Chapter 43 Too far from heaven, too close to America.
"Americans long for freedom, but they don't want to give freedom to black slaves. 》
Mexico's largest newspaper, Notícias de México, devoted an entire page to reporting on the atrocities committed by immigrants in the United States, and strongly condemned all the horrific atrocities committed against slaves, and called on all people with conscience and faith to unite to fight against the evil slaves. host.
〖They treat people as beasts! Depriving human beings of their freedom, forcing those poor people to perform unpaid labor. Those poor people were beaten with sticks, whipped with whips, and had to wear handcuffs and shackles, living a life worse than pigs and dogs.
Even though those poor people endured the pain and torture, the slave owners still refused to let them go. They separated their wives and children, knocked out their teeth, and marked their bodies with the symbol of humiliation and inhumanity. of imprint.
Use starvation and torture to make those poor people submit.
This is wrong! This is sinful! This is shameless!
Do you still need me to explain everything?
No! Totally unnecessary!
Our time and energy should be spent on more valuable things.
By now, those slave owners have taken up arms and are ready to turn our free Mexico and the entire civilized world into their slave plantations.
And we can no longer hope to move them with kindness, but pick up our swords to defend our homeland, cut off the chains of slaves, and throw all those chains into the furnace of the times, so that he can never come back to harm our descendants. .
God is with us! 〗
This newspaper aroused great repercussions in Mexico. Not only Mexico, but also newspapers in Europe and the United States reprinted the article due to deliberate dissemination.
It was now known throughout the Western world that a group of Americans intended to re-establish slavery in a country that had signed the Abolitionist Proclamation.
How shameless and barbaric this is. Even the United States is divided into two factions, but they all admit that in a country that has abolished slavery, those who re-establish slavery are evil.
For a time, Mexico had the upper hand in public opinion, and domestic factions were unprecedentedly united. Catholicism served as the lubricant. Everyone planned to let these damn Protestants and slavery go back to their hometown.
However, mere advantage in public opinion cannot bring real victory.
On September 27, 1835, Gonzales fell without the Mexican army firing a single shot.
On October 21, 1835, Goliad fell and all Mexican defenders were killed.
On October 2, 1835, San Antonio was besieged.
On December 9, 1835, San Antonio fell.
On December 30, 1835, all of Texas fell.
Goliad is the most important land and water transportation hub. Whoever takes it will control San Antonio.
At this time, San Antonio was the capital of Texas and the most important food base and economic center.
So Tasan Anna set the first battle in Goliad.
On February 23, 1836, Tasan Anna led an army of 8,000 men, 20,000 rifles, and 30 artillery pieces, and pointed at Goliad.
Tasan Anna liked the feeling of being regarded as a hero. In order to satisfy his vanity, Franz specially prepared a "Emancipation Proclamation" for him.
Every time Tasang Anna conquered a place, he would gather the local black slaves and let them listen to his speech, so he stopped and stopped along the way.
Black slaves kept asking to join Tasan Anna's army. Tasan Anna was worried about having nowhere to distribute his guns, so he quickly formed three black rifle companies.
At the same time, Tasan Anna united all the forces that could be united according to Franz's words. He sent people to contact the nearby Indian tribes.
Tasan Anna said that as long as Indians help Mexico and abide by Mexican laws, they are Mexicans and they will not be treated differently.
In fact, the same words and similar promises were given to them by the American pioneers, but the Indians had been deceived too many times by the white people, and they asked to see Tasang Anna's sincerity.
Tasan Anna directly ordered the soldiers to issue them rifles, but each rifle was only issued with five rounds of ammunition, and it was agreed that as long as the Indians could abide by the covenant and help Mexico attack the Americans, they would receive it every week A batch of bullets.
This made the Indian chiefs immediately fall in love with the Mexicans. Of course, they had no chance of fighting the Americans, but they could provide intelligence and harass the American supply lines.
This is exactly the effect Franz wants. In fact, as long as the Indians can remain neutral, it will be a good thing for the Mexican Expeditionary Force.
If the Indians could help collect intelligence, raid the supply lines of the American pioneers, and hunt down lone deserters, that would be perfect.
Two flowers bloom, one on each side.
American settler Sam Houston, now the Commander-in-Chief of Texas and the future first president of the Lone Star Republic, had trouble because the pioneers were divided into several factions and his own troops were too far from San Antonio.
Sam Houston did not want to make unnecessary sacrifices and decided to abandon San Antonio. He ordered the garrison in San Antonio to abandon Goliad and move into the countryside to wait for the arrival of the main Texas army.
In fact, before Houston's order arrived, many militiamen and soldiers who temporarily joined the army fled from the fortress for various reasons.
The most common reason is to go home and harvest wheat. It is normal for everyone to go home and harvest wheat.
However, winter wheat is grown in Texas. It is usually sown from mid-to-late September to early October and matures from the end of May to mid-to-late June of the following year. Now it is February, and the local plantation economy is black. The slave is doing it
Only Colonel William Travis and his 150 men remained, but he still planned to refuse Houston's order.
William Travis knew how important Goliad and San Antonio were to the entire emerging Texas.
Because once San Antonio is occupied by the Mexicans, it will be able to bring a steady stream of supplies to Tasan Anna and his Mexican Legion.
In the eyes of William Travis, Texas' military strength was seriously insufficient. There were less than 2,000 regular troops, and even if volunteers from the United States were included, the number would not exceed 3,500.
Tasan Anna's expeditionary force has 8,000 people, and there is the cooperation of local Mexican armed forces. In addition, those damn black slaves, Indians and betrayers are constantly joining Tasan Anna's team. .
William Travis placed his last hope on the United States. He hoped that the United States could directly participate in the war. For this reason, he must not lose San Antonio.
In order to defend Goliad, William Travis began to write letters asking for help from everywhere. He needed more soldiers and more weapons.
However, the Texans were also divided into several factions. Most of the leaders of these factions were the leaders of the colonization groups. These colonization groups had long been in a competitive relationship, so most people chose to turn a blind eye to William Travis's request for help. .