Tampico Lancers / J° [Cross Belt Plate]
Name/Title
Tampico Lancers / J° [Cross Belt Plate]Description
Cast brass "J°" (1st battalion) cross belt plate with a drilled eyelet. On the way to Texas, Santa Anna reorganized the "1st" and "8th" numbered battalions into the Tampico Lancer Regiment. This cross belt plate was recovered at Presidio La Bahia by Don Jank.Context
Herman Ehrenberg was the youngest member of the first company of New Orleans Greys. He was with Colonel Fannin at the Battle of Coleto, taken prisoner, marched out along a dirt road on Easter Sunday, and escaped the massacre. An excerpt from his memoir talks about the massacre and the Tampico Lancers: "I looked around once more to where my comrades were dying, while the bullets of the still firing enemies whistled about me. The hellish exaltations of the enemy mixed with the cries of pain of my dying brothers sounded over to me. What feelings took possession of me here! I cast another look and a farewell greeting to my dead companions and turned to flee. I had to hasten if I did not wish to fall into the hands of the lancers who were now on this side of the river less than a half a mile below me. I threw away everything that I could spare as the water had made my clothing considerably heavier, and, unfortunately, in the haste my diary also, that I had kept to this time. Provided with only the most necessary clothing, even without coat and cap, having lost the latter in the stream, I set out across the heavenly forests and prairies of the West."Category
Texas Revolution
Building The Lone Star Identity, Bullock Museum