Texian Army

The Texian Army was a military organization consisting of volunteer and regular soldiers who fought against the Mexican army during the Texas Revolution.

tructure

The structure of the Texan Army was relatively fluid. Originally, it was comprised entirely of volunteers, who came and went at will. To become an officer, a man must simply have enough money or charisma to convince others to serve under him. In the first half of the Texas Revolution, many of the units and individual volunteers came from the United States. Among the units these American volunteers populated were the Kentucky Mustangs, Alabama Red Rovers, Tennessee Mounted Volunteers, Mobile Greys, and New Orleans Greys.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 13.]

By the end of the war, the army had grown to include three distinct divisions. Members of the regular army enlisted for two years and were subject to army discipline and the army's chain of command. A squad of permanent volunteers enlisted for the duration of the war. This group was permitted to elect its own officers, outside the oversight of the army commander-in-chief. Most of the men who joined the permanent volunteers had settled in Texas before the war had begun. The last unit was the volunteer auxiliary corps, comprising primarily recent arrivals from the United States who officially enlisted for a six-month term. On November 24, 1835, the Texas provisional government authorized the creation of ranging companies of rifleman. Robert "Three-legged Willie" Williamson was asked to raise three of these companies with 56 men each.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 15.]

Rangers were to be paid $1.25 per day.

Demographics

A majority of the men who joined the army had arrived from the United States after war broke out. Not all of these additions were American citizens; many were recent immigrants from Europe who were seeking adventure and potential riches in Texas. Residents of Texas also joined, but played their largest roles at the beginning and end of the revolution. Through the course of the Texas Revolution, one in seven of the English-speaking settlers in Texas joined the army. One in three adult male Tejanos, that is, Spanish-speaking settlers in Texas, joined the army.

History

Origination

When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, the former Spanish province of Texas became part of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. [Manchaca (2001), p. 161.] Many of the people who lived in Texas, which had included the land north of the Medina and the Nueces Rivers, convert|100|mi|km|0 northeast of the Rio GrandeEdmondson (2000), p. 6.] , west of San Antonio de Bexar, and east of the Sabine River.Edmondson (2000), p. 10.] Manchaca (2001), p. 162.] Edmondson (2000), p. 6.] , wished to be a separate state again. For the first time, the government of Texas encouraged immigrants from the United States to settle its lands.Manchaca (2001), p. 164.] By 1834, an estimated 30,000 English speakers lived in Texas,Manchaca (2001), p. 201.] compared to only 7,800 of Spanish heritage.Manchaca (2001), p. 172.] The bankrupt Mexican government was unable to offer Texas much military support.Edmondson (2000), p. 75.] Many of the settlements had created small militias to protect themselves against raids by Indian tribes.

Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna the government of Mexico began to drift towards a more centralist form.Barr (1990), p. 2.] In 1835 Santa Anna revoked the Constitution of 1824 and began reigning as a dictator. In various parts of the country federalists revolted.Hardin (1994), p. 6.]

In September 1835, Colonel Domingo Ugartechea, the military commander of the Mexican forces at San Antonio de Bexar set troops to recover a small cannon that had been given to the people of Gonzales for protection. When the Mexican troops, under Lieutenant Francisco Castaneda reached Gonzales, the head of the local militia, Captain Albert Martin, convinced the troops to wait for several days.Hardin (1994), p. 7.] Martin then sent messengers to other English-speaking settlements, asking for reinforcements to help protect the cannon.Hardin (1994), p. 8.]

Within several days militias from Fayette and Columbus arrived. In Gonzales, the forces combined to form a single force. The militiamen held an election and chose John Henry Moore as their captain, Joseph Washington Elliot Wallace as a lieutenant colonel, and Edward Burleson as major. The first military action taken by the new army was the Battle of Gonzales on October 2, 1835. After a skirmish, the Mexican troops withdrew to San Antonio, leaving the cannon with the Texians.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 8.] After the battle ended, disgruntled colonists continued to assemble in Gonzales, eager to put a decisive end to Mexican control over the area. Within a week, the men had taken the Mexican post at Goliad. On October 11 the disorganized volunteers elected Stephen F. Austin, who had settled the first English-speaking colonists in Texas, as their commander-in-chief.Barr (1990), p. 6.] Austin had no previous military experience.

Offensive manuevers (October–December 1835)

Several days after Austin took command, the army marched towards Bexar to confront General Martin Perfecto de Cos, who had recently arrived to command the remaining Mexican troops in Texas.

Restructuring (December 1835 – February 1836)

The regular army division of the Texian Army was officially established on December 12. Any man who enlisted in the regular division would receive $24 in cash, the rights to convert|800|acre|ha of land, and instant Texan citizenship. Those who joined the volunteer auxiliary corps would receive convert|640|acre|ha of land if they served two years, while those who served 1 year would receive convert|320|acre|ha.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 28.]

The commander of the regular forces, Sam Houston, called for 5000 men to enlist in the regular army but had difficulty convincing men to join. Many of the arrivals from the United States did not want to be under a more strict military control, and instead informally joined the volunteer units that had gathered in other parts of Texas. These volunteer soldiers were in many cases more impassioned than the Texas settlers. Although the provisional Texas government was still debating whether the troops were fighting for independence or for separate statehood, on December 20, 1835, the Texian garrison at Goliad voted unanimously to issue a proclamation of independence, stating "that the former province and department of Texas is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign and independent state".

