07/02/2013
Texas and the West: 1819-1900
by me
OUTLINE
• Thesis
• Americans in Spanish
Louisiana and Mexican
Texas
• Joel Poinsett in Mexico
• The Texas Revolution
• The Mexican-American
War
• The Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo
• The Spanish-Speaking
Southwest
• Building the
Transcontinental Railroad
• The Great Plains and the
West
• The Oklahoma Land Rush
• Conclusion
• Sources
Thesis
• In order to understand the multicultural makeup of
the United States in the 21st century, it is necessary
to explain the conflict and evolution of the
colonization of Texas and the Southwest since the
early 1800s. Such interactions, often violent,
between European Americans, ethnic Mexicans,
African American, Native Americans, and other
ethnic groups, resulted in a rich history which is
reflected in the ethnic make up of the Unites States
today.
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Slavery in Florida
• By the 1730s, the Spanish harbored runaway
African American slaves from Georgia and the
Carolina, enlisting them into the militia. Large
numbers of runaways by the 1760s.
Americans in Spanish Louisiana
and Mexican Texas
• December 1796. Moses Austin and a companion
traveled to investigate the Spanish mines in the
Louisiana territory. In 1798, the Spanish crown
granted to Moses Austin one-league (4,428 acres). In
return he swore allegiance to the Spanish Crown and
stated he would settle some families in Missouri.
• 1803. Missouri came under the jurisdiction of the
United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
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Americans in Spanish Louisiana
and Mexican Texas
• 1820. Moses Austin traveled to Presidio San Antonio de Bexar
in Spanish Texas and presented a plan to colonize Texas with
Anglo-Americans to Governor Antonio María Martínez. The
Governor rejected Austin's plan due to the ongoing attacks on
Texas by American filibusters.
• 1821. The governor asked Austin's friend, Erasmo Seguín, to
give him the news that he had been awarded a land grant and
permission to settle three hundred families in Texas. On
Austin's return trip, he became ill and died in 1821, shortly
after arriving back in Missouri. His son Stephen F. Austin
carried out his colonization plan.
Americans in Texas
• Starting in 1821, Mexico granted land to American settlers.
• Stephen F. Austin promoted American emigration.
• Generally, slaveholders came to grow cotton in their self-contained
enclaves.
• Americans viewed Texas as an extension of Mississippi and
Louisiana.
• For a brief period Texas was big enough to hold Comanche,
Mexican, and American communities:
– Mexicans maintained ranches and missions in the South.
– Americans farmed the eastern and south central sections.
– The Comanche held their hunting grounds on the frontier.
Mexican Texas
• Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821.
Mexican territory retained the boundaries of the
Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819.
• Vaqueros, often mixed-race mestizos, were the
model for the American “cowboy.”
• 1821. Mexican authorities sought American
settlement as a way of providing a buffer between its
heartland and the Comanche.
• “Texians and Tejanos.”
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Joel Poinsett in Mexico
• 1822-1830. Joel Poinsett, U.S. Minister
Plenipotentiary in Mexico.
• Repeatedly attempted to purchase Texas.
• Served as liason for American “empresarios”.
• Deeply immersed in Mexican politics (he
wasn’t supposed to, he was not a Mexican
citizen). Declared persona non-grata.
• Recalled in 1830.
Tejanos and Texians in Texas
• In 1828, a new Mexican government sought to regain control
of Texas by restricting immigration, and raising custom duties.
• 1829. The Mexicans abolished slavery. Sought to reaffirm the
prohibition of slavery in Texas
• Mexican government established a series of military posts to
enforce the aforementioned measures
• Americans came to see their own culture as superior to that
of the “mongrel Spanish-Indian.”
• Slavery became the primary topic of disagreement between
Mexican authorities and U.S. settlers in Texas in the 1830s.
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The Texas Revolution – The Military
Phase
• War broke out in 1835.
• The Mexican army overwhelmed Americans at the
Alamo.
• The Americans moved their regular army from New
Orleans to the battle site. At the San Jacinto River,
Sam Houston caught the Mexicans in a crossfire
using rifles (effective range 450 yards) against
muskets (effective range 40 yards).
Capture of Santa Ana
• Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana
captured at the San Jacinto River, forced him to
sign a treaty granting independence to the
Republic of Texas. Santa Ana kept prisoner for
six months and taken to Washington, D.C.
• The Mexican Congress refused to ratify the
treaty and continued to claim Texas.
• Mexicans continued to claim Texas.
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Origins of the Mexican-American
War
• James K. Polk committed to expanding U.S. territory.
