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Philip
Nolan Invasion - 1801
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One
of the most noted early expeditions into Texas was that
of Philip
Nolan in 1801. As he did
not succeed in penetrating as far as La Bahia, it is of
little interest to the history of this settlement, although
Nolan's expedition was known of and La Bahia alerted about
it.
This raid of Nolan and his band brought to the Spanish government
the realization of the danger of aggression from the United
States. General
Wilkinson's activities
served to increase the Spanish governments' uneasiness and
bred distrust toward all Anglo-Americans, especially toward
those from the southern states. Well might they have been
distrusted! 3
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Population
Of Towns In 1806 - 1834
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Describing
the departments or districts of government into which Texas
was divided under the Mexican system, Juan
Almonte notes that the
"seat of government is in San Antonio, in the Department
of Béxar, and the prinicpal municipalities are: Béxar, where
the political chief resides; Goliad, or Bahia del Espiritu
Santo; Victoria and San Patricio."
He also stated there were four missions in the vicinity
of Béxar, but only two of them were occupied, the others
having been abandoned. Evidently, he meant Espiritu Santo
and Nuestra Senora del Refugio.
A letter dated July 10, 1810, named Architect Don Jose Ma.
Caballo to attend to the construction of miliary barracks
at La Bahia for 300 troops. The Governor replies that there
are no masons, no peons available to do the work. On November
10, 1810, the Bishop writes to Governor Jose Miguel Martinez
to dedicate the new cemetery at La Bahia, and Martinez replies
that it will be done as soon as the military commander there
can spare the time. Under the date of December 31, 1810,
we find first mention of a school building in the town of
La Bahia. 3
|
Municipality
|
1806
Population
|
1834
Population
|
| Béxar |
5,000
|
2,400
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| Goliad |
1,400
|
700
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| Victoria |
-
|
300
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| San
Patricio |
-
|
600
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Gutierrez
- Magee Occupation Of Presidio La Bahia 1812 - 1813
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During
the Gutierrez-Magee
occupation (First Republic of Texas) in 1812 - 1813,
the longest siege in Texas military history was fought
here at Presidio La Bahia.
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Jose
Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara
was a revolutionary leader of the Republican uprising
in Mexico. He lost out in his revolt in that country
and transferred his activities to Texas and the United
States. Appearing in Natchitoches, Louisiana, he began
his activities with the avowed intention of "liberating
Texas" from Mexico and setting up a Republic
of which he would be the head. He had a wide following
of "liberals" among the Mexicans and adventurers
from the United States.
In Natchitoches, the hotbed of intrigues and treason,
he met groups of adventures from the United States
and enlisted them in his scheme. Among those drawn
in were Augustus
W. Magee, a native
of Massachusetts and a graduate of West Point. While
serving in the U.S. Army in the Neutral
Strip about 1812,
he conceived the idea of wresting Texas from Mexico
and establishing an independent republic. He soon
joined with Gutierrez and began enlisting other adventurers
and freebooters. These included venturesome Americans,
disgruntled Spaniards, designing Frenchmen, and some
pirates from Lafitte's
layout.
Many of those in the force were rogues, but not all.
Such men of distinction as Reuben
Ross, Henry
Perry, Captain
James Gains, and
Samuel
Kemper, brother
of the two Kempers who had figured prominently in
the West Florida revolution against Spain, joined
in the plot to wrest Texas from Spain. They succeeded
in gathering a force of three hundred and organized
the expedition. Gutierrez insisted upon being recognized
as commander, but Magee was determined to hold the
command. Friction between the leaders of the expedition
began at the very start. Moving into Texas, they succeeded
in capturing Nacogdoches with the avowed intention
of taking La Bahia and San Antonio.
On November 7, 1812, a force of 300 men arrived at
Presidio La Bahia. They marched directly into town
(La Bahia) without a fight, as the garrison had marched
to San Antonio. The governor, Manuel
Salcedo, Spanish
governor of Texas, was alerted to the invasion attempts
of the filibusters and moved his small force out of
San Antonio to meet them. The error of his intelligence
agents, who thought the filibusterers would strike
at San Antonio first, led Salcedo to deploy his troops
on the San Antonio road. However, the Americans had
actually taken the lower, La Bahia road and had reached
the old presidio unmolested.
