Kentucky

The travelers began their journey overland through the Commonwealth of Kentucky on Christmas Day, 1836. Kentucky and Tennessee had been two of the states whose citizens most supported the Texas Revolution. Not long after Santa Anna visited the state, the Kentucky legislature passed a resolution supporting U.S. recognition of Texas independence.

They went overland through Kentucky for the next several days, as Santa Anna's health worsened. At Lexington, the party was forced to stop, as Santa Anna sought medical treatment. There, they met Callista Cralle Long, a traveler moving west with her family from Virginia. She reported a mob forming when it learned of Santa Anna's presence in the city.

The party remained in Lexington through the New Year, finally hiring a carriage on January 3 and leaving overland the next day. They crossed the Ohio River and into the State of Ohio on January 6.

The Washington Globe reported the Kentucky legislature’s support for Texas independence.

At the end of December, 1836, the national Niles’ Weekly Register reported on the party's progress to that point.

Just outside of Lexington, the party would have seen the Pope House, which had been designed by the noted architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1811. Henry Clay's plantation Ashland also sat just outside of the city.

Calista Cralle Long gave her recollections of tea with Almonte and Lexington’s reaction to Santa Anna's presence.