Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. Although the uprising was part of a larger one, the Mexican Federalist War, that included other provinces opposed to the regime of President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government believed the United States had instigated the Texas insurrection with the goal of annexation. The Mexican Congress passed the Tornel Decree, declaring that any foreigners fighting against Mexican troops "will be deemed pirates and dealt with as such, being citizens of no nation presently at war with the Republic and fighting under no recognized flag". Only the province of Texas succeeded in breaking with Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas. It was eventually annexed by the United States.
For the American indoor football team of the same name, see Texas Revolution (indoor football).
The revolution began in October 1835, after a decade of political and cultural clashes between the Mexican government and the increasingly large population of Anglo-American settlers in Texas. The Mexican government had become increasingly centralized and the rights of its citizens had become increasingly curtailed, particularly regarding immigration from the United States. Mexico had officially abolished slavery in Texas in 1829, and the desire of Anglo Texans to maintain the institution of chattel slavery in Texas was also a major cause of secession.[1][2][3][4][5] Colonists and Tejanos disagreed on whether the ultimate goal was independence or a return to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. While delegates at the Consultation (provisional government) debated the war's motives, Texians and a flood of volunteers from the United States defeated the small garrisons of Mexican soldiers by mid-December 1835. The Consultation declined to declare independence and installed an interim government, whose infighting led to political paralysis and a dearth of effective governance in Texas. An ill-conceived proposal to invade Matamoros siphoned much-needed volunteers and provisions from the fledgling Texian Army. In March 1836, a second political convention declared independence and appointed leadership for the new Republic of Texas.
Determined to avenge Mexico's honor, Santa Anna vowed to personally retake Texas. His Army of Operations entered Texas in mid-February 1836 and found the Texians completely unprepared. Mexican General José de Urrea led a contingent of troops on the Goliad Campaign up the Texas coast, defeating all Texian troops in his path and executing most of those who surrendered. Santa Anna led a larger force to San Antonio de Béxar (or Béxar), where his troops defeated the Texian garrison in the Battle of the Alamo, killing almost all of the defenders.
A newly created Texian army under the command of Sam Houston was constantly on the move, while terrified civilians fled with the army, in a melee known as the Runaway Scrape. On March 31, Houston paused his men at Groce's Landing on the Brazos River, and for the next two weeks, the Texians received rigorous military training. Becoming complacent and underestimating the strength of his foes, Santa Anna further subdivided his troops. On April 21, Houston's army staged a surprise assault on Santa Anna and his vanguard force at the Battle of San Jacinto. The Mexican troops were quickly routed, and vengeful Texians executed many who tried to surrender. Santa Anna was taken hostage; in exchange for his life, he ordered the Mexican army to retreat south of the Rio Grande. Mexico refused to recognize the Republic of Texas, and intermittent conflicts between the two countries continued into the 1840s. The annexation of Texas as the 28th state of the United States, in 1845, led directly to the Mexican–American War.
Regrouping: November 1835 – February 1836
Texas Consultation and the Matamoros Expedition
The Consultation finally convened on November 3 in San Felipe with 58 of the 98 elected delegates.[109] After days of bitter debate, the delegates voted to create a provisional government based on the principles of the Constitution of 1824. Although they did not declare independence, the delegates insisted they would not rejoin Mexico until federalism had been reinstated.[110] The new government would consist of a governor and a General Council, with one representative from each municipality. Under the assumption that these two branches would cooperate, there was no system of checks and balances.[111][112]
On November 13, delegates voted to create a regular army and named Sam Houston its commander-in-chief.[113] In an effort to attract volunteers from the United States, soldiers would be granted land bounties. This provision was significant, as all public land was owned by the state or the federal government, indicating that the delegates expected Texas to eventually declare independence.[114] Houston was given no authority over the volunteer army led by Austin, which predated the Consultation.[113] Houston was also appointed to the Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Three men, including Austin, were asked to go to the United States to gather money, volunteers, and supplies.[112] The delegates elected Henry Smith as governor.[115] On November 14, the Consultation adjourned, leaving Smith and the Council in charge.[116]
The new Texas government had no funds, so the military was granted the authority to impress supplies. This policy soon resulted in an almost universal hatred of the council, as food and supplies became scarce, especially in the areas around Goliad and Béxar, where Texian troops were stationed.[117] Few of the volunteers agreed to join Houston's regular army.[118] The Telegraph and Texas Register noted that "some are not willing, under the present government, to do any duty ... That our government is bad, all acknowledge, and no one will deny."[119]
