Texian Army

When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, the former Spanish province of Texas became part of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. Many of the people who lived in Texas, which had included the land north of the Medina and the Nueces Rivers, northeast of the Rio Grande, west of San Antonio de Bexar, and east of the Sabine River, wished to be a separate state again. For the first time, the government of Texas encouraged immigrants from the United States to settle its lands. By 1834, an estimated 30,000 English speakers lived in Texas, compared to only 7,800 of Spanish heritage. The bankrupt Mexican government was unable to offer Texas much military support. Many of the settlements had created small militias to protect themselves against raids by Indian tribes. their first commander-in-chief. Antonio López de Santa Anna issued orders to the Mexican Army to show no quarter to the Texian Army rebels Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna the government of Mexico began to drift towards a more centralist form. In 1835 Santa Anna revoked the Constitution of 1824 and began reigning as a dictator. In various parts of the country federalists revolted. In September 1835, Colonel Domingo Ugartechea, the military commander of the Mexican forces at San Antonio de Bexar set troops to recover a small cannon that had been given to the Texian Militia of Gonzales for protection. When the Mexican troops, under Lieutenant Francisco de Castañeda, reached Gonzales, Texian commander Captain Albert Martin convinced the troops to wait for several days. Martin then sent messengers to other English-speaking settlements, asking for reinforcements to help protect the cannon. Within several days, militias from Fayette County and Columbus arrived. In Gonzales, the Texian Militias combined to form the Texian Army and chose John Henry Moore as their captain, Joseph Washington Elliot Wallace as a lieutenant colonel, and Edward Burleson as major. After the battle ended, disgruntled colonists continued to assemble in Gonzales, eager to put a decisive end to Mexican control over the area. 's call for the Army of Texas recruitment proclamation on December 12, 1835 Within a week, the men had taken the Mexican post at Goliad. Austin had only two months of military experience in the Missouri First Regiment of Mounted Militia under Colonel Alexander McNair, where he earned the rank of quartermaster sergeant, but he saw no combat. ==Demographics==

In 1836, Texas had a population of 40,000 people. Approximately 2,000 of the citizens, around 5% of the population, served in the army at some point between October 1835 and April 1846. Of the men who arrived in Texas after October 1, 1835, not all of these additions were American citizens; many were recent immigrants from Europe who were seeking adventure and potential riches in Texas. Through the course of the Texas Revolution, one in seven of the English-speaking settlers in Texas joined the army. One in three adult male Tejanos, that is, Spanish-speaking settlers in Texas, joined the Texan army. The composition of the army changed dramatically over time, with four distinct waves: • the army of OctoberDecember 1835, which participated in the battles of Gonzales, Goliad and the Siege of Bexar • the army from January through March 1836 • the army of mid-March through April, 1836, which participated in the Battle of San Jacinto • the army of MaySeptember 1836 The early army was composed predominantly of Texas residents, with every municipality represented. Over 1,300 men volunteered for the army in October and November 1835. Of these, approximately 1,1001,500 were residents of Texas, with an average date of emigration of 1830. Half of the men were married. Roughly 51% of them came from the Department of the Brazos, an area in central Texas which consisted of the colonies established by Stephen F. Austin and Green DeWitt, as well as some of the area granted to Sterling C. Robertson. An additional 15% of the volunteers were from the Department of Bexar, where most citizens were Tejano, and which was partially occupied by Mexican troops. Thirty-four percent of the volunteers came from the Nacogdoches district of far East Texas, an area where homes and families were not under threat. A total of 917 men served in the army for varying lengths of time in JanuaryMarch 1836. In a sharp contrast from the army of a few months prior, these men were predominantly newcomers to Texas. The overwhelming majority—78%—had arrived from the United States since the outbreak of hostilities in October. They had an average age of 27, and almost two-thirds were single. Of the Texians who continued to participate, 57% were from the areas most at risk of Mexican attempts to reassert control over its national territory—Bexar, Gonzales, Matagorda and Jackson—despite the small population of these areas. When examined in the context of the political districts, 59% of the Texians were from the Brazos department and 23% from Bexar. The army suffered significant losses at the battles of the Alamo and Coleto. The provisional government passed conscription laws, which should have resulted in about 4,000 men joining the army. The laws were impossible to enforce due to the fact that most citizens had fled as part of the Runaway Scrape. Approximately 60% of the soldiers were single, and their average age was 28. In many families, the younger sons joined the army while the fathers escorted the women and younger children east, away from the advancing Mexican army. 67% of the Texians who volunteered were from the Brazos Department, an impressive number considering the heavy losses many of these areas had sustained in the March fighting. 25% were from the Nacogdoches district, fewer than had served in 1835. Only 5% of the Texians were from the Bexar District. This number was low both because many of the volunteers had perished at the Alamo or Coleto and because the area was now occupied by the Mexican army. It was not only difficult for men to leave the area, but it was unwise to leave their families. The majority of the men from Bexar who served in April were cavalry officers under the command of Colonel Juan Seguin. Lack posits that many of those who chose not to re-enlist in April 1836 believed that they had done their duty. For the most part, they were older and, as they had been in Texas longer, they had more to protect. Believing the hostilities were over, by the end of May, most of the Texas residents had left the army, which shrank to 400 men. With fears of a Mexican counterattack spreading, more volunteers arrived from the United States. By June, the ranks had increased to 1300–1700 men, and by September to 2,500 men, spread across 53 companies. Of those in the army in September, 1,800 had come to Texas after the Battle of San Jacinto. ==Formation and structure==

