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April 3, 2004
The Texas
Revolution: Tejano Patriots
By John P. Schmal
The siege of the
Alamo lasted 13 days and ended on the
morning of March 6, 1836 when the Mexican
forces of General Gen. Antonio López de
Santa Anna stormed the old mission.
While the men at the Alamo manned the
front lines in the struggle for
independence, a Convention was taking
place on the banks of the Brazos River.
This convention, lasting from March 1 to
17, 1836 declared Texas to be an
independent republic and wrote a
constitution.
However, the
declaration of independence did not save
the men of the Alamo. It is
believed that 189 men died at the Alamo,
including such famous characters as Jim
Bowie, William Travis, James Bonham and
David Crockett. Several hundred
Mexican soldiers also died in their
attempt to take the mission fortress.
Although they succeeded in taking the
Alamo, the victorious forces paid a high
price in casualties.
The 189 men who died
at the Alamo hailed from many parts of
the globe. They represented a truly
multi-racial, multi-ethnic force, all
gathered together in a common cause.
There is some controversy over what
really happened at the Alamo. There
is the equally controversial issue over
the motives of some of the Anglo rebels,
in seeking independence from Mexico. (The
Texas Constitution guaranteed the rights
of slave owners and Texas joined the
United States on December 29, 1845 as a
slave state.) However, the
controversy and debate does not diminish
the fact that 189 men died at the Alamo,
fighting for independence from the
corrupt and brutal oligarchy of General
Santa Anna.
Very few of the 189
men at the Alamo were actually natives of
Texas. A great number of them were
from Southern states, such as Tennessee,
Kentucky and the Carolinas. At
least 32, in fact, came from Tennessee.
Some northerners from Pennsylvania, Ohio
and New York also stood their ground in
the mission. But Europeans were also well
represented. At least ten of the
patriots were natives of England, and
another 11 were from Ireland, a country
that knew well the struggle for liberty
against oppression. Of the
thirty-plus Europeans, some also came
from Germany, Denmark, Scotland and
Wales.
At the time of the
battle, as many as eighty of the Alamo
defenders were actually documented
residents of Texas, but others had
traveled to the fort from various states,
volunteering their services for the
revolution. Of the estimated 189 men who
died in the Alamo, only six were actually
born in Texas: Juan Abamillo, Juan A.
Badillo, Carlos Espalier, Gregorio
Esparza, Antonio Fuentes, and Andrés
Nava. This work shall pay tribute
to the Tejanos who died at the Alamo:
Juan Abamillo was a
native Tejano who had volunteered to
serve in the Texas Revolution under the
command of Juan N. Seguín. He had
arrived at the Alamo on February 23, 1836
and he died there on March 6, 1836 as he
fought alongside Travis, Crocket and the
others.
Juan Antonio Badillo
was born in Texas and also served under
Captain Juan N. Seguín. Badillo
accompanied Seguín to the Alamo in
February. But when Seguín was
called out to rally reinforcements,
Badillo stayed at the Alamo. Like his
fellow revolutionary, Juan Abamillo, Juan
Antonio Badillo died on March 6,
defending the Alamo against Mexican
Federal troops.
Carlos Espalier
(1819-1836) was born in Texas and was
said to be a protégé of Jim Bowie.
When he died at the Alamo, he was only
seventeen years old.
José María Esparza
(1802-1836), also known as Gregorio
Esparza, was born in San Antonio de
Béxar, as the child of Juan Antonio and
Maria Petra (Olivas) Esparza. He married
Anna Salazar, by whom he had several
children. Esparza had enlisted with
Captain Seguín in October 1835. When
Gen. Santa Anna and his forces arrived in
February 1836, Esparza and his family
were advised to take refuge in the Alamo.
Although Esparza could have left if he
had desired to do so, he decided to stay,
and his family remained with him. He
tended a cannon during the siege and died
when the Alamo fell on March 6, 1836.
His brother, Francisco Esparza, recovered
his body and arranged for a Christian
ceremony and burial. Most of the
defenders were not given the same
respect.
Antonio Fuentes
(1813-1836) was born in San Antonio de
Béxar, Texas. He was recruited by
Juan N. Seguín and took part in the
siege of Bexar. Fuentes had a
falling out with the Seguín and Travis,
but when the Mexican troops arrived in
San Antonio, he stayed and fell with the
other defenders.
Damacio Jiménez, a
native of Texas, also joined Seguín's
militia. Damacio had served with
Colonel Travis at Anahuac and entered the
Alamo in late 1835. He died with the
other defenders.
José Toribio Losoya
(1808-1836) was one of Capt. Juan N.
