CHAPTER I
THE BEGINNINGS OF REVOLUTION IN TEXAS 1810-1812
Revoluti.<m in Mexico. Like a blinding flash the news of the uprising in Villa de Dolores struck terror in the hearts of Spanish officials from Viceroy Francisco Xavier Venegas, recently arrived, to the lowliest officer in the most distant provincial outpost. The Revolution initiated by Father Hidalgo stirred the vast multitude that for three centuries had labored hopelessly for their Spanish masters. The awakening quickened even the plodding pioneer of faraway Texas. In vain did Commandant General of the Interior Provinces Don Neme- sio Salcedo warn Governor Manuel Salcedo to redouble his vigil in Texas, and take all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of revolutionary ideas, the introduction of foreign agents, and the activity of seditious leaders. If it was difficult to keep intruders from slipping through the vast, unpopulated, poorly guarded frontier along the Louisiana border, it was impossible to keep ideas out, for ideas cannot long be confined. With the advance of the Mexican Revolution northward from the central plateau, restlessness in Texas increased perceptibly. Spanish officials in this remote province found themselves between two fires- revolution having broken out simultaneously in Florida and Mexico and rapidly converging upon Texas. Governor Manuel Salcedo and Lieutenant Colonel Simon Herrera attempted in vain to prepare against the ap- proaching storm. Repeatedly they had asked, pleaded, and implored- almost with tears in their eyes-for sufficient troops, adequate supplies, and proper equipment to maintain peace and order and to repel threatened attack. They were fully aware of their precarious position, literally sitting on a powder keg with the flames of revolution furiously sweeping towards them. 1 The revolutionary doctrines proclaimed by Father Hidalgo fell on eager ears far and wide, and ardent disciples took up the task of con- verting the masses to the new ideas and impelling the people to action. In the peaceful, obscure, pioneer settlement of Nuevo Santander (modem Tamaulipas) lived Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara. No ordinary man 1 For a detailed account of the Mexican Revolution In J8 Jo see Hubert Howe Ban- croft, Hi.stor,y of t/111 Nortl, M11i:icar, Stal11s a,,tl T11i:as, II, J i'·33, and his HiJto,,y of M11i:ico, IV i H. I. Priestly, Tl,1 M11i:ica,, Nali<m.
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