the cannon.
Within several days militia
s from Fayette and Columbus arrived. In Gonzales, the forces combined to form a single force. The militiamen held an election and chose John Henry Moore as their captain, Joseph Washington Elliot Wallace as a lieutenant colonel, and Edward Burleson
as major. The first military action taken by the new army was the Battle of Gonzales
on October 2, 1835. After a skirmish, the Mexican troops withdrew to San Antonio, leaving the cannon with the Texians. After the battle ended, disgruntled colonists continued to assemble in Gonzales, eager to put a decisive end to Mexican control over the area. Within a week, the men had taken the Mexican post at Goliad. On October 11 the disorganized volunteers elected Stephen F. Austin
, who had settled the first English-speaking colonists in Texas, as their commander-in-chief. Austin had no previous military experience.
, who had recently arrived to command the remaining Mexican troops in Texas.
The commander of the regular forces, Sam Houston
, called for 5,000 men to enlist in the regular army but had difficulty convincing men to join. Many of the arrivals from the United States did not want to be under a more strict military control, and instead informally joined the volunteer units that had gathered in other parts of Texas. These volunteer soldiers were in many cases more impassioned than the Texas settlers. Although the provisional Texas government was still debating whether the troops were fighting for independence or for separate statehood, on December 20, 1835, the Texian garrison at Goliad voted unanimously to issue a proclamation of independence, stating "that the former province and department of Texas is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign and independent state".
The provisional government had originally placed Houston in charge of the regular forces, but in December the council gave secret orders to James Fannin
, Frank W. Johnson
, and Dr. James Grant
to prepare forces to invade Mexico. Houston was then ordered to travel to East Texas
to broker a treaty that would allow the Cherokee
to remain neutral in the conflict. Johnson and Grant gathered 300 of the 400 men garrisoned in Bexar and left to prepare for the invasion.
The government was woefully short of funds. On January 6, 1836, Colonel James C. Neill, commander of the remaining 100 troops in Bexar, wrote to the council: " there has ever been a dollar here I have no knowledge of it. The clothing sent here by the aid and patriotic exertions of the honorable Council, was taken from us by arbitrary measures of Johnson and Grant, taken from men who endured all the hardships of winter and who were not even sufficiently clad for summer, many of them having but one blanket and one shirt, and what was intended for them given away to men some of whom had not been in the army more than four days, and many not exceeding two weeks."
For the next several months it was unclear who was in charge of the Texian army—Fannin, Johnson, Grant, or Houston. On January 10, Johnson issued a call to form a Federal Volunteer Army of Texas which would march on Matamoros
.
, sent numerous letters to the Texan settlements, begging for reinforcements. Men began to gather in Gonzales to prepare to reinforce the garrison. Before they left, the Mexican army launched the Battle of the Alamo
, and all of the Texian soldiers who had been stationed in Bexar were killed. This left two branches of the Texian Army: Fannin's men at Goliad and the 400 men at Gonzales, who soon reported to Houston. On hearing the news of the massacre at the Alamo, Houston ordered his army to retreat and burned the town of Gonzales as they left. He ordered Fannin to bring his men and join the rest of the army. Fannin's force was defeated at the Battle of Coleto Creek, and on March 27 Fannin and his men were executed at the Goliad Massacre
. A few soldiers escaped, and 80 soldiers who had just arrived from the United States and had no weapons were spared.
As news spread of the defeats at the Alamo and Goliad, men flocked to the Texian army. By early April, Houston commanded about 800 men. The Texas Revolution essentially ended on April 21, when the Texian Army routed a Mexican force and captured Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto
.
For six months David G. Burnet
, ad interim President of the Republic, had diligently maintained the army laws set forth by the Consultation in December of 1835. The 1835-1836 Regular Army of Texas would never consist of more than 100 soldiers and would never approach the Consultation's number goal of 560 infantry, 560 artillery and 384 cavalry, in the permanent "Regular Army" of Texas. However, the goal of independence was achieved, none the less.
surplus uniforms before they arrived. Other companies had more loosely-defined "uniforms", such as wearing matching hunting shirts.
Texian volunteer Noah Smithwick wrote a description of the volunteer army as it looked in October 1835:
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
army during the Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
. Approximately 3,700 men joined the army between October 2, 1835 during the Battle of Gonzales
Battle of Gonzales
The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army troops....
through the end of the war on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...
