The Texas Revolution

The Texas Revolution

Mexican Constitution of 1824 Declared Mexico a federation of free and sovereign states. The document under which Texas Colonists were invited to emigrate to Mexico, and was the one they swore to defend. In 1835, President Antonio López de Santa Anna declared that Mexico was not ready for democracy and took away the 1824 Constitution. He then centralized national power under himself.

Battle of Gonzales First Shots of the Revolution A Mexican officer ordered the citizens of Gonzales to hand over a brass cannon, but they refused. The settlers buried the cannon and called for reinforcements that reached 140 men. The settlers dug up their cannon, mounted it on a wagon, and placed a flag on it that read: On October 2, 1835 the citizens of Gonzales attacked a force of 100 Mexican soldiers and forced them to leave for San Antonio.

General Martín de Cos Headquartered in San Antonio Ordered 300 more troops to Texas to put down the rebellion Triggered the formation of a volunteer army of Texans under the command of George Collinsworth and Ben Milam that captured the town ofGoliad The capture of Goliad cut off the supply lines of General Cos’ army The Texan victories at Gonzales and Goliad inspired more volunteers to join the rebel army

The Gonzales volunteers elected Stephen F. Austin as their general and began to organize their attack on San Antonio To find a good defensive position outside San Antonio, Austin sent a search party of 90 men led by Jim Bowie and James Fannin Stephen F. Austin JimBowie James Fannin The March on San Antonio The scouting party was attacked by 400 Mexican soldiers at the Mission Concepción But were able to hold them off with their more accurate rifles. This clear victory boosted the morale of the Texas rebel army. Some Texan troops wanted to attack General Cos immediately, but Austin chose to wait for reinforcements due to the large number of soldiers and artillery in San Antonio.

Juan Seguín More than 100 Tejanos joined the fight in San Antonio, most notably Juan Seguín and Placido Benavides. Many of these Tejanos were skilled horsemen and became a part of Stephen F. Austin’s plan to build a strong cavalry Placido Benavides Los Tejanos Already opposed to Santa Anna’s government, the Tejanos of San Antonio suffered further under the occupation of General Cos Prominent citizens were forced to sweep the city streets, Tejanas had to bake tortillas for the troops, and the Mexican forces also took supplies from citizens and destroyed some of their homes

Edward Burleson Stephen F. Austin learned of his appointment as commissioner to the United States, and Colonel Edward Burleson was chosen by the soldiers to take command in Austin’s place. The Grass Fight After the fight at Concepción, Stephen F. Austin moved his troops just north of San Antonio, where the Texans were able to lay siege to General Cos’ army Since the Mexican troops had taken the supplies of the local Tejanos, the siege first appeared to have little effect. deaf smith deaf smith As Edward Burleson began to consider giving up the siege, one of his scouts, “Deaf” Smith reported that 100 Mexican soldiers with a pack of animals were headed for San Antonio. Erastus “Deaf” Smith

About 40 Texas cavalry troops and 100 infantry soldiers ambushed the Mexican soldiers and captured their horses, mules, supplies, and cargo. A rumor quickly spread among the Texans that the Mexican soldiers were carrying silver to pay General Cos’ soldiers. The Texan troops eagerly opened the bags that they thought contained silver, but found grass meant to feed horses The Texans were disappointed, but it was the first sign that their siege was working.

Santa Anna had different plans for Texas, however. Capture of San Antonio After the Grass Fight, the Texans were preparing to withdraw to Goliad when they got word that General Cos’ army was weak and disorganized. The Texans attacked San Antonio and battled the Mexican forces for five days. Although Ben Milam was killed in the fighting, the Texans still defeated General Cos, and allowed him to lead his troops back to Mexico. With nearly every Mexican soldier forced out of Texas, many Texans thought the fighting was over, and hoped they could now form a state government under the rules of the Constitution of 1824

The delegates elected Branch T. Archer president of the convention, and began to attend to the following business: Branch T. Archer The Consultation November 4, 1835 A group of delegates met in San Felipe to decide the future of Texas • Debate Independence • Create provisional government • Choose commissioners to send to United States • Address military matters

Debating Independence • Pro-War Group: • Argued that Texas should declare • independence • Pro-Peace Group • Wanted the Constitution of 1824 restored • Feared that declaring independence would cost them the support of the Tejanos • Felt they were loyal Mexican citizens • The Compromise • Delegates pledged loyalty to Mexico • Explained that they only used force to defend themselves • Warned that if the Constitution of 1824 was not restored, Texas would declare independence

Elected Henry Smith governor Elected James Robinson lieutenant governor Provisional Government Created the General Council to help Smith and Robinson run the government

Negotiations with the Cherokee The Provisional government sent Sam Houston and an African-American man named William Goyens to make peace with the Cherokee Indians Because of their efforts, the Cherokee promised to remain neutral during the revolution

Commissioners to the United States Stephen F. Austin William H. Wharton Branch T. Archer

Sam Houston was named commander-in-chief of the Texas Army The General Counsel created the Texas Navy to protect the coast and to attack Mexican ships. Texas Military

Meanwhile: President Santa Anna and 6,000 Mexican soldiers marched north towards Texas, bent on revenge To becontinued…..

The Mexican Army advances General José de Urrea approached from Matamoros towards Goliad By February 1836, Santa Anna was crossing the Rio Grande marching towards San Antonio

Houston sent Jim Bowie to San Antonio to evaluate the situation there. Sam Houston was alarmed by how unprepared the Texans were, and ordered the Alamo destroyed and its artillery removed.

