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Post by Chuck T on Jul 27, 2010 21:19:36 GMT -5
I have of course seen this entry before, and never paid a heck of a lot of attention to it. Over the last couple of days though with this post I have had a chance to think about it, and frankly something does not seem right. Almonte was a staff officer. As such I would have thought he would have used "our" instead of "my" My to me would indicate he was in command of a unit, while our would be how I would think he would refer to them or to the army at large.
Perhaps I am reading to much into this. I do think the possability of a flubbed tranlation does exist. Of course it could just be the 3 grand worth of stuff he was entrusted with that came up missing. Don't think anyone would have the nerve to mug Almonte, but who knows.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jul 27, 2010 22:43:15 GMT -5
I'm still leaning toward smash-and-grab.
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Post by garyzaboly on Jul 28, 2010 5:59:02 GMT -5
I'm still leaning toward smash-and-grab. Almonte edited parts of his journal after the fact; he's clearly off, for instance, in noting the day the Gonzales reinforcement arrived (too early). I agree, he's cryptic at times, leaves out so much information. Maybe he was planning to flesh things out in his own book on the Texas campaign. Too bad he never did it!
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Post by Chuck T on Jul 28, 2010 7:24:04 GMT -5
I believe Almonte left out a lot of detail that we in a later day would like to see on purpose. Mentioning for instance the unprepared state that the Mexican Army was in to treat its own wounded would not have reflected well on his commander, who I believe he was quite loyal to.
Gary I think you are correct about the editing and the mistake on the date of the arrival of reinforcements from Gonzales. I don't guess we will ever know though until the original of the diary is discovered. You will note that it is the last line of that day's entry Were it in the middle I would have to think about it being a mistake a while.
Allen: Now that you are back from the beach having refreshed yourself in Atlantic waters I will take smash and grab under advisement.
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Post by Hollowhorn on Mar 14, 2012 16:48:31 GMT -5
Does anyone know if the New York Herald took any of the below any further, did they eventually name names?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 14, 2012 20:40:38 GMT -5
As far as I recall, the diary itself was lost after the newspaper published it (or at least the part that it did publish). I know of no other record or transcription of it. There may be more info in Jack Jackson's book "Almonte's Texas," which includes the entire diary (or what was published of it) and a lot more. I'm not at home this week or next, so do not have access to my books, but maybe someone else can provide more information.
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Post by Hiram on Mar 16, 2012 15:44:27 GMT -5
The SHQ article published in Vol. 48 (July 1944) uses the phrase I was robbed by our soldiers (italics by the author of the article Samuel E. Asbury.) Samuel Erson Asbury, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, was assistant state chemist at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at Texas A & M University and an amateur historian and collector of Texana.
Here is a link.bit.ly/ycr1O7
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Post by Hollowhorn on Mar 17, 2012 19:03:58 GMT -5
Allen, thank-you for you reply. What I was getting at, however, did the 'Herald' ever actually name the particular people whose names they blanked out in the original article?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 17, 2012 21:17:25 GMT -5
I'll defer to Hiram on this, but, as far as I know, the version we have is all that has survived of the diary and I know of no other notes or versions that would answer your question. My guess is that the answer is "no" but we can always hope.
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