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United States and the Invasion of Texas, 1810–1814

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Richard W. Gronet
Richard W. Gronet*
Affiliation:
Catholic University, Washington, D. C.
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The chronicle of United States relations with the Mexican Republic has been one marked by professed sympathy, misunderstanding, and undisguised hostility. All three descriptions may be applied to the earliest official and extralegal contacts between the peoples of these neighboring countries. Such turmoil has understandably léd to diverse interpretations by not a few historians in the United States, and probably the most confused period in this chronicle was that of 1810 to 1814 when the accredited United States Agent William Shaler became involved in a government sponsored project aimed at influencing the struggle for Mexican independence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , January 1969 , pp. 281 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1969

References

1 Nichols, Roy F., Advance Agents of American Destiny (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1956), p. 83 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Niles, John, A View of South America and Mexico (New York: H. Huntington, Jr., 1826), p. 116 Google Scholar. Whitaker, Cf. Arthur, The United States and the Independence of Latin America (New York: W.W. Norton, 1964), pp. 24–37 Google Scholar.

3 Niles, op. cit.; Whitaker, op. cit., p. 2.

4 Niles, op. cit., p. 104. Niles claimed that during that War of 1812, steel sold in Mexico fetched as high a price as $260 per hundred pounds. Whitaker, op. cit., p. 12. New England merchants played such a prominent part in the contraband trade with Mexico that the natives referred to all North Americans as “Bostoneses.”

5 National Archives (hereafter referred to as NA), State Department, Special Agents, vol. II, Shaler to Monroe, 18 August 1812.

6 Whitaker, op. cit., p. 56. Madison’s first Secretary of State, Robert Smith, was instrumental in the appointment of special agents to Latin America. This is understandable when one learns that he and his brother were prominent Baltimore merchants engaged in Spanish American trade.

7 Niles, op. cit., p. 110. The population of the United States at this time was not much larger, possibly 10,000,000.

8 NA, Shaler to Smith, 9 August 1810; 12 August 1810, copy to the President.

9 Richardson, James D., ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents, II (New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897), 479 Google Scholar.

10 Nichols, Roy F., “William Shaler, New England Apostle of Rational Liberty,” New England Quarterly, IX (March, 1936), 73–76 Google Scholar. Caught by the Spanish for stealing sea otters, Shaler defiantly destroyed their fort at San Diego. The tale of this escapade was still popular during the 1830’s.

11 Ibid., pp. 76–77.

12 Whitaker, op. cit., pp. 65–66.

13 NA, Shaler to Smith, 16 June 1810; Nichols, op. cit., p. 76; Whitaker, op. cit., p. 63.

14 NA, ten letters from Shaler to Smith dated from 1810 through 1811. Nichols, op. cit., p. 84. NA, Shaler to Monroe, 13 January 1812.

15 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 9 March 1812; Shaler to Monroe, 30 Mar. 1812.

16 Diary of José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara,” American Historical Review, XXXIV (October, 1928), 56–57 Google Scholar; Warren, Harris G., The Sword was Their Passport (Baton Rouge: University Press, 1943), p. 5 Google Scholar.

17 Gutiérrez Diary, op. cit., p. 59.

18 Ibid., pp. 71–73; Niles, op. cit., p. 148.

19 Gutiérrez Diary, op. cit., p. 73. Cf. Bancroft, Hubert H., History of the North Mexican States and Texas, II (San Francisco: The History Company, 1889), 20 Google Scholar.

20 Gutiérrez Diary, op. cit., pp. 73–75. Bernardo was also given an opportunity to raise funds by being introduced to widows of means. This apparently shocked the married Colonel.

21 de la Garza, Lorenzo, Dos Hermanos Heroes as quoted in Gutiérrez Diary, loc. cit., pp. 289 fGoogle Scholar.

22 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 30 March 1812; Shaler to Monroe, 7 May.

23 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 2 May 1812.

24 M’Caleb, Walter, “The First Period of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition,” Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, IV (January, 1901), 218–19 Google Scholar. NA, Shaler to Monroe, 7 May 1812; Shaler to Monroe, 12 June with enclosure. A French agent called Paillet had offered Bernardo $100,000 in cash and 400 trained troops for the invasion.

25 Ibid.

26 M’Caleb, op. cit.; Gutiérrez Diary, op. cit., p. 291.

27 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 12 June 1812; Shaler to Monroe, 12 July with enclosures; Bernardo to Rayón, 12 June, in Spanish.

28 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 12 July.

29 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 7 May 1812. Italics are mine.

30 Nichols, op. cit., pp. 88–>89.

31 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 18 August 1812. Cf. Wellman, Paul, Glory, Qod and Qold (Garden City: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1954), pp. 208–11 Google Scholar. Wellman’s account makes no mention of Shaler. Cf. also Gutiérrez Diary, op. cit., p. 59.

32 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 7 August 1813.

33 Warren, op. cit., p. 28; Nichols, op. cit., p 91. Cf. Bancroft, op. cit., p. 19.

34 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 25 August 1812; Shaler to Monroe, 12 June 1813; Shaler to Monroe, 20 June 1813, enclosure dated 25 May; Shaler to Monroe, 14 July.