On November 13, 1812, the Royal troops from San Antonio,
under Salcedo and Simon
de Herrera, arrived
at Espiritu Santo Mission where they established their
headquarters. Soon after their arrival, the Royalists
received nine brass cannons from San Antonio which
they immediately trained upon Presidio La Bahia. The
stout old walls repelled the shots, according to Gutierrez's
account.
The Spaniard's attack upon the fort began on November
14, 1835. The Americans went outside to meet them
but were soon driven back into the safety of the stone
walls. The Americans claimed they drove the Spaniards
back to the Mission Espiritu Santo. The next day,
Herrera divided his forces into three camps, one on
the east, one on the west, and one on the opposite
bank of the river.
Salcedo now decided to begin a siege upon the fort.
The siege lasted four months, and from time to time,
sorties from the fort and Mission Nuestra Senora del
Espiritu Santo were made that brought on armed clashes
between the opposing armies. The siege was not immediately
successful, as meat was easily supplied to the besieged
army by the vaqueros (cowboys) and Indians from the
town outside the fort. They would round up the wild
mission cattle, and at night, bring the cattle or
meat into the quadrangle. Also, frequent forays from
the presidio were made to secure food.
The most noted of these raids has gone down in history
as "The Battle of the White Cow". Magee's
men were attempting to capture and drive into the
fort a white cow that was grazing on the slope between
the presidio and river. She ran toward the river and
the enemy just across the stream at Espiritu Santo.
The Spaniards ran to her aid and gallantly defended
her. The ensuing fight between the two armies lasted
two hours. The Republican officers claim to have killed
two hundred Spaniard Royalists and that they themselves
lost only one man killed and six wounded. The Royalists'
claims of casualties are just the reverse.
For some time during the early winter, hostilities
seemed to have quieted down, or entirely stopped.
In fact, a strange fraternizing began between the
officers of the opposing armies, who visited and dined
with one another.
Magee, by invitation, dined with Salcedo in the latter's
quarters. Wine and liquor flowed freely. For some
reason, probably too many drinks, Magee agreed to
deliver up the fort to the Royalists, on Salcedo's
word that the Americans were to be allowed to return
to the United States but without their arms. Further,
they would be supplied on their march home by the
victores, the Royalists.
Magee returned to the fort and made known to his officers
and men the proposed surrender and terms. The men
were surprised and indignity refused to hear to it,
and it was unanimously voted to reject the treaty.
The men were highly indignant at the betrayal by the
commander and made known their resolution not to give
up the effort by striking the butts of their guns
against the ground. In chagrin, Magee retired to his
quarters and refused to leave them again. On the vote
of the army, Colonel
Kemper was now made
commander. Gutierrez was in nominal command but refused
to take any stand, and was, in any case, not a military
commander by training. Thus, the command devolved
upon Colonel Kemper, who proved to be an able leader.
In a few days, a curt note came from Salcedo, accompanied
by a flag. The note reminded Magee of his word of
honor and demanded the treaty be fulfilled. The flag
was sent back without an answer.
Upon this, Salcedo made a furious attack on La Bahia,
took the town, and advanced to the walls of the fort.
The Americans somewhat disorganized by the recent
defection of their former commander, were at first
thrown into confusion and did not put up a strong
defense. Finally, under the leadership of Colonel
Kemper, they sallied out, attacked the enemy, and
drove them from the walls and across the river. The
fight lasted until dark. The victors claimed the Royalists
lost about 200 men, that their own loss was much less.
Magee had not left his quarters during the battle
and that night shot himself - make your own decision
as to how he died. Castaneda's record gives it that
"Magee took sick...By the end of January he was
delirious... On February 6, 1813, Augustus Magee who
had sat his mount so bravely and who was so sure of
the future, died. He did not, as Gutierrez charged,
commit suicide by taking poison.
John Henry Brown claims Magee died of consumption.
Captain McKim, a veteran quartermaster of the army,
told it that Magee drank very heavily, and in a drunken
spree, shot himself. Yoakum says, "Magee had
not left his quarters during the battle. That night,
shortly after twelve o'clock, he died, and it is said,
by his own hands."
After their decisive defeat, Salcedo and Herrera raised
the siege on February 19 and returned to San Antonio,
followed by Kemper and his men who again defeated
the Royalists in the pitched battle of Alazan, June
20, 1813. This was to be the last victory for the
Republicans. Arredondo brought a new army from Mexico,
which aided by dissension among the Americans and
Mexican leaders, brought on the disastrous defeat
of the Republicans in the Battle of Medina. The Royalist
leaders butchered Salcedo, Herrera, and twelve or
more prominent San Antonio men after they had surrendered.
