USA > Texas > The history of the republic of Texas, from the discovery of the country to the present time; and the cause of her separation from the republic of Mexico > Part 3
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1528. Cortes having now prepared an expedition which he meant to have led in person, against the Natchez, heard of the sudden disappearance of the whole of that tribe; but not placing implicit confi- dence in a report which appeared to him so marvel- lous, he dispatched Narvaez with one hundred cavalry, three hundred infantry, and two thousand Indians, to ascertain the truth of a rumour which caused him no slight uneasiness. Narvaez. after
7
NARVAEZ' EXPEDITION.
crossing the Rio Grande, marched due east, through the centre of Natchez, which he found completely depopulated, but in a high state of cultivation, until he reached the Mississippi river, in lat. 30° 29' north. Here he crossed the Mississippi, and pur- sued his march as far as the confines of West Florida, where he was led by many fresh trails, and several concurring circumstances, to suppose the Natchez had retired. But before he could overtake the tribe whose track he was following, he and his troops were reduced to such extreme distress by famine, that they ate such of their own companions as happened to die. This appeared so dreadful to the Indians, who accompanied Narvaez on this expe- dition, and who had hitherto believed the Spaniards to be beings of a superior nature, far above the reach of such necessitudes as they constantly experienced in their savage life, in which however they were accustomed to devour none but prisoners, that it filled them with horror and indignation against the Spaniards, who were compelled to return with all possible despatch to Mexico.
On reaching Mexico, having informed Cortes that the Natchez were extinct, or had suddenly dis- appeared, leaving their whole country which was highly cultivated to become a wilderness, Cortes' doubts as to the fate of the Natchez being thus far resolved, and, seeing that the whole of their im- mense territory could at any moment be annexed to Mexico, whose subjection he had now nearly completed, turned his attention to the conquest
8
COLONISATION OF FLORIDA.
of Peru : an undertaking which, however, was re- served, and subsequently carried into execution by others.
Notwithstanding that Narvaez' expedition to Natchez and Florida proved most disastrous, still the Viceroy of Mexico was resolved to make an attempt to colonize the western part of the latter country. Two ships being engaged at Vera Cruz to convey settlers to Florida, many Spaniards and Mexicans eagerly embarked in this new under- taking, but when the expedition reached, and the colonists beheld the dreary and inhospitable shores of Florida, nothing could equal their disappointment and consternation. After sailing a whole day along the shore, seeing no chance of carrying out the object they had in view, they refused to land, and therefore directed their course towards the Mis- sissippi river, which they ascended, as far as the point where Narvaez and his followers had crossed. Here the climate appeared more congenial, the soil more productive, and the aspect of the country generally better suited to their views; seeing a prospect of success, they landed with the greatest alacrity, choosing the west bank of the Mississippi as their future location. The first settlers were soon followed by many of their countrymen from Mexico and Cuba ; and thus that portion of the Natchez territory, which lies between the Mississippi and the Sabine rivers, now called Louisiana, soon became inhabited, while the rest of the territory of the Natchez, west of the Sabine river, to the
9
FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN TEXAS.
river Nueces, which is now called Texas, and from the Nueces to the Rio Grande, the extreme western boundary of Natchez, remained a complete wilderness from the fall of Natchez, about 152S, until the year 1692, when the descendants of the conquerors of Mexico built the town of San An- tonio de Bejar on the San Antonio river.
1716. The Spaniards having held possession of San Antonio unmolested for four-and-twenty years, commenced to build the town of La Bahia del Espi- ritu Santo (now called Goliad,) on the same stream, about thirty miles to the south of San Antonio. The establishment of these two points led the vice- roy of Mexico to inquire into the extent and capa- bilities of this newly acquired territory, to which was soon after given the name of Texas, and under that title formally annexed to the viceroyalty of Mexico. Subsequent to the annexation of Texas, several expeditions were sent from Mexico to explore the country east of San Antonio river, but no further acquisitions were made until the year 1732, when the Spaniards established a military post on the banks of the Arroyo de la Nana, situate between the rivers Angelina and Sabine, when all that territory east of the San Antonio river to the Sabine was also annexed to the viceroyalty of Mexico, under the title of Eastern Texas.
