The Texas Revolution

Texas Revolution -- Battles

Battle of Gonzales

While the battle at the Alamo is by far the most famous battle in the Texas Revolution, there were other, less-well-known battles that also deserve attention. As to the beginning of the Revolution, the first shots were fired in that revolution on October 2, 1835, in the small community of Gonzales, Texas, according to History.com. Those shots were fired as Mexican soldiers were attempting to disarm the citizens in Gonzales, which lit the flames to the all-out war. The state of Texas had "technically been a part of the Spanish empire" since the 17th century, but there weren't very many Mexican-Spanish settlers in Texas in the late 1820s, and the History.com site explains that Mexico City had only a "tenuous" hold on Texas.

After Mexico achieved its independence from Spain in 1821, the government of Mexico was hoping that the many Anglo-Americans migrating into Texas might eventually become "loyal Mexican citizens and keep the territory from falling into the hands of the United States" (history.com). A large number of immigrants of European ethnicity did indeed come into Texas, and while they became Mexican citizens, the still spoke English, they still built and staffed their own schools, and they were closer to American government affiliation than they were to the government of Mexico down in Mexico City. Hence, there was a cultural schism developing (history.com).

When Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became dictator of Mexico in 1835, he asked his military personnel to take away guns from Texans, and that policy is what provoked Texans in Gonzales to resist and to in fact kick off the Texas Revolution. Actually, the citizens of Gonzalez had a cannon which they had used to fight off Indian attacks, and the Mexican troops had tried to take that cannon back and when the citizens not only refused to allow that cannon to be confiscated, they arrested Santa Anna's soldiers -- and that was the spark that set off the revolution (Minster, 2010).

Christopher Minster writes in The New York Times-owned About.com publication that Texans (known then as "Texians") had been smuggling goods into and out of Texas (against Mexican rules), and were "…more and more rebellious" -- including defying rules -- and this set the stage for the crisis in Gonzales (p. 1). Rebellious Texans formed a militia and chased the Mexican forces back to San Antonio and shortly thereafter Stephen Austin was named commander of the Texas forces because it was clear that a war was underway.

Battle of Concepcion

While the Battle of Gonzales was considered the first battle of the Texas Revolution, the Battle of Concepcion was considered the initial major conflict in which heavy arms were used by both sides. It took place 26 days after the Battle of Gonzales, on the grounds of the Concepcion Mission, which was just outside San Antonio. Jim Bowie and James Fannin led the battle from the Texas side. The Mexican army had launched "…a vicious assault" on the Texas rebels, but led by Fannin and Bowie, the rebels pushed the Mexican army back into San Antonio (Minster).

This was a "huge" victory for the Texans, and shortly thereafter they took the town of San Antonio from the Mexican army, Minster explains. San Antonio was considered the most important town in Texas, Minster explains, because of its strategic location; both sides really wanted to control San Antonio, and although the Texans eventually won San Antonio, it didn't come easy.

Jim Bowie was once a resident of San Antonio, so he was fully aware of the city and all its streets and buildings. He also had many friends in San Antonio, so he got a message to one of his old friends (during the time when the Battle of Concepcion had not yet erupted, but both sides were spoiling for a fight) and that message was passed around to a number of residents, which caused several to sneak out of town and join Bowie and the other rebels. The Mexican residents in San Antonio that joined Bowie were "…every bit as passionate about independence as the Anglo Texans," Minster writes. Bowie along with about 90 men dug in at the mission but on the morning of October 28, the Mexican army attacked, but thanks to the long rifles that Bowie and the Texas rebels possessed, and to the skill that the riflemen had obtained in preparing for Revolution, one by one they picked off the Mexicans that were manning the cannons across the river.

The Mexicans "lost their spirit and broke" and the Texas chased them, capturing the cannons and shooting the cannons at the Mexicans that were retreating, Minster continues on page 2. The Battle of Concepcion ended with the Texans losing only one man, but the Mexican army lost 60 men, according to Minster. So having won that battle, the rebellious Texans remained in a camp just outside of San Antonio for "several weeks," and by December, 1835, even though the commander of the Texas rebels, Sam Houston, had asked the troops to move to the east, the Bowie-led soldiers wanted to fight. So they attacked the Mexicans that had moved back into San Antonio on December 5, and by December 9, the Mexicans had surrendered to the Texans.