Spain's Texas Patriots ~ Its 1779-1,783 War with England During the American Revolution

P SPAIN'S TEXAS PATRIOTS ~ ITS 1779-1,783 WAR WITH ENGLAND DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION PART 5 OF SPANISH BORDERLANDS STUDIES by Granville W. and N. C. Hough P ! i ! © Copyright 2000 1 by Granville W. and N. C. Hough 3438 Bahia Blanea West, Apt B Lagtma Hills, CA 92653-2830 Email: [email protected] Other books in this series include: Spain's California Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England - During the American Revolution, Part 1, 1998. Spain's California Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England - During the American Revolution, Part 2, 1999. Spain's Arizona Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England - During the Amencan Revolution, Third Study of the Spanish Borderlands, 1999. Spain's New Mexico Patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England - During the.American Revolution, Fourth Study of the Spanish Borderlands, 1999. Published by: SHHAR PRESS Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research , P.O. Box 490 Midway City, CA 92655°0490 (714) 894-8161 Email: SHHARP~s~aol.com ;.'."/!';h',-:/.t!j.:'."-i ;., : [::.'4"!".': PREFACE o In 1996, the authors became aware that neither the NSDAR (National Society for the Daughters of the American Revolution) nor the NSSAR (National Society for the Sons of the American Revolution) would accept descendants of Spanish citi~e,qs of California who had contributed funds to defray expenses of the 1779-1783 war with England. As the patriots being turned down as suitable ancestors were also soldiers, the obvious question became: "Why base your membership application on a monetary contribution when the ancestor soldier had put.his life at stake?" This led to a study of how the Spani~a Army and Navy ~ad worked during the war to defeat the :~'. :. ~,,.; ". English and thereby support the fledgling English colonies in their War for Independence. After a year of study, the ..'7~, " results were presented to the NSSAR; and that organization in March, 1998, began accepting descendants of ~.iJ"', ~~ " Spanish soldiers who had served in California. The acceptance was ba.~-d simply on service during the time period ~!.~'2',," of 1779-1783 while Spain was at war with England. ~hile we did not know it at the time, the NSSAR had already ,~li'~.: ~ . ~,', ~... accepted descendants of Spanish soldiers who had served in Texas.) !~,,,i-~,.... :]~-~-~, We had not by March, 1998, studied the organization of the Spanish Army in the Spanish Borderlands from i',,!'"~~ " ~.,,~:-,.. Texas through California. We now know how the forces were deployed and used in an effort to unify the frontier ~... ,. , and counter the influence of English or any other foreign forces. We know that orders going to California also went .;:-;: .... to Texas, New Mexico, Sonora, and all the other border provinces of Northern New Spain. In fact, the whole frontier and bordering provinces had been united in 1776 into a military command under a Comandante-General who reported directly to the King (or at least to his ministers). The Northwestern realm, with its unidentified border with England, was a continuing concern to the highest Spanish authorities, particularly to Jos~ de Giivez, Minister of the Interior. During 1776 while the English Colonies were declaring Independence, he reorganized the military strncture of the Prnvinclas Internas; he authorized his nephew, Governor Bernardo de Giiv~ ,of Louisiana, to begin clandestine help to the English Colonies; and he supervised the Anza Expedition to settle San Francisco Bay. lie visualized that he could regain the Floridas, lost to Britain earlier; unify the whole northwestern frontier from the Mississippi River to the Pacific; and counter the British wherever they appeared. Indeed, Giivez' aims were partly accomplished. He did ~,tablish California and wipe out any historic English claims from the time of Sir Francis Drake. He did recover Florida. He made progress unifying the northern outposts, but there were not enough resources to do what he v~sualized. Indian tribes who were already on • ~, . , the vast land could not be incorporated into the Spanish way of life fast enough. Events in Europe intervened and took higher priority. So, in due course of time, the land from the Mississippi River to the Pacific became American rather than Spanish. However, we still have the Americans of Spanish descent who fought to move the frontier forward to counter the British. They helped the English Colonies to become the United States of America. They held land in trust for future expansion of the United State~ Both the NSDAR and NSSAR since 192S have accepted descendants of soldiers and sailors who served under Governor Bernardo de Giive~ of Louisiana. The NSSAR now accepts descendants of soldiers and sailors who served in any of the