The structure of the Texian Army was relatively fluid. Originally, it was composed entirely Texian Militia who came and went at will. Rangers were to be paid $1.25 per day. Republic Army Texian regular army and permanent volunteer units • Texas Rangers (paramilitary unit) • Infantry (militia) • Mounted Volunteers (militia) • Mounted Gunmen (militia) • Mounted Riflemen (militia) • Spies (militia) • Ranging Corps. (militia) • Mounted Rangers (militia) • Army • Minute Men (militia) • Juan Seguín's Mexican Tejano Volunteers (militia) United States volunteer auxiliary corps units • Alabama Red Rovers (Alabama Volunteers) (Courtland, Alabama) • Georgia Battalion (Georgia Volunteers) (Macon, Georgia) • Huntsville Rovers (Huntsville, Alabama) • Kentucky Mustangs • Mississippi Guards • Missouri Invincibles • Mobile Greys (Alabama Volunteers) (Mobile, Alabama) • Natchez Mustangs (Natchez, Mississippi) • New Orleans Greys (New Orleans, Louisiana) • 1st New York Battalion • 2nd New York Battalion • North Carolina Volunteers • Tennessee Mounted Volunteers (Tennessee Volunteers) • Union Guards (?) ==Texian Army flags==

File:Texas Flag Come and Take It.svg|Come and Take It FlagThis flag design made reference to the cannon used by Texian Army troops under the command of John Henry Moore at the Battle of Gonzales on October 2, 1835. The Texian cannon on the flag with motto "Come and Take It" was used during the battle to antagonize the Mexican Army to try and capture the cannon. File:Brown's Flag of Independence.svg|'''Brown's Independence Flag'''This flag had a "Bloody Arm" design and was supposedly used by Captain William S. Brown during the Mexican Army's Siege of Bexar from October 12 - December 11, 1835. File:Captain Scott's Flag.svg|'''Scott's Liberals Flag'''This flag was used by the "Liberals" under the command of Captain William Scott at the Battle of Concepcion on October 28, 1835. File:Red Rover's Flag.svg|Red Rovers FlagThis flag had a solid red field design and was used by the Red Rovers of Alabama under the command of Captain Jack Shackelford at the Battle of Coleto from March 19–20, 1836 and the Battle of Goliad on October 9, 1835. After the Goliad battle the Red Rovers and James Fannin's troops were captured and killed in the Goliad Massacre File:Flag of the New Orleans Grays.svg|New Orleans Greys FlagThis flag emblazoned with the American bald eagle was used by the First Company of New Orleans Greys volunteers under the commands of Captain Thomas H. Breece and Robert C. Morris participated in driving the Mexican Army from San Antonio and many were captured and later killed in the Goliad Massacre. Elements of the New Orleans Grays fought in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. File:Flag of Georgia Battalion.svg|Troutman FlagThis flag designed by Joanna Troutman was used by the Georgia Battalion under the command of William Ward which marched from Macon, Georgia to participate in the fight against Mexico and were killed in the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 File:1824 Flag.svg|Alamo FlagThis flag made reference to the Mexican Constitution of 1824 and to the original design of the 1821 Mexican tri-color flag following independence from Spain. The flag was allegedly used by the co-commanders of the Alamo William Barret Travis and James Bowie who the flew flag during the Siege of the Alamo from March–April 1836. File:Flag of Coahuila y Tejas.svg|Coahuila y Tejas FlagThis flag was originally designed to be used jointly as an independence flag by the former Mexican states of Coahuila and Tejas from 1824–1835 with the tri-color field of the 1824 national flag of Mexico and the two yellow stars representing the sovereign nations of Coahuila y Tejas. The flag was allegedly raised by the Texian Army in 1836 inside the Alamo in defiance of the besieging Mexican Army. File:Texas Dodson Flag.svg|Dodson FlagThis flag was the first "Lone Star flag" of Texas and was used as a military flag created by Sarah Dodson for her husband, Archelaus who was a member of the Texas Volunteers. It was used during the siege of San Antonio and the capture of the Alamo. File:Baker's San Felipe Flag.svg|San Felipe FlagThis flag was allegedly designed by Gail Borden of condensed milk fame. The flag was used by the San Felipe Militia of the Texian Army under the command of Captain Moseley Baker and First Lieutenant John P. Borden, brother of Gail Borden supposedly flown at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. File:Captain Burroughs' Flag From Ohio.svg|'''Burroughs' Ohio Flag'''This flag emblazoned with the American bald eagle and the white Texas star on a blue field of the Zavala Flag imposed in the background design was used by Captain George H. Burroughs and his Zanesville, Ohio militia company flew at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. File:San Jacinto Flag.svg|San Jacinto Liberty FlagThis flag had a "Lady Liberty" design and was used by the Second Regiment of the Texian Army under the command of Colonel Sidney Sherman at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. File:De Zavala Flag.svg|Zavala FlagThis flag was the first official flag of the Republic of Texas designed by Texas Constitutional delegate, Lorenzo de Zavala, being in use as early as March 1836 which would have been the last official flag of the Texian Army. ==Notable Texian Army commanders and officers==

