Fanning was there with nearly nine hundred men, and he had named the place Fort Defiance, and asserted his determination to hold it.

In the mean time, Houston was using his great personal influence to collect troops, to make treaties with the Indians, and to keep together some semblance of a provisional government.
But it had become evident to all the leading spirits of the revolution that no half-way measures would now do.

They only produced half-way enthusiasm.

For this end, Houston spoke out with his accustomed boldness: "Gentlemen, we must declare the independence of Texas, and like our fore-elders, sink or swim by that declaration.

Nothing else, nothing less, can save us.