Washington-on-the-Brazos, first capital of the Republic of Texas

Architect Richard Thornton is a member of an alliance of Creek, Choctaw and Seminole scholars, who over the past seven years have been intensely studying the heritage of the Muskogean peoples. Much of their activities have involved re-examination of the archives of the early Spanish, English and French exploration of the Southeastern United States. We have asked Richard to provide AccessGenealogy with some of his work.  As we add to these articles we will also be providing a question and answer section for the reader to ask questions of Richard.

The town of Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas originated as a hamlet that was conveniently located to the many Anglo-American colonies in eastern Texas. It has been restored and re-constructed to its appearance in the 1830s and is operated as Texas State Historic Park. The architecture of this hamlet points out how starkly the cultural traditions of the Anglo-American settlers contrasted with those of central Mexico. Note the differences between Independence Hall and the mission near Goliad. The buildings of Washington, TX are all either wood framed or of log construction.

There is nothing in this hamlet that would suggest that it was built in a Latin American country, other than the name of the Brazos River. In every detail, it is architecturally similar to the contemporary restored village of Euharlee in northwestern Georgia. The Granary in Euharlee is virtually identical in size and construction to "Independence Hall" in Washington-on-the-Brazos. In Part Six of the series on the Texas War for Independence, the reasons for the similarity of early Texan architecture with that of western Georgia, will be examined.

The brutality of Santa Ana backfires

The previous article in this series described the reasons that Mexican citizens today should remember the Tejano and Texian defenders of Tejas, along with their comrades in Yucatan, as heroes. They were part of a rebellion that stretched throughout much of Mexico. However, only the patriots of Tejas and Yucatan were able to stand up to the full wrath of the treacherous dictator, Santa Anna.

The execution of prisoners-of-war actually began in December of 1835. Gen. Jose Antonio Mexia had recruited Anglo & Latin American volunteers in New Orleans and utilized them on November 14 to attack the central government's fort in Tampico, Tamaulipas. Twenty-eight of the rebels were shot as pirates on December 14. General Santa Ana waited for two weeks to gauge the response from New Orleans. When there was none, he issued a decree that all non-Latin American prisoners-of-war would be executed in the future.

Santa Ana's brutal treatment of rebels and civilians in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Chiapas, Michoacan, Zacatecas, Chihuahua and Coahuila changed the character of the rebellion in Tejas. Throughout his 24 year long military career, Santa Ana had been known for his brutality toward both enemy prisoners-of-war and civilians. He was really continuing a 300 year old strategy used by the Castilians to subjugate the Native peoples of Mexico and Central America. Once they had control of Mexico, any rebellious acts were squelched with mass executions. This had always worked before, but would backfire in Tejas and Yucatan.

Throughout the early 1830s, patriots in Coahuila y Tejas had been united in their desire to return to the federalism of the Mexican Constitution of 1824. In fact the earliest flag of the Tejas rebellion was not the Lone Star Flag introduced by the Georgia Battalion in 1836, but the Mexican flag with 1824 emblazoned on it. Once Tejanos heard of how their fellow citizens were being treated to the south, the less fervent backed away from the rebellion, as Santa Ana expected them to do. They were a tiny minority in the Tejas portion of Coahuila Y Tejas.

There were approximately four times as many Creek, Alabama, Koasati and Cherokee Indian immigrants in Tejas as there were Mestizos and Creoles. The Anglo-American population of Tejas has been estimated to have numbered 20,000 to 30,000 persons in 1835. Less stalwart Tejanos hoped to appear loyal to Santa Ana when he arrived, even if they hated him.

Mistakes by both sides lead to a Texian-Tejano victory

When leaders of the Tejas rebellion met in Washington-on-the-Brazos in late 1835 to create some form of government for an autonomous Tejas, the character of the convention took on an increasingly anglicized nature. For the previous four years, the leaders of Tejas had merely demanded a return to the Constitution of 1824 and their petitions were written in Spanish. By late 1835, such documents were being written in English then translated into Spanish. Anglo-American legal terminology predominated. A Declaration of Independence was written in English and signed by the delegates on March 2, 1836. That was four days before the Alamo fell.

