Like many in Texas, Dilue Rose Harris and her family anxiously looked on as the events of 1835 unfolded. Ten-year-old Dilue recalled that there “was constant talk of war” among the settlers, with “so many different reports that we did not know what to believe.” After Mexican Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cós reinforced the garrison at Béxar, she remembered a widespread belief that “he was going to march through Texas during the winter, liberate the slaves, and force all discontented persons to leave the country.”
Earlier that year, in July 1835, General Cós had issued a stern warning to the Texian rebels that seemed to threaten them with the same fate of the rebelling Zacatecans months earlier:
“If the Mexican Government has cheerfully lavished upon the new settlers all its worthiness of regard, it will likewise know how to repress with strong arm all those who, forgetting their duties to the nation which has adopted them as her children, are pushing forward with a desire to live at their own option without any subjection to the laws.”
When news of several successful Texian revolts reached Mexico City in late November, President Antonio López de Santa Anna responded swiftly. Gathering about 6,000 soldiers, he initially intended to reinforce Béxar, but after learning of General Cós’ surrender, the campaign shifted toward reconquest. The prospect was terrifying. As Dilue recalled: “The news that Santa Anna was marching on San Antonio was confirmed. The people at Goliad and San Patricio were leaving their homes, and everybody was preparing to go to the United States.”
Santa Anna and about 1,800 Mexican soldiers arrived at Béxar in late February. After a 13-day siege, they laid waste to the Alamo garrison and its 200 defenders. The tragic news spurred many to join General Houston, including Dilue’s uncle. She recalled as she and her mother prepared supplies for him: “We worked all day, and mother sat up that night sewing. She made two striped hickory shirts and bags to carry provisions. I spent the day melting lead in a pot, dipping it up with a spoon, and moulding bullets.”
The aftermath of the Alamo marked the beginning of one of the worst episodes of human suffering in Texas history. As Santa Anna pursued Houston’s retreating army, several thousand settlers fled eastward. Dilue remembered leaving “home at sunset, hauling clothes, bedding, and provisions on the sleigh with one yoke of oxen. Mother and I were walking, she with an infant in her arms.”
As they approached Lynchburg, Dilue observed “fully five thousand people” at the ferry, where the rush to cross became “almost a riot.” Near the Trinity River, she recalled that “measles, sore eyes, whooping cough, and every other disease that man, woman, or child is heir to, broke out among us.” One of her younger sisters fell gravely ill, and the family was forced to abandon their belongings to cross flooded rivers, so that “all we carried with us was what clothes we were wearing at the time.” Dilue’s little sister eventually died during the exodus and was buried in a cemetery at Liberty.
Shortly thereafter, Dilue’s family received word that Houston’s army had been victorious at San Jacinto and began the long journey home. Dilue recalled staying on the battlefield for several hours on April 26, 1836, before departing late that evening: “We had to pass among the dead Mexicans... and could hear the wolves howl and bark as they devoured the dead.”
Amidst the chaos, Dilue recalled her mother “was very despondent, but father was hopeful. He said Texas would gain her independence and become a great nation.” Though their house was in disarray, their cornfields were untouched, and their most prized possessions, which Dilue’s mother had hidden in an old blue chest in the bottom, “proved a treasure.” Also helping the family reestablish themselves were captured Mexican soldiers. As Dilue observed, “Uncle James Wells came home with two Mexicans for servants, and put them to work in the corn field…. He looked after our Mexicans and helped the women in the neighborhood to get their corn worked. They all got Mexicans, but it required an overseer to make them work.”
Dilue’s reminiscences offer a vivid snapshot of the Texas Revolution that secured a future for many American settlers in Texas. Her memories reveal the personal dimensions of the conflict in ways that official records cannot and continue to shape the way we understand that pivotal moment in Texas history.
The Texas Revolution and the ‘Runaway Scrape’ Through the Eyes of Mrs. Dilue Rose Harris, Part I