By Susan Avera Holt
Columbia Historical Museum Board Member
Illiterate, alone in the world, and a mother and widow at 22-years old, Susanna Dickinson survived the horrors of the Alamo only to be interrogated by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and sent on an errand to Gonzales. For 72 cold and windy miles, Susanna and her 14-month-old daughter, along with a man named Ben, carried Santa Anna’s message of warning to Sam Houston at Gonzales.
That message set off a mass panic. Couriers were sent out in all directions to deliver the news of the fall of the Alamo. Sam Houston gathered his troops and set off on a hasty retreat.
Knowing that Sam Houston’s soldiers were in retreat further added to the panic.
Settlers from the south and central portions of Texas gathered whatever they could carry and began running east, crossing rivers and bayous. The Mexican Army was coming, and after the fall of the Alamo, they knew there would be little mercy shown to any rebels.
“Women, children, pack mules, servants – ‘a throng which stretched as far as the eye could see’ streamed eastward from the settlements on the Colorado and the Brazos.” (Creighton)
Columbia Founder, Josiah H. Bell, and his family loaded themselves, their servants and precious cargo onto a steamboat and rode all the way to Galveston.
Catherine Carson, a widow with two sons in the Texas Army, remained behind in Columbia. However, she finally realized she and her daughter, Rachel, needed to get to safety. They made their way to the mound (Damon Mound) where they joined the Damon family and then took off for Richmond where they found protection with soldiers at Fort Bend who were stationed there helping families cross the Brazos. (Creighton)
The Mexican Army was at their heels. Bullets began flying as the women and children loaded wagons and tried to cross the Brazos River. Catherine was forced to duck and cover, running for her life and fearing for her child.
Many innocents were killed in the Runaway Scrape, either by bullets, disease, starvation, hypothermia or exhaustion. The struggle for Texas Independence from Mexico was fought by all Texans, not just the soldiers, but by their wives and families as well.
If you want to read more about how women survived this tumultuous time in Texas’ history, try these can’t-put-down books:
“Love is a Wild Assault” by Elithe Hamilton Kirkland https://www.amazon.com/Love-Assault-Elithe…/dp/B00H8Z2WHE
“True Women” by Janice Woods Windle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janice_Woods_Windle
Also, check out this website all about Texas women. https://texaswomen.tshaonline.org/
Sources:
Crieghton, James A. “A Narrative History of Brazoria County” Waco, Texas; Library Binding Company, 1975.
