Quest For Knowledge Mini History Lesson For Today: On October 2, 1835, the first shots of the Texas Revolution were fired when Mexican soldiers attempted to disarm the people of Gonzales, Texas. Since the 1820s, American settlers had been streaming into the Mexican province of Texas (also known as Tejas) at the urging of the Mexican government, which had hoped they would become loyal Mexican citizens. Soon the American settlers began to greatly outnumber the native Mexican population. In 1835, the up to that point, friendly Mexican government suffered a drastic regime change when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna overthrew the government and became dictator. One of his first orders of business was to subdue and disarm the huge population of American settlers who might use the regime change as an excuse to secede. On October 2, Mexican soldiers attempted to put Santa Anna’s disarming plan into action when they tried to seize a small cannon that belonged to the city of Gonzales. Texan militia soon began to gather around the cannon and a fierce, but brief fight commenced. In the end, the Mexicans were forced to retreat and the cannon remained in Texan hands. This was the beginning of a more than year long struggle that would, in the end, gain Texas its independence.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 00:35:59 +0000
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