In March of 1836, things were not going well for Sam Houston’s Texas revolutionaries. Having declared independence from the official Mexican government, they were now running from the Mexican army, being run from their homes—and running out of time.
Since January 1836, Texas settlers had been abandoning their homes and the lives they’d created on the Texas frontier. Known as the Runaway Scrape, this retreat began as the Mexican government initiated military reoccupation of the newly settled land. The event was marked by sickness, freezing weather, hunger and panic among the citizenry.
But their main problem was the feared Napolean of the West, Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Realizing—perhaps a bit late—the strategic importance of controlling the Texas coastline and hoping to capture the Texas government, Santa Anna led his 700 men to Harrisburg on his way to the coast, burning the town.
On April 11th, the Texas army received its only artillery. The town of Cincinnati, Ohio, purchased a pair of six-pound guns manufactured in their home state and shipped them to New Orleans to help the Texians. Known as the Twin Sisters, they did not stay idle.
Houston’s men, their families uprooted and futures uncertain, were ready to fight. On April 17th, their retreat led them to a fork in the road. One road led to Louisiana and possible refuge in the United States. The other road led to Harrisburg and the edge of the coast. Houston's army marched down the road to Harrisburg without objections from Houston.
On the 18th, Houston reached White Oak Bayou, where he learned that Santa Anna’s nearby forces had just crossed the bridge over Vince’s Bayou. On the 19th, Houston crossed Buffalo Bayou between Sims' and Vince's Bayous just outside of Harrisburg. Marching down the bayou, they captured one of Santa Anna’s supply boats.
Just miles away from Houston’s men, Santa Anna’s forces now numbered around 1200. The Texans numbered 900. On April 20th, Sidney Sherman gave the Mexican army a quick jab with a small skirmish that quickly fizzled out. Both sides then camped for the night.
On the morning of April 21st, General Houston held a council of war. The majority of his officers voted to await Santa Anna’s attack in order to leverage their position. General Houston let each man in the council plead his case. Then he made a decision, which he kept to himself until that afternoon: they would attack.
Around 4:30 p.m., the Mexican soldiers awoke from their afternoon siestas to the smell of gunpowder and cries of vengeance. Flushed with victory from the siege of the Alamo, Santa Anna had failed to post sentries to monitor the Texans’ activities.
In eighteen minutes the Texians were in control of the Mexican camp.
The Mexican soldiers were far more trained in martial field tactics and strategy than their Texian opponents. But they were unable to organize under the feverish surprise attack. And the short-range unorthodox brawling of frontiersmen with long knives and clenched fists did not work in their favor.
Over 600 Mexican soldiers were killed, and over 700 were allowed to surrender; nine Texians were killed or mortally wounded. Sam Houston was shot in the ankle. Santa Anna was found the next day hiding in the grass and dressed as a common foot soldier.
For Mexico, the defeat was the beginning of a downhill martial and political spiral that would result into the loss of nearly a million square miles in territory. For the Texans, their victory led to annexation into the United States and the United States' war with Mexico. In the end, the United States would gain not only Texas but also New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. As a result of the Battle of San Jacinto, almost a third of what is now the United States of America changed ownership.
General Manuel Mier y Teran, military commander of Mexico's northeastern provinces, conducts a tour of the Texas border and reports that Anglos are importing slaves illegally and violating Mexican laws regarding the courts and religion.
May: The Texas y Coahuila state constitution disguises slavery as "indentured servitude."
1829
September 15: Mexican president Vicente Guerrero frees all slaves, but Texans obtain an exemption from the national slave emancipation decree. Santa Anna becomes a national hero when he defeats Spanish forces at Tampico. Rebel leader Anastacio Bustamante stages a coup against President Guerrero. The Plan of Jalapa removes Guerrero and institutes a Centralist administration. The change of power means leaders in Mexico City become more suspicious of the U.S., and of Anglo colonists in Texas.
1830
Thirty thousand Anglos have arrived in Texas, overwhelming the Tejano population of 4000. United States president Andrew Jackson unsuccessfully offers $5 million to purchase Texas.
April 6: The Mexican Congress passes the Law of 1830. It prohibits settlement in Texas by immigrants from the U.S.; establishes military installations in Anglo colonies of Central and East Texas; forbids the importation of slaves; and cancels all colonization contracts still outstanding. The law will be repealed in 1833.
Navarro invests in 50,000 acres of ranch land and becomes Land Commissioner for the Green Dewitt Colony over the next two years.
1831
Anglos outnumber Tejanos ten to one in Texas. Mexicans deploy customs agents to Texas to collect tariffs.
1832
June: Protesting Mexican customs agents, William B. Travis is arrested for anti-government rhetoric. Anglo colonists pass the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, accusing the Mexican government of constitutional violations. The Resolutions also declare Texans' support of the uprising of Santa Anna against Bustamante.
October: The Convention of 55 at San Felipe de Austin draws up a list of grievances, but it is annulled by Ramon Musquiz, political chief of the Department of Texas.
1833
A year-long cholera epidemic spreads through Béxar.