But those who undertook the establishment of towns and military posts at this period (1732) were
10
SPANISH MISSIONARIES.
strangers to that love of conquest, and energy of character, which were the true characteristics of the conquerors of Mexico. The government of points so far removed from the seat of Government, was left by the responsible representatives of the court of Spain in the hands of the missionaries, whose zeal for the spiritual welfare of the settlers and soldiers led them to demand so much of their attention, that all temporal affairs were quite over- looked, consequently agriculture and commerce, the two first elements of national prosperity were to- tally neglected ; education and industry were never deemed the only and indispensable medium of ad- vancing civilisation, or developing the resources of the country. Fanatical superstition and abuses soon crept into these remote points, and were rigidly enforced by spiritual and military rulers. Under such a system, if aggression ceased, a great portion of the vast possessious which had been acquired, remained a wilderness. But who that has ever watched the current of human affairs could for a moment suppose that any country could long con- tinue in the condition of the viceroyalty of Mex- ico; a country, the magnitude and variety of whose resources, scattered over a prodigious extent of territory, are as yet but imperfectly known. They will only be fully developed when it shall contain what it is certainly capable of, a population as large as any country in the world, of which Mexico appears destined by nature to become independ-
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SPANISH MISRULE.
ent both in a commercial and political point of view. Had this assertion been addressed to the political economists of the mother country previous to the revolution of 1810, insanity would have been imputed to its author ; but the result of that one event alone, would have entitled it to some ·degree of credit, while a thousand subsequent events concur to establish it as a matter of fact that their impolitic rule has shorn them of great interests, which now excite the attention of other nations, particularly England, who is vitally concerned in this and every other subject connected with New Spain. And as the independence of the territory of Texas originated in the dismemberment of Mexico, which was the result of Spanish misrule, it is necessary to recur briefly to the long series of events which led to the final subversion of the power of the Spaniards in New Spain, in order that the reader may be able to take a correct view of the Texan cause.
Those whose avocations in this life are the most tedious, would shudder at the thoughts of tracing the slow progress of civilisation among the Abori- gines of Mexico, while the most sanguinary despot in Christendom would blush at his ignorance of the arts of torture, tyranny, and bloodshed, after reading the history of New Spain, from the con- quest down to the year 1810; and as the recital of events which occurred during that period can contribute nothing to enhance the value of this
12
THE FIRST MEXICAN REVOLUTION.
work, I need not impose upon myself the task of straying so far back. And as the immense combina- tions of circumstances which led to the first revo- lution in Mexico have already been so well and ably defined, and must, therefore, be perfectly un- derstood, I can confine myself to a brief sketch, by referring the reader to other authors, such as Hum- boldt, Brackenridge, Don Carlos Bustamante, Ro- bertson, and Ward, for full and interesting details of those events which led to the establishment of republican institutions in New Spain.
The first Mexican revolution was commenced by Don Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest of Dolores, who had devoted much of his life to the introduc- tion of the silk-worm, and the establishment of vine- yards in the immediate neighbourhood of the vil- lage of Dolores, as an example to those among his flock who had ample means to follow it, and so give employment to the poor of his parish. This his laudable design, however, was rendered abortive by a special order from the Spanish Government prohi- biting the inhabitants of Mexico from making wine. Hidalgo attributed the promulgation of this prohi- bition to the unjust interference and undue influ- ence of Europeans. Ile therefore resolved to avenge an act, which he held, as far as it concerned himself, to be extremely oppressive, and most inju- rious to the country at large. Accordingly, he consulted with Allende, Abasolo, and Aldana, three creole officers then stationed at Guanaguato, who,
13
HIDALGO'S CONSPIRACY.
considering the great influence which Hidalgo pos- sessed among the Indians and people of the pro- vince generally, and knowing that the whole of Mexico (more particularly the creoles) was ripe for a revolt against the Spaniards, did not hesitate to enter into a conspiracy to overthrow the govern- ment.