.
Structure
The structure of the TexianTexian
Texian is an archaic, mostly defunct 19th century demonym which defined a settler of current-day Texas, one of the southern states of the United States of America which borders the country of Mexico...
Army was relatively fluid. Originally, it was composed entirely of volunteers or militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, who came and went at will. To become an officer, a man must simply have had enough money or charisma to convince others to serve under him. In the first half of the Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
, many of the units and individual volunteers came from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Among the units these American volunteers populated were the Kentucky Mustangs, Alabama Red Rovers, Tennessee Mounted Volunteers, Mobile Greys, Mississippi Marauders and New Orleans Greys
New Orleans Greys
The New Orleans Greys, the Greys named for the color of their uniforms, were a Military volunteer unit of two militia companies formed in the city of that name for service in the Texas War of Independence. Their name came from the grey military fatigues they wore...
.
By the end of the war, the army had grown to include three distinct divisions. Members of the regular army enlisted for two years and were subject to army discipline and the army's chain of command. A squad of permanent volunteers enlisted for the duration of the war. This group was permitted to elect its own officers, outside the oversight of the army commander-in-chief. Most of the men who joined the permanent volunteers had settled in Texas before the war had begun, both Tejano and Texian. The last unit was the volunteer auxiliary corps, comprising primarily recent arrivals from the United States who officially enlisted for a six-month term. On November 24, 1835, the Texas provisional government authorized the creation of ranging companies of rifleman. Robert "Three-legged Willie" Williamson
Robert McAlpin Williamson
Robert McAlpin Williamson was a Republic of Texas Supreme Court Justice, state lawmaker and Texas Ranger. Williamson County, Texas is named for him.-Early life:...
was asked to raise three of these companies with 56 men each.
Rangers were to be paid $1.25 per day.
Demographics
About 1,500 recruits came from the United States during the time of the revolution. A majority of the men who joined the army had arrived from the United States after war broke out. Not all of these additions were American citizens; many were recent immigrants from Europe who were seeking adventure and potential riches in Texas. Residents of Texas also joined, but played their largest roles at the beginning and end of the revolution. Through the course of the Texas Revolution, one in seven of the English-speaking settlers in Texas joined the army. One in three adult male TejanoTejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
s, that is, Spanish-speaking settlers in Texas, joined the army.
Origination
When Mexico gained its independenceMexican War of Independence
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and the Spanish colonial authorities which started on 16 September 1810. The movement, which became known as the Mexican War of Independence, was led by Mexican-born Spaniards, Mestizos and Amerindians who sought...
from Spain in 1821, the former Spanish province of Texas
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
became part of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution.It had two capitals: first Saltillo, and then Monclova...
. Many of the people who lived in Texas, which had included the land north of the Medina
Medina River
The Medina River is located in south central Texas, USA, in the Medina Valley. Named after Pedro Medina, a Spanish engineer, by Alonso de León, Spanish governor of Coahuila, New Spain in 1689. It was also known as the Rio Mariano, Rio San Jose, or Rio de Bagres...
and the Nueces River
Nueces River
The Nueces River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, approximately long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande...
s, 100 miles (161 km) northeast of the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
, west of San Antonio de Bexar, and east of the Sabine River, wished to be a separate state again. For the first time, the government of Texas encouraged immigrants from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to settle its lands. By 1834, an estimated 30,000 English speakers lived in Texas, compared to only 7,800 of Spanish heritage. The bankrupt Mexican government was unable to offer Texas much military support. Many of the settlements had created small militias to protect themselves against raids by Indian tribes.
Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
the government of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
began to drift towards a more centralist
Centralized government
A centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
form. In 1835 Santa Anna revoked the Constitution of 1824 and began reigning as a dictator. In various parts of the country federalists
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
revolted.
In September 1835, Colonel Domingo Ugartechea
Domingo Ugartechea
Domingo de Ugartechea was a 19th century Mexican Army officer for the Republic of Mexico.-Early years:He served for Joaquín de Arredondo in 1813...
