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Loss by Division: The Commandancy General Archive of the Eastern Interior Provinces*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Adán Benavides Jr.
Adán Benavides Jr.*
Affiliation:
San Antonio, Texas
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Abstract

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Type
Inter-American Notes
Information
The Americas , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , October 1986 , pp. 203 - 219
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1986

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Footnotes

*

The author wishes to thank Nettie Lee Benson and the E. D. Farmer Fellowship Program, Institute of Latin American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin.

References

1 (Washington, D.C., 1913), 460. An earlier version of this paper was published as “La dispersión del archivo del comandante general Joaquín de Arredondo (1813–1821),” Boletín, Archivo General del Estado (Monterrey, Nuevo León) 1: 2–3 (jun.-sept. 1978): 12–16, 22–23.

2 Melchor de Paramás, “Indice de los expedientes, cunsultas, órdenes y demás documentos que se entregan al señor brigadier Cavaliere de Croix,” México, Mar. 20, 1777 (copy, Mar. 31, 1777), Archivo General de la Nación (México)-Provincias Internas (microfilm, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin), volume 87: expediente 1, folios 1–19 (here-after AGN-PI (BLAC) with words “volume,” “expediente” and “folios” omitted).

3 Calendario manual y guía de forasteros de México 1809: 198, 1810: 201, 1811: 202, 1812: 210 and 1813: 210; Bernardo Bonavía to Viceroy [Félix María Calleja del Rey], Durango, July 26, 1813, AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, [76–77].

4 “]1812, Común de Provincias Internas, número 2,” AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, [11–101]. Particularly useful is María del Carmen Velázquez, “La Comandancia General de las Provincias Interna,” Historia mexicana 27: 2 (oct.-dic. 1977): 163–76; and Cline, Howard F., “Viceroyalty to Republics, 1786-1952: Historical Notes on the Evolution of Middle American Political Units,” in Wauchope, Robert, gen. ed., Handbook of Middle American Indians, 16 vols. (Austin: 1964–76; hereafter HMAI)Google Scholar, Vol. 12: Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, pt. 1, ed. Howard F. Cline, 144–45.

5 Archivo General del Estado de Nuevo León (Monterrey)-Ramo Militar (hereafter ANGENL-RM), caja 1812–20; AGENL-Gobernador (hereafter AGENL-L), cajas 1812–13 and 1815–19; Bolton, , Guide, 477.Google Scholar

6 Robles, Vito Alessio, Coahuila y Texas desde la consumción de la independencia hasta el tratado de paz de Guadalupe Hidalgo, 2 vols. (México, 1945–46), 1: 80 Google Scholar; Cline, , “Introductory notes on Territorial Divisions of Middle America,” HMAI, 12: 23,Google Scholar fig. 4. Gerhard, Peter, “Colonial New Spain, 1519–1786: Historical Notes on the Evolution of Minor Political Jurisdictions,” HMAI, 12: 123,Google Scholar includes Texas within the Audiencia of México. This was true when the internal provinces were first instituted; but a real cédula of June 28, 1779, separated the provinces of Coahuila and Texas from that audiencia and instead attached them to that of Guadalajara; AGN, Indice del ramo de Provincias internas, 2 vols. (México, 1967–74), 1: 99.

7 The appointments of Calleja (who became viceroy) and of Simón de Herrera (who was killed at Béxar) as western commandants general were not affected. [Viceroy Francisco Javier Venegas] to Calleja, [México], [July 10, 1812] (draft); Calleja to Viceroy Venegas, México, July 12, 1812; [Calleja] to Herrera, [México], Mar. 24, 1813 (draft); Arredondo to Calleja, Campo de Revilla, May 10, 1813, AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, [17, 20, 36, 46]. Julia Kathryn Garrett, Green Flag over Texas: A Story of the Last Years of Spain in Texas (Austin, 1969), 180–81. The draft copy of Arredondo’s viceregal nomination is in [Calleja] to Arredondo, [México], Apr. 28, 1813; his acceptance is in Arredondo to Calleja, Campo de Revilla, May 10, 1813, AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, [44-50]; cf. Garrett, Green Flag, 210.

8 [Venegas] to Bonavía, México, Feb. 19, 1813 (draft); Bonavía to [Calleja], Durango, July 26, 1813, AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, [30, 76–77].

