With Santa Ana in Texas
I have been wanting to read this book for years and finally got a copy this week.
The book is an expanded diary written by Jose Enrique de la Pena who was an officer in The Mexican Army during the Texas Revolution in which he recounts his experiences.
The book is a decent read, though modern readers may not appreciate its early 19th century writing style. A surprising amount of the book is de la Pena's sort of naturalist account of the Texas countryside which he found incredibly beautiful.
The military portion is mostly made up of accounts of the hardships suffered by the Mexican army on the march. The only combat de la Pena saw was at the Alamo where he was heavily engaged in the final assault and of which he gives an extremely graphic account. There is a lot of fine detail about people involved, including significant characters who are not well known today and interesting minor players. De la Pena also makes his prejudices very clear. He was no friend of Santa Ana who he viewed as a self aggrandizing butcher with almost no concern for the hardships faced by his men. He found most of the senior commanders (Urrea and Castrillon being notable exceptions,) as barely competent on their good days.
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