Okla-homey
10/2/2007, 06:11 AM
October 2, 1835 : First shots of the Texas Revolution fired in the Battle of Gonzales
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/29952/2004368330931092616_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004368330931092616)
172 years ago on this day in 1835, the growing tensions between Mexico and Texas erupt into violence when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, sparking the Texan war for independence.
Texas--or Tejas as the Mexicans called it--had technically been a part of the Spanish empire since the 17th century. However, even as late as the 1820s, there were only about 3,000 Spanish-Mexican settlers in Texas, and Mexico City's hold on the territory was tenuous at best.
After winning its own independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico welcomed large numbers of Anglo-American immigrants into Texas in the hopes they would become loyal Mexican citizens and keep the territory from falling into the hands of the United States.
During the next decade men like Stephen Austin brought more than 25,000 people to Texas, most of them Americans. But while these emigrants legally became Mexican citizens, and were required to convert to Catholicism, they continued to speak English, formed their own schools, and had closer trading ties to the United States than to Mexico.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/28343/2003936134309977564_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003936134309977564)
Stephen Austin
In 1835, the president of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, disavowed the Mexican constitution and appointed himself dictator. Recognizing that the "American" Texans were likely to use his rise to power as an excuse to secede, Santa Anna ordered the Mexican military to begin disarming the Texans whenever possible.
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/30672/2004370993385178807_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004370993385178807)
Muey Jefe Santa Ana
This proved more difficult than expected, and on October 2, 1835, Mexican soldiers attempting to take a small cannon from the village of Gonzales encountered stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia of Texans.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/26317/2004398502783066395_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004398502783066395)
A few days earlier, Colonel Ugartechea, the commander of the Mexican garrison at San Antonio, had sent a few men to Gonzales to recover a six pounder cannon that had been originally loaned to the town by the Mexican government to fight off occasional Indian attacks. The citizens of Gonzales realized that the intent of the move was to disarm possible rebels, and so the request to turn over the gun tube was denied.
Ugartechea then sent dragoons under Captain Francisco Castaneda to demand the cannon unconditionally. As word of the conflict spread, the Texan force grew to over 200 armed men and the town was fortified. The cannon tube was mounted on a hastily scratch-built carriage and local blacksmiths recast scrap metal into cannonballs.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/28550/2004395735954676385_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004395735954676385)
Two ladies of the town, Cynthia Burns and Evaline DeWitt, painted a flag on cotton cloth, depicting the cannon, the lone star of Texas and a clear challenge to the enemy.
After a brief fight, the Mexicans retreated and the Texans kept their cannon.
The determined Texans would continue to battle Santa Ana and his army for another year and a half before winning their independence and establishing the Republic of Texas.
That's all well and good. But...
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/30672/2004396467613292142_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004396467613292142)
BEAT TEXAS!
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/29952/2004368330931092616_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004368330931092616)
172 years ago on this day in 1835, the growing tensions between Mexico and Texas erupt into violence when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, sparking the Texan war for independence.
Texas--or Tejas as the Mexicans called it--had technically been a part of the Spanish empire since the 17th century. However, even as late as the 1820s, there were only about 3,000 Spanish-Mexican settlers in Texas, and Mexico City's hold on the territory was tenuous at best.
After winning its own independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico welcomed large numbers of Anglo-American immigrants into Texas in the hopes they would become loyal Mexican citizens and keep the territory from falling into the hands of the United States.
During the next decade men like Stephen Austin brought more than 25,000 people to Texas, most of them Americans. But while these emigrants legally became Mexican citizens, and were required to convert to Catholicism, they continued to speak English, formed their own schools, and had closer trading ties to the United States than to Mexico.
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/28343/2003936134309977564_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003936134309977564)
Stephen Austin
In 1835, the president of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, disavowed the Mexican constitution and appointed himself dictator. Recognizing that the "American" Texans were likely to use his rise to power as an excuse to secede, Santa Anna ordered the Mexican military to begin disarming the Texans whenever possible.
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/30672/2004370993385178807_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004370993385178807)
Muey Jefe Santa Ana
This proved more difficult than expected, and on October 2, 1835, Mexican soldiers attempting to take a small cannon from the village of Gonzales encountered stiff resistance from a hastily assembled militia of Texans.
http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/26317/2004398502783066395_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004398502783066395)
A few days earlier, Colonel Ugartechea, the commander of the Mexican garrison at San Antonio, had sent a few men to Gonzales to recover a six pounder cannon that had been originally loaned to the town by the Mexican government to fight off occasional Indian attacks. The citizens of Gonzales realized that the intent of the move was to disarm possible rebels, and so the request to turn over the gun tube was denied.
Ugartechea then sent dragoons under Captain Francisco Castaneda to demand the cannon unconditionally. As word of the conflict spread, the Texan force grew to over 200 armed men and the town was fortified. The cannon tube was mounted on a hastily scratch-built carriage and local blacksmiths recast scrap metal into cannonballs.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/28550/2004395735954676385_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004395735954676385)
Two ladies of the town, Cynthia Burns and Evaline DeWitt, painted a flag on cotton cloth, depicting the cannon, the lone star of Texas and a clear challenge to the enemy.
After a brief fight, the Mexicans retreated and the Texans kept their cannon.
The determined Texans would continue to battle Santa Ana and his army for another year and a half before winning their independence and establishing the Republic of Texas.
That's all well and good. But...
http://aycu33.webshots.com/image/30672/2004396467613292142_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004396467613292142)
BEAT TEXAS!