For the Liberty of Texas Read online

  Produced by David Edwards and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from scans of public domain material produced byMicrosoft for their Live Search Books site.)

  EDWARD STRATEMEYER'S BOOKS

  Old Glory Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  UNDER DEWEY AT MANILA. UNDER OTIS IN THE PHILIPPINES.A YOUNG VOLUNTEER IN CUBA. THE CAMPAIGN OF THE JUNGLE.FIGHTING IN CUBAN WATERS. UNDER MacARTHUR IN LUZON.

  Soldiers of Fortune Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  ON TO PEKIN. AT THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR.UNDER THE MIKADO'S FLAG. WITH TOGO FOR JAPAN.

  Colonial Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  WITH WASHINGTON IN THE WEST. ON THE TRAIL OF PONTIAC.MARCHING ON NIAGARA. THE FORT IN THE WILDERNESS.AT THE FALL OF MONTREAL. TRAIL AND TRADING POST.

  Mexican War Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  FOR THE LIBERTY OF TEXAS. UNDER SCOTT IN MEXICO.WITH TAYLOR ON THE RIO GRANDE.

  Pan-American Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  LOST ON THE ORINOCO. YOUNG EXPLORERS OF THE AMAZON.THE YOUNG VOLCANO EXPLORERS. TREASURE SEEKERS OF THE ANDES.YOUNG EXPLORERS OF THE ISTHMUS. CHASED ACROSS THE PAMPAS.

  Dave Porter Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  DAVE PORTER AT OAK HALL. DAVE PORTER IN THE FAR NORTH.DAVE PORTER IN THE SOUTH SEAS. DAVE PORTER AND HIS CLASSMATES.DAVE PORTER'S RETURN TO SCHOOL. DAVE PORTER AT STAR RANCH.DAVE PORTER AND HIS RIVALS.

  Lakeport Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  THE GUN CLUB BOYS OF LAKEPORT. THE FOOT BALL BOYS OF LAKEPORT.THE BASEBALL BOYS OF LAKEPORT. THE AUTOMOBILE BOYS OF LAKEPORT.THE BOAT CLUB BOYS OF LAKEPORT.

  American Boys' Biographical Series_Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $1.25.

  AMERICAN BOYS' LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY.AMERICAN BOYS' LIFE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

  Stratemeyer Popular Series

  _Fifteen Volumes. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume_ $0.75.

  * * * * *

  DEFENDING HIS FLAG. _Price_ $1.50.

  "'REMEMBER THE ALAMO! DOWN WITH SANTA ANNA!'"]

  Mexican War Series

  FOR THE LIBERTY OF TEXAS

  BY

  EDWARD STRATEMEYER

  Author of "With Taylor on the Rio Grande," "Under Scott in Mexico,""Dave Porter Series," "Old Glory Series," "Pan-American Series,""Lakeport Series," etc.

  _ILLUSTRATED BY LOUIS MEYNELLE_

  BOSTONLOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.

  Copyright, 1900, by Dana Estes & CompanyCopyright, 1909, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.

  _All Rights Reserved_

  For the Liberty of Texas

  SET UP AND ELECTROTYPED BY COLONIAL PRESS, BOSTONPrinted by BERWICK & SMITH CO., NORWOOD

  PREFACE.

  "For the Liberty of Texas" is a tale complete in itself, but it formsthe first of a line of three volumes to be known under the generaltitle of the "Mexican War Series."

  Primarily the struggle of the Texans for freedom did not form a part ofour war with Mexico, yet this struggle led up directly to the greaterwar to follow, and it is probably a fact that, had the people of Texasnot at first accomplished their freedom, there would have been no warbetween the two larger republics.

  The history of Texas and her struggle for liberty is unlike that of anyother State in our Union, and it will be found to read more like aromance than a detail of facts. Here was a territory, immense in size,that was little better than a wilderness, a territory graduallybecoming settled by Americans, Mexicans, Spaniards, French, andpioneers of other nations, a territory which was the home of thebloodthirsty Comanche and other Indians, and which was overrun withdeer, buffalo, and the wild mustang, and which was, at times, thegathering ground for the most noted desperadoes of the southwest.

  This territory formed, with Coahuila, one of the States of Mexico, butthe government was a government in name only, and the people of Texasfelt that it was absolutely necessary that they withdraw from theMexican Confederation, in order to protect themselves, their property,and their individual rights, for, with the scheming Mexicans on oneside of them, and the murderous Indians on the other, nothing was safefrom molestation.

  The contest was fought largely by men who knew little or nothing of theart of war, but men whose courage was superb. At first only defeatstared the intrepid band in the face, and hundreds were lost at theAlamo, at the massacre of Goliad, and elsewhere, but then there cameupon the scene the figure of the dashing and daring General SamHouston, and under his magnetic leadership the army of the Mexicangeneral, Santa Anna, was routed utterly, and the liberty of Texas wassecured beyond further dispute.

  EDWARD STRATEMEYER.