Leaders in Texas continued to debate whether the army was fighting for independence or a return to federalism.[118] On December 22, Texian soldiers stationed at La Bahía issued the Goliad Declaration of Independence.[120] Unwilling to decide the matter themselves, the Council called for another election, for delegates to the Convention of 1836. The Council specifically noted that all free white males could vote, as well as Mexicans who did not support centralism.[121] Smith tried to veto the latter requirement, as he believed even Tejanos with federalist leanings should be denied suffrage.[122]
Leading federalists in Mexico, including former governor Viesca, Lorenzo de Zavala, and José Antonio Mexía, were advocating a plan to attack centralist troops in Matamoros.[123] Council members were taken with the idea of a Matamoros Expedition. They hoped it would inspire other federalist states to revolt and keep the bored Texian troops from deserting the army. Most importantly, it would move the war zone outside Texas.[124] The Council officially approved the plan on December 25, and on December 30 Johnson and his aide Dr. James Grant took the bulk of the army and almost all of the supplies to Goliad to prepare for the expedition.[105] Historian Stuart Reid posits that Grant was secretly in the employ of the British government, and that his plan to capture Matamoros, and thus tie Texas more tightly to Mexico, may have been an unofficial plan of his to advance the interests of his employers in the region.[125][Note 9]
Petty bickering between Smith and the Council members increased dramatically, and on January 9, 1836, Smith threatened to dismiss the Council unless they agreed to revoke their approval of the Matamoros Expedition.[126][127] Two days later the Council voted to impeach Smith and named James W. Robinson the Acting Governor.[128] It was unclear whether either side actually had the authority to dismiss the other.[129] By this point, Texas was essentially in anarchy.[130]
Under orders from Smith, Houston successfully dissuaded all but 70 men from continuing to follow Johnson.[131] With his own authority in question following Smith's impeachment, Houston washed his hands of the army and journeyed to Nacogdoches to negotiate a treaty with Cherokee leaders. Houston vowed that Texas would recognize Cherokee claims to land in East Texas as long as the Indians refrained from attacking settlements or assisting the Mexican army.[132] In his absence, Fannin, as the highest-ranking officer active in the regular army, led the men who did not want to go to Matamoros to Goliad.[133]
The council had neglected to provide specific instructions on how to structure the February vote for convention delegates, leaving it up to each municipality to determine how to balance the desires of the established residents against those of the volunteers newly arrived from the United States.[134] Chaos ensued; in Nacogdoches, the election judge turned back a company of 40 volunteers from Kentucky who had arrived that week. The soldiers drew their weapons; Colonel Sidney Sherman announced that he "had come to Texas to fight for it and had as soon commence in the town of Nacogdoches as elsewhere".[135] Eventually, the troops were allowed to vote.[135] With rumors that Santa Anna was preparing a large army to advance into Texas, rhetoric degenerated into framing the conflict as a race war between Anglos defending their property against, in the words of David G. Burnet, a "mongrel race of degenerate Spaniards and Indians more depraved than they".[136]
Aftermath
Military
When Mexican authorities received word of Santa Anna's defeat at San Jacinto, flags across the country were lowered to half staff and draped in mourning.[276] Denouncing any agreements signed by Santa Anna, a prisoner of war, the Mexican authorities refused to recognize the Republic of Texas.[277] Filisola was derided for leading the retreat and quickly replaced by Urrea. Within months, Urrea gathered 6,000 troops in Matamoros, poised to reconquer Texas. However, the renewed Mexican invasion of Texas never materialized as Urrea's army was redirected to address continued federalist rebellions in other state regions in Mexico.[278]
Most in Texas assumed the Mexican army would return quickly.[279] So many American volunteers flocked to the Texian army in the months after the victory at San Jacinto that the Texian government was unable to maintain an accurate list of enlistments.[280] Out of caution, Béxar remained under martial law throughout 1836. Rusk ordered that all Tejanos in the area between the Guadalupe and Nueces Rivers migrate either to east Texas or to Mexico.[279] Some residents who refused to comply were forcibly removed. New Anglo settlers moved in and used threats and legal maneuvering to take over the land once owned by Tejanos.[277][281] Over the next several years, hundreds of Tejano families resettled in Mexico.[277]
For years, Mexican authorities used the reconquering of Texas as an excuse for implementing new taxes and making the army the budgetary priority of the impoverished nation.[282] Only sporadic skirmishes resulted.[283] Larger expeditions were postponed as military funding was consistently diverted to other rebellions, out of fear that those regions would ally with Texas and further fragment the country.[282][Note 17] The northern Mexican states, the focus of the Matamoros Expedition, briefly launched an independent Republic of the Rio Grande in 1839.[284] The same year, the Mexican Congress considered a law to declare it treasonous to speak positively of Texas.[285] In June 1843, leaders of the two nations declared an armistice.[286]