O SPREY Men-at-Arms PUBLISHING The Texan Army 1835– 46 Stuart Reid Illustrated by Richard Hook • © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Men-at-Arms • 398 The Texan Army 1835–46 Stuart Reid Illustrated by Richard Hook • Series editor Martin Windrow © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com THE TEXAN ARMY 1835–46 INTRODUCTION A CCORDING TO “BIG FOOT” WALLACE, they were a “motley, mixed up crowd, you may be certain – broken down politicians from the ‘old States’ that somehow had got on the wrong side of the fence, and had been left out in the cold; renegades and refugees from justice, that had ‘left their country for their country’s good,’ and adventurers of all sorts, ready for anything or any enterprise that afforded a reasonable prospect of excitement and plunder. Dare-devils they were all, and General Sam Houston afraid of nothing under the sun (except perhaps a due-bill or a bailiff).” (1793–1863) as depicted in They were also, overwhelmingly, Americans; and therein lay the key an 1838 lithograph. This single-breasted uniform with to the story. Texas was originally a thinly populated province of Mexico a lone star on the collar appears forming part of the federal state of Coahuila y Tejas. While the massive in a number of contemporary influx of American settlers into the region begun by Stephen Austin portraits, but is not described in the 1820s and 1830s ultimately made conflict inevitable, the Texan in the 1839 regulations. Revolution was also part of a much wider Mexican civil war between (Texas State Library and Archives Commission) the conservative Centralistas or Santanistas and the liberal Federalistas. The country’s US-inspired 1824 constitution, which allowed considerable autonomy to the Mexican states, had been annulled after General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna seized power in 1834; and over the next decade a series of poorly co-ordinated federalist and secessionist revolts broke out against his rule, as far apart as Yucatan and New Mexico. In Texas the situation was aggravated by ethnic and cultural differences. In order to encourage settlement the Mexican authorities had originally offered a number of attractive concessions, which effectively amounted to an absence of gov- ernment and ultimately worked against the assimilation of the colonists into Mexican society. Moreover, for some time there had been pressure from the colonists for Texas to be separated from Coahuila and recognized as a federal state in its own right; but thus far such recognition had been resisted by the central government, through a well-founded fear that it would merely be the prelude to eventual American annexation. Consequently American immigration had officially been suspended by the Mexican government for that very reason in 1830. Predictably this aroused considerable resentment, 3 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com since the overwhelming majority of the incomers still thought of themselves as Americans and behaved accordingly, particularly when the Mexican central government threatened to become more oppressive than the US one which they had left. Notwithstanding, many “Texians” initially rejected calls for a declaration of independence; instead, they and their Tejano neighbors at first took up arms with the professed intention of upholding the Mexican Federalist constitution of 1824 and its supposed guarantees of their democratic rights. Thus, when General Martin Perfecto de Cos landed in Texas with the intention of disarming its unruly citizens and putting a final end to American immigration, he instead found himself facing a full-blown rebellion which was rapidly to turn into a revolution – and which 4 ultimately led to the United States reaching the Pacific Ocean. © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CHRONOLOGY OPPOSITE In 1835 the southern boundary between Texas and the neighboring state of Tamaulipas 1835 was the Rio Nueces, not the Rio 30 June Texian insurgents attack Anahuac Grande – the lower part of which was also confusingly known as 13 July Uprising in Nacogdoches the Rio Bravo. The inhospitable 2 October Battle of Gonzales prairie between the two rivers 28 October Battle of Concepcion was to be disputed territory until 5–9 December Storming of San Antonio de Bexar the international border was 1836 finally fixed on the Rio Grande after the American-Mexican War 1 January James Grant leads Federal Volunteer Army out of Bexar of 1846–48. Note that during 16 February Santa Anna crosses Rio Grande the Revolution, San Antonio de 23 February Siege of Alamo begins Bexar was known simply as 27 February Battle of San Patricio Bexar, though it later became 2 March Texan declaration of independence; battle of Agua Dulce San Antonio. Goliad was better known at the time as La Bahia. 