Reference
- AlamoAlamo, (Spanish: “Cottonwood”) 18th-century Franciscan mission in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., that was the site of a historic resistance effort by a small group of determined fighters for Texan independence (1836) from Mexico...
- Battle of San JacintoBattle of San Jacinto, (April 21, 1836), defeat of a Mexican army of about 1,200–1,300 men under Antonio López de Santa Anna by about 900 men (mostly recent American arrivals in Texas) led by Gen. Sam Houston. The outcome ensured the success of American settlers in the Texas Revolution (War of Texas Independence). Along the San Jacinto River, near the site of what was to be the city of Houston, Houston’s men, after days of retreat, took the resting Mexican force by surprise (mounting their assault about 3:30 pm, during the Mexicans’ siesta), shouting, “Remember the Alamo, remember Goliad!” (the scenes of their previous defeats)...
- GoliadAt the beginning of the Texas Revolution (December 1835), the presidio’s Mexican garrison was overwhelmed by Texans led by George Collinsworth and Ben Milam, and on December 20 a preliminary “declaration of independence” was published there. A few weeks after the fall of the Alamo, a detachment of some 330 American and Texan troops at Goliad under Col. James Fannin surrendered (March 20, 1836, after the Battle of Coleto Creek) to superior Mexican forces under Gen. José Urrea...
- Texas RevolutionTexas Revolution, also called War of Texas Independence, war fought from October 1835 to April 1836 between Mexico and Texas colonists that resulted in Texas’s independence from Mexico and the founding of the Republic of Texas (1836–45). Although the Texas Revolution was bookended by the Battles of Gonzales and San Jacinto, armed conflict and political turmoil that pitted Texians (Anglo-American settlers of the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas) and Tejanos (Texans of mixed Mexican and Indian descent) against the forces of the Mexican government had occurred intermittently since at least 1826....
- The Anahuac Disturbance and the conventions of 1832 and 1833In April 1830, wary of the rapidly swelling deluge of immigrants from the United States, the Mexican government legislated against further settlement in Coahuila and Texas by Anglo-Americans and reimposed the suspended tariff. Over roughly the next two years, conflict arose in the area near modern-day Houston between Texans and a group composed of officials of the Mexican government and the small military force sent there to enforce the tariff as well as prevent smuggling and Anglo-American immigration...
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Perspectives
Lone Star Nation: the epic story of the battle for Texas independence
In Lone Star Nation, Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands demythologizes Texas’s journey to statehood and restores the genuinely heroic spirit to a pivotal chapter in American history. From Stephen Austin, Texas’s reluctant founder, to the alcoholic Sam Houston, who came to lead the Texas army in its hour of crisis and glory, to President Andrew Jackson, whose expansionist aspirations loomed large in the background, here is the story of Texas and the outsize figures who shaped its turbulent history. Beginning with its early colonization in the 1820s and taking in the shocking massacres of Texas loyalists at the Alamo and Goliad, its rough-and-tumble years as a land overrun by the Comanches, and its day of liberation as an upstart republic, Brands’ lively history draws on contemporary accounts, diaries, and letters to animate a diverse cast of characters whose adventures, exploits, and ambitions live on in the very fabric of our nation.
The Texas Revolution and the U. S. -Mexican War
This narrative begins with the introduction of the empresario system in Mexico in 1823, a system of land distribution to American farmers and ranchers in an attempt to strengthen the postwar economy following Mexico's independence from Spain. Once welcomed as fellow countrymen, the new settlers, homesteading on land destined to be called Texas, were viewed as enemies when in 1835 they revolted against the government's harsh Centralist rulings. Forced to fight for the principles they believed in, the Texans retaliated for the reprisals against them with armed conflicts against the Mexican military. Winning independence from Mexico and recognition from the United States as the independent Republic of Texas only intensified the Mexican refusal to accept their loss of Texas as legitimate. The final straw for both sides came when Texas was granted U.S. statehood and 11 American soldiers were ambushed and murdered. As a result, Congress declared war on Mexico, a bloody conflict that resulted in the U.S. gain of 525,000 square miles, land now consisting of California, Nevada, and Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.
