Joaquín De Arredondo in Texas and Northeastern New Spain, 1811-1821
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JOAQUÍN DE ARREDONDO IN TEXAS AND NORTHEASTERN NEW SPAIN, 1811-1821 Bradley Folsom, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2014 APPROVED: F. Todd Smith, Major Professor Andrew Torget, Committee Member Aaron Navarro, Committee Member Harland Hagler, Committee Member Richard Vedder, Committee Member Richard McCaslin, Chair of the Department of History Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Folsom, Bradley. Joaquín de Arredondo in Texas and Northeastern New Spain, 1811- 1821. Doctor of Philosophy (History), August 2014, 312 pp., bibliography, 282 titles. Joaquín de Arredondo was the most powerful and influential person in northeastern New Spain from 1811 to 1821. His rise to prominence began in 1811 when the Spanish military officer and a small royalist army suppressed Miguel Hidalgo’s revolution in the province of Nuevo Santander. This prompted the Spanish government to promote Arredondo to Commandant General of the Eastern Internal Provinces, making him the foremost civil and military authority in northeastern New Spain. Arredondo’s tenure as commandant general proved difficult, as he had to deal with insurgents, invaders from the United States, hostile Indians, pirates, and smugglers. Because warfare in Europe siphoned much needed military and financial support, and disagreements with New Spain’s leadership resulted in reductions of the commandant general’s authority, Arredondo confronted these threats with little assistance from the Spanish government. In spite of these obstacles, he maintained royalist control of New Spain from 1811 to 1821, and, in doing so, changed the course of Texas, Mexican, and United States history. In 1813, he defeated insurgents and American invaders at the Battle of Medina, and from 1817 to 1820, his forces stopped Xavier Mina’s attempt to bring independence to New Spain, prevented French exiles from establishing a colony in Texas, and defeated James Long’s filibustering expedition from the United States. Although unable to sustain Spanish rule in 1821, Arredondo’s approval of Moses Austin’s petition to settle families from the United States in Texas in 1820 and his role in the development of Antonio López de Santa Anna, meant the officer continued to influence Mexico. Perhaps Arredondo’s greatest importance is that the study of his life provides a means to learn about an internationally contested region during one of the most turbulent eras in North American history. Copyright 2014 by Bradley Folsom ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to the countless individuals who assisted me in completing this project. I am especially thankful for the contributions of the members of my committee. Dr. F. Todd Smith sat patiently while I droned on about obscure aspects of Arredondo’s life, Dr. Harland Hagler’s kind words encouraged me to grow as a historian and a man, Dr. Andrew Torget showed me how to be a professional, and Dr. Aaron Navarro put up with my nonsense for ten years and taught me to love Latin American history. I also had the support of understanding friends and family (thanks AJ, Raymond, Mabes, Mom, Robert, and everyone who had to put up with me working long hours). Three individuals deserve my gratitude above all others. Out of the kindness of his heart, Dr. Donald Chipman introduced me to this project, helped me with sources, and edited a woefully incomplete monograph. He is a great man. So is my father, Dana Folsom. By providing me with financial support, someone to talk to, and friendship, he allowed me to pursue my dreams. Most importantly, I would like to thank my wife Heather Folsom. Without her love and patience, I would not be where I am today. Finally, I promised two guys from El Garrobo, Spain that I would mention them in my acknowledgments. Although I have forgotten their names, I wanted to thank them for giving my wife and I a ride when we were stranded in the Spanish countryside. Their kindness taught me that there are many things to learn about Spain that cannot be found in an archive. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................................... iii Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 2. LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON, 1775-1810 .............................................................................. 15 3. THE CONQUEST OF NUEVO SANTANDER, 1811............................................................ 43 4. ARREDONDO AS ADMINISTRATOR AND DELEGATOR, 1812......................................... 66 5. THE BATTLE OF MEDINA, 1813 ..................................................................................... 85 6. CALIGULA IN TEXAS, 1813-1814 ................................................................................. 110 7. THE VICEROY OF THE NORTH, 1814-1815 .................................................................. 132 8. A GOVERNMENT OF ORDER AND GOOD ADMINISTRATION, 1815-1816 ................... 156 9. THE SIEGE OF SOTO LA MARINA, 1817 ....................................................................... 184 10. A FALSE PEACE, 1817-1820 ....................................................................................... 211 11. THE COMING OF MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1820-1821 ......................................... 240 12. AFTER ARREDONDO, 1821-1837 ............................................................................... 265 13. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 281 APPENDIX: ROMANCE DE ARREDONDO ..................................................................................... 289 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................ 292 iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Anything bad written about Arredondo can well be believed, for he was truly bad Carlos María de Bustamante. [Arredondo] was no more cruel or bloody than the majority of the military men of his age Biographer Judith Jiménez. On August 18, 1813, a Spanish army under Commandant General Joaquín de Arredondo defeated some 1,400 Mexican revolutionaries and American adventurers on a plain south of San Antonio, Texas. At the time, Texas was a province of New Spain and a part of Spain’s vast American empire. The revolutionaries who fought in the battle had hoped victory would free Texas from Spanish rule, thereby providing a foothold from which to bring independence to the rest of New Spain. Their American allies wanted to see Texas independent in the hopes of one day joining the province to the United States. The Spanish army’s victory ended these dreams, returned Texas to the royalist fold, and helped suppress the revolution that had raged across northeastern New Spain for the past three years.1 The Battle of Medina was one of many nineteenth century conflicts fought for control of an area known as the Eastern Internal Provinces, today’s Texas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and 1 For more on the Battle of Medina, see Donald E. Chipman and Harriett Denise Joseph, Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999); Julia Kathryn Garrett, Green Flag over Texas: A Story of the Last Years of Spain in Texas (New York: Cordova Press, 1939); Ted Schwarz, Forgotten Battlefield of the First Texas Revolution:The Battle of Medina, August 18, 1813 (Austin: Eakin Press, 1985); Joaquín de Arredondo, "Joaquín de Arredondo's Report of the Battle of the Medina, August 18, 1813,“ trans. Mattie A. Hatcher, The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 11 (January 1908): 220-236; Carlos María de Bustamante, Cuadro histórico de la revolución mexicana de 1810 (México D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de la Revolución Mexicana, 1985); and Judith Miriam Jiménez, “Joaquín de Arredondo: Loyalist Officer in New Spain, 1810-1821” (Ph.D diss., University of Michigan, 1933). 1 Tamaulipas. The Spanish claimed what would be the eastern provinces as part of their New Spain colony in the sixteenth century, and because of the region’s relative infertility, lack of mineral wealth, and hostile Indians inhabitants, few Europeans challenged this claim for hundreds of years. Those who did were unwilling to invest the resources required to take the land from Spain. The situation changed in the early nineteenth century with the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, revolutionary upheaval across Spanish America, and United States westward expansion. Suddenly, the eastern provinces became a desired commodity. Citizens of the United States wanted land to cultivate cotton, insurgents needed a base from which to spread revolution, French exiles sought to create an overseas empire, and pirates and brigands wanted a place to conduct their illicit operations. These different groups all recognized that the eastern provinces would fit their needs and sought to wrest the provinces from Spain’s control.2 Unfortunately for Spain, these challenges came at a time when the nation was at its weakest. Poor decision-making and financial mismanagement had seen Spain fall from the world’s leading power in the 1500s to become one of Western Europe’s weakest nations by the turn of the nineteenth century. When French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain in 1808 and replaced its king with his brother Joseph, it threw the Spanish empire further into