So shocked were the American leaders, Kemper, Perry,
Ross, Warren, and other officers, that they asked
for furloughs and returned to Natchitoches. Thus ended
the American's part in the Gutierrez-Magee Filibuster.
After the battle of Medina (see battle of Medina below),
August 18, 1813, some few Republicans escaped the
terrible slaughter of 1,000 of their men. Of those
who escaped, some fled to La Bahia where they joined
their friends who were supposed to hold that fort.
However, all thought it was safer to retreat to Natchitoches
in the United States.
The loyalists remaining behind immediately took over,
organized a temporary city council, arrested the remaining
Republicans, proclaimed their allegiance to the royal
government and reported to Arredondo. Pleased with
the loyalty of these good subject to the King, Arredondo
immediately sent Captain Luciano Garcia with eighty
men to help the Loyalists restore law and order and
to the garrison the for of La Bahia. 3
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Battle
of Medina - El Encinal de Medina
1813
|
Aside from the siege at Presidio La Bahia, the bloodiest
battle ever fought on Texas soil took place in a sandy valley
in present day Atascosa County, north of the Medina River
in 1813, twenty-three years before the battles of the Alamo,
Goliad, and San Jacinto. Estimates of up to 1,000 Americans
and Mexican republicans were killed or executed in the last
major encounter of Spanish forces in Texas. Spaniards called
it the battle of "El
Encinal de Medina."
The battle of El Encinal de Medina would be significant
as lessons from that engagement by two future adversaries
in 1836 would be learned, Antonio
López de Santa Anna and
Sam
Houston. Sam Houston was
not a participant in the battle of Medina, but he did have
knowledge of the tactics used by Commandant Arredondo during
the battle.
"...Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was a young lieutenant
- not yet twenty, but with five years as a soldier behind
him - when he accompanied Arredondo on his march north and
became a participant in the battle of Medina. Others with
Commandant Joaquín
de Arredondo at Medina
who were later to figure prominently in Texas affairs were
Cristobal Dominguez, interim governor 1813; Juan Jose Elguezabal,
Mexican governor 1834 - 1835; Antonio Elosua, ayudante
inspector of Coahuila and Texas 1826 - 1833; Luciana
Garcia, interim Mexican governor 1823; Ygnacio Perez, interim
governor 1816 - 1817; and Domingo
Ugartechea, a well-liked
Mexican commander during most of the Second Texas Revolution
(1835 - 1836)...It is interesting to speculate whether Santa
Anna would have gone on to become the "Napoleon of
the West" if he had not had the experience in el
encinal de Medina which led to the crystallization of
some of the foregoing rules for aggressive warfare by Commandant
Arrdondo to his field commanders:
"...4th: Your to observe the strictest military rule
while on the road from Laredo to Bejar, taking the greatest
possible precaution to avoid an ambush or nocturnal attack
upon your camp.
5th: Should the enemy...[be in position] so much to his
advantage that you consider it unlikely that you can defeat
him, then you will avoid attacking him and manage your maneuvers
to entice him to fight on different ground, ...by undertaking
a false retreat for a league or two.
6th: ...Your own well-located artillery should deliver the
first destructive blows. The cavalry in two columns will
attract the enemy's attention to the flanks at the rear,
taking advantage of any weakness or negligence... Upon noticing
the slightest disorder or indecision within the enemy's
ranks, a bayonet charge will be rapidly unleashed,... Once
the action has begun, any vacillation is dangerous; victory
is gained by the one who, without doubting his success for
even a second, attacks or resists with the greatest order,
promptitude courage.
7th: ...The slightest disorder is to be avoided, including
that which is sometimes caused by the over enthusiasm of
the soldiers.
8th: ...Any calamitous event of any sort in these regions
so far from aid would be irreparable, hence for that reason,
nothing will be left to chance." 1
With the above rules of engagement, the stage was set for
another critical battle that would take place twenty-three
years later on a plain called San Jacinto. The reader can
imagine the Texian army as they seemed to follow the above
rules of engagement issued by Commandant Arredondo to his
field commanders before the battle of Medina. Sam Houston
had knowledge of the tactics used by Commandant Arredondo
at the battle of Medina and made note of it in an 1837 letter
to Albert Sidney Johnston, then commanding the Republic
of Texas Army.
