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Since the Revolution, Americans had been pressing the frontier westwards and southwards, taming Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and finally Texas. Each new frontier attracted a horde of colonists filled with a fever for a land of plenty. Unfortunately for these American colonists, Texas was part of Mexico, not the United States, but these strong Anglo-Saxon frontiersmen were not the kind of people who let things like borders stand in their way, and their motto was Go Ahead. The alpha-frontiersman, Andrew Jackson, was president, which symbolized the quest to dominate wild country and bend it to the colonists’ will. Jackson believed with all of the considerable fire in his body that Texas belonged to the United States, and to be fair, Louisiana’s borders had not been clearly defined in the Louisiana Purchase (1803). The border was believed to be either the Sabine River or the Nueces River, but Jackson and many others claimed that the Purchase had included the watersheds of the Mississippi River, even though no Texan rivers drained into Mississippi.

To be honest, it would have mattered little even if the borders had been clearly defined, since Jackson had already invaded Florida in 1818 back when he was still a general while claiming to be in hot pursuit of Indians. Spanish threats quickly proved empty since it was pre-occupied with the Mexican Revolution (1810-1821), so Florida was ceded to the US in 1819 in exchange for formal recognition that Texas belonged to Spain. Naturally, Jackson was apoplectic that the US had given up Texas but the successful annexation of Florida confirmed his belief in conquer first, then negotiate. Spain lost Texas along with Mexico when it became independent in 1821.

The Mexican rebels were great admirers of the American Revolution even though they had received no support from their northern neighbor, but their admiration faded when the American ambassador’s first announcement was an offer to buy Texas for $1 million. The Mexican government was well aware of the value of Texas and refused. When Jackson became president he sent a new ambassador and raised the offer to $5 million but it too was refused. Negotiations were not helped by the fact that both ambassadors were from southern states and treated Mexican officials with barely concealed contempt and arrogance.

Meanwhile, Texas was filling up with men who had failed back home and had arrived in search of a better life. Back in America, clerks would simply write GTT (Gone To Texas) next to unpaid accounts to close out the account. Among these immigrants was a group of violent men with a vision of taking Texas for themselves. Calling themselves the War Party, their members included William Travis, Jim Bowie and Sam Houston. Other people were less impressed with their motives and called them the War Dogs. Even though men of that era had grown up hearing stories of the Revolution from their fathers and grandfathers, the established Anglos did not want to lose their title and the poor Anglos did not trust the War Dogs, suspecting correctly that their role would be that of expendable cannon fodder.

The War Dogs needed an issue to rally support and they found it when Mexico passed the April 6 Law on April 6, 1834 that made Texas an official state and forbade further Anglo immigration, while encouraging colonization by Europeans and Mexicans to counter the growing Anglo control of Texas. The Anglo economic refugees were especially angered by the new requirement for a Mexican passport to cross the US border and the end of importing slaves. This law did not stop Anglo “wetbacks” from crossing the border at will but Anglos were furious that they now had to pay tariffs. Otherwise, there were few complaints since the Mexican legal system was probably as professional, if not more, as the courts in American frontier states. Besides, most Anglos preferred to have nothing to do with any legal system, so they appreciated the fact that the Mexican courts were far away.  

The War Dogs successfully linked the tariffs to Britain’s Stamp Act and stirred up hatred of Colonel Juan Davis Bradburn, a Kentucky born ex-filibuster, who was the local commander of the Mexican troops at Anahuac, a key smuggling center. Conveniently ignoring the fact that many Anglo colonists had left the US because of trouble with the law, the War Dogs regularly accused the Mexican soldiers of causing trouble and raping women, which seems unlikely since Bradburn was from the South himself and knew the dangers of abusing the Southern female. Unlike most other Mexican commanders in Texas, Bradburn actually enforced the prohibition on slavery and refused to return runaway slaves who reached his jurisdiction, which led to frequent clashes with Travis and his partner Patrick Jack when they represented owners who wanted their property back.

The decision by Travis and Jack to form a militia company, theoretically to protect against non-existent Indian raids, did not endear them to Bradburn but the situation quickly degenerated when he arrested Travis and Jack on May 17 for spreading rumors that a force of men from Louisiana was coming to reclaim runaway slaves. Travis was unpopular but the Anglo settlers refused to see a white man mistreated by dark-skinned Mexicans. On June 10 over a hundred men rode in to force Bradburn to free the two men but he simply threatened to shoot the captives. After a lengthy standoff that became known as the First Anahuac Disturbance, enough of them sobered up to realize that taking on an actual army might be more than they could handle. Instead, they produced the Turtle Bayou Resolution, which declared that they supported Mexican rule but opposed the current regime and pledged their support to the current strongman, Santa Anna. After numerous confrontations and near calls, fighting finally broke out on June 26 near the Brazos River when a Mexican force tried to stop an Anglo schooner transporting cannon to help the men trying to liberate the two lawyers. Eleven hours later, ten Anglos and five Mexicans were dead in what appeared to be the first battle of the Texan Revolution.

