The Texas Revolution

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• The Texas Revolution

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Mexican Constitution of 1824
Declared Mexico a federation of free and
sovereign states.
The document under which Texas Colonists were
invited to emigrate to Mexico, and was the one
they swore to defend.
In 1835, President Antonio López de Santa Anna
declared that Mexico was not ready for democracy
and took away the 1824 Constitution. He then
centralized national power under himself.
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Battle of Gonzales First Shots of the Revolution
A Mexican officer ordered the citizens of
Gonzales to hand over a brass cannon, but they
refused.
The settlers buried the cannon and called for
reinforcements that reached 140 men.
The settlers dug up their cannon, mounted it on a
wagon, and placed a flag on it that read
On October 2, 1835 the citizens of Gonzales
attacked a force of 100 Mexican soldiers and
forced them to leave for San Antonio.
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General Martín de Cos
Headquartered in San Antonio
Ordered 300 more troops to Texas to put down the
rebellion
Triggered the formation of a volunteer army of
Texans under the command of George Collinsworth
and Ben Milam that captured the town of Goliad
The capture of Goliad cut off the supply lines of
General Cos army
The Texan victories at Gonzales and Goliad
inspired more volunteers to join the rebel army
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The March on San Antonio
The scouting party was attacked by 400 Mexican
soldiers at the Mission Concepción But were able
to hold them off with their more accurate
rifles. This clear victory boosted the morale of
the Texas rebel army.
Some Texan troops wanted to attack General Cos
immediately, but Austin chose to wait for
reinforcements due to the large number of
soldiers and artillery in San Antonio.
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Los Tejanos
Already opposed to Santa Annas government, the
Tejanos of San Antonio suffered further under the
occupation of General Cos
Prominent citizens were forced to sweep the city
streets, Tejanas had to bake tortillas for the
troops, and the Mexican forces also took
supplies from citizens and destroyed some of
their homes
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The Grass Fight
After the fight at Concepción, Stephen F. Austin
moved his troops just north of San Antonio, where
the Texans were able to lay siege to General Cos
army
Since the Mexican troops had taken the supplies
of the local Tejanos, the siege first appeared to
have little effect.
deaf smith
deaf smith
As Edward Burleson began to consider giving up
the siege, one of his scouts, Deaf Smith
reported that 100 Mexican soldiers with a pack of
animals were headed for San Antonio.
Erastus Deaf Smith
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A rumor quickly spread among the Texans that the
Mexican soldiers were carrying silver to pay
General Cos soldiers.
The Texan troops eagerly opened the bags that
they thought contained silver, but found grass
meant to feed horses
The Texans were disappointed, but it was the
first sign that their siege was working.
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Capture of San Antonio
After the Grass Fight, the Texans were preparing
to withdraw to Goliad when they got word that
General Cos army was weak and disorganized.
The Texans attacked San Antonio and battled the
Mexican forces for five days. Although Ben Milam
was killed in the fighting, the Texans still
defeated General Cos, and allowed him to lead his
troops back to Mexico.
With nearly every Mexican soldier forced out of
Texas, many Texans thought the fighting was over,
and hoped they could now form a state government
under the rules of the Constitution of 1824
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The Consultation
November 4, 1835
A group of delegates met in San Felipe to decide
the future of Texas

1. Debate Independence
2. Create provisional government
3. Choose commissioners to send to United States
4. Address military matters

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Debating Independence

• Pro-War Group
• Argued that Texas should declare
• independence

• Pro-Peace Group
• Wanted the Constitution of 1824 restored
• Feared that declaring independence would cost
  them the support of the Tejanos
• Felt they were loyal Mexican citizens

• The Compromise
• Delegates pledged loyalty to Mexico
• Explained that they only used force to defend
  themselves
• Warned that if the Constitution of 1824 was not
  restored, Texas would declare independence