Because of Bowie’s recommendation, Governor Smith ordered Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis to raise a force and head to San Antonio. In January 1836, Jim Bowie arrived at the Alamo with 25 men, and decided the Alamo should not be destroyed. Col. Travis

A few days after Travis arrived, Davy Crockett arrived with a dozen volunteers from Tennessee. James Bonham soon followed with a volunteer force from Alabama.

William B. Travis was put in command of the Alamo in February 1836 Jim Bowie argued with Travis over control of the troops, but finally agreed to share command with him

The Alamo was built as a mission, not a fort. So the Texans had to work hard to build higher and thicker walls, add cannons, and add high fences made of stakes The Alamo needed about 1,000 soldiers to properly defend it, but would never have more than 200

Santa Anna ordered the surrender of the Alamo and the defenders, but the Texans replied with a canon shot fired back at him. In response, Santa Anna raised a red flag that told the Texans that he would take no prisoners and leave no survivors.

That day William Travis wrote a famous letter “To the People of Texas and All Americans” to plea for help. On February 24, 1836 Santa Anna ordered his forces to begin firing on the Alamo. Jim Bowie had been ill, and collapsed on the second day of Santa Anna’s siege. Travis then took over full command of the Alamo.

Travis made many more pleas for aid to the provisional government and to Colonel James Fannin at Goliad, but they sent no help. Alamo Flag The only help that arrived was when 32 volunteers arrived from Gonzales under cover of the morning darkness.

On March 6, 1836, Santa Anna launched his assault on the Alamo after 13 days of siege. Texas artillery held the advancing Mexicans off briefly, but they regrouped and eventually overwhelmed the Alamo defenders and poured into the mission by the hundreds

After a few hours, all the 182 defenders and 600 Mexicans were dead. Santa Anna spared the women, children, and a slave named Joe. Santa Anna felt that the defeat of the Alamo would end the Texas Revolution, but it only convinced the Texans to fight harder.

Texas Declares Independence The Convention of 1836 was held at Washington-on-the-Brazos to vote on Independence Some delegates were former members of the United States and Mexican Governments.

The vote for independence was unanimous Although two of the signers of the declaration were Tejano, many Tejanos opposed the declaration

Today Texans celebrate Texas Independence Day March 2, 1836

A few days later, the delegates learned of the siege of the Alamo and wanted to leave to go to the aid of the Alamo defenders. Sam Houston convinced the delegates to stay because Texas needed a constitution to form a legitimate government.

The Texas Constitution was modeled after the United States Constitution and guaranteed: • Freedom speech • Freedom of the press • Freedom of religion • Right to trial by jury

But the constitution also legalized slavery, and required free blacks to petition Congress for permission to stay in Texas. Among those who had to make a petition was Samuel McCulloch Jr., the first Texan to shed blood in the Revolution.

Since Texas was at war and could not hold elections, an ad interim (temporary) government was installed until elections could be held.

President Vice-President David G. Burnet Lorenzo de Zavala

Runaway Scrape In Gonzales , he heard rumors of the fall of the Alamo and sent scouts lead by “Deaf” Smith to find out what happened. Deaf Smith Sam Houston left the convention and headed for San Antonio. The scouts found the Alamo survivors and brought them back to Gonzales where they told the story of the Alamo.

Sam Houston used the retreat to gain time to train his army, as well as to tire out the larger Mexican force chasing them. Word came that Santa Anna was approaching Gonzales, so Houston ordered the town burned and took his army east. As the Texas army moved east, citizens also left their homes to escape Santa Anna.

While General Urrea fought with Fannin’s troops stationed in Refugio, Fannin received orders from Sam Houston to retreat to Victoria. Fannin Goliad Massacre General Urrea was moving up the coastline and defeated many Texan troops on his march to Refugio and Goliad.

Fannin decided to wait for his troops in Refugio to return before obeying Houston, but those soldiers had been either killed or captured by General Urrea Fannin and Urrea finally met at the battle of Coleto, where Fannin was wounded.

The morning after the battle started, General Urrea received several hundred more soldiers, and Fannin decided to surrender.

The Texan prisoners were marched back to Goliad where they stayed for a week.

General Urrea wanted to keep them as prisoners of war, but Santa Anna ordered him to execute them all. Grave of Fannin and his men

Some were saved from the Goliad Massacre by Francita Alavez, who was called the Angel of Goliad. When the shooting of the prisoners began, a few of them were able to escape in the smoke and confusion.

Battle of San Jacinto After gathering supplies and training his troops during the Runaway Scrape, Houston marched his troops down Buffalo Bayou towards Santa Anna’s camp. Houston found that Santa Anna camped out in the open in a vulnerable spot, and camped his men in a spot that was partially hidden in a grove of trees

The day before the battle, there were several small fights. In one of the fights, a private named Mirabeau B. Lamar saved the lives of two Texans and was promoted to Colonel and put in charge of the cavalry.

Before the battle, Houston sent Deaf Smith on a special mission to destroy the bridge at Vince's Bayou. This effectively destroyed the retreat route for both the Mexican army as well as his Texans .

On April 21, 1836 Houston ordered his army to attack the exhausted Mexican soldiers as they took their afternoon siestas. words

Taken by surprise, 630 Mexican soldiers were killed and 730 captured in 18 minutes of fighting

The next day, Santa Anna was captured while hiding in the nearby marshes. Texas Independence was secured.

The Texas Revolution