File:Portrait of Governor Sam Houston.jpg|Commander-In-Chief Major General Sam Houston File:Edburleson.jpg|Commander Major General Edward Burleson File:Frank W Johnson.JPG|Adjutant and Inspector General Frank W. Johnson File:ThomasJeffersonRusk.jpg|Inspector General Thomas Jefferson Rusk File:Sidney sherman.jpg|Colonel Sidney Sherman File:Jimbowie.jpg|Colonel James Bowie File:JamesWFannin.jpg|Colonel James Fannin File:Ben milam.jpg|Colonel Benjamin Milam File:William B. Travis by Wiley Martin.JPG|Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis File:Juan seguin.jpg|Lieutenant Colonel Juan Seguin File:David Crockett.jpg|Colonel Davy Crockett File:ESC robertson.jpg|Major Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson File:Dr. 'Jack' Shackelford.jpg|Captain Jack Shackelford File:Deaf smith.jpg|Captain Erastus "Deaf" Smith File:McCullochBenjamin.jpg|First Lieutenant Benjamin McCulloch ==Notable soldiers==

• John Melville Allen, first mayor of Galveston • Moseley Baker, member of Alabama Congress; member of the Republic of Texas Congress • Gail Borden, inventor of process for condensed milk and namesake of Borden's Milk • Andrew Briscoe, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, first judge of Harris County, Texas • Benjamin F. Bryant, founder of the Bryant Station frontier fort and Texas Ranger • Henry Eustace McCulloch, Texas Ranger; brigadier general Confederate States of America • Elijah Sterling Clack Robertson, empresario, postmaster of the Republic of Texas • Juan Seguín, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, namesake of Seguin, Texas • Deaf Smith, headed company of Texas Rangers, namesake of Deaf Smith County, Texas • George K. Teulon, editor of the Austin City Gazette and publisher of The Western Advocate • Martin Varner original settler of the Old Three Hundred of the Texian Army and later of condensed milk fame, with his brother founded the first newspaper in Texas in San Felipe de Austin, the Telegraph and Texas Register which appeared on October 10, 1835, days after the Texas Revolution began. ==Uniforms, weapons, and equipment==

Neither the regular nor volunteer components of the Texian Army were issued specific uniforms. Other companies had more loosely defined "uniforms", such as wearing matching hunting shirts. Texian volunteer Noah Smithwick wrote a description of the volunteer army as it looked in October 1835: Words are inadequate to convey an impression of the appearance of the first Texas army as it formed in marching order. ... Buckskin breeches were the nearest approach to uniform and there was wide diversity even there, some of them being new and soft and yellow, while others, from long familiarity with rain and grease and dirt, had become hard and black and shiny. ... Boots being an unknown quantity, some wore shoes and some moccasins. Here a broad brimmed sombrero overshadowed the military cap at its side; there, a tall "beegum" rode familiarly beside a coonskin cap, with the tail hanging down behind, as all well regulated tails should do ... here a bulky roll of bed quilts jostled a pair of "store " blankets; there the shaggy brown buffalo robe contrasted with a gaily colored checkered counterpane on which the manufacturer had lavished all the skill of dye and weave known to art ... in lieu of a canteen, each man carried a Spanish gourd.... Here a big American horse loomed above the nimble Spanish pony, there a half-broke mustang pranced beside a sober methodical mule. A fantastic military array to a casual observer, but the one great purpose animating every heart clothed us in a uniform more perfect in our eyes than was ever donned by regulars on dress parade. ==History==

