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SONG OF THE BALCONES
by
Song of the Balcones conclusion Robert
Bogan
SYNOPSIS
October 18, 1831. Erastus and Guadalupe Smith say goodbye on the
porch of their house at the corner of Presa and Nuéva Streets in San
Antonio de Béxar, an outpost on the northeastern frontier of the new
Republic of Mexico. Erastus "Deaf" Smith joins, as a militia spy, the
Lafuente expedition whose ill-defined mission is to punish Tawakoni
Indians, partly for misdeeds of renegade Comanche chiefs. The army
travels northeast on the road to Nacogdoches then ranges north in
pursuit of the Tawakoni. Meanwhile in San Antonio, James Bowie and
eight companions, all from the United States, prepare for their own
expedition: a raid on a hoard of Apache silver.
November 2, l831. When James Bowie came to San Antonio in the
spring of 1828, he worked two tactics for obtaining wealth: he courted
Ursula Veramendi and her father, the Vice-Governor of Coahuila y
Texas; Bowie also gained the trust of Xolic, aged chief of the Lipan
Apaches. Eventually Bowie leads his raiders northwest beyond the
Balcones, to steal Apache silver. Eleven days after Bowie left San
Antonio, the Lafuente Expedition surprises the Tawakoni camp of Little
Chief Menchaca. Among the slaughtered lies great Chief Barbaquista,
the renowned peacemaker, who was visiting Menchaca with a few of
his Comanche.
November 19, 1831. On the banks of the Llano River, Smith follows
two fellow militiamen who desert Lafuente and enter the camp of
renegade Comanche Chief Isayona. For hours Smith watches the camp
from hiding and observes as nearly 200 warriors from diverse tribes
prepare to retaliate for Lafuente's massacre of Menchaca’s Tawakoni.
Next day, Smith follows when the war parties depart Isayona's camp.
At dusk, the Tawakoni intercept Bowie’s expedition.
November 21, 1831. Almost simultaneously but 70 miles apart, a small
Tawakoni war party ambushes Lafuente, and a much larger force
attacks Bowie. The warriors outnumber Bowie's raiders fifteen to one.
Unable to assist, Smith watches from hiding as the battle consumes a
dozen hours and dozens of lives. Bowie's raiders manage to survive
the day-long battle, suffering a single fatality. Around midnight Smith
approaches the Indian camp and witnesses the Tawakonis'
disproportionate loss of life. Guards discover the spy and shoot him.