Such a conspiracy soon found many other able supporters, and on the 16th of September, 1810, the signal of revolt was given, by imprisoning the Spaniards in the neighbourhood and town of Dolores. On the following day (17th) the insur- gents took possession of San Felipe, and on the 1Sth, of San Miguel el Grande, both towns of con- siderable importance. Hidalgo next turned his at- tention to the capital of the province, Guanaguato, which he took, after an obstinate resistance on the part of the royalists, on the 28th of September. The day before the taking of Guanaguato, Hidalgo was elected " captain-general of America," by the general voice of his followers, who, in the short space of twelve days, amounted to about 20,000, and as such he was duly recognized by the ayun- tamientos (corporations) of the towns of Celaya and San Miguel, and afterwards by the ayunta- miento of Guanaguato. The property of Spaniards, that had fallen into the hands of the Mexicans up to this period, was here distributed among Hidalgo's troops, a circumstance which led thou- sands of recruits to join the insurgents. The fall
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14
DEFEAT OF IIIDALGO.
of Guanaguato filled the Spaniards in the capital with the greatest consternation, which was in some measure appeased by the prompt measures taken by the new viceroy, Don Francisco Xavier Vene- gas, to quell the insurrection. The first steps taken by Venegas, was to arm the Spaniards, and to order the troops stationed at La Puebla, Orizaba, and Toluca, to march upon the capital, while he despatched all the creoles in the city of Mexico, under the command of the Conde de la Cadena, to join Don Felix Maria Calleja, military commandant of San Luis Potosi, who was ordered to march with all his force in pursuit of the insurgents. Hidalgo, on hearing of the approach of Calleja, has- tened his departure from Guanaguato, which he left on the 10th of October, directing his march to Valladolid, of which he took possession without any resistance being made, on the 17th of October. Hidalgo remained only two days in Valladolid. where he was joined by Don Jose Maria Morclos, a priest of Nucupetaro, whom Hidalgo immediately appointed to command in chief on the south-wes- tern coast of Mexico. On the 28th the insurgents took possession of Toluca. Here Hidalgo halted for two days, to refresh his troops. On the 30th he marched out of Toluca upon the capital ; but on reaching Las Cruces, he met the corps of ob- servation sent by Venegas from the capital, under the command of Colonel Truxillo, and Don Augus- tin Iturbide, then a lieutenant in the royalist ser-
15
HIDALGO'S RETREAT.
vice, but afterwards Emperor of Mexico. The defeat of this corps by Hidalgo removed every ob- stacle that stood in the way of the triumphal entry of the insurgents into the capital ; but when he reached a position whence he beheld the city of Mexico in all its grandeur, he betrayed consider- able emotion ; and, like a visionary enthusiast, he seemed from that moment to sink under the weight of an enterprize which originated with himself. Being unable longer to direct the wild elements, which he saw rampant in the 40,000 faces that then stood round his standard, towards the com- pletion of a task for which he had brought those elements into action, he ordered a retreat ; thus giving to the world the most undeniable proof of his cowardice, and an advantage to his enemy, which soon after brought him to that ignominy he so justly merited.
Calleja, who had by this time reached Quere- taro, on his way to defend the capital, commenced again to pursue Hidalgo, followed by a strong rein- forcement from the capital, and succeeded in over- taking the insurgents (who were retreating upon Valladolid) at Aculco, on the 7th of November, when a general engagement took place, and Hidalgo and Allende were driven from the field, leaving 10,000 Indians dead. Hidalgo, with the main body of the insurgents, with difficulty effected a hasty retreat to Valladolid, while the royalists pursued Allende, who retreated to Guanaguato, which being unable
16
ARREST OF HIDALGO.
to defend, he evacuated, leaving his partisans, and many of his followers, to provide for their own safety. The mistake which Calleja made, by fol- lowing Allende instead of Hidalgo, gave the latter time to collect another body of men, sufficient to enable him to take the field; which he did on the 17th, and proceeded to Guadalaxara, where Rayon, one of Hidalgo's chiefs, had raised a large force. On the 24th of November Hidalgo entered the city of Guadalaxara with great pomp, and was received by Rayon with military honours.
