residente, El Presidente," and the secret was out. The patrol had captured Santa Anna. Unmasked, Santa Anna requested an audience with General Houston. They took him to the big oak tree. Houston looked up as the captive sat down. A crowd gathered, waiting for the sentence of death. They had been looking for Santa Anna since dawn. Now they had found him. Colonel Almonte was summoned as interpreter and Santa Anna approached in a lordly manner. "I am General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna," he said, "President of Mexico and commander in chief of the Army of Operations. I put myself at the disposal of the brave General Houston. I wish to be treated as a general should be when a prisoner of war.(Hoyt 164-165,167)"Houston lifted himself up on one elbow."Good afternoon," he said pleasantly. "Ah, Santa Anna. Ah, indeed. Take a seat, general. I'm glad to see you." Santa Anna seated himself on a box. "That man may consider himself born to no common destiny who has conquered the Napoleon of the West," he said. "And now it remains for him to be generous with the vanquished." "You should have remembered that at the Alamo." Houston said."What happened at the Alamo-I was only obeying the orders of my government," Santa Anna began. Houston lost his temper. "You are the government of Mexico, Sir, " he said. "A dictator has no superior. What about the murders at Goliad?""Those were the responsibility of General Urrea," Santa Anna lied. "And when I have the opportunity I shall have him executed. He should never have accepted the surrenders.(Hoyt 167-168)"The crowd around the two men was growing restless; to a man they wanted Santa Anna's head. General Houston, however, was wiser than the crowd. He knew that General Urrea and General Filisola together had more than 3,500 Soldiers on Texas soil and that under the more competent leadership of the two, they might attack. He knew that he did not have the strength to fight another battle, and he wanted Texas to...