35 Ibid., 18 August, 25 August, 5 September, 1812.

36 Ibid., 25 August 1812.

37 NA, Department of State, Mexico Filibustering Expedition Against the Government of Spain 1811–1816; Monroe to Robinson, 1 July 1812. For an accurate account of Robinson’s adventures, see: Cox, Isaac, “Monroe and the Early Mexican Revolutionary Agents,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association, I (Washington: A. H.A., 1913), 199–215 Google Scholar.

38 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 1 October 1812; Shaler to Monroe, 10 November; Bancroft, op. cit., p. 21.

39 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 10 October 1812; Shaler to Monroe, 10 November with enclosures from Gutiérrez, undated and in Spanish.

40 Nichols, op. cit., p. 92.

41 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 29 November 1812 with enclosure, Magee to Shaler, undated; Gutiérrez to Shaler, 25 November in Spanish; 29 November in Spanish.

42 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 27 December 1812 with enclosures, Magee to Shaler, 25 November; Shaler to Magee 20 December.

43 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 10 January 1813 with enclosure, Ross to Shaler, undated. Wellman claims the invasion force had little organization and no commissary. Wellman, op. cit., p. 209; Shaler to Monroe, 8 February.

44 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 24 February with enclosure, Gutiérrez to Ross, undated. Nichols stated simply that the Spanish gave up on the siege of La Bahía and retreated. Nichols, op. cit., p. 93.

45 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 3 April 1813. Nichols makes no mention of a passport request or approval.

46 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 4 April 1813; Shaler to Monroe, 18 April with enclosure, Gutiérrez to Cogswell, 11 April; Gutiérrez Diary, op. cit., p. 75; Niles, op. cit., p. 148. Shaler took it upon himself to send Toledo a copy of Bernardo’s letter in which the latter called him a traitor. This action apparently alienated Toledo and caused the rift between the two to widen.

47 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 3 April and 12 June; Wellman, op. cit., p. 210.

48 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 7 May 1813; Bancroft, op. cit., p. 23; Wellman, op. cit., p. 210.

49 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 7 May 1813; Shaler to Monroe, 14 May with enclosures, Gutiérrez to Shaler, 11 April; Shaler to Monroe, 12 June.

50 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 14 May with enclosures; Gutiérrez to Shaler 18 April. Wellman contends that the North Americans immediately deserted Gutiérrez after the massacre. Wellman, op. cit., p. 211.

51 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 14 May 1813 with enclosure; Gutiérrez to Shaler, 11 April.

52 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 12 June.

53 Ibid.

54 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 19 September 1813.

55 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 11 April; Shaler to Monroe, 12 June with enclosure, Shaler to Gutiérrez, undated; Shaler to Monroe, 10 July. Nichols’ account omits any rendition of the Gutierrez-Toledo feud.

56 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 20 June 1813 with enclosures; Shaler to Monroe, 10 July.

57 Ibid.

58 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 14 July 1813.

59 Nichols, op. cit., p. 95. NA Shaler to Monroe, 7 August 1813. The summer of 1813 was a period of disastrous news for the United States. Beginning with the failure of the invasion of Upper Canada the latter part of 1812, the gloom that hung over the country darkened when it was learned that the U. S. S. Chesapeake had been captured in June, 1813. On 6 June a force of 2,000 Americans was defeated at Stony Brook by only 700 British troops. Hitsman, J.M., The Incredible War of 1812 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965), pp. 71–75; 134–135; 142Google Scholar.

60 NA, Shaler to Monroe, 19 September 1813; Shaler to Monroe, 28 November with enclosure, Overton to Shaler (in Spanish), 17 November. Elisondo had earlier earned a reputation as the betrayer of Morelos (Wellman, op. cit., p. 210). A North American survivor, Captain Overton, informed Shaler that shortly after Elisondo released him and his men, he was killed by one of his own officers because he refused to execute the North Americans.

61 Bancroft, op. cit., p. 27; Wellman, op. cit., p. 210; NA, Shaler to Monroe, 19 September.

62 Ibid., Shaler to Monroe, 4 October 1813.

63 Bancroft, op. cit., p. 31; NA, Toledo to Shaler, 28 November 1813 with enclosures; Toledo to Shaler, 8 November.

64 M’Caleb, op. cit., p. 225. This writer claims Gutiérrez was not aided by the United States; Richardson, op. cit., p. 547; Gutiérrez Diary, op. cit., pp. 60–61; Anon., , Outline of the Revolution in Spanish America by a South-American (London: Longman, etc., 1817), p. 345 Google Scholar.

65 NA, Diplomatic Instructions, All Countries, 393 and 406.

66 Bancroft, op. cit., p. 33; Outline, op. cit., pp. 336–7.

67 Niles, op. cit., p. 187; Whitaker, op. cit., p. 95.

68 Cox, op. cit., p. 215. While not mentioning Shaler by name, Cox suggests that Monroe’s subordinates probably would not have aided the revolution if they knew Washington would have disapproved.

69 Gamboa, Federico, ed., La Diplomacia Mexicana (Mexico: Tipografia ‘Artistica,’ 1910), p. 103 Google Scholar.