. If the Texans are whipped, every ranch will go up in flames,
and every man will be butchered."

The party returned to Gonzales, for Amos Radbury did not want to return
to the ranch, now he knew that Dan was safe.

While the siege of the Alamo was in progress, the General Convention of
Texas, which had been called, met at Washington, and a declaration of
independence was adopted, and General Sam Houston was unanimously
reelected commander-in-chief, with absolute authority over all army
forces, regular and volunteer. Heretofore, Houston had been little more
than commander in name; now it was felt upon all sides that he must be
given the absolute authority that the situation demanded. All other
appointments which had been made in a haphazard, irregular way were
abolished.

For the work that was ahead no better selection of a leader than that
of General Sam Houston could have been made. Houston was born in
Virginia, in 1793, and at the age of nineteen he enlisted for the war
of 1812, becoming an ensign, and fought with such courage that he and
General Jackson became warm friends. At thirty years of age he became a
member of Congress, and five years later he was made governor of
Tennessee, and was one of the most popular men in the West. He was up
for reelection, when some unfortunate domestic difficulties overtook
him, and he resigned his position and plunged into the wilderness,
taking up his abode, later on, with some friendly Indians with whom he
had hunted years before. These Indians elected him one of their great
chiefs, and in return for this, Houston went to Washington for them and
exposed a number of Indian agents who had been defrauding the red men
out of the allowances made to them by the government. For this these
Indians swore undying friendship, and they called Houston their
best-beloved brother to the day of his death. Because of his life among
the red men Houston frequently attired himself in an Indian blanket and
stuck in his hair the feathers of a chief, a custom that was often
followed by other mighty hunters of this portion of our country.

Besides being governor of Tennessee, Houston had been a lawyer of
well-known reputation, and as such had closely studied legal affairs
relating to the United States, Texas, and Mexico. He saw, long before
war was declared, that Texas must one day strike for freedom, and he
resolved, after leaving the Indians, to throw in his fortunes with the
Texans, or Texians,