Mexican and Texas Republic Periods
The early nineteenth century was a time of unrest in both Mexico and the northern frontier. Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla formally began his rebellion against the Spanish government in 1810. The rebellion against Spanish rule took shape in San Antonio a year later in 1811 with the Casas Revolt. The revolt “was one of the many challenges to imperial authority” that erupted throughout New Spain after the initiation of Hidalgo y Costilla’s rebellion. The governor of Texas during this period, Manuel Maria de Salcedo, was a royalist, and upon discovering that the Mexican rebels hoped to gain assistance from the United States through Texas, decided to preemptively attack revolutionary forces on the Rio Grande. Members of the San Antonio garrison and citizens of the City were not happy with this decision as it would leave their families unprotected from Native American raids. In response, members of the city’s governing body known as the alcalde, including Francisco Travieso, recruited Captain Juan Bautista de las Casas “to assume command of the San Antonio troops.” Casas and his “rebellious militia” arrested Governor Salcedo and declared themselves agents of the Hidalgo y Costilla revolutionary government (Caldwell 2013; Yanguana Society 1941).