Texan Independence

From WolfWikis

Stephen Austin

Stephen Austin was known for establishing the first Anglo-American province in the Tejas Province of Mexico. He was born in southwest Virginia but later moved to Missouri. He went to school at Yale for four years and upon graduating he took over his families lead business and worked for a bank back in Missouri. He was a militia officer and served as a member of the Missouri Territorial Legislature from 1814 to 1820. It was Stephen's father, Moses Austin, who originally attempted to settle and establish an american colony in the Mexican province of Tejas. Stephen Austin was granted approval by the Mexican government to bring Mexican settlers to Texas only because his father, Moses Austin, passed away before successfully colonizing the area. Stephen Austin chose to colonize an area on the lower Colorado and Brazos river in 1822. Austin acted as a intermediary between the newcoming colonists and the Mexican government. He was in charge of regulating immigration and supervising the creation of roads, schools, and businesses that would help the area prosper and flourish. He also was an active politician, lobbying to ban slavery by the colonists, even though slavery had been illegal in Mexico since 1824. Large land grants were promised to the settlers only if they abided by the three rules that the Mexican government had laid out for them. The first of which was to, obviously, be loyal to the Mexican government. The second was to convert to Roman Catholicism, the offical religon of Mexico and the third was to learn the Spanish language. Because of the vast distance between Mexico and the Texan settlers, it was difficult for Mexican government officials to regulate the implemented rules. Only a few of the first original settlers abided by them until eventually they were free to follow their own inclinations. In 1830 the Mexican government had Stephen Austin imprisoned for a short period of time, accusing him of "inciting an insurrection." He was released in 1835 and gave several speeches about Texan Independence. He ran for President of Texas but was defeated by Sam Houston. He served as secretary of state until his death in 1836.

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Sam Houston

Sam Houston was born in Tennessee in 1793. He spent most of his youth in the Tennessee mountains. When he was older, he enlisted as a private soldier and was soon made a sergeant. He thrived on being a military official and quickly won the respect of his fellow soldiers and his superiors. He recieved a few serious injuries at the Battle of Horsehoe Bend before he resigned as a military officer to study law. He was a member of the US Congress and became governer of Tennessee by a vast majority. After serving his term as Tennessee governer he resigned and went to live in the Tennessee mountains with a few of his close Cherokee friends. He then moved to Texas and became the elected delegate of Nacogdoches. It was this political position that made him a prominent figure in the affairs of Texas. He was made a board member of the Consultation of 1835. He was also present at the Convention to declare independence from Mexico on the Brazos river in 1836. After the fall of the Alamo and the Goliad, Sam Houston was put in charge of all of the military forces of Texas. He had his army retreat to the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle in which the Texas foces defeated Santa Anna's and secure the independence that Texans had sought so long for. He served many political positions after helping to achieve Texas independence before his death including...

• President of the Republic of Texas
• Congress of the Republic
• Served in the head of Texas government
• Senator from Texas in the U.S. Congress
• Governer of the State of Texas

As governer in 1861, he strongly opposed the sucession of Texas from the union. He had very few supporters on this issue and for that reason, he was removed from office in March of 1861. He retired from public office in Huntsville, Texas and died in July of 1863. [1]
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Mexican-American War

The Mexican-American War was a armed military conflict between Texan and U.S. soldiers and Mexican soldiers under the rule of dictator, Santa Anna over the annexation of Texas. The war was considered a matter of national pride for Mexico, but for the U.S. it was a chance to extend their "Manifest Destiny" policy farther west and gain more fertile land. [2]

The Alamo

The entire siege of the Alamo lasted 13 days. The dates were Tuesday, February 23rd until Sunday March 6th. This battle is the most celebrated battle in Texan history. Many famous military officials fought in the Battle of the Alamo. The list included names such as Tennessee congressman, David Crockett, entrepreneur, James Bowie, and Mexican president, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The battle of the Alamo was fought between the Texas settlers and the soldiers under the rule of Mexican dictator, General Santa Anna. The Texan army was made up of Texan civilians, American volunteers and Tejanos. Hostilities began to break out between the Texans and Santa Anna. The Alamo was a 3 acre compound made of stone and adobe. The siege of the Alamo continued for thirteen days. Santa Anna attacked the Alamo on March 6, 1836, in a predawn assault that he hoped would catch the tired Texan army off gaurd. Just before dawn, sixteen hundred Mexican soldiers attacked from all four sides. The soldiers moved through the compound killing the Alamo's defenders in hand-to-hand fighting. Within ninety minutes, all the defenders were dead and the battle was over. Their bodies were burned without ceremony. [3]

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Diary of Eilas F. Hiney

6 of May - The Tennesseans left for home. Many dying daily. Took up our line of march and arrived at the castle [the castle or prison of Perote] on 8 of May. Here we were Garrisoned. A splendid place, this covers 20 acres of ground. This castle contained 53,552 stand of arms and mounts 96 cannon and four 22 inch mortars. [illegible] went to the pass at night. Arrived at 3 o'clock in the morning of 20th June, this being Sunday. When our regiment was fired on here, Captain Walker [Captain Samuel Walker of the Mounted Rifles] made a charge. They had a fence built across the road. We, however, soon heard that Cadwallader's [Brig. General George Cadwalader] train was coming. When we followed in the pass numbers of Mexicans killed. We had some killed and two officers wounded fatally. Here it was M. Steiver had his horse shot (from) under him.

On the 19 of October left for Atalixco. This place was bombarded by us. Returned again to the castle in safety again on the 29 of October, 1847. From the 8 of May to the 8 of September the number of deaths in the castle was 516.

4 of July Passed the mouth of the Arkansas River on the Mississippi River. Rob. F. Walter died on the 10 of July, 1848 on the Ohio River and another in about 3 hours after, and a messmate of mine by the name of G. V. Whitcomb, and another in about 12 hours after by the name of P. Haas and one more on the 13 of July, H. Richards, all of Yellow Fever.

29 of July - Arrived at home after an absence from home one year and 8 months. Mustered out of the service of the United States on 27 of July, 1848.

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Bibliography

The Alamo This was a very informative site. It was easy to read, but maybe a little wordy. The part about the Mexican dictator, Santa Anna was very informative.

The Revolution of Texas This site was not as helpful as the first, but I still used a little bit of information from it when talking about the Alamo.

Tejanos This was helpful when explaining who made up the Texan army.

Sam Houston Biography This site was informative, and I used a picture from it.

Sam Houston This was extremely helpful, it's where I got the majority of information for Sam Houston.

Stephen Austin This site was decent. I didn't use much from here but it was still a little helpful.

Stephen Austin Biography This site was where I got the majority of information for Stephen Austin's biography. It was an excellent source, well written and easy to understand.

Stephen Austin Biography Another helpful site for Stephen Austin biographical information. I didn't use as much from this site as I did from the other but it was still a fine, well written source.

William Lloyd Garrison's Letter This site was very helpful, seeing that I quoted at least 10 lines directly on the wikipage. It is where I found the letter from William Lloyd Garrison.

Elias Hiney's Diary This is also directly quoted in my wikipage. It was extremely helpful in incorporating literature into the topic of the Mexican American War.

Elias Hiney Biography I didn't use much from here, it was really wordy and far to in-depth for my needs. It was hard to get out the information that I needed from the 10 page long summary.