I thought it would be interesting to follow up what happened AFTER the Alamo....
From Hardin
Texian Iliad: A military history of the Texas Revolution (1995)
...Santa Anna was, for the moment, content to dally in Bexar. Although many of his subordinates urged him to follow up the victory with a swift drive against the American settlements. His excellency refused to budge. He seemed to believe that once the settlers heard of the Alamo slaughter, they would trample over each other fleeing the country. He was not entirely mistaken.This trampling to escape is known in popular Texas history as the "Runaway Scrape". To understand WHY this panicked reaction occurred it helps to be familiar with the First Texas War of Independence. On that occasion in August of 1813, nearly a thousand prisoners, two thirds most likely Americans, were slaughtered by Spanish/Mexican troops under General Juaquin Arredondo after the Battle of the Medina River. This execution was followed up by the execution of more than 300 family members of the rebels in San Antonio and by the systematic rape of likely more than 200 women and girls of the town.
A detachment of Arredondo's force then moved up the Camino Real to Nacodoches, putting all to the torch and executing more than 100 men and youths in Nacodoches itself. It worked, on that occasion approximately 15,000 Americans are believed to have fled Texas.
In Arredondo's force was a young Officer, nineteen year-old Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, learning how it was done.
Near the end of March, Santa Anna and his staff departed Bexar, the town for which his army had paid so dearly.So Santa Anna lingered in Bexar for at least two weeks after the Fall.
Seems like part of this must have been a desire to rest and re-equip his men. I haven't seen it mentioned before but marching his 3,000 men, cannons and a baggage train between 600 and 700 miles through mostly uninhabited country must have been no mean feat. A study of his logistics would be interesting reading. Seems like just keeping those men fed and in shoes during that nine-week journey would be a serious challenge.
OTOH, Urrea's force, coming up more directly South to invest Goliad, must have travelled nearly as far, and they remained active throughout the whole campaign.
One factor influencing the decisions of the 42 year-old Santa Anna was probably young Melchora Iniega Barrera. Melchora was the 17 year-old daughter of a widowed mother, well-to-do by local standards, and her remarkable beauty was alluded to prior to Santa Anna's arrival by one of the Texians in town.
http://alamostudies.proboards.com/thread/60To gain access to her, Santa Anna had one of his officers dress up as a priest, "married" Melchora and shortly thereafter moved into her house. Presumably he bedded her for the better part of a month before his departure.
When he left he sent her (some accounts say he sent her mom too) to his estates in Mexico, where she bore his child (IIRC some accounts estimate that Santa Anna would father 41 children in his lifetime, eleven of whom he acknowledged and three of whom were legitimate.
Birdwatcher