6 March Alamo stormed by Mexican Army 19 March Battle of Coleto Creek 27 March Goliad massacre 21 April Battle of San Jacinto 4 July United States recognizes Republic of Texas 22 October Sam Houston inaugurated as first president of Republic 1840 15 March “Council House Fight” at San Antonio de Bexar 12 August Battle of Plum Creek 1841 19 June Santa Fe expedition departs Kenney’s Fort 5 October Texians surrender at Laguno Colorado near Santa Fe 1842 5–7 March Vazquez’s raid on San Antonio de Bexar Captain Andrew Robinson’s 11–19 September Woll’s raid on San Antonio de Bexar Harrisburg Volunteers carried 17 September Battle of Salado Creek this red, white and blue tricolor with a white star next to the 22 September Battle of Arroyo Hondo staff at the siege of Bexar. 8 December Somervell expedition captures Laredo Creed Taylor states that it 26 December Battle of Mier was afterwards left in the 1843 Alamo “and that fragments… 24 April Snively expedition departs Georgetown were found in the ruins after the fall of the fortress.” 20 June Battle of Crooked Creek, New Mexico 1844 22 April Treaty of Annexation with United States 1845 25 July American “Corps of Observation” arrives at Corpus Christi, Texas 29 December State of Texas admitted to Union 1846 19 February Formal transfer of sovereignty to United States 13 May United States declares war on Mexico 5 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com THE REVOLUTION After a promising start the 1835 Texian insurrection against Santa Anna’s government stagnated. In the open – as they clearly demonstrated at Gonzales and Concepcion – the Texians’ rifles were deadly; but, secure inside San Antonio de Bexar, General Cos could afford to wait while the rebels quarreled amongst themselves and drifted homewards in ever growing numbers. By the beginning of December the rebel leaders were ready to abandon the siege entirely and retire eastwards across the Guadalupe river. Then, in one of history’s more dramatic turningpoints, a trio of “filibusters” – Ben Milam, Frank Johnson and Dr James Grant – prevented the retreat by engineering and then leading an all-out assault on the town.1 Grant was wounded at the outset and Milam was killed on the third day of the battle, but the attack achieved its purpose. Cos surrendered on 9 December, and enough The Texian nemesis: General of the Texian army afterwards remained in being to join Grant’s Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna proposed expedition to Matamoros, down on the Rio Grande. Pérez de Lebrón (1794–1876). As far back as 5 November, Stephen Austin himself A shameless political had declared that “Nothing will aid Texas as much as an opportunist who changed expedition against Matamoros under General Mexia – it is sides several times during his career, Santa Anna all important.” Instead, Mexia, with a motley collection of was brutal, capricious, and – largely American mercenaries, had tried unsuccessfully to although capable of a seize Tampico further down the coast; but on 17 December headstrong energy that the Texian General Council at San Felipe de Austin resolved sometimes brought him on another attempt. This was intended to encourage a success – a commander of strictly limited talents. Federalist insurrection in Tamaulipas and, by so carrying the war into the interior, to disrupt or even prevent Santa Anna’s imminent invasion of Texas. Agua Dulce, the Alamo, Goliad and San Jacinto Sam Houston was accordingly ordered to set it in motion; but he dragged his heels, and on 1 January 1836 it was Grant’s “Federal Volunteer Army” that marched from Bexar – with the aim of joining with the Federalistas in establishing a new Republic of Northern Mexico. Two weeks later, after a memorable falling out between the Council and the provisional governor, Henry Smith, Sam Houston caught up with the army at Goliad and succeeded in wrecking the expedition by persuading a substantial number of men to remain in Texas as auxiliary volunteers. None of them would recognize his authority, however; so, leaving them at Refugio to await the arrival of the 1 Though today it has a specialized political meaning, in the early 19th century “filibuster” – through the Spanish filibustero,from older French and Dutch terms – meant 6 simply a piratical adventurer or freebooter. © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Council’s agent, Colonel James Fannin, Houston took himself off to visit his Cherokee friends in East Texas. Undaunted, Grant still pressed on with just 64 men to the then Texas border on the River Nueces at San Patricio. From there he led a series of