This article is reprinted as first published in the Beaumont Enterprise, Beaumont, Texas  Sunday, October 2, 1932

THE SUNDAY ENTERPRISE

Wild Deer Given Credit
in Santa Anna Capture

Tale of Mexican General's Apprehension
After His Defeat is Handed Down
by Anderson Barclay

A frightened buck deer running across the battle ground of San Jacinto was responsible for the capture of General Santa Anna--the self-styled "Little Napolean of the West." The story has never been published, though it is well authenticated, and old-timers will tell it as long as old-timers last in the communities of Chester, Mount Hope, and Peach Tree Village in Tyler County.

For it is a tale which was handed down by Anderson Barclay, one of the first settlers of northern Tyler county, the man who helped the famous Deaf Smith cut Vince's bridge just before the Battle of San Jacinto, and who told it to his grandsons who live today near Mount Hope.

Anderson Barclay, whose name will live in Texas history, along with that of Deaf Smith, who was an intimate of General Sam Houston, was chosen with Smith to do away with the only means by which Houston's little army could escape from the pocket in which they placed themselves on the bend of the San Jacinto river, and where they intended, and did, teach Santa Anna and his much larger army a monumental military lesson--while they liberated Texas from Mexico.

Barclay returned from destroying the bayou bridge, to engage in the short but decisive battle. It was the next day, while he was in company with Deaf Smith and other Texans, that he saw a buck deer running across the prairie--as his grandsons tell it today. Suddenly, the deer halted, frightened, evidently at something in the underbrush or tall weeds. The Texans, noticing the incident, decided they would investigate. As they moved, the deer made away, but when they reached the spot and peered in, they found two or three Mexicans.

All were dressed as peons or common soldiers, and it was not until a little later that Smith and Barclay learned that they had captured the Mexican general. That was when other Mexican soldiers, who had been captured, recognized Santa Anna and cried, "Viva la General!"

Then they took Santa Anna before General Houston, who lay wounded under a tree.

Anderson Barclay, a beloved man, came to the Mount Hope country from somewhere east of the Mississippi just before the first valiant Barnes came into that part of the then Texas wilderness to establish the name and their fortunes.

Anderson Barclay lies today in a little burial ground, only a bit of native rock,   uncarved, above his head.

It would be well to have a monument for Anderson Barclay, and yet the man who helped cut Vince's bridge, and who captured Santa Anna, needs none.

Note: This articles appears just as it did when first published as a Sunday Enterprise feature in 1932. Though recent history may point to some inaccuracies, these have not been changed. Nor has the language been changed to reflect modern correctness.