"Hard drinking, irascible, closemouthed old Sam Houston,
who finally out-retreated Santa Anna and licked him at San
Jacinto, got his military baptism in the War of 1812. Fighting
Creek Indians in Alabama, where he was gravely wounded,
Houston could hardly have had much concern with, nor knowledge
of, a battle fought in the far reaches of Spanish Texas,
but the lengthened shadow of that grim fight apparently
did make impact on him. More of a diplomat and politician
than a fighter, he seems to have drawn much the same lesson
from the Media battle as did Santa Anna. Shortly after Houston
became President of the second Republic of Texas, on February
7, 1837, he wrote the following to Albert Sidney Johnston
2,
then commanding the Republic of Texas Army:
In the event [at any time] of an engagement with the enemy
one thing must be borne in mind, and cannot be too strongly
impressed upon our troops which is: that the enemy
may yield at first so as to draw our army into an ambuscade
as they did at the battle of Medina when the Americans owning
to their impetuosity and want of order were all destroyed.
1
The critical lessons learned in the battle of Medina would
be ignored, or overlooked by Santa Anna and taken advantage
of by Sam Houston in 1836 at San Jacinto.
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Moses
Austin Granted Permission To Establish Anglo-American
Colony - 1820
|
On
December 26, 1820, the Spanish government grants Moses
Austin permission to establish
a colony of Anglo-Americans in the Texas area. When he dies
the following June, his son, Stephen
F. Austin, receives authority
to continue the colonizing effort.
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Mexican
Independence - 1821
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Mexico,
after being under the stronghold of the Spanish dictators
who had ruled since Cortex, had struggled and gained
her freedom from Spain on August 24, 1821. The
final push for independence resulted from Mexican
reaction to revolutionary events in Spain that undermined
the last vestiges of
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Spanish authority in the colonies.
In January 1820 an army assembled in Cádiz for an
attempt to raconteur Argentina mutinied and sparked
rebellion among other army units throughout Spain.
Joined in revolt by liberals, radicals, and anyone
opposed to Ferdinand's absolutist rule of the previous
six years, the rebellious military forced the king
to restore the Constitution of 1812. Once seated,
the constitutional Cortes proved unwilling to address
American grievances or to extend equal standing to
colonials within the new order. Political tensions
between reform-minded Mexicans and colonial authorities
led Agustín de Iturbide, a royal officer with a record
of success against earlier rebels, to come to terms
with the leading Mexican insurgent at the time, Vicente
R. Guerrero. Together, on February 24, 1821, they
proposed a blueprint for independence called the Plan
de Iguala. The plan offered three guarantees-preservation
of the Catholic Church's status, the independence
of Mexico as a constitutional monarchy, and equality
of Spaniards and criollos. Although viceregal authorities
tried to resist, the plan met with widespread approval
both in civilian and military quarters. By the end
of July 1821, when Juan O'Donoju arrived to take over
the reins of colonial government, the loyalists controlled
only Mexico City and Veracruz. Recognizing that all
was lost, O'Donoju met with Iturbide at the town of
Córdoba, where on August 24, 1821, he signed a treaty
granting Mexico independence. 4
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The
James Long Expedition - 1821
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The
James
Long expedition
(Second
Republic of Texas)
occupied the presidio in October 1821 and held La
Bahia for three days. On the fourth day they were
captured by the Mexican army and sent to San Antionio
and finally to Mexico City as prisoners.
James Long was accidently shot and killed
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by a guard, but it was possible that the guard had
been hired to kill Long by Jose
Felix Tresplalacios,
nominal commander of the Long expedition.
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The
Constitution
of 1824 (signed
into power on October 24, 1824), the first of the
newly independent Republic of Mexico, was the document
under which DeWitt Colonists were invited to emigrate
to the Republic. It was this document under which
the colonists assumed they were protected and the
one they swore to defend.
The constitution defined Legislative power: House
of Representatives, Senate, formulation of laws, Supreme
Executive Power of the Nation: President and Vice-President,
restrictions of the President, Secretaries of State,
Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, District Courts, Rules
to which all the States and Territories in the Federation
shall conform in the administration of Justice, individual
government of the States, obligations of the States,
and Restrictions of the Powers of the State.