Calleja having received another reinforcement from the capital, marched out of Guanaxuato towards the north. On the 16th of January, 1811, he came again in sight of the insurgents, who had fortified the bridge of Calderon, about sixteen leagues from Guadalaxara. Here, on the 17th of January, a general and decisive engagement took place ; and, like the former, ended in the defeat of the insurgents. Hidalgo, with several of his chiefs, retreated to Saltillo, with the remnant of their shattered forces, while Rayon volunteered to carry off the military chest from Guadalaxara, which con- tained 300,000 dollars ; this he accomplished, and ar- rived with it at Saltillo, where he found Hidalgo, Al- lende, Aldana, and Abasolo, preparing to go to the United States, to purchase supplies to carry on the war. Rayon was appointed to command the in- surgents during Hidalgo's absence ; but Hidalgo and his companions were made prisoners before
17
THE EXECUTION OF HIDALGO.
they had got far from their head-quarters; and, on the 21st of March, 1811, were conveyed to Chi- huahua, where they were imprisoned until the 27th of July, when Hidalgo, being first deprived of his order of priesthood, was shot, together with his associates.
The capture and execution of Hidalgo contri- buted nothing towards tranquillizing the coun- try; on the contrary, it merely opened the door to others, who were better able to carry on the work which he had commenced. Among those who fol- lowed him as leaders, were Rayon and Morelos; the former a sound political economist, the latter a prudent and intrepid soldier. It is much to be lamented that these two men did not act together, as it would have advanced the cause of independ- ence at once to that state, which it did not acquire for some time afterwards, and which led so many of the first men in Mexico, together with the whole creole population, to espouse it.
Immediately after the arrest of Hidalgo, Rayon saw the necessity of bringing about a moral revolution in favour of independence, which was not to be done by the sword alone; he there- fore conceived the idea of forming a national con- vention or junta, and which he possessed sufficient energy of character to accomplish, on the 10th of September, IS11 : the first junta, consisting of five members duly elected, sat in the town of Zitacuaro, in the province of Valladolid. The establishing of
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FIRST NATIONAL CONGRESS.
the junta was deemed premature by Morelos, who was about to place himself at the head of the in- surgent troops, though it was well received by the country generally, and with the greatest enthu- siasm by the creoles. The establishment of the junta soon gave rise to the idea of forming a national congress; in favour of which, a general cry was raised throughout the southern intenden- cies, and was accordingly convened in the month of March, 1812, at Chilpanzingo, Calleja having taken the town Zitacuaro. The first act of the Mexi- can Congress, which consisted of forty members, was to draw up a true representation of the state of the country, making at the same time proposals to government for peace, on certain conditions. These proposals were indignantly rejected, and publicly burnt by orders of the Spanish Viceroy, Venegas, in the city of Mexico. From this moment, war was inevitable ; and Morelos, who had now a large force under his command, moved towards the capital, having already defeated the royalists in several engagements. Morelos' success in the field, added to the wisdom displayed by congress in providing for the internal welfare of their country, would have brought the revolution to a speedy and successful issue, but, during Hidalgo's career, the Spaniards, who had armed themselves, were now in the field in defence of their assumed rights, in sufficient numbers to supply the place of the creole troops, who were now flocking
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19
MAGEE'S EXPEDITION TO TEXAS.
from all quarters round the standard of indepen- dence.
That the restless and sanguinary Anglo-American outlaws, and Indian hunters, who had for years been committing the most infamous outrages all along the eastern frontier of Mexico, should allow such an opportunity of dealing largely in the hor- rors of civil war to escape them, is not easily to be supposed. A gang of about one thousand of such characters had posted themselves at Nacog- doches, and along the banks of the Sabine river, for a considerable distance, in eastern Texas, for the purpose of robbing and murdering the trading cara- vans which frequently pass from the United States to the provinces (Provincias Internas) of Mexico. Favoured by the revolutionary state of the country, their depredations passed on unnoticed by the Mexi- can government, until the latter part of 1812, when Capt. Magce was sent with a strong detachment of troops to disperse them. In the spring of 1813, Magee succeeded in driving the American outlawe across the frontier, into the United States, from whence they came; but he had scarcely completed his perilous task, before he became equally trouble- some to the government of Mexico himself, by issuing a proclamation, inviting the very outlaws, whom he was sent to punish, to enrol themselves under the banner of independence. Such an invita- tion was nothing short of a God-send to, and was therefore eagerly accepted by, the outlaws, to whom
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20
FALL OF NACOGDOCHES.
it was principally addressed. Having thus enlisted from five to six hundred men, who were to assemble at a certain place on a given day, Magee proceeded to New Orleans, where he obtained the necessary sup- plies for his troops, and enlisted nearly three hundred more. While at New Orleans, Magee met an old Mexican, Bernardo, and a refugee from justice, who had been previously banished by the royalists, and subsequently by Hidalgo: a circumstance that at once established his claim to the consideration of Magee's band, by whom he was elected commander in chief of the Texan expeditionary forces, which took the field directly after Bernardo was appointed to the command.