9 Acrimonious debate between Calleja and N. Salcedo over the transfer of command of the Interior Provinces in [Calleja] to N. Salcedo, [Mexico], Aug. 17, 1813 (draft), ibid., [59]; Bonavia to [Calleja], Durango, July 26, 1813, ibid., [76-77]; Arredondo to Calleja, Laredo, Apr. 12, 1814, AGN-Indiferente General, Secretaria del Virreinato, Correspondencia: Provincias Internas, exp. 6c (photocopies of Nettie Lee Benson, Austin; hereafter AGN-1G: PI).

10 Bonavía to [Calleja], Durango, July 26, 1813, AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, [77]; Arredondo to Cristóbal Domínguez, Béxar, Aug. 26, 1813, Béxar Archives (microfilm, Archives, University of Texas Library, Austin), reel 53: frame 0143 (hereafter BA with words “reel” and “frame” omitted).

11 Arredondo, “Report of the Battle of the Medina, Aug. 18, 1813,” trans. Hatcher, Mattie Austin, Texas State Historical Association Quarterly 11:3 (Jan. 1908): 220–36.Google Scholar Correspondence of Arrendondo to [Gov. of Texas] Benito de Armiñán, Béxar, Mar. 12, 1814, B.A 53: 0562; Campo de la Misión [San José], Mar. 13, 1814, BA 53: 0567; Laredo, Apr. 5 and June 30, 1814, B.A 53: 0618–20 and 1035–36. Regarding the harshness of Arredondo’s “pacification,” see Garrett, , Green Flag, 225–29Google Scholar and Almaráz, Félix D., Tragic Cavalier: Governor Manuel Salcedo of Texas, 1808–1813 (Austin, 1971), 179–80.Google Scholar

12 Arredondo to Calleja, Laredo, Apr. 12, 1814; Arredondo’s proposed “Reglamento de tropas para las cuatro provincias internas de oriente,” Béxar, Oct. 8, 1813, AGN-IG: PI. Also, numerous examples in his correspondence to the viceroy, AGN-Historia, Operaciones de Guerra, José Joaquín de Arre-dondo, 4 vols, (transcripts, Archives, University of Texas Library, Austin).

13 Arredondo to Calleja, Laredo, Apr. 12, 1814, AGN-IG: PI; Arredondo to Calleja, Laredo, May 27, 1814, AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, [90–91]. Del Campo is listed erroneously as fourth official in Calendario manual y guia 1809: 198, 1810: 201, 1811: 202, 1812: 210 and 1813: 210.

14 The services provided for Arredondo upon his entry into Monterrey caused strained relations with the cathedral chapter since the clergy had refused to accord him real patronato status. Ultimately, the crown ruled in favor of the cathedral chapter. Arredondo to Calleja, Monterrey, Oct. [n.d.], 1814, AGN-PI (BLAC), 239: 55, [550–51] Andrés de Ymaz y Altolaguirre, José Bernardino Cantú and Juan Francisco de Arce Rosales to Calleja, Monterrey, Aug. 20, 1814, AGN-PI (BLAC), 239: 56, [581–82]; José Vivero, José León Lobo and Juan José Ynda to Viceroy Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, Monterrey, Feb. 28, 1818; Royal Order (copy), Andrés Hurtado, Mexico, May 22, 1818, AGN-PI (BLAC), 239: 55, 555–57.

15 Benson, Nettie Lee, La diputación provincial y el federalismo mexicano (México, 1955), 29–30 Google Scholar; Arredondo to Calleja, Laredo, June 15, 1814; [Calleja] to Arredondo, [México], Aug. 18, 1814 (draft); J. B. Cantú to Arredondo, Monterrey, July 22, 1814 (copy, J. B. de Arizpe, Monterrey, July 30, 1814); [Statement of] Bachiller don J. B. de Arizpe, Monterrey, Aug. 3, 1814, AGN-PI (BLAC), 104: 1. 405–12 and 423–26.

16 “EI señor comandante general … sobre haver dispuesto que … se suplan los gastos de secretaría,” AGN-PI (BLAC), 260: 3, 43–53; appointments of Palou and Genebriera in [Ruiz de Apodaca] to [Arredondo], [México], June 17, 1818 (draft), ibid., 105: 11, 432.

17 Palou's salary as second official was 700 pesos per year and 800 pesos as first official; ibid., 105; 11, 412–433; Calendario manual y guía 1809: 198, 1810: 201, 1811:202, 1812: 210 and 1813: 210. His government service began as early as 1804, since he claimed 21 years of military experience in Palou to Gov. of Nuevo León [José María Parás], Monterrey, Sept. 30, 1825, AGENL-RM, caja Varios, exp. 1825.

