Ex-Congressman Negotiates Release Of Texans

Waddy Thompson did not let the fact that he had been a private citizen for two weeks keep him from asking one more life-saving favor of Santa Anna on Mar. 23, 1844.

Texans naively presumed their neighbors in New Mexico would jump at the chance to join the Lone Star Republic. So, in the summer of 1841, President Mirabeau Lamar sent more than 300 soldiers, merchants and a grab bag of adventurers to deliver an engraved invitation and to stake Texas’ claim to the lucrative trade of the Santa Fe Trail.

But the Mexican army was waiting for the trespassers. Tricked into surrendering by a snake in their own grass, the socalled Pioneers were disarmed, shackled and forced-marched hundreds of miles into the interior of Mexico.

The capture of the Santa Fe Expedition caused an angry uproar not only in Texas but also throughout the United States. Newspapers, state legislatures and public rallies put extreme pressure on the federal government to take swift and effective action.

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