Part 17: The Greatest Texan

Chapter 9: The Greatest Texan



After capturing Guaymas, Sombrete, and Monterrey American forces are sent deeper into Mexico. Western Mexico is undefended and will fall easily. Most of Mexico's troops are in the east near the Gulf of Mexico, and that is where the last major battles will take place.



Denmark seems to have acted quickly during this war they are in and have made Mecklenburg a Danish satellite. Prussia is not going to like this at all.



This map shows the majority of the Mexican Army. Their largest force, 5 divisions, is in Santanilla, where they recently won a battle against American forces. One can also observe that the Americans have won their battles at Tampico and are capturing the city.



General Houston captures the Bahamas, and the Americans have captured the rest of the Baja peninsula.



General Houston begins to load back onto the transports and prepare for a long journey south.



More American forces head southwest from Louisiana. American ships intercepted Mexican raiders and transports in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, so these troops will stay in Texas for at least a little while, in case the Mexicans try something.



General Houston sets off for southern Argentina as soon as the ships are ready. His target will be the colonial claims Argentina owns there. Argentina has not finished colonizing the area and it is sparsely settled and ripe for Texas to seize and claim as our own.



Mexico continues to land divisions in Loreto, but not enough to drive the Americans out. The Mexican province of Sinaloa (on the Pacific coast of Mexico) falls in the meantime.



It has been five years since the American-Texan alliance was signed, so it expires. The alliance will not truly end until this war is over though, and that is when we will begin negotiations for a new alliance (the AI hardly ever accepts alliance offers if it is in a war anyway).



Fifty-two thousand troops in Sinaloa are sent heading to Santiago, where a large Mexican force is positioned (roughly 30000).



The steamers are quick, and Houston arrives at the southern Argentinian coast. He and his men commence the invasion of Argentina by assaulting the trading post at Santa Cruz.



Acaponeta and Aguas Caliente fall to American troops. The men in Acaponeta begin to march to Guadalajara, and the men in Acaponeta rush to Villa de Leon. Week by week we get closer and closer to Mexico City.



We order American General English, the leader of the forces that captured Baja California, to move to the southern coast of Mexico, figuring that he would just go down the Mexican Pacific coast, which is largely under our control. He insists on riding the rails of the Republic to San Antonio then cutting a path right through central Mexico. We are unsure of this plan, but he is a General and that has to mean something so we let him go on his way.



The American division that had been sent from Louisiana to Corpus Christi is sent to assist in the Battle of Santiago, now that the threat of a Mexican invasion by sea is gone.



General Houston lands in Santa Cruz and quickly captures the undefended trading post. From there he orders his men to El Turbio, where they will assault and capture the fort there.



More men from Louisiana are sent southwest, as a naval battle between American and Mexico raiders goes on in the Gulf.



We receive word that the Americans have captured Tampico and raised the Stars & Stripes over the city. It is likely that the US will give us fewer troops to command now that they have a presence in Mexico, and that any cities captured by American troops neighboring Tampico will fly their flag and not ours.



The Mexican armies are slowing being corralled into the area of San Luis Potosi.



In Europe, the Schleswig war is over, with the Danes suffering a defeat at the hands of the Prussians.





The Prussians take not only the entirety of the Schleswig region, but Greenland, Iceland and the Danish Virgin Islands.



American forces capture Villa de Leon, but instead of pushing toward Mexico City we decide instead to march on San Juan del Rio. Should we be successful there and capture that province, many Mexican forces will be surrounded by American troops to the north, south and west and the Gulf of Mexico to the east.



Guadalajara is captured, and we receive another peace envoy from Mexico. He is turned away. This war does not end until America says it ends.



It is not difficult to see why Mexico wants peace.



Troops in Santiago, having recently taken that city, begin to move into Charcas.



American divisions are pushing forward all across Mexico. Victory is assured for America and Texas, the only question now is how much land Mexico will be forced to cede.



On another continent, the Texan army captures El Turbio and begins to head toward the coaling station at Puerto Deseado.

The rugged mountains of southern Argentina are harsh terrain. In the assault of the fort at El Turbio, General Houston, now seventy years old, insisted on charging into battle with his men, just as he has every battle since the Revolutionary War. This would be his last charge.



General Houston, having seized and tried some potent local alcohol from the trading post in Santa Cruz, fell off his horse during the assault on the fort and was grievously injured. He survived the capture of El Turbio, and the medics and his personal doctors did all they could, but the instruments and medicines he needed were thousands of miles away.

Samuel Houston, President of the Republic twice and experienced General of more than forty years, died on September 29, 1863. His final words fell on the ears of his friends and doctors, who would never forget them.

"Texas. Texas. Whiskey."