Our Caelwlic Heritage in T e:t:as
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was he. The Gutierrez family had helped found Revilla (modem Guerrero) on the southern banks of the Rio Grande as early as 1750, and had helped defend it against marauding Indians. But the clarion call of liberty from distant Dolores came ringing in his ears to stir his very soul. From a peaceful business man and merchant, from a patient black- smith, Gutierrez was suddenly transformed into a flaming mouthpiece of the Revolution on the northern frontier. Undaunted by defeat, he was soon to seek aid from the young Republic of the United States of America, and return to play a prominent role in the history of Texas. 2 According to his own account, Gutierrez first converted his clerical brother, Father Jose Antonio, and then awaited anxiously the opportunity to become an active participant in the struggle for liberty. When in No- vember, 1810, he heard that Lieutenant General Mariano Jimenez, one of Hidalgo's most able subordinates, had entered San Luis Potosi in triumph, he felt it was time for action. Immediately he dispatched couriers to Agua- yo, the capital of his native province, with inflammatory proclamations to be distributed among the troops and inhabitants. He urged them to throw off the yoke of Spain and join the ranks of freemen. So winning and effective was the enthusiastic letter of appeal of Gutierrez to Captain Benavides that he assumed leadership, and succeeded in having Gov- ernor Salcedo denounced and forced to flee to the coast with only a few faithful followers. The Revolutionists soon swept over the entire province, while hundreds of Loyalists hurriedly fled to the adjoining Province of Coahuila to help the Governor, Cordero, stem the tide of the onrushing rebellion. 1 Encouraged by success, Bernardo Gutierrez and his brother, Father Jose Antonio, now turned their efforts to Coahuila and Nuevo Leon. Stirring appeals and proclamations urging the troops and the people to join the ranks of the Insurgents were dispatched without delay to friends and leaders in both provinces. The effectiveness of their propa- ganda soon became evident. While Jimenez carried the Revolution north from San Luis Potosi with the aid of ardent sympathizers like the Gutierrez brothers, Viceroy Venegas strained every nerve to muster the resources of New Spain 'The best biography of this remarkable character, who hu been unjustly b:amed for the rna.ssacre of Spanish prisoners In San Antonio, was published In I 9 I 3 by Lorenzo de la Garza, Dos H ermanos H ero11. 'Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara, "To the Mexican Congress, an Account of the Progress of the Revolution from the Beginning," Pap,rs of Mirab,au Bonapart, LaMar (Austin, 1921-1928), edited by Charles Adams Gulick :ind Katherine Elliott, l, 5,
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