, the military commander of the Mexican forces at San Antonio de Bexar set troops to recover a small cannon that had been given to the people of Gonzales for protection. When the Mexican troops, under Lieutenant Francisco Castaneda
Francisco Castañeda
Francisco Castañeda is a Panameniam football Midfielder, who currently plays for Arabe Unido. part of the Panama U-20 squad that participated in the 2007 FIFA World Youth Cup in Canada.-National Titles:*Liga Panameña de Fútbol: Apertura 2009 II...
reached Gonzales, the head of the local militia, Captain Albert Martin, convinced the troops to wait for several days. Martin then sent messengers to other English-speaking settlements, asking for reinforcements to help protect the cannon.
Within several days militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
s from Fayette and Columbus arrived. In Gonzales, the forces combined to form a single force. The militiamen held an election and chose John Henry Moore as their captain, Joseph Washington Elliot Wallace as a lieutenant colonel, and Edward Burleson
Edward Burleson
Edward Burleson was a soldier, general, and statesman in the state of Missouri, the Republic of Texas, and later the U.S. state of Texas....
as major. The first military action taken by the new army was the Battle of Gonzales
Battle of Gonzales
The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army troops....
on October 2, 1835. After a skirmish, the Mexican troops withdrew to San Antonio, leaving the cannon with the Texians. After the battle ended, disgruntled colonists continued to assemble in Gonzales, eager to put a decisive end to Mexican control over the area. Within a week, the men had taken the Mexican post at Goliad. On October 11 the disorganized volunteers elected Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
, who had settled the first English-speaking colonists in Texas, as their commander-in-chief. Austin had no previous military experience.
Offensive maneuvers (October–December 1835)
Several days after Austin took command, the army marched towards Bexar to confront General Martin Perfecto de CosMartín Perfecto de Cos
Martín Perfecto de Cos was a 19th-century Mexican general. He was married to Lucinda López de Santa Anna, sister of Antonio López de Santa Anna.-Background:Cós was born in Vera Cruz in the year 1800, the son of an attorney...
, who had recently arrived to command the remaining Mexican troops in Texas.
Restructuring (December 1835 – February 1836)
The regular army division of the Texian Army was officially established on December 12. Any man who enlisted in the regular division would receive $24 in cash, the rights to 800 acres (323.7 ha) of land, and instant Texan citizenship. Those who joined the volunteer auxiliary corps would receive 640 acres (259 ha) of land if they served two years, while those who served 1 year would receive 320 acres (129.5 ha). A month later the establishment of a Legion of Cavalry would be authorized.The commander of the regular forces, Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
, called for 5,000 men to enlist in the regular army but had difficulty convincing men to join. Many of the arrivals from the United States did not want to be under a more strict military control, and instead informally joined the volunteer units that had gathered in other parts of Texas. These volunteer soldiers were in many cases more impassioned than the Texas settlers. Although the provisional Texas government was still debating whether the troops were fighting for independence or for separate statehood, on December 20, 1835, the Texian garrison at Goliad voted unanimously to issue a proclamation of independence, stating "that the former province and department of Texas is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign and independent state".
The provisional government had originally placed Houston in charge of the regular forces, but in December the council gave secret orders to James Fannin
James Fannin
James Walker Fannin, Jr. was a 19th-century U.S. military figure on the Texas Army and leader during the Texas Revolution of 1835–36...
, Frank W. Johnson
Frank W. Johnson
Francis White "Frank" Johnson was a co-commander of the Texian Army from December 1835 through February 1836, during the Texas Revolution. Johnson arrived in Texas in 1826 and worked as a surveyor for several empresarios, including Stephen F. Austin. One of his first activities was to plot the...
, and Dr. James Grant
James Grant (Texas)
James Grant was a 19th century Texas politician, physician and military participant in the Texas Revolution.-Early life:James Grant was born on July 28, 1793, in Killearnan Parish, Ross-shire, Scotland. In 1823, he traveled to northern Mexico, ending up in Texas. He became interested in real...
to prepare forces to invade Mexico. Houston was then ordered to travel to East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
to broker a treaty that would allow the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
to remain neutral in the conflict. Johnson and Grant gathered 300 of the 400 men garrisoned in Bexar and left to prepare for the invasion.
