We roused up at daylight, and soon afterwards Colonel Duff
paraded some of his best men, to show off the Texan horsemanship, of which they
are very proud. I saw them lasso cattle, and catch them by the tail at full
gallop, and throw them by slewing them round. This is called tailing. They pick
small objects off the ground when at full tilt, and, in their peculiar fashion,
are beautiful riders; but they confessed to me they could not ride in an
English saddle, and Colonel Duff told me that they could not jump a fence at
all. They were all extremely anxious to hear what I thought of the performance,
and their thorough good opinion of themselves was most amusing.
At 9 o'clock Colonel Buchel and I rode back to Brownsville;
but as we lost our way twice, and were enveloped in clouds of dust, it was not
a very satisfactory ride. Poor Captain Hancock must be luxuriating at Bagdad;
for with this wind the bar must be impassable to the boldest mariner.
In the evening, a Mr –––, a Texan Unionist, or renegado, gave us his
sentiments at the Consulate, and drank a deal of brandy. He finished, however,
by the toast, “Them as wants to fight, let 'em fight — I don't.”
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
months in the southern states: April-June, 1863, p. 20-1
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