  Ramirez y Sesma, JoaquinSesma commanded the brigade sent in advance of the main army under Santa Anna’s command. He joined forces with General Cos at Laredo, then merged with Santa Anna’s forces at the Rio Grande as it marched to Bexar. After the fall of the Alamo, Sesma was ordered to San Felipe, then to proceed to Anahuac by way of Harrisburg. On April 13, Sesma’s army crossed the Brazos at Thompson’s Ferry. He was camped on the east bank of the Refugio, Battle ofWilliam Ward was sent to relieve Amon B. King and his men, surrounded by Urrea’s troops. Ward arrived at Refugio on March 13, but he and King immediately began arguing over the command. King and a body of men left the Mission, spent two days wandering in the vicinity before being captured and executed by the Mexican army. At Refugio mission, meanwhile, Ward was attacked on March 14. He and his men escaped from the mission that night, but they were captured at Victoria, marched to Goliad, and executed on March 27. Robbins’ FerryIn operation since 1821, the ferry was located at Thomas Ford crossing of the Old San Antonio and La Bahia Roads over the Trinity River. It was named for Nathaniel Robbins. Regular ArmyUnits, other than militia, authorized by any of the provisional governments, particularly those commanded by commissioned officers were considered part of the regular army. Volunteer units, on the other hand, elected their officers from their own ranks. Throughout much of the war, volunteer forces would refuse to serve under commissioned officers. Robinson, James W.Robinson was a delegate from Nacogdoches to the Consultation in 1835. That body appointed him lieutenant governor of the General Council. As such, he took Governor Henry Smith’s place when the Council impeached Smith in January 1836. After the General Council resigned their office, Robinson left for the army, serving from March 12. He fought at San Jacinto as a private in William H. Smith’s cavalry company. Ruiz, Jose FranciscoA native Texan, he was one of four representatives from Bexar to the Convention of 1836 where he signed the Declaration of Independence. As alcalde of San Antonio, he identified the bodies of William B. Travis, James Bowie, and David Crockett after the fall of the Alamo. He stopped the Mexican soldiers who were throwing the bodies into the San Antonio River, and gathered wood and ordered the bodies to be burned. Runaway ScrapeTexans fled from their homes before the advancing Mexican army. The pace of the refugee traffic increased as news of the fall of the Alamo, Houston’s retreat, and the massacre at Goliad circulated. Washington-on-the-Brazos, Richmond, and settlements on both sides of the Brazos were abandoned. Settlements between the Rusk, Thomas JeffersonRusk organized a company of volunteers in the fall of 1835 at Nacogdoches and joined the army at San Antonio. He left before the siege of Bexar, appointed a contractor for the army. He was Inspector General of the army from December 14, 1835, until February 26, 1836. A delegate to the Convention of 1836, he was elected Secretary of War on March 17. He left to join the army on April 1 and remained with the regular forces under Houston’s command, participating in the Battle of San Jacinto. |
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