For the Love of Texas by Betsy Christian

Author:Betsy Christian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

How sad for Austin and his friends to be robbed of their little bit of food out in the middle of nowhere. There was no Burger King drive-through anywhere close, and it’d be more than one hundred years before Whataburger established their headquarters in Corpus Christi.

Like getting robbed in the desert wasn’t enough, Austin then had to stay in Mexico for nearly a year, haggling with the Mexican government and trying to clarify his authority over the people he enticed to the colony. And what the heck were the colonists doing without their leader?

Read this slowly. It sounds confusing with all the switching back and forth, but if you let it sink in for a minute, it’s really easy to understand. Here we go: the Mexican government was still organizing after declaring independence from Spain. General Agustín de Iturbide named himself emperor of independent Mexico after his big win over the Spanish (royalists) who were led by an officer named Antonio Lopéz de Santa Anna.95 Sweet—win a war and crown yourself El Emperador. Santa Anna, a Mexican hero who will later become a big deal in the story of Texas, then switched to the nationalist, or Independent Mexico, side after being captured by rebel forces.96 Smooth move, Señor Santa Anna! Shall we make a bet that he switches sides again?

Santa Anna, not one to miss a chance to shine, then became a rebel leader and fought against his own original troops in his home province of Veracruz. He won the fight, and Iturbide rewarded him with the rank of general. But that over-ambitious Santa Anna seemed to care most about ending up on the winning side. He was never really a true follower of Iturbide, who for his part showed at least some good judgment by not trusting Santa Anna. As things turned out, Iturbide was a weak leader who needed a fierce military to maintain his power. Finally, Santa Anna soured on Iturbide’s dictatorship and in December 1822 declared a Mexican Republic in Veracruz.97 Bold move, Santa Anna! Iturbide did not take kindly to this and taught him a lesson in a battle at Jalapa, Santa Anna’s hometown. Iturbide spanked Santa Anna in front of his boys.98

Despite the setback, Santa Anna remained in Mexico, and the republican (meaning “we don’t want El Emperador, but we want to elect our government”) uprising gathered strength. By March 1823, Iturbide couldn’t stand the pressure. He stepped down from his throne and left the country.99 Mexico became a constitutional republic. Austin, who had spent the first few months in Mexico City petitioning the Iturbide government, now had to suck up to a whole new set of government officials. What a hassle—but after eleven months of wrangling, he finally received the seals and signatures necessary to validate his charter for the colonization on the Brazos River.100 Don Estevan F. Austin was now officially the empresario of the American colony in Mexican Texas. Empresario sounds much more impressive than broke American, huh?

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