Texas Tidbits : Brother vs Brother in the Texas Revolution

One of the things about the Texas Revolution that I hadn't considered was the possibility that brothers could face brother in combat. In other words, Brother A would be on the Texas side of the conflict and his own flesh and blood, Brother B, could be on the Mexican side of the war, much like the Civil War. Such a scenario played out in the Texas Revolution between Franciso Esparza in the Mexican Army and his brother, Gregorio, was a defender of the Alamo. Talk about your basic dilemma. Fortunately, francisco was not involved in the Mexican assault on the Alamo, yet his brother Gregorio was killed in the battle. Francisco obtained permission from his commander, General Cos (of whom will hear more later) , to retrieve the body of his dead brorther and give it a proper burial.

The document chronicles this event:

THE STATE OF TEXAS. ∫  Before me Saml. S. Smith, Clerk of the County
∫  Court of Bexar County personally appeared Fran-
COUNTY OF BEXAR ∫  cisco Esparza a Citizen of Bexar County to me
personally known, who being by me first duly sworn upon his oath saith that the late
Gregorio Esparza was his Brother; that said Gregorio Esparza about the middle of
October 1835.  entered the Texas service as a volunteer, and as such volunteer Soldier
he entered Bexar between the mornings of the 5th
 and 10th
 of December 1835.  with the
American forces; he remained in Bexar until the approach of Genl. Santa Anna when
he entered the Alamo, when he was killed with Cols. Travis, Crockett, Bowie and
the other Americans.  After the fall of the Alamo I applied and obtained permission
from Genl. Cos to take the body of my Brother (Gregorio Esparza) and bury it.  I
proceeded to the Alamo and found the dead body of my Brother in one of the Rooms
of the Alamo, he had received a ball in his breast, and a stab from a sword in his
side, I took his body in company with two of my brothers, took his body, and we
proceeded and interred it the burrying ground (Campo Santo) on the West side of the
San Pedro Creek, where it still lies.  My Brother at the takin of Bexar was under
the command of Col. Juan N. Seguin and Capt. Don Manuel Flores and a member of
their company.  I was not in service at the time of the Storming of Bexar, the company
to which I belonged the Local Presidial Company of Bexar, and the soldiers of the
company of the Alamo were under the Capitulation of Genl. Cos, allowed to remain
in Bexar with their families, I remained with my family, as I was born here, and
had always lived here;  When Santa Anna arrived here in Feb. 1836.  He gave orders
that all those who were the local Soldiers at the Capitulation of Genl. Cos, should
hold ourselves themselves in readiness to join the Army for active service, but he
never called us away from our homes.  I remained here, when Santa Anna’s Army
went into the interior of Texas, and I am now fifty-four years of age and have always
lived here ever since, and done and performed all the duties of a good Citizen, as
all my neighbors can testify.  I mention these facts to show the reason why permis-
sion was given me to bury the body of my Brother.  The legal heirs of my said De-
ceased Brother, Gregorio Esparza, are as follows “To Wit:”  Enriquez Esparza;
Manuel Esparza; and Francisco Esparza his sons, who are living now in AttascosoCounty together at their Ranche.
Sworn to and ∫ his
subscribed, (he ∫ Francisco         X        Esparza
making his mark for ∫           mark
signature declaring his ∫
inability to write) this ∫
26th
 day of August 1859.  And I do hereby certify that the said Francisco Esparza is
personally known to me to be the identical person he represents himself to be, and
that he is a man of credibility, and a Citizen of Texas, and a resident of Bexar County.
And that after having read over the above depositions to the said deponent and no one
being present but him and myself and he being again duly sworn by me, he upon his
oath said that his depositions, as written out above, are true and correct, and he
signed the same in my presence, making his mark, declaring his inability to write.
In testimony where of I have hereunto signed
My name and affixed the seal of the County
Court of said county, at Office, in San Antonio
S E A L this 26th
 day of August 1859.
/s/ Sam S. Smith
Clk CCB Co

It's hard for me to imagine taking up arms against my younger brother, and be faced with the possibilty of having to kill him or be killed by him. (BTW, I do have a younger brother who just turned 21 in December)
Such a decision would only take a milli-second to make, but the lifetime of the horror of making such a decision would haunt me forever. Thank God, I'll never have tro make that choice, but my hesrt goes to those in the Texas Revolution who had no choice. It was war and war is hell. God rest the souls who were confronted with such a dilemma. God bless Texas!

Best Of Texas Tidbits: The Father of Texas

This story was originally posted on November 4, 2010. I thought this would be a good time to rerun this post on Stephen F. Austin since we have been studying the History of Texas leading up to the Texas Revolution.  If you've already read it, it might be worth a re-read to freshen up your memory and make a connection between the man Sam Houston himself called "The Father of Texas", and his role in the Texas Revolution.