Seguín's company of Tejanos. He had been
born in the Alamo barrio on April 11,
1808, to Ventura Losoya and Concepción
de Los Angeles Charlé. He
deserted the Mexican army to enlist as a
rifleman in Seguín's company. In
February 1836, Losoya rode to the Alamo
with Seguín and was there when the
fortress fall. His wife and three
children sought refuge in the mission
chapel and survived the siege.
Andrés Nava
(1810-1836) was a native of Texas who had
enlisted for six months service under the
command of Juan N. Seguín. He took part
in the siege of Bexar and later died
while defending the Alamo on March 6,
1836.
It is ironic that so
few native Texas died in Alamo. One
man who played a very significant role in
the fight for independence was Juan
Nepomuceno Seguín (1806-1890). A
native of San Antonio, Seguín is
probably the most famous Tejano to be
involved in the War of Texas
Independence. His story is complex
because he joined the Anglo rebels and
helped defeat the Mexican forces of Santa
Anna. But later on, as Mayor of San
Antonio, he and other Tejanos felt the
hostile encroachments of the growing
Anglo power against them. After
receiving a series of death threats,
Seguín relocated his family in Mexico,
where he was coerced into military
service and fought against the US in
1846-1848 Mexican War.
One of the most
famous Tejano patriots was José Antonio
Navarro (1795-1871), who was one of the
three Tejano Mexicano signers of the
Texas Declaration of Independence (the
other two were José Francisco Ruiz and
Lorenzo de Zavala). Navarro was
elected to serve twice in the Texas
Senate, and Navarro County was named in
his honor.
It is important for
the reader to understand that the several
Tejano Mexicanos who died at the Alamo in
the battle against Santa Anna were only a
small representation of the many
Hispanics who fought for freedom. To
find out more about the Tejano Mexicano
contribution to Texas / Tejas
independence, you may want to visit this
website:
http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/tejanopatriots.htm
This website,
created by Wallace L. McKeehan and
sponsored by the Sons of DeWitt Colony
Texas, is entitled: "Hispanic Texian
Patriots in the Struggle for
Independence." Another website,
created by Angel and Linda Seguín
Carvajal Garcia, is entitled "Tejano
Heroes of the Texas Revolution of
1836" and can be accessed at: http://www.seguindescendantshp.com/tejanoheroes.html
Although the events
of 1836 led to independence for the
people of Texas, the Hispanic population
of the state was very quickly
disenfranchised to the extent that their
political representation in the Texas
State Legislature disappeared entirely
for several decades. The slow battle to
regain their rightful place in Texas
politics and society during the Twentieth
Century is described in some detail by
this author in "The Tejano Struggle
for Representation," located at: http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/tejano1.html
http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/tejanorepprint.html
(Print version)
The story of the
Alamo and Texas Revolution is an
intriguing and complex story. The
aftermath of independence is equally
interesting as a disenfranchised people
struggled to reassert their rights as
American citizens, a guaranteed by the
Texas and United States constitutions.
Sources:
Bexar County
Archives, San Antonio. Raúl Casso IV,
"Damacio Jiménez: The Lost and
Found Alamo Defender," Southwestern
Historical Quarterly 96 (July 1992).
Daughters of the
American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and
Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San
Antonio, 1976).
Bill Groneman, Alamo
Defenders (Austin: Eakin, 1990).
Thomas L. Miller,
"Mexican-Texans at the Alamo,"
Journal of Mexican-American History 2
(Fall 1971).
Ruben Rendon Lozano,
Viva Tejas: The Story of the Tejanos, the
Mexican-born Patriots of the Texas
Revolution (San Antonio: Southern
Literary Institute, 1936; 2d ed., San
Antonio: Alamo Press, 1985).
Reuben M. Potter,
"Distinguished Mexicans Who Took
Part in the Texas Revolution,"
Magazine of American History, October
1878, annotated by McArdle, The McArdle
Notebooks, Archives and Information
Services Division, Texas State Library
and Archives Commission.
Phil Rosenthal and
Bill Groneman, Roll Call at the Alamo
(Fort Collins, Colorado: Old Army, 1985).
Amelia W. Williams,
A Critical Study of the Siege of the
Alamo and of the Personnel of Its
Defenders (Ph.D. dissertation, University
of Texas, 1931; rpt., Southwestern
Historical Quarterly 36-37 [April
1933-April 1934]).
___________________________________________
John Schmal is an
historian, genealogist and lecturer. With
his friend Donna Morales, he co-authored
"Mexican-American Genealogical
Research: Following the Paper Trail to
Mexico" (Heritage Books, 2002).
He has degrees in History
(Loyola-Marymount University) and
Geography (St. Cloud State University)
and is a board member of the Society of
Hispanic Historical Ancestral Research
(SHHAR). John is an associate
editor of SHHAR's online monthly
newsletter, www.somosprimos.com.
He is also a frequent contributor to
Hispanicvista.com (www.hispanicvista.com)
and Mexico Connect.
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