Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
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Rebellion in San Antonio. Through the somber clouds of impending doom, flashes of lightning gave warning of the approaching storm. With the coming of the new year Governor Salcedo made a fateful decision. On January 2, 18n, he announced to the troops·assembled in Military Plaza that they would shortly be ordered to the Rio Grande on an im- portant mission. There was no perceptible reaction other than a stiffening of the men as they stood at attention.u He had decided to give aid to Viceroy Venegas in a desperate effort to put down rebellion in the interior. Salcedo's announcement raised doubts in the minds of the soldiers as to the reason why they were to be sent out of the province. Rumors became rife. Ambitious leaders and ardent rebels fanned the ugly mood of the military into open revolt. They were told that Governor Salcedo and Commandant Herrera were planning to abandon Texas; that they were leaving the inhabitants to the mercy of the savages; that they were taking with them all their possessions, including the provincial treasury ; that Salcedo had sent his wife to Nacogdoches to make certain of her escape to Louisiana; that Herrera had had all his furniture and personal belongings packed for shipment to the interior; that orders had been issued for the burning of the barracks after the troops left the Alamo; and that only a few soldiers would remain behind to behead Saenz and Escamilla, the two agents from Nuevo Santander imprisoned in Valero Mission.u Discontent and bitterness increased almost by the hour and the grum- bling became more widespread. San Antonio was a seething cauldron threatening to boil over at any moment. The soldiers, many of whom had been long stationed in the city, were reluctant to leave their families under the circumstances, and the alarming rumors of the contemplated abandonment of the entire province served only to increase their ap- prehension. The night of January 15, 18n, proved almost fatal to established authority. Aided, no doubt, by some of the disgruntled soldiers, Lieutenant Saenz C$C3.ped from his guards at Mission Valero and joined a group of fellow conspirators who had planned to seize Governor Salcedo and Commandant Herrera and establish a provisional independent govern- UCbabot, Teras in I8II, 35-97; Garrett, Green Flag Over Texas, 38-41. ll"Trlal and Execution of Captain Juan Bautista Casas," in Frederick C. Chabot, Tera.1 in 18u, 35-97. The facts summarized here are taken from the depositions made by the various witnesses appearing at the trial. This important document was published for the first time In 1941 by the Yanaguana Society of San Antonio. See also Garrett, u,. cit., 38-41. The rumor that Salcedo's wife had gone to Nacogdoches b traceable to the fact that the Governor had come from Louisiana to Texas.
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