Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Too far from heaven, too close to America

"Americans crave liberty, but they do not wish to grant it to Black slaves."

Mexico's largest newspaper, *El Monitor Republicano*, devoted an entire page to reporting the atrocities committed by American immigrants. It strongly condemned the horrific crimes perpetrated against slaves and called upon all people of conscience and faith to unite against the evil slaveholders.

"They treat human beings like cattle! They strip humanity of its freedom, forcing those poor souls into unpaid labor. Those wretched people are beaten with clubs, lashed with whips, and forced to live lives worse than dogs or pigs, shackled in irons.

Even when those poor souls endure such pain and torment, the slaveholders refuse to let them go. They tear families apart, scattering husbands from wives and children from parents; they knock out their teeth and brand them with marks of humiliation and inhumanity.

They use hunger and torture to force those poor people into submission.

This is wrong! This is sinful! This is shameless!

Must I explain everything?

No! It is not necessary at all!

Our time and energy should be spent on more valuable matters.

By now, those slaveholders have taken up arms, ready at any moment to turn our free Mexico and the entire civilized world into their slave plantations.

We can no longer hope to move them with mercy. Instead, we must take up our swords to defend our homeland, sever the chains of slavery, and cast those chains into the furnace of the ages so they may never return to plague our descendants.

God is with us!"

This newspaper coverage caused a massive reaction within Mexico. Not only in Mexico, but through deliberate dissemination, even newspapers in Europe and the United States reprinted the article.

Now, the entire Western world knew that a group of Americans intended to re-establish slavery in a country that had already signed a declaration of abolition.

How shameless, how barbaric. Even within the United States, though divided into two factions, they all acknowledged that those attempting to re-establish slavery in a nation where it had been abolished were evil.

For a time, Mexico held the upper hand in public opinion, and domestic factions were more united than ever before. With Catholicism serving as a lubricant, everyone intended to send these damned Protestants and their system of slavery back to their homeland.

However, an advantage in public opinion alone does not bring true victory.

On September 27, 1835, Gonzales fell; the Mexican army did not fire a single shot.

On October 21, 1835, Goliad fell; the Mexican garrison was entirely wiped out.

On October 2, 1835, San Antonio was besieged.

On December 9, 1835, San Antonio fell.

On December 30, 1835, the entirety of Texas fell.

Goliad was the most important water and land transportation hub; whoever took it controlled San Antonio.

At that time, San Antonio was the capital of Texas, as well as the most important grain base and economic center.

Therefore, Tassan Anna set his first battle at Goliad.

On February 23, 1836, Tassan Anna led an army of 8,000 men, equipped with 20,000 rifles and 30 cannons, toward Goliad.

Tassan Anna enjoyed the feeling of being treated as a hero. To satisfy this vanity, Franz specially prepared a "Declaration of Emancipation for Black Slaves" for him.

Every time Tassan Anna captured a location, he would gather the local Black slaves to listen to his speeches, causing his march to be a series of stops and starts.

Black slaves constantly requested to join Tassan Anna's army. Since Tassan Anna was looking for a way to distribute weapons, he quickly formed three Black rifle companies.

At the same time, following Franz's advice to unite all possible forces, Tassan Anna sent people to contact nearby Indian tribes.

Tassan Anna stated that as long as the Indians helped Mexico and obeyed Mexican law, they would be considered Mexicans and would not face discrimination.

In truth, American pioneers had made similar promises and used similar words, but the Indians had been deceived by white men too many times; they demanded to see Tassan Anna's sincerity.

Tassan Anna directly ordered his soldiers to issue rifles to them, but only five bullets were provided per rifle. He established an agreement that as long as the Indians honored the covenant and helped Mexico attack the Americans, they would receive a batch of ammunition every week.

This immediately made the Indian chiefs fond of the Mexicans. Of course, there was no way they would risk their lives fighting the Americans, but they could provide intelligence and harass American supply lines.

This was exactly the effect Franz wanted. In fact, as long as the Indians remained neutral, it was a good thing for the Mexican expeditionary force.

If the Indians could help gather intelligence, while simultaneously attacking American pioneer supply lines and hunting down straggling deserters, it would be perfect.

Meanwhile, in another part of the story

Sam Houston, an American land speculator, the current Commander-in-Chief of Texas, and the future first president of the Republic of Texas, found himself in a difficult position. Because the pioneers were split into several factions and his own troops were too far from San Antonio, Sam Houston did not want to make useless sacrifices. He decided to abandon San Antonio, ordering the garrison there to abandon Goliad and retreat to the countryside to await the arrival of the main Texan force.

In fact, before Houston's orders arrived, many militia members and soldiers who had joined the army temporarily used various excuses to flee the fort.

The most common excuse was needing to go home to harvest wheat—after all, everyone was a farmer, and going home to harvest wheat seemed normal.

However, Texas grew winter wheat, which was typically sown from mid-to-late September to early October and matured from late May to mid-to-late June. It was currently February, and furthermore, the plantation economy meant that such labor was performed by Black slaves.

Only Colonel William Travis and his 150 subordinates remained, yet he still intended to refuse Houston's order.

William Travis knew how vital Goliad and San Antonio were to the emerging Texas.

Once San Antonio was occupied by the Mexicans, it would provide a continuous stream of supplies to Tassan Anna and his Mexican legions.

In William Travis's eyes, the Texan forces were severely insufficient. The regular army numbered fewer than 2,000, and even with volunteers arriving from the United States, the total would not exceed 3,500.

Meanwhile, Tassan Anna's expeditionary force numbered 8,000, supported by Mexican armed forces, and those damned Black slaves, Indians, and traitors were continuously joining Tassan Anna's ranks.

William Travis placed his final hopes on the United States. He hoped the U.S. would enter the war directly, and for that reason, he absolutely could not lose San Antonio.

To hold Goliad, William Travis began writing letters to seek aid from all directions; he needed more soldiers and more weapons.

However, the Texans were also divided into several factions. The leaders of these factions were mostly heads of colonization companies. Since these companies had long been in competition with one another, most chose to turn a blind eye to William Travis's pleas for help.