The Sacking of Zacatecas

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huisache
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Another post discussed the Rape of Nanking and there was a mention that hardly anybody knows about it now and it is not taught in the schools apparently.

It brought to my mind the sacking of Zacatecas by Santa Anna's centralist army in 1835. The Zacatecans, like the Texans, were fed up with Santa Anna's seizure of dictatorial powers and the centralists' attempts to control everything in the country from the federal district. So they kept their own militia and advised Mexico City that they were happy to govern themselves.

Santa Anna marched up, attacked, and destroyed their militia army and then turned his troops loose for a couple of days to loot and engage in other activities that conscript armies are prone to enjoy.

The Texans of the following year knew about this episode in Mexican history and expected worse. That was one reason why they did no go gladly into that good night or leave much around for the dictator's army to feast upon when they fled.

I was in high school in the '60s and college in the early '70s and barely heard of this event; is it discussed in Texas history classes or American history, when the Texas revolt or annexation are discussed?

I know some historians now like to promote the idea that slavery was a prime cause of the Texas revolt of 1835-6 but is the federalist/centralist dispute even mentioned? Or Santa Anna's history of purposeful engagement?
DevilYack
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AG
I have kids in high school, middle school, and elementary. As far as I can tell, they take a totally Texas-centric approach to the revolution. There may be a paragraph or two on Federalist/Centralist, but it's brief.

On the other hand, Girl#1 (7th grader), pulled the black bean in class the other day. Lo siento, chica. ;-)

[This message has been edited by DevilYack (edited 12/15/2011 10:49a).]
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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sorry, where in Mexico did the Zacatecas live?
aalan94
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AG
I'm about as pro-Texan as they come, but our provincialism hurts us sometimes. We don't really teach much context concerning external events, because we're too busy trying to fit the revolution into one of the following narratives:

1. Proud Anglo white guys fighting against the evil dark legions of doom (old school Democratic racist narrative).

2. Freedom-loving citizens of mixed races standing up for liberty. (More modern approach, in which we've redeemed Tejanos but didn't really change the narrative much).

3. Evil slave owning protestants stealing land from the poor victims known as Mexicans. (The Mexican/Latino revisionism that grew after the revolution when they realized that the old Democratic guys weren't going to let them take share of the power.

In truth, all of these narratives play a part, but it's much more complex than that. Some Texans embraced the Hispanics, some gave them lip service, some hated them. Same with the Tejano views. But even this is only scratching the surface when you think about issues like Huisache brought up. The Texans were very knowledgable about internal Mexican affairs, and I would argue that the average Texan settler knew more about the internal geography and politics of Mexico than 80 percent of the Texas history professors today. I know my prof at Tx. State, Dr. de la Teja, would be an exception, but most people who teach Texas history come from the perspective that nothing south of Mier was relevant to the revolution.

Texans were also aware of the general world historical environment. They were operating in an era in which the long shadow of the Napoleonic wars was cast (As Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar presumably knew). This was the Romantic age of Keates, Byron and Shelley, the Greek War for Independence (which had a gigantic influence on attitudes towards rebellion and freedom, the words "Come and Take it" being one example - they were not invented at Gonzales, but were borrowed from Leonidas' message to the Persians at Thermopylae).

Manifest destiny itself was part of a larger trend in world events inspired by Hegel, whose philosophy but forth the idea of a motion to history towards a goal. The people of the republic era actually thought differently than people before or since, and you cannot consider the revolution without that in mind, any more than you can imagine the 1960s generation fighting World War II a la Kelley's Heroes.
Bighunter43
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AG
In addition, one event that is seldom mentioned in Texas History Classes is the Battle of Medina. The Guitterez-Magee Expedition (the Green Flag Republic) attempted to free Texas from Spanish Royal control. It was a much larger battle than any battle of the Texas Revolution....with over 1,000 Guitterez-Magee men killed either in battle, or slaughtered after it was over. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was a young officer in the Royal Army, and may have learned a thing or two about "no quarter" in this episode. In addition, many of the dead were "quartered" and body parts were hung on trees in and around San Antonio to remind the locals who was in control. I think after taking part in this episode, Santa Anna never thought twice about what transpired at Zacatecas!
aalan94
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BigHunter, that's one of my favorite areas of interest because there is so much going on. Middle of the Napoleonic wars, War of 1812, etc. So much intrigue. So much to learn about regarding the future Texas Revolution.

Been thinking of doing my thesis on some aspect of that, but it's hard to do primary sources when your Spanish is only slightly above mediocre.
Maveric
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I cover it in Texas History and intro to US history when covering the Texas Revolution at the college level.
huisache
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Two add ons: those guys were also aware of what had happened in Haiti and most early Texans were avid readers of Walter Scott and Porter's book about the Scottish chiefs.

Reading Travis's letters, you would swear he was channeling Porter, who was the source of Mel Gibson's Braveheart.

Wanna read Aalan's thesis.

The Battle of Medina was also important as a reason why so many San Antonio Tejanos were revolutionaries. From my reading, what happened in SA after that battle was as scary as what happened in the battle and its immediate aftermath.
terata
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AG
aalan, you've hit on something here, the need to expand our cultural awareness is critical.
WBBQ74
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AG
Seems like here in Bexar County I read some controversy over the exact location of the Battle of Medina in 1813. Would be a facinating story or segment for the History Channel. Many more combatants than the Alamo but a completely forgotten piece of Texana to most folks. History is written by the winners. Can't see where Hollywood would run with this story because there are no 'heroes' left, just corpses. I agree that Santa Anna, as a young artillery officer, learned much from this encounter.

