Dac Crossley's Western Blog

The Troubles of Juan Seguin

When the Texian army under General Sam Houston won independence for Texas in 1836, Juan Seguin led a corps of Tejanos at the battle of San Jacinto. At Houston’s recommendation, the Tejanos wore playing cards in their hatbands to show that they weren’t Mexican troops.

Perhaps Juan Seguin should have kept wearing the card.

After San Jacinto, Seguin returned to his home in San Antonio, where he gathered the remains of the Alamo defenders and interred them in San Fernando Cathedral (you can see their crypt today). He was elected to the Texas Senate, but soon returned to San Antonio when elected mayor of that city.

Between the war of Texas independence (1836) and the Mexican war (1845) the Republic had a troubled existence. Mexico threatened to invade Texas (and did once capture San Antonio). Anglos poured into Texas, ready to seize opportunities. Juan Sequin was caught up in the increasing hostilities between the newcomers and the Mexican Texans. He struggled with Anglos who settled on City property. Seguin finally fled with his family to Mexico.

Seguin became embroiled in Mexico’s struggles. In 1845 he led a company in battle against United States forces. eventually he returned to his ranch in South Texas, a controversial figure. Today, he is honored as a true son if Texas.

Juan Sequin’s life is emblematic of the difficulties faced by Mexican Texans in those years. Divided loyalties and oppression by a new majority which understood neither their language nor their culture. Some of those misunderstandings persist today. As an old Texan, I can assure you they need not persist.

Dac Crossley
May 24, 2017. Happy Birthday, Eric M.!!

“I would rather give full vent to all human loves and disappointments, and take a chance on being corny, than die a smartass.” – Novelist Jim Harrison.

The Last Battle of the Civil War

In South Texas, May 13th is recognized as the date of the last battle of the Civil War, when Confederate forces under Col. John “Rip” Ford routed a Union attack at Palmetto Ranch.

Union troops had been unable to hold Brownsville, Texas, and had retreated to Brazos Island where they maintained an ineffective blockade. They halted river traffic into Brownsville but couldn’t blockade the Mexican village of Bagdad near the mouth of the Rio Grande. The Union commander, Col. Theodore Barrett, tried to arrange a truce. “Rip” Ford’s superiors wouldn’t agree to it.

In school I was taught that news of Lee’s surrender hadn’t reached the Rio Grande Valley. Turns out that wasn’t so. Communications weren’t that bad. After Lee's surrender, Confederate General Kirby-Smith, in charge of the Western Division, wanted to fight on. He told the governors of the southern states he intended to continue the war.

Down in South Texas, Union troops marched from Brazos Island onto the mainland and camped overnight in the brush along the Rio Grande. They thought to take Brownsville by surprise. Col. “Rip” Ford surprised them in turn, and chased them back to the island in a running battle. Ford had field artillery; the Union force didn't.

It was a hollow victory. Three days later, federal officers from Brazos Santiago arrived in Brownsville to arrange a truce with Ford. Kirby-Smith had given up.

“Rip” Ford? The “Rip” nickname stands for “rest in peace.” Col. Ford made the notation “r.i.p,” when he wrote the names on his casualty list.

And it may or may not have been “The Last Battle of the Civil War,” either. Sorry, Mom.

Dac Crossley
May 13, 2017

“When old dreams die, new ones come to take their place. God pity a one-dream man.” – Robert Goddard.

The First Days -- The Republic of Texas

In the month of May, 1836, Texians who’d fled the Mexican army began returning to their fields, hoping to get a crop planted in the rain-soaked soils. Perhaps they, too, questioned the circumstances that found them returning to their homesteads instead of camping across the Sabine River in Louisiana.

Why was the battle won so quickly? The outcome was decided in about eighteen minutes, yes, but the slaughter went on for hours. Texian soldiers in a rage ran down and slaughtered all the Mexicans they found.

Why did General Santa Ana make camp in a wooded area? He had brought only a detachment of lancers, in an attempt to keep Sam Houston from escaping to the United States. His Lancers were deadly on the prairies but ineffective among the trees. Texian sharpshooters isolated them in the woods and swamps and shot them down.

Did Sam Houston defeat the Mexican army? No.The Texians overran a detachment of lancers.

Why did the Mexican army obey Santa Ana’s Order to return to Mexico? As his officer corps pointed out, it was an illegal order because it was signed under duress. But their Commander was Vicente Filisola, an Italian with considerable battle experience in Europe. His supply lines were over-extended. Spring rains had hobbled the army; he was camped in a mar de lodo, a sea of mud. Assembling the army’s equipment was a challenge in itself. And there was no forage to be had. Better, Filisola decided, to return to Matamoros and regroup, as El Presidente had ordered.

The fighting was not over. In South Texas it continued sporadically for a decade, until Texas was annexed by the United States.