There’s a thing going around on LiveJournal in which the poster picks seven interests from your user profile and you have to explain why they are important to you. I volunteered, and eeknight hit me with the with following: flying, freemasonry, half-life 2, libertarian, texas history, urban legends, and women. The original premise was to write about all seven in one post, but I’m going to take the long road and write about a different one each day. This is the fifth.
Texas History
As most of you know, I’m a Texan. I grew up in a small town whose claim to fame is the birthplace of the Texas Revolution, AKA the Lexington of Texas. In my home town, the schoolchildren spend a long part of their state history class on the revolution for independence from Mexico and our little skirmish in particular.
To sum it up for you, the Texans could see which way the winds were blowing in Mexico as Santa Anna abolished the constitution and replaced it with an anti-federalist constitution. The move caused upheaval all over Mexico, but the Texans in particular were spoiling for a fight. The colonies agreed to come to one another’s aid should there be cause, and eventually the Texans found a cause. The Mexican government had loaned my hometown a small cannon with which they were to protect themselves from hostile indians. With the unrest in Tejas, it seemed prudent to get the cannon back. However, the citizens had other ideas. They sent runners to the other colonies asking for backup and held the small troop of Mexican soldiers at bay across a river. After 3 days the Mexican soldiers had lost their patience and enough Texans had responded that the forces engaged. After some confusing night-time manuevering, the forces lined up in a foggy dawn and shot at each other. By that point Texans greatly outnumbered the poor platoon of Mexican soldiers by about 3 to 1. The Mexican commander had been under orders to avoid bloodshed that might fan the flames of revolt, thus withdrawl seemed the better part of valor. They returned to the garrison at San Antonio for reinforcements.
It should be noted that during parlay, it came out that the Mexican company commander, Francisco de Castaneda, was actually sympathetic to the Texan’s cause. The Texan commander, John Moore, suggested that Castaneda should join their side, but Castaneda declined, citing his duty as a solider even in the face of his personal views.
Despite the Mexican army’s desire to avoid sparking a revolt, the battle at Gonzales did exactly that. It could be argued that by this point the Texans were spoiling for a fight and any excuse would do. It seems likely that some Texans had colonized here specifically to stage a revolt from Mexico and enter this new territory into the United States.
Regardless of the reason, the Texans’ enthusiasm can not be questioned. During the build-up to this first skirmish, the Texans hastily created a flag in support of their cause. It featured the outline of a cannon on a white field. Under were sewn words that set the defiant tone for the remainder of the revolution: Come and Take It.
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