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Provisional Government
Created the General Council to help Smith and
Robinson run the government
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Negotiations with the Cherokee
The Provisional government sent Sam Houston and
an African-American man named William Goyens to
make peace with the Cherokee Indians
Because of their efforts, the Cherokee promised
to remain neutral during the revolution
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Commissioners to the United States
Branch T. Archer
William H. Wharton
Stephen F. Austin
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Texas Military
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Meanwhile
President Santa Anna and 6,000 Mexican soldiers
marched north towards Texas, bent on revenge
To be continued..
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The Mexican Army advances
By February 1836, Santa Anna was crossing the
Rio Grande marching towards San Antonio
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Sam Houston was alarmed by how unprepared the
Texans were, and ordered the Alamo destroyed and
its artillery removed.
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In January 1836, Jim Bowie arrived at the
Alamo with 25 men, and decided the Alamo should
not be destroyed.
Col. Travis
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A few days after Travis arrived, Davy Crockett
arrived with a dozen volunteers from Tennessee.
James Bonham soon followed with a volunteer
force from Alabama.
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William B. Travis was put in command of the
Alamo in February 1836
Jim Bowie argued with Travis over control of the
troops, but finally agreed to share command with
him
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The Alamo was built as a mission, not a fort. So
the Texans had to work hard to build higher and
thicker walls, add cannons, and add high
fences made of stakes
The Alamo needed about 1,000 soldiers to
properly defend it, but would never have more
than 200
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Santa Anna ordered the surrender of the Alamo and
the defenders, but the Texans replied with a
canon shot fired back at him.
In response, Santa Anna raised a red flag that
told the Texans that he would take no prisoners
and leave no survivors.
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On February 24, 1836 Santa Anna ordered his
forces to begin firing on the Alamo.
Jim Bowie had been ill, and collapsed on the
second day of Santa Annas siege. Travis then
took over full command of the Alamo.
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Travis made many more pleas for aid to the
provisional government and to Colonel James
Fannin at Goliad, but they sent no help.
Alamo Flag
The only help that arrived was when 32 volunteers
arrived from Gonzales under cover of the morning
darkness.
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On March 6, 1836, Santa Anna launched his
assault on the Alamo after 13 days of siege.
Texas artillery held the advancing Mexicans off
briefly, but they regrouped and eventually
overwhelmed the Alamo defenders and poured into
the mission by the hundreds
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After a few hours, all the 182 defenders and 600
Mexicans were dead.
Santa Anna spared the women, children, and a
slave named Joe.
Santa Anna felt that the defeat of the Alamo
would end the Texas Revolution, but it only
convinced the Texans to fight harder.
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Texas Declares Independence
The Convention of 1836 was held at
Washington-on-the-Brazos to vote on Independence
Some delegates were former members of the
United States and Mexican Governments.
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The vote for independence was unanimous
Although two of the signers of the declaration
were Tejano, many Tejanos opposed the
declaration
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Today Texans celebrate Texas Independence Day
March 2, 1836
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A few days later, the delegates learned of the
siege of the Alamo and wanted to leave to go to
the aid of the Alamo defenders.
Sam Houston convinced the delegates to stay
because Texas needed a constitution to form a
legitimate government.
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• The Texas Constitution was modeled after the
  United States Constitution and guaranteed
• Freedom speech
• Freedom of the press
• Freedom of religion
• Right to trial by jury

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But the constitution also legalized slavery, and
required free blacks to petition Congress for
permission to stay in Texas.
Among those who had to make a petition was Samuel
McCulloch Jr., the first Texan to shed blood in
the Revolution.
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Since Texas was at war and could not hold
elections, an ad interim (temporary) government
was installed until elections could be held.
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President
Vice-President
David G. Burnet
Lorenzo de Zavala
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Runaway Scrape
Sam Houston left the convention and headed for
San Antonio.
The scouts found the Alamo survivors and
brought them back to Gonzales where they told the
story of the Alamo.
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Word came that Santa Anna was approaching
Gonzales, so Houston ordered the town burned and
took his army east.
As the Texas army moved east, citizens also left
their homes to escape Santa Anna.
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Goliad Massacre
General Urrea was moving up the coastline and
defeated many Texan troops on his march to
Refugio and Goliad.
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Fannin decided to wait for his troops in Refugio
to return before obeying Houston, but those
soldiers had been either killed or captured by
General Urrea
Fannin and Urrea finally met at the battle of
Coleto, where Fannin was wounded.
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The morning after the battle started, General
Urrea received several hundred more soldiers,
and Fannin decided to surrender.
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The Texan prisoners were marched back to Goliad
where they stayed for a week.
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General Urrea wanted to keep them as prisoners
of war, but Santa Anna ordered him to execute
them all.
Grave of Fannin and his men
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When the shooting of the prisoners began, a few
of them were able to escape in the smoke and
confusion.
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Battle of San Jacinto
After gathering supplies and training his troops
during the Runaway Scrape, Houston marched his
troops down Buffalo Bayou towards Santa Annas
camp.
Houston found that Santa Anna camped out in the
open in a vulnerable spot, and camped his men in
a spot that was partially hidden in a grove of
trees
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The day before the battle, there were several
small fights. In one of the fights, a private
named Mirabeau B. Lamar saved the lives of two
Texans and was promoted to Colonel and put in
charge of the cavalry.
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Before the battle, Houston sent Deaf Smith on a
special mission to destroy the bridge at
Vince's Bayou.
This effectively destroyed the retreat route for
both the Mexican army as well as his Texans .
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On April 21, 1836 Houston ordered his army to
attack the exhausted Mexican soldiers as they
took their afternoon siestas.
words
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Taken by surprise, 630 Mexican soldiers were
killed and 730 captured in 18 minutes of fighting
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The next day, Santa Anna was captured while
hiding in the nearby marshes.
Texas Independence was secured.