Santa Anna's Progression Toward Texas
On the way, he marched his army through the separatist rebellions at Zacatecas before arriving at the Rio Grande River. The State of Zacatecas proved to be Santa Anna's greatest obstacle at first. The Zacatecan militia, the largest and best supplied of the Mexican states, led by Francisco Garcia, was well armed with .753 caliber British 'Brown Bess' muskets and Baker .61 rifles. After two hours of combat, on May 12, 1835, Santa Anna's "Army of Operations" defeated the Zacatecan militia and took almost 3,000 prisoners which he summarily executed and followed by executing their families as well. The few Mexican survivors of these ruthless actions south of the Rio Grande, brought news of the events and Santa Anna's vision to the Texans. The few survivors of the previous First Texas Republic quickly verified the probable intention of Santa Anna. Consequently, when Santa Anna succeeded in defeating and massacring the Texas garrisons at the fall of the Alamo on March 6 and the Battle of Goliad three weeks later, he marched into south central and eastern parts of the territory treating all in arms against him as pirates, unworthy of mercy. The remainder of Texas quickly fled the murderous onslaught.
Read more about this topic: Runaway Scrape
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