18 Carlos María Bustamante observed: Quoted in Alessio Robles, Monterrey en la historia y en la leyenda in idem, Acapulco, Saltillo y Monterrey en ta historia y la leyenda; Bosquejos históricos; Unas páginas traspapeladas de la historia de Coahuila y Texas; La primera imprenta en Coahuila; Heráldica coahuilense, presentación de Vito Alessio Robles Cuevas, Biblioteca Porrúa, 66 (México, 1978), 337.

19 “1819, Toca al marcado Común de Provincias Internas, Número 2,” AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: I, 2; Velázquez, “La Comandancia General,” 175–76.

20 Arredondo to Conde del Venadito, Monterrey, Apr. 7, 1819, AGN-PI (BLAC), 129: 1, 5–7.

21 Arredondo to Conde del Venadito, Monterrey, Aug. 13, 1820; [Ministro de Guerra] Amarillas to Conde del Venadito, Madrid, July 5, 1820, and marginal note, ibid., 260: 13, 416 and 421–23.

22 [Gov. of Texas] Antonio Martínez to Ayuntamiento, Béxar, July 18, 1821, B.A 67:0997–99; Robles, Alessio, Coahuila y Texas en la época colonial (México, 1938), 664–65Google Scholar; García, Luis Navarro, Las provincias internas en el siglo XIX (Sevilla, 1965), 132.Google Scholar Curiously, the events are given accurately and less dramatically in Alessio Robles’ earlier work of 1932, “La primera imprenta en Coahuila,” in idem, Acapulco, Saltillo y Monterrey, 627–28. Text of Arredondo’s renouncement in A. Martinez to Alcalde Primero, Béxar, Aug. 14, 1821, B.A 68:0072–73.

23 Gerhard, , The North Frontier of New Spain (Princeton, 1982), 17.Google Scholar

24 Ugarte, José Bravo, Historia de México, 3 vols. (México, 1941–59), 3: 253–56Google Scholar; Almada, “La Comandancia General de Provincias Internas,” Boletín de la Sociedad Chihuahuense de Estudios Históricos 1: 3 (julio 1938); 36-41. Hereafter, Coahuila y Texas will be used to denote the single political state; Coahuila and Texas will refer to the separate states or military districts.

25 [Acceptance of Plan of Casa Mata], Saltillo, Mar. 7, 1823 (copy, Palou, Saltillo, Mar. 10, 1823), BA 74: 0346–49.

26 López to Ayuntamiento Constitucional, Monterrey, Apr. 23, 1822, Archivo Municipal de Monterrey (Nuevo León; hereafter AMM)-Correspondencia de varios autoridades, decretos y circulares, 1822. As early as Aug. 27, 1821, the Ayuntamiento tried to prevent the move of the archive to Saltillo while Juan del Moral prepared the shipment “of a part of it.” AMM-Actas del Ayuntamiento, Libro 1817–1822: 131r–132v and 134v–135v; López to Agustin de Iturbide, Monterrey, Jan. 24, 1822 (draft), AGENL-G, caja 1810–21. Regarding Bangs, see Spell, Lota May, Pioneer Printer: Samuel Bangs in Mexico and Texas (Austin, 1963).Google Scholar

27 Zorrilla, Juan Fidel, El poder colonial en Nuevo Santander, Biblioteca mexicana. 52 (México, 1976), 290–98.Google Scholar De la Garza was in Monterrey shortly after his appointment; De la Garza to Junta Gubernativa de la Provincia de Texas, Monterrey, June [i.e., May] 23, 1823, B.A 75: 0080. He was at San Carlos by Aug. 11 (BA 75: 0412–24) and his correspondence indicates that much of his tenure was spent at San Carlos; AGENL-RM, caja 1823–25: 1823, exp. 1.

28 Juan Visenles, Palou, Bangs and Pedro García de Hoyos, Saltillo, Apr. 12, 1823 (copy, n.d.); Bangs, Monterrey, Oct. 7, 1823, AGENL-RM, caja 1823–25: 1824, exp. 3.

29 R. González to Gov. of Nuevo León [José Antonio Rodríguez], Saltillo, Apr. 26, 1825, AGENL-Correspondencia con el Estado de Coahuila (hereafter AGENL-CEC), caja 1825–34; “Sesión pública ordinaria [del congreso del estado de Coahuila],” [Saltillo], Mar. 29, 1825, BA 78: 0253.

