Shortly before his fourteenth birthday, John Christopher Columbus Hill left home with his father and older brother to join the ill-fated 1842 Texas expedition to Mier, Tamaulipas, Mexico, to end any questions over ownership of Texas. The story of John Hill's capture and subsequent adoption by President Antonio López de Santa Anna is one of the most fascinating and curious to come out of this extraordinary episode in Texas history.

Historical figures in this book -- Timeline -- Introduction -- "Father and I are going" -- "The spirit of the troops" -- "An opportunity to break my rifle" -- "Juan Cristobal Colón Gil de Ampudia" -- "My son, what do you wish?" -- "He was forgetting his native tongue.".