The provisional government had originally placed Houston in charge of the regular forces, but in December the council gave secret orders to James Fannin, Frank W. Johnson, and Dr. James Grant to prepare forces to invade Mexico. Houston was then ordered to travel to East Texas to broker a treaty that would allow the Cherokee to remain neutral in the conflict. Johnson and Grant gathered 300 of the 400 men garrisoned in Bexar and left to prepare for the invasion.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 29.]

The government was woefully short of funds. On January 6, 1836, Colonel James C. Neill, commander of the remaining 100 troops in Bexar, wrote to the council: " there has ever been a dollar here I have no knowledge of it. The clothing sent here by the aid and patriotic exertions of the honorable Council, was taken from us by arbitrary measures of Johnson and Grant, taken from men who endured all the hardships of winter and who were not even sufficiently clad for summer, many of them having but one blanket and one shirt, and what was intended for them given away to men some of whom had not been in the army more than four days, and many not exceeding two weeks."

For the next several months it was unclear who was in charge of the Texian army—Fannin, Johnson, Grant, or Houston.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 30.] On January 10, Johnson issued a call to form a Federal Volunteer Army of Texas which would march on Matamoros.

Defensive maneuvers (March–April 1836)

The Mexican army returned to Texas in February and initiated a siege of the garrison in San Antonio on February 23.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 40.] The commander at the Alamo, William B. Travis, sent numerous letters to the Texan settlements, begging for reinforcements. [Edmondson (2000), pp. 302, 312, 345.] Men began to gather in Gonzales to prepare to reinforce the garrison.Edmondson (2000), p. 375.] Before they left, the Mexican army launched the Battle of the Alamo, and all of the Texian soldiers who had been stationed in Bexar were killed.Nofi (1992), p. 133.] This left two branches of the Texian Army: Fannin's men at Goliad and the 400 men at Gonzales, who soon reported to Houston. On hearing the news of the massacre at the Alamo, Houston ordered his army to retreat and burned the town of Gonzales as they left. He ordered Fannin to bring his men and join the rest of the army.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 67.] Fannin's force was defeated at the Battle of Coleto Creek, and on March 27 Fannin and his men were executed at the Goliad Massacre. A few soldiers escaped, and 80 soldiers who had just arrived from the United States and had no weapons were spared.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 68.]

As news spread of the defeats at the Alamo and Goliad, men flocked to the Texian army. By early April, Houston commanded about 800 men.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 69.] The Texas Revolution essentially ended on April 21, when the Texian Army routed a Mexican force and captured Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Uniforms and equipment

Neither the regular or volunteer components of the Texian Army were issued specific uniforms. Several of the companies that formed in the United States, including the New Orleans Greys, purchased US Army surplus uniforms before they arrived.Hardin (1994), p. 60.] Other companies had more loosely-defined "uniforms", such as wearing matching hunting shirts.Todish "et al" (1998), p. 14.]

Texian volunteer Noah Smithwick wrote a description of the volunteer army as it looked in October 1835:

Words are inadequate to convey an impression of the appearance of the first Texas army as it formed in marching order. ... Buckskin breeches were the nearest approach to uniform and there was wide diversity even there, some of them being new and soft and yellow, while others, from long familiarity with rain and grease and dirt, had become hard and black and shiny. ... Boots being an unknown quantity, some wore shoes and some moccasins. Here a broad brimmed sombrero overshadowed the military cap at its side; there, a tall “beegum” rode familiarly beside a coonskin cap, with the tail hanging down behind, as all well regulated tails should do ... here a bulky roll of bed quilts jostled a pair of “store ” blankets; there the shaggy brown buffalo robe contrasted with a gaily colored checkered counterpane on which the manufacturer had lavished all the skill of dye and weave known to art ... in lieu of a canteen, each man carried a Spanish gourd…. Here a big American horse loomed above the nimble Spanish pony, there a half-broke mustang pranced beside a sober methodical mule. A fantastic military array to a casual observer, but the one great purpose animating every heart clothed us in a uniform more perfect in our eyes than was ever donned by regulars on dress parade.

Footnotes

References

*citation|last=Barr|first=Alwyn|title=Texans in Revolt: the Battle for San Antonio, 1835|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin, TX|date=1990|isbn=0292770421
*citation|last=Edmondson|first=J.R.|title=The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts|publisher=Republic of Texas Press|place=Plano, TX|isbn=1-55622-678-0|date=2000
*citation|last=Hardin|first=Stephen L.|date=1994|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin, TX|title=Texian Iliad – A Military History of the Texas Revolution|ISBN=0292730861
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*citation|last=Todish|first=Timothy J.|last2=Todish|first2=Terry|last3=Spring|first3=Ted|title=Alamo Sourcebook, 1836: A Comprehensive Guide to the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution|publisher=Eakin Press|date=1998|location=Austin, TX|isbn=9781571681522