The Runaway Scrape

The owls were singing a funeral dirge and wolves and buzzards were waiting to bury us.

DILUE ROSE always did have a way with words. In another place, another time, she probably would have become a famous writer. But women on the Texas frontier were too busy just staying alive to indulge in frivolities. It was in her later years that Dilue would supply historians with a first hand view of those heroic days of the revolution, The Reminiscences of Mrs. Dilue Rose Harris.

The Rose family immigrated to Texas in 1833 when their daughter, Dilue, was eight years old. She never forgot their trip to their new home on the BrazosRiver about fifteen miles from Harrisburg. Years later she would recall her fears when the owls sang their funeral dirge. Fortunately for students of Texas History, Dilue also never forgot the nightmare events of the Runaway Scrape.

It was planting time in February of 1836. The news had arrived that General Santa Anna and his brother-in-law General Cos were marching with their great armies into Texas. There was some concern, but no one worried too much those February days, for the Commander-in-Chief, Sam Houston, would take care of those Mexicans. The Colonel Travis’ impassioned plea for aid to the besieged Alamo arrived, and all the men rushed to join Houston’s Army of the Republic.

Times were tense and frightening. It was feared that those left behind would have to flee to the United States. What would happen to their homes in the path of retreating Texas soldiers and advancing Mexican armies? Clothing, bedding, and furniture were hidden in the woods and precious heirlooms were buried. It was hoped they would still be in their hiding places when Texas won her independence. Meanwhile, the young Dilue was busy “melting lead in a pot, dipping it with a spoon and molding bullets.”

Then came the dreadful news. The Alamo had fallen. Fannin and his men had been massacred at Goliad. It was time to run for their lives, and it couldn’t have been a worse time. The Trinity River was at flood, the weather was freezing, and there was no bridge. The Rose family suffered, as did many others with the death of one of their daughters. Dilue remembered so vividly:

Our hardships began at the Trinity. The river was rising and there was a struggle to see who should cross first. Measles, sore eyes, whooping cough, and every other disease that man, woman or child is heir to, broke out among us. Our party now consisted of the five white families I first mentioned, and Mr. Adam Stafford’s Negroes. We had separated from Mrs. M-. and other friends at Vince’s bridge. The horrors of crossing the Trinity are beyond my powers to describe. One of my little sisters was very sick, and the ferryman said that those families that had sick children should cross first. When our party got to the boat the water broke over the banks above where we were and ran around us. We were several hours surrounded by water. Our family was the last to get to the boat. We left more than five hundred people on the west bank. Driftwood covered the water as far as we could see. The sick child was in convulsions. It required eight men to manage the boat.

When the refugees felt they could go no farther, the glorious news came that Houston had defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto. They could return to their homes. The bedraggled and miserable Texans began their long trek back to their homes, praying there was still a home left.

Runaway Scrape Questions

  1. Why were the women of the frontier to busy to indulge in frivolities?
  1. What was the name of the book that Dilue Rose wrote?
  1. Where was Dilue’s home located when she was 8 years old?

4. Why were the people of Texas not worried about Santa Anna and

General Cos in the February days of 1836?

  1. Where did the people of Texas that were left behind flee?
  1. What did the settlers do with things such as their clothing, bedding, and furniture?
  1. What did they do with their precious heirlooms?
  1. Why was Dilue Rose melting led?
  1. Name 2 reasons that made it hard for the family to move.
  1. Name 2 diseases that colonist endured at the Trinity.
  1. How many people were left on the banks of the Trinity River?
  1. Why were the colonists able to return home?