James A. Sylvester's Official Report on the Capture of Santa Anna, Certified Copy from the Galveston Historical Society
Page 2 of 4
direction, primarily to await their
arrival at a certain point.
After leaving the party, pursuing my
course alone, I suddenly espied an ob-
ject coming toward me, near a ravine.
I immediately turned and made an effort
to attract their attention. When I again
looked for the object, it had vanished.
Riding in the direction in
which I had seen it, I came up to the
figure of something covered with a
Mexican blanket, which I found to be
Santa Anna. I ordered him to get
up, which he did, very voluntarily, & im-
mediately took hold of my hand, & kissed
it several times, & asked for Genl Hous-
ton, & seemed very solicitous to find out
whether he had been killed in the battle
of the day previous. I replied, assuring
him that Genl Houston was only woun-
ded. I was then in his camp. I then
asked him who he was, when he re-
plied he was nothing but a common
soldier. I remarked the fineness
of his shirt bosom which he tried to
conceal. I told him he was no common
soldier; if so, he must be a thief. He seem-
ed much disconcerted, but finally stated
that he was an aid[e] to Genl Don Antonio
Lopez de Santa Anna. To affirm his
assertion, he drew from his pocket an
official note from Gen. Urrea, to Genl
Santa Anna, dated on the Brazos, in-
forming Santa Anna that he would
be able to form a junction at or near
Galveston & should immediately take
up lines of march to Velasco.
I was satisfied, at the time, that in
his official capacity of aid[e], such a paper
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James A. Sylvester's Official Report on the Capture of Santa Anna, Certified Copy from the Galveston Historical Society, The Battle of San Jacinto Notebook, The McArdle Notebooks, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.