raids into the Rio Grande valley with the dual aim of establishing contact with the curiously elusive Federalistas, and of rounding up sufficient horses and mules to mount all of Fannin’s men once they arrived. In the meantime a Mexican army led by Santa Anna swept into Texas, and the complexion of the war changed. In the face of this clear and present danger the Texians put aside their differences and defiantly proclaimed their independence from Mexico – only to face a succession of disasters. While returning from one of their forays on 2 March – the day that Texian independence was formally declared at San Felipe – Grant and his men were ambushed and killed at Agua Dulce. By this time the irresolute Fannin, far from advancing to his aid, had fallen back from Refugio to Goliad, from where he had launched an abortive attempt to reach the Alamo garrison in Bexar, besieged by Santa Anna since 23 February. Two days after the declaration of independence Sam Houston was confirmed as major-general and finally given authority over all the volunteer troops as well as his handful of regulars; but – no doubt The state flag of Coahuila y recognizing the futility of marching against Santa Anna – he made no Texas, possibly carried by attempt to save the Alamo, which was stormed on 6 March2. Instead he Benavides’ or Seguin’s avowedly planned to defend the line of the Colorado river, and Federalistasat the siege of summoned Fannin to join him there at Beason’s Crossing. However, the Bexar, and – according to at least two Mexican accounts – latter once again demonstrated his incapacity by lingering too long at subsequently flown at the Goliad, and was intercepted and forced to surrender on the open outset of the defense of the prairie near Coleto Creek on 20 March. A week later he and his men Alamo, rather than the 1824 were marched out and shot down in cold blood. flag. Like the latter it was a With insufficient men to hold the line of the Colorado, Houston and green/white/ red tricolor, and as one gold star represented the remaining Texians then fled eastwards in a headlong retreat Coahuila and the other Texas, it afterwards ruefully celebrated as the “runaway scrape.” His intention was is likely that this is the origin of simply to run for the border “and the old flag,” perhaps in the hope of the ‘lone star’ for Texas alone. triggering US intervention; but in the event his men forced him to make a stand at San Jacinto, where they won an unexpected victory over Santa Anna on 21 April. The Generalissimo himself was among the prisoners, and agreed to order all Mexican forces to evacuate Texas. However, while the Treaty of Velasco ostensibly ended overt hostilities, Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent state, and fighting continued sporad- ically for the next ten years. 2 See Campaign 89, The Alamo 1836 7 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com THE REPUBLIC After the battle of San Jacinto, Sam Houston turned over command of the army to Thomas Jefferson Rusk and went to New Orleans for treatment to his ankle, which had been badly shattered by a canister round. In his absence another raid was planned on Matamoros after two In the 1830s the northern Texian commissioners were arrested there in July while negotiating an boundaries of Texas and some exchange of prisoners. Although the port was blockaded by the Texian of the other Mexican states Navy, nothing came of the expedition and the proposal was abandoned were very vaguely defined, if after Sam Houston returned, to become president of the new Republic at all, leading to considerable conflict in later years. on 22 October. With his inauguration, Rusk’s caretaker role came to an 8 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com end and day-to-day command of the army then passed to the decidedly unstable Brigadier- General Felix Huston. This soon turned out to be a mistake. Huston, a “turbulent and overbearing” Mississippi planter, had no previous military experience and was a poor disciplinarian. Consequently, in December 1836 a West Point graduate named Albert Sidney Johnston became the senior brigadier.3 Outraged, Huston declared Johnston’s appointment to be an attempt “to ruin my reputation and inflict a stigma on my character,” and promptly challenged him to a duel. After no fewer than three shots had been exchanged by both parties, he put a bullet into Johnston’s right hip. This rather unconventional promotion gambit was to no effect, however, and as soon as he was able Johnston began cracking down hard on the disciplinary problems inherited from his murderous predecessor. Unfortunately a combination of boredom (scarcely alleviated by intensive drill), short and monotonous