Offensive maneuvers (October – December 1835) Several days after Austin took command, the army marched towards Bexar to confront General Martin Perfecto de Cos, who had recently arrived to command the remaining Mexican troops in Texas. A month later the establishment of a Legion of Cavalry would be authorized. The commander of the regular forces, Sam Houston, called for 5,000 men to enlist in the regular army but had difficulty convincing men to join. Many of the arrivals from the United States did not want to be under a more strict military control, and instead informally joined the volunteer units that had gathered in other parts of Texas. These volunteer soldiers were in many cases more impassioned than the Texas settlers. Although the provisional Texas government was still debating whether the troops were fighting for independence or for separate statehood, on December 20, 1835, the Texian garrison at Goliad voted unanimously to issue a proclamation of independence, stating "that the former province and department of Texas is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign and independent state". The government was woefully short of funds. On January 6, 1836, Colonel James C. Neill, commander of the remaining 100 troops in Bexar, wrote to the council: " there has ever been a dollar here I have no knowledge of it. The clothing sent here by the aid and patriotic exertions of the honorable Council, was taken from us by arbitrary measures of Johnson and Grant, taken from men who endured all the hardships of winter and who were not even sufficiently clad for summer, many of them having but one blanket and one shirt, and what was intended for them given away to men some of whom had not been in the army more than four days, and many not exceeding two weeks." On January 10, Johnson issued a call to form a Federal Volunteer Army of Texas which would march on Matamoros during the Matamoros Expedition. The commander at the Alamo, William B. Travis, sent numerous letters to the Texas settlements, begging for reinforcements. Men began to gather in Gonzales to prepare to reinforce the garrison. Before they left, the Mexican army launched the Battle of the Alamo, and all of the Texian soldiers who had been stationed in Bexar were killed. This left two branches of the Texian Army: Fannin's 400 men at Goliad and Neill's 400 men at Gonzales, who soon reported to Houston. On hearing the news of the massacre at the Alamo, Houston ordered his army to retreat and burned the town of Gonzales as they left. He ordered Fannin to bring his men and join the rest of the army. Fannin's force was defeated at the Battle of Coleto Creek, and on March 27 Fannin and his men were executed at the Goliad Massacre. A few soldiers escaped, and 80 soldiers who had just arrived from the United States and had no weapons were spared. As news spread of the defeats at the Alamo and Goliad, men flocked to the Texian army. By early April, Houston commanded about 800 men. The Texas Revolution essentially ended on April 21, when the Texian Army routed a Mexican force and captured Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. For six months David G. Burnet, ad interim President of the Republic, had diligently maintained the army laws set forth by the Consultation in December 1835. The 1835–36 Regular Army of Texas would never consist of more than 100 soldiers and would never approach the Consultation's number goal of 560 infantry, 560 artillery and 384 cavalry, in the permanent "Regular Army" of Texas. However, the goal of independence was achieved, nonetheless. This flag designed by Philip Dimmitt made reference to the Mexican Constitution of 1824 and to the original 1821 Mexican tri-color flag following independence from Spain. The flag was allegedly used by Texian Army riflemen under the command of Captain Ira Westover at the Battle of Lipantitlán on November 4, 1835. --> of the Texian Army Sam Houston lying wounded with his troops at the surrender of the Mexican Army commanded by the Mexican general Santa Anna which brought an end to the war ==Retention as permanent defensive force for the Republic of Texas (1836–1845)==

• 1960: The Alamo, a feature film based on the Battle of the Alamo. Depicts Texas Rangers and Texian Army. • 2004: The Alamo, a feature film based on the Battle of the Alamo. Depicts Texas Rangers and Texian Army. • 2015: Texas Rising, a 10-hour miniseries based on the Texas Revolution. Depicts Texas Rangers and Texian Army. • 2018: The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen ("Empire or Liberty"), an episode based on the Battle of the Alamo. Depicts Texas Rangers and Texian Army. ==See also==