Spanish Borderlands from California to Florida. Our effort has been to identify the soldiers (and sailors) in Spanish service in each of the Spanish jurisdictions, plus those who were called up in the militia, plus those who contributed funds to defray wartime expenses, plus those who provided beef for the Spanish armies, plus the priests who led public prayers for Spain's success during the war. Our f'n~t two books covered California and the third Arizona, or at least the southern third of the state. The fourth study, or book, covered New Mexico, the most forward thrust of the Spanish frontier. It was also the oldest and most self-sufficient of the Spanish frontier provinces. This fifth study covers Texas, also an exposed area on the Spanish frontier. Our study includes the West and South Texas (R/o Grands) areas which at the time were in Nueva VizcayaYChihuah~,a, Ccahuila, Nuevo Santauder/Tamaulipas, and New Mexico. We we2"e able to find enlistment records for nearly all regular soldiers who served at the Presidios of Bahia and B~xar during the war period. We identified many of the soldiers in the Presidios along the Rio Graude. We did not find specific militia records, nor could we identify specific contributors to the war fund; but we did identify most of those who moved cattle to Louisiana to support the Spanish Army operations there. We probably have other patriots included in the list of all male Texas residents who would have been 18 or over during the 1779-1783 war period. We believe we were able to identify most of the Hispanics and Hispanlcized Indians of the war period. o.. 111 ~b aWw Because of page limitations, we did not include chapters from previous books which may be helpful to the reader. Those chapters from the Arizona book include: 1. Why Patriotic Organizations Sl~ould Accept Descendants i':I of Spanish/Mexican Soldiers Who Served in the Spanish Borderlands during the American Revolution; 2. The Spanish Borderlands during the Era of Spain's 1779-1783 War with England; 9A. Soldiers of the Provincias Internas Who May Have Served in Spain's 1779-1783 War with England; 9B. Other Patriots and Near Patriots . " ~. ...- Associated with the Provinclas Internas of New Spain but Who Did Not Serve in CA, AZ, 1NM, or TX, and Who Are Not on the List of SI~anish Army Key Personnel; and 10C. Additional Spanish Borderlands References. W, ,i: ": In preparing this Texas study, we were able to use work of others who had studied the records of Spanish Texas, as it then existed; specifically Robert H. Thonhoff, Jack Jackson, and Sandra L. lyres. These researchers i,l!~.'.~,:'. found the Presidio rostegs and the lis:s of those who drove cattle to Louisiana to support Spanish army operations !y,,~,.- ~, ,. , there. ,~!.:, , : .~ VI )I.~ii, . ,~,:;::)!, , > ~ .... Those whose work gave us insights into the people of Nuevo Santander now in South Texas (along the lower 't ~:.~\~ • . ~|.k OM ..... '~',-k. ;L ,'¢.' ." Rio Grande) were Florence (Johnson) Scott, Gilberto Miguel Hinojosa, and Mary Lou and Saul Vela. '~!,k'.,~'~ ~ -" - ~,':i~.~.: ': -..: ~ • , ~,~':':;,,',~-,.,'.',, .,...,. Those who provided key information, assistance and support for tl~e. West Texas. (E/Paso ~o Grande area) ~.'~' : ~', .." were Jo~ Esquibel and Rick Hendricks. Jord Esquibel had posted on ms wed site me t lee ann 1790 El Paso censuses, which had been translated, alphabetized, and annotated by John B. Colligan and Terry L. Corbett. Rick Hendricks, through his studies of Prenuptial Investigations, provided the names and relationships of most of the E! Paso area soldiers and many of its citizens. He also developed and published information on the 1784 and 1787 ::i'i~.~; • ~ ~,: censuses of E! Paso. These two censuses were merged and updated by John B. ColUgan. Because of the work by 1......~.. -... ~:" ; these persons, we were able to develop a comprehensive list of El Paso male citizens over 18 during the 1779o1783 ! %*::i::, . period. The El Paso section was included in our New Mexico book, but we have updated it for this study. It is 0~~ .1" . ~ • " probable we will also do an additional study of all the Northern Mexican states of the Provlaclas lnternas, where the ...i;~:~ik;;,~ • ...,~. communities shared the Spanish Borderlands heritage. Many people who became U. S. citizens are from these border states. Many share descent from Spanish soldiers who fought in the 1779-1783 war with England. TXPrefl, ZIP, 24 June 2000. .. 4 ~ I - , - . iv N~,,- SPAIN'S TEXAS PATRIOTS IN ITS 1779 - 1783 WAR WITH ENGLAND - DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Contents ~'reface .............................................................................................................................. ill 1. Texas Time Line and Activities, 1775.1790 ............... ?.............................................................

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