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they were afterward exposed, the private soldiers and most of the officers remained true to the old flag.
The writer saw some of them at midsummer in
Fort Hamilton, at the entrance to New York Bay; and never was a curse by “bell, book, and candle,” more sincerely uttered, than were those that fell from the compressed lips of these betrayed soldiers.
These troops were the first who left
Texas.
They came from posts on the line of the Rio
Grande, and embarked in the
Daniel Webster at
Point Isabel, a place of much note in the history of the war with
Mexico.
They arrived at
Fort Hamilton on the 30th of March, 1861.
At five o'clock on the evening of the 16th,
the little band of National troops in
San Antonio marched sullenly out of the city, to the tune of “The
red,
white, and
Blue,” and encamped at
San Pedro February, Springs, two miles from the Plaza, there to remain until the arrival of
Colonel Waite.
They were followed by a crowd of sorrowing citizens.
The tears of strong men were mingled with those of delicate women, when they saw the old flag disappear; and sullen gloom hung over the town that night, and for many days.
1 San Antonio was full of loyal men, and so was the
State.
There was wide-spread sorrow when the calamity of
Twiggs's treason became known.
It was a calamity for the nation, and it was a special calamity for the
Texans, for these troops, now about to leave them, had been their protectors against the incursions of the savage Indian tribes, that were hanging, like a portentous cloud, along their frontier.
The surrendered forts were to be garrisoned by
Texas militia, but in these the people had little confidence.
Colonel Waite, who started for
San Antonio, with an escort of fifteen cavalry, immediately after receiving his order from the War Department, arrived there early in the afternoon of the 18th.
McCulloch had stationed troops on the regular route to intercept him. By taking by-paths he eluded them.
But he was a few hours too late.
Twiggs had consummated his treason, and Texan soldiers occupied the post.
Waite was compelled to recognize the capitulation.
Sadly he rode out to San Pedro Springs, joined the little handful of National troops there, and, on the following day,
assumed the command of the department.
Already
Twiggs's order for the evacuation of the posts in
Texas had been sent, but
