An excerpt from “I Can Hardly Recollect the Alamo or the Goliad, How About You, Tom?” By Professor Marcel Dutord, Mexico City Press, 1988
As Santa Anna moved his forces towards the province, the Texans geared up for what they knew would be a hard battle. It was no secret to “President” Sam Houston and his Legislature that the Texans faced long odds, and without some sort of decisive victory to force Mexico to the table or at least secure US intervention, independence would remain illusive ( it is interesting to note that the legislature was indeed very much “his”, as Houston had been granted emergency powers to see the rebellion through, reducing the Legislature to a mere rubber stamp).
It was decided by Houston and his “advisors” that it would behoove the Texans to strangle Mexican trade with the US and Europe, as a way of bringing the effects of their little rebellion to the homes of all Mexicans. What they didn’t understand was that Mexico’s economy was already dead, and as we all know, the only way to defeat a zombie is by severing the brain stem; choking a corpse will do you no good. The toll Texan privateers took on Mexican shipping is unknown, due to the fact that Santa Anna’s military dictatorship was made up almost entirely of Army men who seemed to have forgotten that the Navy even existed. The Generals and few civilians that made up the government kept no records.
Privateers commissioned by the Texans cost more to operate than it was worth
On February 1st, 1836, a force of some 2000 Texans moved in to occupy the town of Corpus Christi, which had been loyal to Mexico City up until that point. Nevertheless, the Texans found collaborators, and swiftly moved to control most of the town and its environs.
They would not be able to complete their hold however, as General Cos and the Army of the South moved into the area on February 21st, some three weeks after the Texans had arrived. Though an Aristocrat, General Cos was not a stodgy tactician. Despite being a student of Clausewitz, he had studied Jomini as well, finding his ideas particularly useful in Cavalry warfare.
Having arrived late in the day on the 21st, it was obvious to both sides that any confrontation between the two would take place the next day. The Texans were men of the frontier; men of excellent marksmanship and never easily deterred, as the initial confrontations had proven. General Cos knew his opponents well.
Cos and his Army camped a mile outside of Corpus Christi proper, the Texans choosing to camp in closer proximity to the town. As darkness fell, Cos ordered his best Cavalry troops, a crack unit of some 200 horse already exhausted from the march, to raid the Texan encampment. The Texan pickettes, taking that duty as seriously as anyone could expect, were quickly over run and slaughtered without ever being able to inform Colonel Parmer, commander of the Texan division in Corpus Christi. The Mexicans inflicted very few casualties, considering, and mostly managed to burn a few things. Cos continued to order raids on the camp throughout the night, coming from all directions, including once out of the town itself. While this left nearly half of his Cavalry unable to partake in the proper battle over the course of the next two days, it did not matter. The desired effect had taken hold, and the Texans quickly retreated.
Harrassed, outnumbered, and Exhausted, Parmer’s troops pull out of Corpus Christi
Parmer and his troops took the defeat very well; nearly every man there had known the odds and Cos had outnumbered them nearly 8:1. They expected to return to San Antonio, regroup with the forces there and the reinforcements promised by the provisional government. What they had not counted on was the combination of Santa Anna and some red tape, of a lovely, dark shade (some argue the tape might have been tied into a bow, but Texans were and are not known for their love of ornaments).
27,000 men strong, Santa Anna and his Army of Mexico had already routed the Texan Garrison in San Antonio and was making short work of the Texan guerillas in the city itself. Rather than bogging down his troops in street fighting (Santa Anna had been partaking in warfare for a long time, and the example of Napoleon in Spain was still surprisingly fresh in his mind), Santa Anna used his artillery, admittedly limited but more numerous than his Texan counterpart, to flush the guerillas out, knocking down house after house.
It was then, that on the 25th, Parmer and his boys arrived. Fairly well supplied and having taken the march easy, the Texans were enraged to find their Mexican Overlord trying to occupy a by-god-part of Texas. It was then, on the 25th, that some 1910 Texans took on 26,940 Mexicans.
Colonel Parmer was later nicknamed "Col. Batshit-Loco"
Elsewhere on the 25th, the promised Reinforcements arrived. However, due to the wonders of a swiftly expanding Texan Bureaucracy, a misunderstanding between the Commander-in-Chief and General Hood led the 1st Texan Cavalry to gallop towards Corpus Christi, and not to San Antonio as was actually planned. Though initially startled (intelligence – such as it was in those days – had led Cos to understand that the 1st Cavalry would be in San Antonio as it should have been), Cos was able to mount a competent, if uninspired, defense.
General Cos engages in a rather forgettable defense
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