rations, poor clothing and an over-abundant supply of worse whisky led to rampant insubordination which occasionally turned into violent acts of mutiny. The officers were just as quarrelsome, and in the nine years which followed the Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar battle of San Jacinto the Texian Army would actually lose more officers (1798–1895). Born in Louisville, killed by their own colleagues than by the Mexican Army and the Georgia, Lamar was given a verbal commission as colonel Comanches together. of cavalry at San Jacinto, and Disgusted, still suffering from his poorly healed wound and at odds within a month was named with President Houston, A.S.Johnston resigned, and on 7 May 1837 major-general – only to be turned over temporary command to Colonel Joseph Rogers, the senior rejected by the rank and file. officer at headquarters. Aware that Felix Huston and others were However, as president of the Republic he strengthened the still agitating for another raid on Matamoros, the president defused regular army and embarked both issues by sending two-thirds of the army on furlough, retaining on an ultimately unsuccessful only about 500 men to garrison the most essential posts. By the end of policy of expansion. After that year only the small garrisons of regulars at San Antonio de Bexar annexation by the USA he and Galveston remained. served under Zachary Taylor as an officer in the Texas Mounted Volunteers. (Texas State Library Lamar’s presidency and Archives Commission) However, after Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar succeeded Houston as president on 10 December 1838, the regular army was dramatically revived. Lamar shared James Grant’s old vision of a greater Texas embracing the other northern Mexican states to stretch all the way from the Gulf to the Pacific. Moreover, while Sam Houston had enjoyed good relations with the Cherokees and other Native American tribes in East Texas, Lamar was firmly of the opinion that they were occupying far too much valuable land – an important consideration for a state whose only resource was its land, whether to pay its soldiers and other creditors or to underwrite foreign loans. Conflict was inevitable, and for that Lamar needed a real army. 3 See Elite 94, American Civil War Commanders (4) Confederate Leaders in the West 9 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com On the recommendation of the new secretary of war – Albert Sidney The Alamo chapel shortly before Johnston – all the remaining regulars were consolidated into a new its acquisition by the US Army “Frontier Regiment,” which although including both a cavalry and an in 1850 and the subsequent “restoration”; it was already ordnance element continued to be referred to as the 1st Regiment of a potent shrine to Texan Infantry. Ostensibly its purpose was to garrison a string of forts along a independence. Although military road to be constructed along the northern and western frontier the scale is dramatically from the Red River to the Nueces. Although a brave start was made and exaggerated, this engraving some of the forts were constructed, the road was never completed, and closely resembles a daguerreotype made in the few of the required additional recruits ever materialized. Consequently, late 1840s which came to while some regulars fought in the Cherokee War, in the celebrated light during the 1990s. “Council House Fight” with the Comanches at San Antonio (when a peace conference went disastrously wrong), and at the subsequent battle of Plum Creek, most of the Indian fighting and border defense continued to be undertaken by volunteer Ranger companies and militia. 1839: Canales and the “Republic of Rio Grande” Meanwhile, Lamar was not the only one to revive the idea of a Republic of Northern Mexico. On the other side of the Nueces, Antonio Canales, who had been one of James Grant’s Federalista contacts during the revolution, again invoked the constitution of 1824, and in September OPPOSITE This simple flag 1839 led yet another uprising against the Centralistas. Proclaiming the bearing a gold star on a independent Republic of Rio Grande, which was to encompass the blue field, designed by northern Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, David G.Burnet, served as Canales appealed to Texas for aid and laid siege to Matamoros. the national flag of the Republic of Texas from about Although Lamar declined to become directly involved (officially, December 1836 until replaced at least), he did nothing to discourage Canales from recruiting by the much more familiar 10 mercenaries and filibusters for a “Texian Auxiliary Corps.” Lone Star flag in 1839. © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com