 Four and a half months ago when I first started this blog, I wrote a Plus One post about Virginia. I saluted Virginia for some of the great Americans that were born there who went on to do great things for our country. On that day, I left out a man who was a native son of Virginia, and today I could slap a knot on my own head so tall I'd have to tiptoe to scratch it. The man's name? Stephen Fuller Austin. The Father of Texas. I am a dumbass.

I was going to post this yesterday because it was the anniversary of SFA's birth. But the Republican Tsunami was a pretty big deal so I wrote about that instead.

Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia on November 3, 1793. By age twenty one, Austin was a lawyer and a member of the First Circuit Court. During this time, Austin's father, Moses, received an empresarial grant that allowed him to take 300 Americans into Texas. Moses then was traveling back to Missouri when he was attacked and soon contracted pneumonia and died in June, 1821. Upon his death, Moses Austin left his empresarial grant to Stephen. I was a bit surprised to learn that Stephen was, at first, reluctant to carry out his father's dream of colonizing Texas. However, a letter from Ma Austin changed Stephen's mind about it. And thus began the journey of the man who would be the Father of Texas.

The Father of Texas

During his attempt to bring Americans to Texas, Austin wore a path out to Mexico while dealing with the new Mexican government (Mexico had just won its independence from Spain). The rules regarding his land grant seemed to change by the minute. Undeterred, Austin finally got that mess settled and in late 1825, he brought  300 Americans to Texas. This was the first step in Stephen F. Austin being recognized as The Father of Texas. There's some detailed information on the trials and tribulations Austin had to overcome to colonize Texas with American settlers here.

In 1836, when Texas had won its independence from Mexico, Austin threw his name into the hat to be a candidate for the Presidency of the new Republic of Texas. He was the odds on favorite to win the election, but someone else had eyes on that prize. His name was Sam Houston. After his victory at San Jacinto establishing Texas' new status as a sovereign country, Houston won the election in a landslide. Upon taking on his role as President of Texas, Houston named Austin as his Secretary of State, a post he held for only two months. Stephen F. Austin contracted what he thought was a bad cold, but it was actually pneumonia. He died on December 27, 1836. Austin's last words were, "The Independence of Texas is recognized! Don't you see it in the papers!". After learning of Austin's death, President Sam Houston issued this statement, "The Father of Texas is no more. The first pioneer of the wilderness has departed." Austin is gone, Mr. President, but he will for eternity be known as The Father of Texas and his name will be revered by Texans forevermore.

**Image from sonofthesouth.net

Texas Tidbits : The Six Flags of Texas

The Lone Star flag of Texas is instantly recognized by people all over the world as the defining symbol of our state. However, the same people probably don't know that the flags of six sovereign nations have flown over Texas, dating back to the 1500's. I would imagine that that is true for the vast majority of non-Texans. If you were to mention "six flags" and "Texas" in the same breath, non-Texans would say something like: "I've been there and I rode the roller coaster eight times!", thinking of the amusement park, Six Flags Over Texas, not the history of the state. Even if ignorant of our history, non-Texans (or "foreginers" a I call them :D) know the state flag. Here's a quick primer for our non-Texan friends. Study up and soon you can impress even Native Texans with your knowledge of the rich history of Texas.                                                                                                                                                                                     Spain was the first European country to claim Texas as their own, way back in 1519 by Hernando Cortez. The Spanish flag flew over Texas until 1685 when the land was claimed by the French. The French had control of Texas for only five years, when in 1690, the Spanish took over Texas again, this time until 1821 when Mexico declared independence from Spain.

From 1685 to 1690, the nation of France took over Texas from the Spaniards. But, the French ruled over Texas for only five years, then, as what has come to be expected of the Frogs, they tucked tail and ran, allowing Spain to once again call Texas theirs.

The Spanish rule of Texas this go 'round lasted until 1821 when Mexico declared its independence from the Mother Country, and Texas became a state of Mexico. The citizens of Texas didn't cotton to the iron-fisted rule of Santa Ana and on March 2, 1836, told him to shove it up his sombrero.

From 1836 to 1845, Texas was an independent nation and in 1839 the Lone Star Flag as we know it, became the official flag of the Republic of Texas. Texas gained statehood on December 29, 1845 and became a part of the United States.

With the advent of the Civil War in 1861, Texas seceded from the Union and was a member of the Confederate States of America for four years. After the War of Northern Aggression ended in 1865, Texas was eventually re-admitted to the United States.

And the rest , as they say, is history.