DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at San Patricio records — and friend, this one does not go the way you'd hope. It is three o'clock in the morning on February 27, 1836. The streets of Old San Patricio are dark and cold, and most men are asleep.
Most men. Somewhere in town, Francis W. Johnson is working late, a candle burning beside him.
That candle is about to matter more than he knows. Now, back up just a little. The general council of the provisional government of Texas had given Johnson and a Dr.
James Grant a mission: lead an independent military force against Matamoros, Mexico. Bold plan. But bold plans have a way of leaking.
Sam Houston opposed this expedition, and when Houston opposed something, men listened. A good many of the troops peeled off and followed Houston, leaving Johnson and Grant with somewhere between sixty and seventy men between them. Not the force they started with.
And here is where it gets cold in a different way. Mexican general Jose Urrea already knew. His network of spies had told him everything.
Urrea was not scrambling. Urrea was ready. He even sent word ahead to settlers in San Patricio who were loyal to Mexico — a simple, chilling instruction: leave a light burning in your home, and Mexican troops will spare you.
Lights on. Lights off. Life and death, sorted by candlelight.
Urrea's force hit Garza's Ranch first — four miles south of town — taking out a small force there. Then they came north and struck San Patricio itself. Sixteen men were killed.
Thirty were taken prisoner. The town had no real warning and no real chance. Johnson survived.
Him and four others in his house, that candle still burning — they escaped. Whether the troops saw that light and hesitated, or whether Johnson simply slipped out in time, the marker doesn't say. What it does say is that Johnson got out, and most men around him did not.
But the story wasn't finished. The Mexican troops pressed on south, about twenty miles, to Agua Dulce Creek. There they found the remaining Texan forces — Grant's command, what was left of it.
The date was March 2, 1836. Grant and eleven others were killed. Seven were captured.
Six escaped. And the prisoners — the thirty from San Patricio, those taken at Garza's Ranch, and the seven from Agua Dulce — they were marched to Matamoros and locked away. They would not see freedom again until January of 1837.
Three engagements. One Mexican general who knew every move before it was made. And a candle burning in a window — signal of safety for some, symbol of something far darker for everybody else.
What the marker says
The battle of San Patricio was fought in the streets of Old San Patricio at 3:00 A.M. on February 27, 1836. The general council of the provisional government of Texas had instructed Francis W. Johnson and Dr. James Grant to lead an independent military force against Matamoros, Mexico. Although many of the troops left the command to follow Sam Houston, who opposed the expedition, about 60-70 men remained. Mexican general Jose Urrea, who learned of the plan from his network of spies, sent word to San Patricio settlers loyal to Mexico, instructing them to leave a light burning in their homes as a signal to mexican troops to spare them. After attacking a small force at Garza's Ranch (4 miles south), the mexicans struck San Patricio, killing 16 and taking 30 prisoners. Johnson, working late with a candle burning, and four others in his house escaped. The Mexican troops then proceeded to Agua Dulce Creek (about 20 miles south) and attacked the remaining Texan forces under Grant's command on March 2. Grant and 11 others were killed, seven were captured, and six escaped. Together with those captured at Garza's Ranch and in San Patricio, they were imprisoned in Matamoros and remained in captivity until January 1837.