Bernardo immediately planted the banner of independence on the Trinity river, in eastern Texas, and issued a proclamation, inviting the Mexicans to join his standard; he soon after marched upon Nacogdoches, a Mexican garri- son in eastern Texas, of which he took possession quietly. Here he found a large quantity of provi- sions and military stores. The fall of Nacogdoches spread through the United States and Mexico with great rapidity, and caused a very important diver- sion in favour of Morelos, who, aided by generals Teran, Osorno, Toledo, Cos, and Guadalupe Victoria, had carried the insurrection to the gates of Mexico. Bernardo remained only three weeks at Nacogdoches, when he marched upon La Bahia, a town of importance in western Texas, where he
21
SALCEDO'S RETREAT.
was soon besieged by 1200 royalists under Sal- cedo, a general of considerable talent. The royalists during the siege of La Bahia, which lasted nine months, suffered the greatest hardships, being com- pletely destitute of provisions, necessary clothing, and ammunition. However, Salcedo contrived to keep the Americans in check for nine months, when finding himself totally cut off from the royalists, whom he had left in the eastern provinces of Mexico, he was obliged to raise the siege of La Bahia, which he did under the cover of night, and so unexpectedly, that the Americans were quite unprepared to follow him : however, the outlaws held a council of war the next morning, and with- out hesitation determined to march upon San Antonio de Bexar, where they found themselves again in the presence of Salcedo's army, which had been reinforced by a park of artillery en route to La Bahia. Salcedo, on hearing of the approach of the enemy, formed his troops into line, and placing his artillery on the right, waited to receive them. But the Americans, whom we shall occasionally call Texans, advanced without seeming to care for the display thus made by Sal- cedo, until they had got within a few hundred paces of the Mexicans, when they rushed forward en masse to the charge, putting the enemy to flight, and taking the entire park of artillery. Salcedo endea- vonred to rally his men, but in vain ; he therefore was compelled to retire, leaving 51 killed and wounded on the field. The Texans, as if satisfied
22
MASSACRE OF MEXICAN PRISONERS.
with the capture of so valuable a prize, marched on to San Antonio, without waiting to ascertain what the royalists meant to do. At San Antonio the Texans found several of Salcedo's followers, who, worn out with fatigue and sickness, had sought for shelter at the mission, and, to their dishonour be it said, the Texans made prisoners of these royalists to the num- ber of twenty-seven, and, without even the form of a court-martial, shot them in cold blood : thus setting an example which was unfortunately followed by the Mexicans during the whole of the revolu- tionary war in Texas. The report of these exploits was received in the United States with exultation, and hundreds of young American citizens flew to join their countrymen in Texas; but in the mean time the news of the massacre at San Antonio reached Mexico, and the Viceroy despatched Eli- zondo with 500 men to chastise the sanguinary intruders. Elizondo immediately left the capital, and in about six weeks succeeded in forming a junction with Salcedo, who was then hovering about the enemy, waiting for a favourable opportunity to attack; but when Salcedo found that he had been superseded in the command of the royalist troops in Texas, he became so enraged, that he did every thing in his power to frustrate the mea- sures taken by his successor to suppress the revo- lution in Texas, in which he was most successful. When Elizondo inquired of Salcedo what force the enemy possessed, he reported them to be about one half only of what they really were, which led
23
TEXAN OVERTURES TO MORELOS.
Elizondo to make an attack on the town of San Antonio, that ended in the defeat of the royalists, whose loss on this occasion amounted to 400 men, killed, wounded, and missing. The result of this engagement convinced Elizondo that he had been deceived by Salcedo ; he therefore returned to Mexico as quickly as possible, leaving Salcedo to collect the royalist troops, which were once more scattered all over the country. This second victory of the Americans in Texas filled the people of Mexico with indignation, and every party forgetting for a moment their own opinions, views, and inte- rests, raised their voices for the immediate and com- plete expulsion of the Anglo-Americans from Texas ; and thus another favourable diversion was caused for Morelos, who was now master of two-thirds of Mexico.
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