Upon assuming dictatorial powers in 1834, Santa Anna
promptly annulled Gómez
Farías's reforms
and abolished the constitution of 1824. The authoritarian
principles that underlay Santa Anna's rule were subsequently
codified in the constitution of 1836, also known as
the Siete Leyes (Seven Laws). Under the constitution
of 1836, Mexico became a centralist regime in which
power was concentrated in the president and his immediate
subordinates. The states of the former federal republic
were refashioned as military districts administered
by regional caudillos (head of a political party,
chieftain) appointed by the president, and property
qualifications were decreed for congressional officeholders
and voters.
The nationalist and authoritarian style of the new
centralist regime soon brought it into conflict with
the loosely governed lands of Mexico's northern frontier.
Santa Anna's efforts to exert central authority over
the English-speaking settlements in the northern state
of Coahuila-Tejas eventually collided with the growing
assertiveness of the frontier population that described
itself as Texan.
When President Santa Anna declared the Constitution
of 1824 void in 1834, the loyal Texas colonist and
many Tejano's
began to speak of revolting (not a revolution) to
have the Constitution re-enstated. When it was realized
that the Constitution of 1824 would not be re-enstated,
the colonist along with some of the Tejano's would
begin a revolution
of independence.
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Name
of La Bahia Settlement Changed To Goliad - 1829
|
The
fort is the site where Goliad
history began. The location of the fort had been an occupied
site long before Spain arrived in the New World. Strategically
located on a high elevation overlooking the surrounding
area, the Spanish arrived here in 1749 and found evidence
of an Indian Village in the area they named Santa Dorotea.
A permanent settlement by Spain began, the town of La Bahia
grew up around the protection of the fort. This town was
the original Goliad, the name being changed by petition
of Rafael
Antonio Manchola from
La Bahia in 1829 as an anagram for Hidalgo, in honor of
the patriot priest of the Mexican
Revolution, Father
Miguel Hidalgo, who sounded
the famous "Grito
de Delores" in 1810
for Mexican Independence from Spain. This town became the
second largest populated settlement in Spanish Texas.
The
painting above by Marilyn Key depicts what a local house
of entertainment (Madame Garcia's) may have looked like
prior to the Texas Revolution. Located just outside of the
southeast bastion of the presidio walls. Madame Garcia's
had a bridge linking the bastion and the roof of Madame
Garcia's. Click the above painting to learn more about Madame
Garcia's.
After the Texas Revolution, the town of Goliad moved north
across the San Antonio River to its present day location.
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Commanders
At Presidio La Bahia
|
|
Year
|
Name
Of Commander
|
| 1721
to 1723 |
Domingo
Ramon at Garcitas |
| 1724 |
Diego
Ramon |
| 1724
- 1730 |
Juan
Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos |
| 1730
(Fall of) - 1735 |
Captain
Don Gabriel Costales |
| 1736
- 1749 |
Captain
Joaquin Orobio y Basterra |
| 1749
- 1767 |
Captain
Manuel Ramirez |
| 1767
- 1772 |
Captain
Francisco Tovar |
| 1772
- 1778 |
Don
Louis Cazorla |
| 1778
- 1781 |
Lt.
Eugenio Fernandez (temporality) |
| 1781
- 1784 |
Jose
Santoja |
| 1784
- 1788 |
Captain
Luis Cazorla (died during an epidemic in 1788, as did
his 2nd in command, Lt. Jose Santoja) |
| 1788
- 1791 |
Manuel
Espadas |
| 1795
- 1798 |
Captain
Juan Cortez (while his administration was being investigated,
Bernardo Fernandez was temporarily appointed until April,
1798, Ad Interim Commander - Juan Bautista Elguezabal
- 1797-98) |
| 1798
- 1799 |
Jose
Miguel del Moral |
| 1799 |
Francisco
Xavier ranga |
| 1812 |
Captain
Luciano Garcia |
| 1813 |
Captain
Lorenzo Serrano |
| 1817 |
Don
Jesus Aldrete |
| 1817 |
Captain
Juan de Castaneda |
| 1819 |
Juan
Manuel Sambrano |
| 1821 |
Alcalde
Buentello |
| 1821 |
Agabo
de Ayala |
| 1823 |
Jose
Miguel Aldrete |
| 1825 |
Don
Jose Hernandez |
| 1830 |
Jose
Miguel Aldrete |
| 1831 |
Rafael
Manchola |
| 1832 |
Juan
Jose Hernandez |
| 1835 |
Lieutenant
Col. Sandoval, Captain Sabariego, and Ensign Garza |
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