A minor Texas Revolution engagement that ended in Texian embarrassment when a captured Mexican pack train proved to carry grass rather than silver.
Key Facts
- Date
- November 26, 1835
- Texian cavalry deployed
- 45–50 soldiers
- Texian infantry deployed
- ~100 soldiers
- Mexican escort strength
- 50–100 soldiers
- Mexican soldiers killed
- 3 (per historian Alwyn Barr)
- Texian soldiers injured
- 4
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the Texian siege of Béxar, scout Deaf Smith reported a Mexican pack train escorted by 50–100 soldiers approaching the town. Texian troops believed the mules carried silver to pay the Mexican garrison, prompting newly elected commander Edward Burleson to order an interception. The army was restless following Austin's resignation and eager for action after weeks of inactivity around the besieged city.
Colonel James Bowie led 45–50 cavalry, supported by roughly 100 infantry, to intercept the pack train south of Béxar on November 26, 1835. Mexican General Martín Perfecto de Cos dispatched reinforcements from the garrison. The Texians repulsed multiple Mexican counterattacks before the Mexican forces retreated into Béxar, leaving the pack animals behind.
When Texians examined the captured mules, they found freshly cut grass intended to feed Mexican horses rather than any silver. The anticlimactic discovery gave the skirmish its ironic name, the Grass Fight. Casualties were light—four Texians wounded and approximately three Mexicans killed—leaving the broader siege of Béxar unchanged and Texian morale little improved.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Edward Burleson, James Bowie.
Side B
1 belligerent
Martín Perfecto de Cos.