Antonio López de Santa Anna is elected president after endorsing liberalism and overthrowing President Bustamente. He declines to take office, and his vice president, Gómez Valentín Farias, becomes president.
Stephen F. Austin presents another Texan convention's resolutions in Mexico.
1834
As a result of Austin's influence, Mexico repeals the ban on Anglo immigration. Texas state law allows Anglos to buy land at a reasonable price, grants Texans three seats in the state legislature, and declares English an official language.
January 2: Austin is jailed in Mexico for one year because of a letter he wrote calling for Texas statehood. War and Peace Party factions emerge in the Texas colonies.
Santa Anna deposes Farias and assumes the presidency; he establishes a Centralist regime, and places hombres de bien (elites) in power. The new Congress dissolves state legislatures, limits state militias, and abrogates the federal Constitution of 1824. Rebellions erupt in Zacatecas and Texas.
1835
January: Santa Anna deploys customs agents to Anahuac to collect tariffs.
May 10-11: Battle of Zacatecas. Santa Anna's Army of Operations defeats the rebels, executes all Anglos, and leaves the city destroyed.
Austin is released from prison.
The Battle of Gonzales takes place. Gonzales residents refuse to return a cannon to the Mexican army. Santa Anna sends troops under General Martin Perfecto de Cos to San Antonio. Cos fortifies the Alamo; Tejanos join the rebel camp under Juan N. Seguin, Salvador Flores, and Manuel Leal.
October-December: Texans besiege Béxar. One hundred and sixty Tejanos participate. By December 10, General Cos surrenders. The Anglos return home after the battle, but Seguin and other Tejanos keep a vigil along the Rio Grande.
Navarro is appointed a federal senator but declines the office, due to turmoil in Texas.
1836
February 1: Tejanos elect Navarro and Francisco Ruiz as delegates to Washington-on-the-Brazos to declare Texas independence.
February 8: Former Tennessee congressman David Crockett arrives with volunteers to defend the Alamo.
February 12: Travis is elected commander of the enlisted army forces at the Alamo, while Jim Bowie leads the volunteers.
February 23: The Mexican Army of Operations under Santa Anna reaches San Antonio. Texan forces retreat inside the Alamo.
March 1: Twenty-two men from Gonzales join the Alamo.
March 2: Delegates at Washington-on-the-Brazos approve the Texas Declaration of Independence. Navarro, with his uncle, Francisco Ruiz, signs the declaration. The two men stay to serve on a committee to draft the republic's new constitution.
March 6: A bloody Mexican attack on the Alamo begins before dawn, and the Mexican forces slaughter all inside except for the women, children, and Travis' slave, Joe. Mexican losses number around 600.
March 20: Mexicans capture a Texan force retreating from Goliad, led by James W. Fannin, near Coleto Creek.
March 27: Santa Anna orders the execution of Fannin and 350 men at Goliad.
April 21: The Texan army defeats and captures Santa Anna at San Jacinto, and secures independence for Texas.
May 14: Santa Anna signs the Treaty of Velasco. It ceases hostilities and withdraws Mexican troops south of the Rio Grande.
September: Texans approve their new Constitution of the Republic of Texas. Sam Houston is elected president.
October: The First Congress of the Republic of Texas convenes.
November: Santa Anna is released by Texans and travels to Washington to meet with U.S. officials.
1837
Colonel Juan Nepmuceno Seguín, military commander of San Antonio, presides over the burial of the Alamo defenders' ashes. San Antonio is incorporated and Béxar County is created.
Navarro writes to Sam Houston to protest army confiscations of Tejano property at Béxar. He gathers declarations from Tejanos that they did not participate with the Mexicans in fighting against the Republic of Texas during the Texas Revolution.
1838
Navarro serves in the Texas Republic's House of Representatives. His brother Eugenio, accused of being a Mexican sympathizer, is killed in his presence by an Anglo settler.
1839
The town of Austin is chosen as Texas' capital.
1841
Texas president Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar asks Navarro to serve as commissioner of the Texas Santa Fé Expedition. The expedition aims to take control of the eastern part of New Mexico and make it part of the Texas Republic. The Mexican government captures the expedition near Santa Fé. Navarro, accused of treason, is imprisoned in Mexico until 1844.
1842
Mexican troops invade Texas and briefly re-occupy San Antonio. Mexican and Texan forces fight the decisive Battle of Salado, and the Mexicans are turned back.
1844
Navarro is released from prison in Mexico and returns home to Texas a hero.
1845
Navarro is the sole Hispanic delegate to the Convention of 1845, where Texas accepts U.S. president James K. Polk's proposal for annexation. Navarro helps to write the first state constitution, the Constitution of 1845. He is also elected to the first Texas state legislature and serves two terms as a state senator.
October 13: Texan citizens overwhelmingly approve the annexation of Texas. On December 29, the U.S. Congress will approve the annexation, and Texas will be named the 28th state in the union.
1846
February 19: The government transfer of power takes place and Texas officially joins the United States. U.S. government troops occupy the Alamo.
