after spending nearly two weeks besieging the Texian fortifications at the
Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Bexar, General Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna considered destroying the garrison utterly.
He would show the Texians his military might by example: any who stood
against him would be wiped out.
Please click the
icon to follow us on Facebook.However, after review of the tactics
used in Mexico's own revolution, Santa Anna realized that he would be
turning himself into a version of Colonel Joaquin de Arredondo, who had
once been his commanding officer. Arredondo had used mass execution to put
down the initial rebellions, but the war of independence would eventually
be won after eleven bloody years. Santa Anna did not want to turn Tejas
into an expensive war of occupation, but he realized he could not simply
terrorize the Texians into submission. Instead, he would have to cut off
the head of the rebellious snake.
The Texians (Americans living in Mexican Texas) began their revolution for
independence fairly quickly after Mexico's own war of independence against
Spain. Santa Anna had initially fought on the side of Spain, then spent
the remainder of the war building villages for refugees and suppressing
Indian attacks. In 1821, he swore allegiance to Mexican El Libertador
Agustin de Iturbide, who rewarded him with a generalship, the position
that Santa Anna would exploit for great personal gain. He lived through
the early days of Mexico periodically fighting Spanish invasions and
working to grow his political authority amid numerous coups. Finally, in
1833, he was elected president by Congress, and he would begin a program
of centralizing power into his own hands.
"Color me cynical, but I've always suspected that
Texas' oh-so-glorious fight for ndependence was always intended to lead to
annexation to the U.S. as a slave state. I'm not alone: many in the USA at
the time saw"independent" Texas, with its ruling class of slaveowning
American colonists, as a direct threat to the Compromise of 1820, under
which one free state whould be admitted for each slave state (and vice
versa). And som it proved: Texas' admission to the Union was the death
knell of that bargain, forcing the U.S. to try again (unsuccesfully) in
1850. " - reader's commentsMeanwhile, in Texas, the number of
Anglos had grown to over 30,000, while the native-born Mexicans was only
7,800, half-again as many as the 5,000 slaves in the state. Santa Anna's
government handed down specific directions and laws, such as disallowing
slavery and ordering farmers to grow grain and beef. The Texians,
descended from the laissez-faire attitudes of British colonialism, wanted
to grow cotton cash crops on plantations well staffed with slaves. Tension
increased, and Santa Anna eventually dissolved local governments and
militias to be replaced with his own men. Those who stood against him were
imprisoned.
The Texians fought back, refusing to allow the cannon at Gonzales to be
taken from the militia. They held their own "Battle of Lexington", calling
back memories from the American Revolution, and used informal volunteers
gathered from the countryside to fight 100 Mexican dragoons. The
revolution spread, and the Mexican army was forced out of Texas. Santa
Anna himself led a new army of thousands to retake Texas. One of their
first targets was a group of some 150 Texians (including former Tennessee
Congressman Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, inventor of his namesake knife)
set as a garrison in the mission outside San Antonio. After a few
altercations and exchanges of cannon fire, the Mexican army turned to
siege. Both Lieutenant Colonel William Travis and Colonel Jim Bowie sent
messages attempting to surrender, but they were informed that any
surrender must be unconditional.
On the eve of preparing a massive assault to break the Alamo's defenses
after much artillery fire, Santa Anna finally decided to allow the Texians
a fair chance to surrender. The beleaguered Texians did surrender, despite
voices calling to fight to the last man. Seeing the division among even
the hardened fighters of the cause, Santa Anna decided to use it to his
advantage. He made certain news reached the Texas government at Gonzales
(who had declared independence on March 2), and they immediately began
packing up to flee. Stephen Austin and Samuel Houston were branded as
cowards, and Santa Anna announced that he would be enforcing his
liberation of the slaves: any slave who wished to be free would simply
need to join his forces. Small farmers who had no business in the
rebellion would not be harmed.
The new Republic of Texas was thrown into chaos as its slave class rose
up, its middle class sought to protect their farms, and the upper class of
rebels fought to keep control. Santa Anna, meanwhile, continued his
pursuit after the Texians despite the cold and rain of the spring. He
earned further credit as a merciful man when he honored General Urrea's
request that the prisoners at Goliad be spared. The army under Sam
Houston, however, conducted a scorched earth retreat that horrified
locals.
"This would involve Santa Ana suddenly not being
Santa Ana---IOW, highly unlikely. He had put down rebellions in other
parts of "Mexico" by the same brutal methods he tried in Texas. " -
reader's commentHouston's army, low on morale and provisions,
finally made its stand to fight at the Battle of Jacinto on April 21,
1836. Whispers ran through the troops of "Remember the Alamo" and
"Remember Goliad", causing the men to believe that, if they surrendered,
they would be treated fairly. Houston kept down mutiny by insisting he
would shoot any officer that attempted to usurp him. His battle plan was
risky: attacking the Mexican army during the siesta time over open ground.
Santa Anna made a bitter error in not posting sentries, giving the Texians
the upper hand. However, as the Mexicans regrouped, the Texians broke, and
the battle was the end of the revolution. Houston and others attempted to
flee into Louisiana, but a US army under General Pendleton Gaines arrested
them as trespassers.
After the war, Santa Anna made quick to populate Texas with loyal
citizens. He granted cheap land and huge haciendas to political allies as
well as those who had been displaced from other areas in Mexico attempting
to break away. In 1838, Santa Anna defeated a French invasion attempting
to force Mexico to pay reparations for losses from French interests during
the revolution. He would ultimately be unable to hold power forever as he
was feared a warmonger against the United States. Valentin Gomez Farias
knocked him from power to reduce the size and privileges of the military
and institute reforms. He worked with American President James K. Polk to
clarify the border between the countries. Without a war to fight, Santa
Anna was made to retire to Kingstown, Jamaica, where he continued his
gambling habit and promoted cockfighting internationally.
Tejas today is a wealthy corner of Mexico with careful immigration
policies to keep its population of Americans at a reasonable level. Locals
sometimes joke of attempting to declare independence when Mexico City
passes unpopular laws, but such a reality is as unlikely as if it were to
come from Los Angeles in Baja California, which remained Mexican after the
north seceded in 1846.