THIS DAY IN HISTORY
TEXAS INDEPENDENCE PROCLAIMED:
March 2, 1836
During the Texas Revolution, a convention of American Texans meets at
Washington-on-the-Brazos and declares the independence of Texas from
Mexico. The
delegates chose David Burnet as provisional president and confirmed Sam
Houston
as the commander in chief of all Texan forces. The Texans also adopted
a
constitution that protected the free practice of slavery, which had
been
prohibited by Mexican law. Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Santa Anna's
siege of the
Alamo continued, and the fort's 185 or so American defenders waited for
the
final Mexican assault.In 1820, Moses Austin, a U.S. citizen, asked the
Spanish
government in Mexico for permission to settle in sparsely populated
Texas. Land
was granted, but Austin died soon thereafter, so his son, Stephen F.
Austin,
took over the project. In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain,
and
Austin negotiated a contract with the new Mexican government that
allowed him to
lead some 300 families to the Brazos River. Under the terms of the
agreement,
the settlers were to be Catholics, but Austin mainly brought
Protestants from
the southern United States. Other U.S. settlers arrived in succeeding
years, and
the Americans soon outnumbered the resident Mexicans. In 1826, a
conflict
between Mexican and American settlers led to the Freedonia Rebellion,
and in
1830 the Mexican government took measures to stop the influx of
Americans. In
1833, Austin, who sought statehood for Texas in the Mexican federation,
was
imprisoned after calling on settlers to declare it without the consent
of the
Mexican congress. He was released in 1835.In 1834, Antonio Lpez de
Santa Anna,
a soldier and politician, became dictator of Mexico and sought to crush
rebellions in Texas and other areas. In October 1835, Anglo residents
of
Gonzales, 50 miles east of San Antonio, responded to Santa Anna's
demand that
they return a cannon loaned for defense against Indian attack by
discharging it
against the Mexican troops sent to reclaim it. The Mexicans were routed
in what
is regarded as the first battle of the Texas Revolution. The American
settlers
set up a provisional state government, and a Texan army under Sam
Houston won a
series of minor battles in the fall of 1835.In December, Texas
volunteers
commanded by Ben Milam drove Mexican troops out of San Antonio and
settled in
around the Alamo, a mission compound adapted to military purposes
around 1800.
In January 1836, Santa Anna concentrated a force of several thousand
men south
of the Rio Grande, and Sam Houston ordered the Alamo abandoned. Colonel
James
Bowie, who arrived at the Alamo on January 19, realized that the fort's
captured
cannons could not be removed before Santa Anna's arrival, so he
remained
entrenched with his men. By delaying Santa Anna's forces, he also
reasoned,
Houston would have more time to raise an army large enough to repulse
the
Mexicans. On February 2, Bowie and his 30 or so men were joined by a
small
cavalry company under Colonel William Travis, bringing the total number
of Alamo
defenders to about 140. One week later, the frontiersman Davy Crockett
arrived
in command of 14 Tennessee Mounted Volunteers.On February 23, Santa
Anna and
some 3,000 Mexican troops besieged the Alamo, and the former mission
was
bombarded with cannon and rifle fire for 12 days. On February 24, in
the chaos
of the siege, Colonel Travis smuggled out a letter that read: "To the
People of
Texas and All Americans in the World.... I shall never surrender or
retreat....
Victory or Death!" On March 1, the last Texan reinforcements from
nearby
Gonzales broke through the enemy's lines and into the Alamo, bringing
the total
defenders to approximately 185. On March 2, Texas' revolutionary
government
formally declared its independence from Mexico.In the early morning of
March 6,
Santa Anna ordered his troops to storm the Alamo. Travis' artillery
decimated
the first and then the second Mexican charge, but in just over an hour
the
Texans were overwhelmed, and the Alamo was taken. Santa Anna had
ordered that no
prisoners be taken, and all the Texan and American defenders were
killed in
brutal hand-to-hand fighting. The only survivors of the Alamo were a
handful of
civilians, mostly women and children. Several hundred of Santa Anna's
men died
during the siege and storming of the Alamo.Six weeks later, a large
Texan army
under Sam Houston surprised Santa Anna's army at San Jacinto. Shouting
"Remember
the Alamo!" the Texans defeated the Mexicans and captured Santa Anna.
The
Mexican dictator was forced to recognize Texas' independence and
withdrew his
forces south of the Rýo Grande.Texas sought annexation by the United
States, but
both Mexico and antislavery forces in the United States opposed its
admission
into the Union. For nearly a decade, Texas existed as an independent
republic,
and Houston was Texas' first elected president. In 1845, Texas joined
the Union
as the 28th state, leading to the outbreak of the Mexican-American War.
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