Henry Wolff Jr.
Posted on 08/17/2005 3:49:03 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
- Henry's Journal -
The bloodiest battle ever fought in Texas was not at the Alamo.
Nor at Goliad or San Jacinto, the battle taking place some 23 years before the Texas Revolution of 1836 in a sandy, oak forest about 20 miles south of San Antonio.
It was there, on Aug. 18, 1813, that the filibustering Gutierrez-Magee expedition into Texas ended with the Battle of Medina.
On Thursday, the Atascosa County Historical Commission will be dedicating a Texas State Historical Marker at 10 a.m. in the general vicinity where the battle occurred.
The battle had followed a declaration of independence and naming of the first Republic of Texas on April 6, 1813, in San Fernando de Bexar.
The exact location of the battlefield is yet to be determined, though some evidence has been found, it sometimes being referred to as "the lost battlefield."
Historian Robert H. Thonhoff of Karnes City, who wrote the manuscript for the historical marker, notes that the "Green Flag" of the first Republic has remained largely unrecognized and the participants have been "generally unknown, unhonored, and unsung for nearly 200 years." Long active in researching the battle and an award winning Spanish Texas historian, Thonhoff edited and annotated the book, "Forgotten Battlefield of the First Texas Revolution, the Battle of Medina, Aug. 18, 1813," by Ted Schwarz.
It is hard to believe that it has been nearly 20 years since we went to look at the battlefield in early January 1986 after an autograph party in Pleasanton. One of the things we looked at was a huge live oak tree with markings indicating it could be where the casualties of the Republican Army of the North were buried in a mass grave nine years after the battle.
Bernardo Gutierrez and Lt. A.W. Magee had marched into Texas from Lousiana in 1812, capturing Nacogdoches and Trinidad, before moving on to Presidio La Bahia at Goliad where they survived a 4-month siege by Spanish Royalist forces, the longest military siege in U.S. military history.
Magee would die at Goliad under mysterious circumstances.
The Royalists retreated toward San Antonio and the Republican army followed, only to be ambushed in the Battle of Rosillo, yet persevered and would capture San Antonio where they executed the Spanish governors and created the new Republic of Texas with its green flag.
The Spanish retaliated by sending a large force under Gen. Joaquin de Arredondo to retake Texas.
With about 1,400 American volunteers, Tejanos, Mexicans and Native Americans, the Republicans marched from San Antonio to meet the Spanish south of the Medina River.
By the time of the battle, Thonhoff says the Republicans were "hot, tired and thirsty." "After a furious 4-hour battle involving infantry, cavalry, and artillery, the Republicans broke and ran," he notes, in describing what happened on that fateful day. "Most of those not killed on the battlefield were caught and executed during retreat. The carnage on the smoke-filled battlefield was horrendous.
"Gen. Arredondo ordered that all Republicans be killed - no prisoners were to be taken. Many Republicans were hanged on trees, cut, quartered. The Republican Army of the North was decimated."
There were fewer than 100 survivors.
The Spanish lost only 55 men.
One of Arredondo's young officers was Lt. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna who would return 23 years later to be defeated in the Texas Revolution of 1836 at San Jacinto.
The remains of the dead remained on the Medina battlefield for nine years until Felix Trespalacios, the first governor of Texas under a newly established Republic of Mexico, ordered that they be gathered and buried, a mass grave being dug beneath a large oak tree.
There are maps indicating the general location of the Battle of Medina and some artifacts have been found in the area.
"Somewhere in the deep sands of el encinal de Medina astride the Bexar-Atascosa County line, still awaiting archaeological confirmation, is a battlefield that served as a stage for a dress rehearsal for the battles at the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto," Thonhoff says.
To get to the dedication of the historical marker, he suggests going to the intersection of U.S. Highway 281 and FM 536 in northern Atascosa County - about 10 miles north of Pleasanton - and to follow the green flag markers westward along the unmarked county roads for about four miles.
Whatever evidence remains of the battle lies out there somewhere in the deep sand.
The Lost Battlefield Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
High time a state historical marker was placed there - surprised to find out there wasn't one already there.
A little more detail on the Battle of Medina here:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/MM/qfm1.html
Hmm, thought I knew a lot about Texas history but never heard of this battle. Apparently, Santa Anna learned well at the knee of Arredondo with his "take no prisoners." BTW, Karnes City and Karnes County were named for Mr. M's great great great uncle Henry Wax (Wachs) Karnes (1812-1840) who fought in the Texas Revolution.
Thanks for the link, I was headed there anyway so saved a search. The handbook is quite handy.
As the gringos infilterated Mexico/Texas in the 1800s until they were the stronger force and revolution was inevitable...so now do the latinos of today in the American Southwest. The lesson of history is that national borders are not forever.
"...before moving on to Presidio La Bahia at Goliad where they survived a 4-month siege by Spanish Royalist forces, the longest military siege in U.S. military history."
I guess the author has never heard about the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864-64, which lasted more than nine months.
This solid emerald green flag was thought to have been introduced by Bostonite and former US Army Lieutenant Augustus Magee who was of Irish background.
Wow, a great post. This article needs to be circulated in Spanish in Mexico, help Mexicans see that many in Texas were also struggling for Independence against Spain, it wasn't just Hidalgo and Morelos. 2010 will be the 200 Bicentenial, time for some exchange of ideas, some mending of rifts between the border States and the Republic of Mexico
Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864-65,
I remember seeing "the crater" at the battlefield there. My dad was stationed at Fort Lee, Va. in WWII.
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