The government was woefully short of funds. On January 6, 1836, Colonel James C. Neill, commander of the remaining 100 troops in Bexar, wrote to the council: " there has ever been a dollar here I have no knowledge of it. The clothing sent here by the aid and patriotic exertions of the honorable Council, was taken from us by arbitrary measures of Johnson and Grant, taken from men who endured all the hardships of winter and who were not even sufficiently clad for summer, many of them having but one blanket and one shirt, and what was intended for them given away to men some of whom had not been in the army more than four days, and many not exceeding two weeks."
For the next several months it was unclear who was in charge of the Texian army—Fannin, Johnson, Grant, or Houston. On January 10, Johnson issued a call to form a Federal Volunteer Army of Texas which would march on Matamoros
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
.
Defensive maneuvers (March–April 1836)
The Mexican army returned to Texas in February and initiated a siege of the garrison in San Antonio on February 23. The commander at the Alamo, William B. TravisWilliam B. Travis
William Barret Travis was a 19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army...
, sent numerous letters to the Texan settlements, begging for reinforcements. Men began to gather in Gonzales to prepare to reinforce the garrison. Before they left, the Mexican army launched the Battle of the Alamo
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
, and all of the Texian soldiers who had been stationed in Bexar were killed. This left two branches of the Texian Army: Fannin's men at Goliad and the 400 men at Gonzales, who soon reported to Houston. On hearing the news of the massacre at the Alamo, Houston ordered his army to retreat and burned the town of Gonzales as they left. He ordered Fannin to bring his men and join the rest of the army. Fannin's force was defeated at the Battle of Coleto Creek, and on March 27 Fannin and his men were executed at the Goliad Massacre
Goliad massacre
The Goliad Massacre was an execution of Republic of Texas soldiers and their commander, James Fannin, by Mexico, reluctantly carried out by General Jose de Urrea.-Background:...
. A few soldiers escaped, and 80 soldiers who had just arrived from the United States and had no weapons were spared.
As news spread of the defeats at the Alamo and Goliad, men flocked to the Texian army. By early April, Houston commanded about 800 men. The Texas Revolution essentially ended on April 21, when the Texian Army routed a Mexican force and captured Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...
.
For six months David G. Burnet
David G. Burnet
David Gouverneur Burnet was an early politician within the Republic of Texas, serving as interim President of Texas , second Vice President of the Republic of Texas , and Secretary of State for the new state of Texas after it was annexed to the United States of America.Burnet was born in Newark,...
, ad interim President of the Republic, had diligently maintained the army laws set forth by the Consultation in December of 1835. The 1835-1836 Regular Army of Texas would never consist of more than 100 soldiers and would never approach the Consultation's number goal of 560 infantry, 560 artillery and 384 cavalry, in the permanent "Regular Army" of Texas. However, the goal of independence was achieved, none the less.
Uniforms and equipment
Neither the regular or volunteer components of the Texian Army were issued specific uniforms. Several of the companies that formed in the United States, including the New Orleans Greys, purchased US ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
surplus uniforms before they arrived. Other companies had more loosely-defined "uniforms", such as wearing matching hunting shirts.
Texian volunteer Noah Smithwick wrote a description of the volunteer army as it looked in October 1835:
Words are inadequate to convey an impression of the appearance of the first Texas army as it formed in marching order. ... Buckskin breeches were the nearest approach to uniform and there was wide diversity even there, some of them being new and soft and yellow, while others, from long familiarity with rain and grease and dirt, had become hard and black and shiny. ... Boots being an unknown quantity, some wore shoes and some moccasins. Here a broad brimmed sombrero overshadowed the military cap at its side; there, a tall “beegum” rode familiarly beside a coonskin cap, with the tail hanging down behind, as all well regulated tails should do ... here a bulky roll of bed quilts jostled a pair of “store ” blankets; there the shaggy brown buffalo robe contrasted with a gaily colored checkered counterpane on which the manufacturer had lavished all the skill of dye and weave known to art ... in lieu of a canteen, each man carried a Spanish gourd.... Here a big American horse loomed above the nimble Spanish pony, there a half-broke mustang pranced beside a sober methodical mule. A fantastic military array to a casual observer, but the one great purpose animating every heart clothed us in a uniform more perfect in our eyes than was ever donned by regulars on dress parade.