30 Pedro Antonio de Ernal and Juan Bautista de Aizpe to [J. A. Rodríguez], Monterrey, May 2, 1825; [J. A. Rodríguez] to [R. González], [Monterrey], May 20, 1825 (draft), AGENL-CEC, caja 1825–34.

31 [J. A. Rodríguez] to Palou, [Monterrey], June 4, 1825 (draft); Palou to [Parás], Monterrey, Sept. 6, 1825; [Parás] to [R. González], [Monterrey], Sept. 6, 1825 (draft), emphasis added; R. Gonzalez and Juan Antonio Padilla to [Parás], Saltillo, Nov. 21, 1825, ibid. The legajos sent were in response to a second request, of Nov. 7, by the governor of Coahuila y Texas; see [Parás] to [Palou], Monterrey, Nov. 17, 1825 (draft), AGENL-RM, caja Varios, exp. 1825.

32 [Parás] to [Gómez Pedraza], [Monterrey], July 29, 1825 (draft); Gómez Pedraza to [Parás], México, Aug. 17, 1825, AGENL-Correspondencia con el Ministerio de Guerra y Marina, caja 1823-25. We can only wonder about the slights endured by Palou; he beseeched Parás to arrange that the governor's office give him greater respect in its correspondence than he had received in person; Palou to [Parás], Monterrey, Sept. 30, 1825, AGENL-RM, caja Varios, exp. 1825.

33 Gutiérrez de Lara to [Parás], San Carlos, Sept. 21, 1825; [Parás] to [Gutiérrez de Lara], [Monterrey], Sept. 27, 1825; [Parás] to Palou, [Monterrey], Sept. 29, 1825 (draft); Palou to [Parás], Monterrey, Oct. 26, 1825, AGENL-RM, caja Varios, exp. 1825.

34 Antonio Elosúa served the eastern provinces beginning in 1811; his final commission was the command of the military troops of Texas (Dec. 27, 1827-Sept. 15, 1833). After his death at Béxar, the archive of the Ayudancia de Inspeccion (1826–33) was shipped in three boxes to the Commandancy General at Monterrey. Isidro Vizcaya Canales, En los albores de la independencia: Las Provincias Internas de Oriente durante la insurrección de don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, 1810–1811 (Monterrey, 1976), 197; [Elosúa] to [Bustamante], Dec. 27, 1827, B.A 110: 0216-17; [Treviño] to Filisola, Béxar, Sept. 15, 1833 (draft), B.A 158: 0403; [Treviño] to Filisola, Béxar, Dec. 23, 1833, B.A 159: 0663‘64; Pedro Lemús to [Treviño], Monterrey, Jan. 24, 1834, BA 160: 0208.

35 Gómez Pedraza to [Elosúa], México, Aug. 17, 1825, B.A 83: 0434; [Elosúa] to [Gómez Pedraza], Río Grande, Sept. 5, 1825 (draft), B.A 84: 0044; [Elosúa] to [Arreola], San Fernando, Dec. 2, 1825 (draft), B.A 86: 0427–28; [Elosúa] to Oquillas, San Fernando, Dec. 2, 1825 (draft), B.A 86: 0429–30; Oquillas to [Elosúa], Monterrey, Dec. 16, 1825, BA 86: 0771–72; Marcelino Concha, Monterrey, Jan. 10, 1826, BA 88: 0011; Tomás de Oquillas, “Distribución de treinta pesos … para gastos y fletes con la conducción del archivo de la Comandancia General,” Monclova, Jan. 21, 1826, BA 88: 0536–37; Jesús Treviño, Monclova, Jan. 21, 1826, BA 88: 0538; Ramón to Elosúa, Monclova, Jan. 23, 1826, BA 88:0614–15.

36 [Ahumada] to Rodríguez, Béxar, Dec. 2, 1825 (draft), B.A 86: 0443–44; [Ahumada] to [Gutiérrez de Lara], Béxar, Apr. 2. 1826 (draft), B.A 91: 0136–37; Ramón to [Elosúa], Monclova, Nov. 6, 1827, BA 109: 0014–15.

37 [Parás] to Cisneros, [Monterrey], Feb. 6, 1826 (draft), AGENL-RM, caja 1826: exp. 1. Palou's excuse of illness failed to exempt him from the second law of the expulsion of Spaniards (Mar. 20, 1829); [Gov. of Nuevo León Joaquín García] to [Alcalde de Primer Voto de Monterrey?], July 4, 1829 (draft), AGENL-G, caja 1829.