In December of 1835, most Texians had assumed the war was over. Many, including the commanding general, resigned their membership in the provisional army and went home. The remaining leaders began to squabble over "who was in charge." This left Tejas unprepared for Santa Ana's counterattack.

The first thrust into Tejas was assigned to General Jose' de Urrea, commander of Santa Anna's right wing. He captured substantial numbers of prisoners at the Battles of San Patricio, Agua Dulce Creek and Refugio. Urrea did not want to execute the prisoners and wrote a letter to General Santa Ana, requesting clemency for them. On March 26, 1836, Santa Anna ordered Urrea to execute the prisoners. Despite Santa Ana's orders to comply with the decree, Urrea, when possible, liberated Mexican citizens and colonists, but did order all Anglo-Americans to be shot, if captured. One exception, was when a boat load of Anglo-American volunteers was captured as they landed. They had no weapons, so Urrea deported them back to New Orleans.

During the third week in March of 1836, Urrea captured approximately 480 Texians and Southerners in the Battles of Coleto Creek, Dimitt's Landing and Fort Defiance (Presidio La Bahia.) The commanders of the each of the three bodies of prisoners of war had been promised that they would be treated honorably and the Mexican Congress was inclined to show clemency toward them, if they permanently left Mexico. This was a different situation than the earlier battles where prisoners, that had been captured in battle, were executed.

Urrea rode personally to Santa Ana's headquarters to plead that European military tradition should be followed in their treatment. His petition, though, DID NOT mention that Colonel Fannin had presented written articles of a conditional surrender. Santa again ordered all prisoners to be shot. Urrea spared the medical personnel, and possibly some musicians, but otherwise, ordered 342 prisoners held captive at Fort Defiance, executed. Approximately, 27 were able to escape. The wounded prisoners and Col. Fannin were executed at Golidad. Combined with the destruction of the Alamo, very little remained of the Army of the Republic of Texas.

When news of the brutal violations of long term European and North American military traditions reached the United States, there was widespread outrage. Citizenry in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana demanded that the United States immediately intervene against Mexico. They would ultimately get their wish in 1846.

Santa Ana's brutality had the opposite effect as it did on Mexican peons living farther south. Tejanos and Texians, who had gone home in the fall of 1835 returned to the ranks. Hundreds of young men from throughout the Southeast headed toward Texas to seek revenge. The volunteers swarmed around General Sam Houston, the only surviving general, who had any credibility left. Houston wisely chose to retreat, while his largely inexperienced volunteers trained, and Santa Ana's armies wearied. Houston waited until the right place to spring a trap. At San Jacento, the hunted became the hunters. Shouting "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" his almost rabid ragtag army swept over a much larger Mexican army and killed about 800 Mexican soldiers in 18 minutes. The survivors quickly surrendered.

There is irony in the fact that Goliad is the Spanish word for Goliath. The massacre at Goliad enraged the Tejanos and Texians (David) to strike down the giant, Santa Ana.

Texas soon became a de facto independent nation, as had Yucatan a few months earlier. Mexico never recognized the independence of either, and that planted the seeds for the Mexican-American War. Mexico continued to consider itself at war with both republics. In fact, the Navy of the Texas Republic once sent a flotilla to try to break the Mexican blockade of Yucatan's coast. What resulted was the first naval battle in history involving a steam-powered warship. Great Britain had "loaned" Mexico one of its new steam-driven war ships in order to gain favor with a nation on bad terms with the United States. The Texan frigates were badly roughed up by the British ship, but most of the sailors eventually made it home.

Yucatan had fewer financial problems than Texas, but in the late 1840s, its white population pushed aside Maya demands for equality. The Maya's went to war again, and were about to drive the autocracy out, when the Castilian elite sought outside help. They first asked to be annexed to the United States like Texas, but were refused. Mexico did bring Yucatan back into their union. The combined armies of Mexico and the autocracy of Yucatan then defeated the Maya armies. However, the Maya majorities of Yucatan, Campeche and Chiapas States have continued to rebel periodically up until the 21st century.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 6

Notes About this Material

Source: Richard Thornton, an alliance of Muskogean scholars, professors and professionals. Copyright Richard Thornton, Blairsville, GA, 2010. Used here with permission. 

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