However, the revolution was postponed when Colonel Jose de las Piedras arrived, and realizing the futility of the situation given the overwhelming Anglo numerical superiority, he negotiated with the rebels, released the two men, and relieved Bradburn of his command. Unfortunately, this understandable restraint simply emboldened the Anglos. Less than a month later, an attempt to prevent Anglos from forming militia companies backfired, and Piedras found himself forced to lead his garrison out of Nacogdoches, abandoning Texas. Despite these victories, when the various Anglo communities held a convention in San Felipe on October 1, the delegates stopped short of calling for a revolution. Instead, they lobbied for the separation of Texas from Coahuila and the annulment of the April 6 Law, nominating Stephen Austin to present their demands to Mexico City. Shortly after the convention ended, a cholera epidemic swept through Texas, and the huge number of deaths ended even the War Dogs’ thirst for violence.  

The Mexican government was willing to accept such an obvious disregard for its authority because Mexico had only recently emerged from its own much more bloody revolution that had claimed one sixth of the population. Actually, the end of the revolution did not mean an end to violence. A succession of regimes and the conflict that accompanied the transition of power meant that the young republic was not given the opportunity to rebuild. Much of the conflict was due to a struggle between the forces of centralization and those advocating greater autonomy for the provinces, but this struggle was fought by armies not legislators. Most important, Mexico lacked a military leader like George Washington who was willing to hand power over to a civilian government.

Despite the brief calm, it was obvious that it was only a matter of time before Anglo dissatisfaction with Mexican government could not be denied. By 1836, Anglos outnumbered Hispanics 10 to 1 in Texas, and hundreds more were pouring in each month. Worse, many Anglos looked down on Mexicans and resented the Mexican government’s efforts to prevent the continued existence of slavery. Actually, slavery had already been abolished in Mexico but the largely Southern Anglos could not accept it. The local Tejano establishment did not mind the Anglo immigration since their economic ties were with America, not the rest of Mexico. The Mexican government was not as pleased because much of this trade was done through smuggling. A Mexican officer sent to examine the situation in 1834 recommended sending two battalions of crack troops to keep control and encouraging colonization by friendly Indian tribes but the Mexican government soon became occupied with internal power struggles.

Austin had been selected to represent the colonists because as one of the first agents settling the colonists he was already a leader in the colony, although he worked to keep the peace. It took him five months to arrange a meeting with Santa Anna, who eventually agreed to permit trial by jury, revision of the tariff and repeal of the immigration law, but refused to allow a completely separate state constitution, partially because Texas had half of the minimum 80,000 people required for statehood. Santa Anna hoped that this would hold off trouble in Texas for a while, although it is doubtful that he was pleased by the aggressive nature and open defiance of the Anglo colonists.  

Unfortunately, Austin had lost patience during the five months and had written a letter to the local government in Texas recommending self-government. The letter ended up in the hands of Mexican officials and Austin ended up in jail, where he remained for the next 18 months.  

Back in Texas, outside events would play a role. Corruption and speculation in Coahuila State had sunk to such lows that Santa Anna sent his brother-in-law General Martin Perfecto de Cos to arrest the speculators and the governor. A number of speculators, including Bowie, escaped to Texas and tried to stir up the Anglos against the threat of martial law but the established settlers saw through them, realizing that the speculators had nothing to lose, unlike the settlers, and continued going about their daily lives, not knowing that matters would change drastically in a few months.

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Further Reading:

Duel of Eagles: The Mexican and US Fight for the Alamo-Jeff Long, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1990.

It is simply an excellent book that covers the entire Texan War of Independence and punctures pretty much every myth about Texan independence. Brief yet insightful biographies introduce all of the major participants. The final chapter quickly covers the Republic’s short history and the Mexican War that followed the American annexation of Texas but focuses more on the tragic lives of Travis’ slave Joe and Susannah Dickinson, as well as the further misadventures of Santa Anna. Long’s writing is entertaining although occasionally a bit too melodramatic, which was probably the result of reading so many diaries filled with florid language. I imagine a great number of Texans must have been offended when his book came out.

Lone Star Rising: The Revolutionary Birth of the Texas Republic-William C. Davis, New York: Free Press, 2004.

A surprisingly long section of the book is an in-depth look at the Mexican revolution and previous attempts by American filibusters and other foreign schemers, including the Lafitte syndicate, to seize control of Mexico that took place during the chaos of the revolution. The infighting among American filibusters, the Lafitte syndicate, former followers of Napoleon, and Mexican revolutionaries makes for fascinating reading. Another lengthy chapter is devoted to the story of Austin’s land grants and the development of legitimate colonies, where the colonists learned to depend on themselves. I am pleased that Davis does not just compare the Mexican Revolution to the American Revolution but also to the revolutions in Central and South America, which is a more valid comparison. However, no mention is made of the steady drinking that accompanied the majority of decisions during the Texan revolution and he fails to make the main actors come to life. Unfortunately, the detailed examination of the background and situation in Mexico means that the battle for the Alamo is covered in a single chapter. Davis also gives some credence to the hallowed myth that Bowie and Travis decided to hold the Alamo to buy time for Houston to build an army, believing that it is an important part of Texan history.

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