Chapter 5 Summary and Analysis

Sam Houston set up headquarters in San Felipe and began to plan a defense against the Mexicans. He recruited a young soldier named James Fannin to become an inspector general, but the proud Fannin refused. This was not the last time Houston would butt heads with Fannin.

Meanwhile, the volunteer militia under Stephen Austin stormed and successfully took San Antonio, forcing Mexican General Cos to surrender. This emboldened the small militia, who thought the war was over. Sam Houston was unconvinced that the war was over and his pessimism annoyed the provisional government, who forced him to re-headquarter at out-of-the-way Washington-on-the-Brazos. Sam had to fight ineptitude and bureaucracy at every turn.

The militia plotted a pillage run into Mexico, specifically Matamoros, and they abandoned San Antonio except for about eighty soldiers left in the fort there, Alamo. Houston thought the Matamoros...