38 Gutiérrez de Lara to [Parás], San Carlos, Jan. 20, 1826; Cisneros to [Parás], Monterrey, Feb. 7, 1826; [Parás] to Cisneros, Monterrey, Feb. 25, 1826 (draft), with undated inventory: “Piezas de la imprentita que pertenecía a la ex-Comandancia General de las Cuatro Provincias de Oriente”; [Parás] to [Gutiérrez de Lara], (Monterrey], Mar. 7, 1826 (draft); Gutiérrez de Lara to [Parás], San Carlos, Mar. 25, 1826, AGENL-RM, caja 1826.

39 Bustamantc to Ruiz, Saltillo. Sept. 19, 1826 (copy, Ruiz, Laredo, Sept. 27, 1826), BA 97: 0006.

40 Del Moral was discharged with rank of sergeant in Nov. 1824; in 1827, he was first official of the Nuevo León state government; and in Dec. 1827, he was assigned with his former rank to the First Permanent Company of Tamaulipas. Marqués de Vivanco to [Juan de Castaneda], México, Sept. 28, 1824, BA 77: 0897; [Elosúa] to Ayudante Inspector de Nuevo León y Tamaulipas [Antonio Crespo], Laredo, Dec. 11, 1827 (draft), B.A 110: 0001.

41 Ugartechea to [M. Gómez], Monterrey, Mar. 6. 1828, AGENL-RM. caja 1828: exp. 4.

42 Bustamante passed almost the entire year of 1827 in Texas. During 1828, there were frequent complaints of insufficient funds to pay the troops. See, for example, Bustamante to [M. Gómez], Matamoros, Sept. 1, 1828, ibid., exp. 1.

43 [M. Gómez] to Ugartechea, [Monterrey], Mar. 10, 1828 (draft), ibid., exp. 4; [M. Gómez] to [Bustamante], [Monterrey], May 12, 1828 (draft), and A. Bustamante to [M. Gómez], Matamoros, May 26, 1828, ibid., exp. 1.

44 Castillón to [M. Gómez], Monterrey, Apr. 16, 1828; [M. Gómez] to Castillón, [Monterrey], Apr. 17, 1828 (draft), AGENL-G, caja 1828. Information regarding the nature of the complaint against Del Moral was not locaated; that he later kept the archive in his house indicates that he was exonerated.

45 This fiscal body for military affairs of Nuevo León was subject to the Commandant General of the East as well as the General Commissariat of San Luis Potosí. Its name varied: in 1828, it was known as Comisaría Particular de Monterrey; in 1831, as the Comisaría Subalterna de Monterrey; and in 1833, as the Subcomisaría de Nuevo León. Lessors included Rafael Ramos y Arizpe (Mar.-May 1828), Juan Antonio del Moral (Feb. 1821 -Sept. 1832), Domingo Ugartechea (Nov. 1834), Genoveba Canales (July 1835), and María Josefa Flores (who rented a house to the Commissariat, July 1835 to as late as Oct. 1837). Incomplete files of its monthly reports for 1828-29 and 1831–37 in AGENL-RM, cajas 1828: exp. 4; 1831: exp. 9; 1832.2: exp. 9; and AGENL-Tesorería (hereafter AGENL-T), cajas 1833–34, 1835.3, 1836 and 1837.1.

46 Pedro Gómez, “Estado que manifiesta el cargo y la data que ha havido en la Tesorería de la Subcomisaría,” Monterrey, May 1, 1832, AGENL-RM, caja 1832.2: exp. 9. Emphasis added.

47 Gomez, P., “Estado,” Monterrey, Aug. 1, 1835, AGENL-T, caja 1835.3.Google Scholar

48 AGENL-Concluídos, cajas 1814–19, 1819–20, 1821, 1822, and 1823–24. This material is similar to that regarding Coahuila and Texas which is not located in the first numbered legajos in Archivo General de Historia del Estado de Coahuila (Saltillo).

49 See Garza, Israel Cavazos, “Guía del Ramo Militar del Archivo General del Etado de Nuevo León (1797–1850),” Humanitas;Google Scholar Anuario del Centro de Estudios Humanísticos de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León 12: 227–246.

50 Bolton, , Guide, 422–31Google Scholar. In Oct. 1977, the Coahuila State Archivist reported to this author that the Monclova material was still crated and thus closed to researchers at that time.

51 Bolton, , Guide, 460 Google Scholar; Almada, , “El archivo de la Comandancia General,” 71–73.Google Scholar