The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution, 1836
At this time in history people didn't sit for an interview on one or more of the major networks, they wrote broadsides. This book is five broadsides from Generals Urrea and Filisola, Sec of War Tornel, Santa Anna's secretary, Ramon Martinez Caro and of course the "Big Guy" himself. Honestly these five broadsides raise more questions than they provide answers. You will not only want to read more you'll need to if you are going to understand this. I found especially fascinating Gen. Urreas account of a skirmish at Refugio when compared to the account in Stephen Hardin's "Texian Iliad" of the same skirmish. The Texian perspective v the Mexican. Urrea says also the the Mexicans. had to withdraw from the engagement at Refugio Mission because some of the men in his infantry "...were, as a rule, unable to understand Spanish...and the other officers, not being able to speak their language were handicapped in giving commands."
Gen Filisola tries to justify his retreat from Texas after Santa Anna's defeat and capture at San Jacinto. With 3000 to 4000 soldiers only seventy miles away from Houston and his army many asked why he didn't regroup and attack Houston. If he had the revolution would have surely been put down.
War & Expansion: Crash Course US History
- War & Expansion: Crash Course US HistoryIn which John Green teaches you about the Mexican-American War in the late 1840s, and the expansion of the United States into the western end of North America. In this episode of Crash Course, US territory finally reaches from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean. After Oregon was secured from the UK and the southwest was ceded by Mexico, that is. Famous Americans abound in this episode, including James K Polk (Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump), Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, and Winfield Scott. You'll also learn about the California Gold Rush of 1848, and California's admission as a state, which necessitated the Compromise of 1850. Once more slavery is a crucial issue.
Remember the Alamo
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window
In the early 1830s Texas was about to explode. Although ruled by Mexico, the region was home to more than 20,000 U.S. settlers agitated by what they saw as restrictive Mexican policies. Mexican officials, concerned with illegal trading and immigration, were prepared to fight hard to keep the province under their control. Caught in the middle were the area's 4,000 Mexican Texans or Tejanos.
With war on the horizon, the Tejanos had to pick a side. Many chose to fight with their Anglo neighbors against an army sent by Mexico City. The conflict pitted brother against brother and devastated the community. The Tejano gamble for a more prosperous future in an independent Texas proved tragic. Following the revolution, the Tejanos were overwhelmed by a surge of Anglo immigration -- leaving them foreigners in a land they had fought to defend.
Websites
- The Republic of Texas - The Texas Revolution-Texas State Library and Archives CommissionThe Declaration of November 7, 1835, passed by the Consultation announced that the Texan war against Mexico principally intended to restore the Mexican Constitution of 1824, abrogated by the actions of President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and to achieve separate Mexican statehood for Texas. The members of the Consultation had hoped to attract popular support for the Texan cause from the other Mexican states.
By the time the Convention of 1836 met at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, such temporizing was no longer acceptable. On the first day, Convention President Richard Ellis appointed George C. Childress, James Gaines, Edward Conrad, Collin McKinney, and Bailey Hardeman a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence... - Texas declares independence-History ChannelDuring the Texas Revolution, a convention of American Texans meets at Washington-on-the-Brazos and declares the independence of Texas from Mexico. The delegates chose David Burnet as provisional president and confirmed Sam Houston as the commander in chief of all Texan forces. The Texans also adopted a constitution that protected the free practice of slavery, which had been prohibited by Mexican law. Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s siege of the Alamo continued, and the fort’s 185 or so American defenders waited for the final Mexican assault....
- Texas Independence-National Museum of American HistoryTexas’s struggle for independence from Mexico and its annexation by the United States led to the Mexican War. From 1846 to 1848, the United States fought Mexico to acquire land stretching from Texas to the Pacific Ocean.
By the 1830s, American settlers in Mexico’s Texas territory outnumbered native Mexicans. Americans felt oppressed by Mexican rule and, under the leadership of Stephen Austin and Sam Houston, declared independence in 1835. A Mexican army under General Antonio Santa Anna attacked and slaughtered Texas rebels at the Alamo, but Houston rallied support and crushed Santa Anna at San Jacinto...