The Republic of the Rio Grande

The first military action of this new army was a raid on Laredo in mid-July. Jordan, with 110 Texans, and Colonel Luis Lopez, with 150 vaqueros, wanted to recover 6,000 pounds of lead that was hidden in the town. The former river republic capital was defended by 150 Mexican soldiers. Jordan and Lopez agreed to enter the city an hour before sunrise in a pincer movement. Jordan did so and caught the garrison asleep. Three Mexican soldiers were killed, and 20 were taken prisoner. The rest fled. After the shooting was over, Lopez finally entered the city, but the delay caused hard feelings between his men and Jordan’s Texans.

Still, the citizens were jubilant. The Mexican flag was pulled down from the town square and the three-star flag of the republic hoisted once again. Soon the river towns of Revilla, Mier and Camargo also were flying the Rio Grande flag as the Mexican army retreated into the rough high country to the south.

Jordan was then ordered to team up with Canales’ brother-in-law, Colonel Juan Molano, and lead a mixed force of Texan, Mexican and Cane warriors totaling 350 men to steal horses for future operations. What Jordan did not know was that his second in command, Molano, had secretly changed sides.

The raiding party crossed the Rio Grande and struck off for the interior, capturing Ciudad Victoria without a fight. There, the Texans looted the businesses and robbed the prominent citizens. It is not certain if Jordan approved the sacking of Ciudad Victoria or if he could have stopped his men if he wanted to. Molano later claimed it was the sacking of that city that caused him to turn on his Texan allies. The Republic of the Rio Grande installed a new state government for Tamaulipas in Ciudad Victoria while its army marched deeper into Mexico.

Molano now persuaded Jordan to march to San Luis Potosi, where a Mexican army was waiting in ambush. Suspicious, Jordan changed direction, marching his men to Saltillo, where Mexican General Montoya was stationed. Molano raced ahead to meet with Montoya. If the Texans could be wiped out, the river republic would die quickly, Molano told the Mexican commander — for a price.

On October 25, 1840, the Mexican army filed into trenches on a hilltop south of Saltillo. The Rio Grande forces occupied an opposing hill under the command of Colonel Lopez, who had also sold out secretly to Montoya. As soon as the regulars advanced toward the Rio Grande line at around noon, Lopez ordered Jordan to take his Texans into a mountain gorge, supposedly to flank the Mexican regulars. Jordan obeyed the order blindly. But one of the Texan officers saw that it was a trap and quickly rode up alongside Jordan during the march. ‘In the name of God, sir, where are we going?’ shouted the officer. ‘If you take us to that gorge over there, the enemy will not leave a man to tell what became of us!’

Jordan saw the light. He ordered his men to wheel around and take cover in an abandoned hacienda across from the Mexican trenches. A number of Rio Grande vaqueros who had been with Zapata quickly rode in to support Jordan. For more than two hours, the Mexican army bombarded the Texans and vaqueros dug in behind the walls of the hacienda. Then at 4 p.m. the Mexican army charged the position. Jordan waited until the enemy was within 30 yards before ordering three savage volleys in rapid succession. In short order, 400 Mexican troops dropped out of the formation — dead or dying — while the rest panicked and fled back into Saltillo. Jordan lost five dead.He then ordered a retreat for Texas. Montoya set off after them the next day, but Jordan’s Texans and vaqueros successfully fought a series of rear-guard actions until they were able to cross the Rio Grande.

Canales now believed the Republic of the Rio Grande was doomed and entered into secret negotiations with General Arista. On November 6, 1840, Canales crossed the Rio Grande and surrendered at Camargo. At the same time, he accepted an officer’s commission in Santa Anna’s army. Shortly afterward, President Cárdenas and his men marched into Laredo under the three-star flag and surrendered it to Santa Anna officials. The Republic of the Rio Grande came to an abrupt end.

Canales would maintain afterward that he joined Santa Anna because it had become obvious that Texas was using the Republic of the Rio Grande to seize more of his native country, Mexico. President Lamar had no idea what was taking place in the Nueces Strip and along the Rio Grande. He wasn’t sure if there was anything left of the Republic of the Rio Grande or if Santa Anna was massing an army there for an invasion of Texas.

Lamar ordered Captain Jack Hays of the Texas Rangers to take 13 men from San Antonio to Laredo in March 1841.

Officially, they were looking for horse thieves. Unofficially, they were to spy out the countryside. Captain Antonio Prez apparently commanded another small Ranger detachment as a second’spy brigade.’ Hays, possibly with the Tejano leader Prez riding with him, was quickly met by 42 Mexican regulars led by the alcalde (similar to the position of mayor) of Laredo. The Texans took cover while Hays and a young recruit rode out to talk with the man.

The alcalde told Hays that the Mexicans were only an advance guard and that soon a large formation of soldiers would be riding up. The wise thing to do, he insisted, was for the Texans to surrender to him first. Instead, Hays ordered his young recruit to shoot down the alcalde, which he did, causing the Mexicans and Texans to charge each other back and forth for an hour. Finally, Hays and his men charged without reloading, catching the Mexicans off guard. The Mexican soldiers broke and ran. Hays seized their horses. Soon 32 Mexican regulars came out of the mesquite to surrender,while eight of their comrades lay dead or mortally wounded in the sun. The Texans had only two wounded.

Hays had answered Lamar’s questions. There was no massive Mexican army preparing for an invasion of Texas. There was also no remnant of the Republic of the Rio Grande.

When Canales surrendered in November, he made no terms for the Canes. Although these natives were Catholic, their properties and ranches were seized by Santa Anna officials. Cholera then struck what remained of their nation, and the Canes became extinct. Canales himself would later lead campaigns against Texans, help stop a Texan filibuster to Mier in 1842 and fight against U.S. troops in the Mexican War. After the war, he served Tamaulipas in various capacities, including interim governor, and on July 22, 1852, received an award for his conduct. It is believed he died later that same year. As for the late Antonio Zapata, one of the new Texas counties carved out of the Nueces Strip was named for him in 1901 by Texans who remembered his courage.

This article was written by Mike Coppock and originally appeared in the December 2005 issue of Wild West.

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