Show them the Exits (CEC)

With Santa Anna a captive, the Mexican forces fell back and regrouped. General José de Urrea demanded that the campaign resume, despite the danger to El Presidente. Other generals–personal friends and cronies of Santa Ann–demanded that the armies withdraw.

In the end, the weather and battle fatigue decided the course of the Mexican army. When spring rains turned the Texas coastal prairies into what one Mexican referred to as the “Mar de Lodo,” or sea of mud, gunners abandoned their artillery and ammunition while columns of men straggled to make their way through the morass. Worn out and without their cannon, the Mexicans continued the retreat toward Matamoros.