The concept of 'the cruelty of Spain' is rooted in many historical incidences. I would be interested in reading said Master's Thesis, too, when available.

BQBass13
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The only time I ever heard of this was in Academic Decathlon my senior year. The main topic was Latin America with a focus on Mexico. I considered myself an above average history scholar for a high school kid and had never heard of Zacatecas. And when it came to the Texas Revolution, all anybody knew was the Alamo. Most of the team gave me a blank stare when I mentioned places like Goliad and Gonzalez.
RGV AG
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Funny how rebellions shaped the future of modern Mexico. After the Zacatecas rebellion a large chunk of what had been Zacatecas was taken away from the state and it formed Aguascalientes. Much of the power and wealth went with it and now Agua's is a more prominent and developed state.

Like many things in Mexico, what might have started as orderly ends up in chaos. I have never studied or really been all that interested in all the Mexican dust up's of the early 19th century, as I find them confusing and due to heavy duty Mexican revisionism (I went to school in Mexico) history changed every few years. History in Mexico really is an amazing thing as who knows WTF really happened it has been changed and altered so much and the really consistent score keepers was the church and Lord knows they had all kinds of agendas in Mexico.

I remember being in Zacatecas when I was younger and reading about this battle, supposedly after the fray many of those "in rebellion" were killed but much of the looting and pillaging was facilitated by a complete breakdown of any law and order and the Federalist troops figured that the should not miss out on a good thing either.

I just have to wonder how many early Texan's looked at Mexico, Mexican's, and all that was going on and thought "what a mess" and figured that they needed to get away from that fiasco ASAP.
Apache
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Is there a single-volume book which deals with all the various Mexican revolutions of the 1830's?

Perhaps a Santa Anna biography....

[This message has been edited by Apache (edited 12/20/2011 8:46a).]
BQ78
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Santa Anna is in need of a good biography.

The only only that I see frequently is his autobiogrpahy which is heavily slanted. There was a recent biography out of the University of Nebraska but it created no buzz so I don't know if it is any good or not but would lean toward the latter.

As to Mexican history of the 19th century and earlier, just like Texas history, I turn to my favorite author in that area, Fehrenbach and suggest Fire and Blood.
huisache
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Mexicans at Arms: puro federalists by Pedro Santoni is published by TCU press and is very good on Mexican politics in the period. It is a thicket.

The best thing I ever read about Santa Anna was a thesis in Spanish by a psychology student from DF. He categorized him as a malignant narcisist.

He was a key figure in Mexican politics and the army for several decades and a disaster in every manner.

Fehrenbach's Mexico book is interesting but he so clearly came to hate his subject matter that it is not a very good guide.

There are dozens of good one volume Mexican histories. I just finished reading a short history of the Mexican American war that sought to explain why Mexico fought and it has a good leadup discussing independence from Spain, the Texas problem and all the rest. It was by a prof from Auburn. It is A Glorious Defeat by Timothy Henderson. I recommend it highly for the reader who has no background in the period or in Mexican history.

It is very interesting regarding the discussion of what different groups of Americans wanted to do with Mexico at the end. One reason the US did not keep the whole country was the southerners' desires to avoid having large numbers of dark people in the country.
JB!98
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Speaking of the Battle of Medina. I live in Pleasanton and often take back roads just to break up the trip home from SA everyday. I was traveling around Lemming Tx on a gravel road and ran across the historical marker for the battle. It states that the exact battle site is unknown as well as the exact location of the oak tree under which most of the remains were buried some years later.
RXO
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There is a legend that on his way to Zacatecas Santa Anna stayed in Aguascalientes and while there he fell in love to a married woman, Dona Maria Luisa.
The people of Aguscalientes were not happy being dependant to Zacatecas (they had only been for 40 years or so) and Maria Luisa told him that that the people from Aguscalientes would do any sacrifice to be free from Zacatecas and Santa Anna wanting to test the resolve of the beautiful woman proposed to her that in exchange for a "kiss" that he would free Aguascalientes from Zacatecas.


[This message has been edited by RXO (edited 12/29/2011 6:53p).]
ScudAg56
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After Santa Anna dissolved the Mexican Congress in 1835, 11 of the 19 Mexican States revolted. Most wanted to overthrow Santa Anna himself, but a few outlying states, like Texas and Yucatan, voted for independence. Only Texas succeeded, but Yucatan was de facto independent for years as it took the central government so long to get an army to the region. Meanwhile, Zacatecas was a more immediate threat to Santa Anna, as it had a well-trained militia of 4000 men (4x the Texan army) equipped with the latest weapons. This rebellion lasted only 2 hours, as the rebels were crushed and 3000 prisoners taken in one battle. Santa Anna then let his troops loot the city.
ScudAg56
huisachel
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The annual commemoration of the battle of medina is in August and lines up good speakers. Aalan's mentor Frank de la Teja gave a good talk on Erasmo Seguin and several others filled in useful gaps. A Alan's thesis/book promises to be excellent


Also has re enactors who are always a treat
Build It
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One of my great something grandfathers was a ranger and shot in Zacatecas. He survived and family legends etc. I married a half Mexican lady and one day my dad and I were discussing said grandpa and my dad told me to never tell my mother in law because he went down there to kill as many Mexicans as they could. He rode with some vengeful people.

Off topic but somewhat interesting as the family is still taking about it and trying to avoid controversy.
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