• 1846. President Polk orders Zachary Taylor to take
3,000 troops from the Nueces River to the Rio
Grande.
• April 25-May 8. Four separate skirmishes between
Mexicans and Americans at the Rio Grande. c. 64
American casualties, c. 600 Mexican casualties.
• May 13, 1846. U.S. Congress declared war on
Mexico.
Mr. Polk’s War
• The dispute with Mexico erupted into war after that
nation refused to receive Polk’s envoy and a brief
skirmish occurred on the Texas-Mexico border.
• The war was politically divisive, particularly among
opponents of slavery and northerners.
• Mass and individual protests occurred.
• Polk planned the war strategy, sending troops into
the northern provinces of Mexico, conquering New
Mexico and California. Victories in central Mexico
were costly.
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The Mexican-American War
General Winfield Scott’s amphibious attack on the Mexican coastal city of Veracruz in
March 1847 was greeted with wide popular acclaim in the United States.
The Mexican-American War, 1846–48
Wars Within War
• Knowing that the national army couldn’t hold
its ground against the Americans, in early
1847 the Mexican government commissioned
leading citizens as guerrilla leaders.
• Besides these groups, spontaneous peasant
and indigenous guerrillas arose in 1847. These
spontaneous groups attacked both the
haciendas of the Mexican rich and the
American invaders.
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Guerrilla Leadership
• Important guerrilla
leaders included
Benito Juarez,
Miguel Negrete, and
Santos Degollado in
central Mexico, and
Juan Cortina in the
South Texas-Mexico
border.
Juan Cortina as a guerrilla leader.
Saint Patrick’s Batallion
(Los San Patricios)
• At least 200 Catholic American soldiers
deserted.
• Discriminated against in the U.S. army
because of their religion.
• Felt the war was unjust.
• Joined the Mexican army.
• Those who were captured by the Americans
faced execution.
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Lancers (Chinacos)
Conflicting American Goals
• Ultra-expansionists wanted all of Mexico.
• Southerners demanded withdrawal to the Rio
Grande.
• President James Polk and the Democrats
wanted to annex all the Mexican territory
north or the 26 parallel (north and west of the
Rio Grande. See map on Levinson, p. 116).
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Siege of Atlixco and destruction of
towns and villages
• July 1847. Gen. John E. Wool in Coahuila ordered that all
insurgents captured be executed on the spot.
• City of Atlixco, Puebla, base of a group of guerrilla insurgents
• October, 1847. General Joseph Lane ordered the bombardment
of the city. c. 319 killed, 219 wounded.
• Fall 1847. Scorched earth campaign to destroy towns and
villages along the path of U.S. supply lines.
• Dec. 1847. Gen. Winfield Scott in central Mexico ordered that all
insurgents captured be executed on the spot.
• Counter-insurgency measures included widespread destruction
of villages, summary execution of insurgents, collective financial
punishment upon municipalities, and the assignment of 26% of
W. Scott’s forces to anti-guerrilla duties.
American Casualties
(see Levinson, p. 123)
•
•
•
•
90,000 served in the war.
c. 1,721 died in action.
c. 11,155 died of disease and exposure to the elements.
c. 20,000 total loses, including dead and disabled due to
wounds and injuries.
• c. 5,000 desertions.
• Reports of atrocities by the Americans undermined popular
support for the war.
• Harassment by Mexican guerrillas undermined the morale of
American soldiers.
Collaboration and Truce
• Even during the occupation in 1847, Mexican elites collaborated with
the Americans in crushing indigenous and peasant revolts.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed Feb. 2, 1848.
• The Americans assisted the Mexican elites in crushing their common
enemy: peasant-indigenous guerrillas.
• The Americans also supplied the Mexican army with a new arsenal.
• American troops left Sept. 6, 1848.
• The Americans made sure to leave a strong pro-American well-armed
government ruling Mexico.
• Mexican rebel leaders Santos Degollado, Miguel Negrete, Benito
Juarez, and Juan Cortina denounced the collaborators.
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Mexican Stereotypes
in Texas since the
early 1800s
(1958) Americo
Paredes, "With His
Pistol In His Hand":
A Border Ballad and
Its Hero.
The Spanish-Speaking Southwest
• Spanish-speakers of Southwest contribute to
culture, institutions
–
–
–
–
Irrigation
Stock management
Weaving
Natural resource management
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Californios, Tejanos, and Nuevomexicanos
under the U.S. Flag
• In McMullen v. Hodge and Others (1849), the state of Texas ruled
that ranchería and mission Indians who tried to pass for Mexicans
could move into Mexican communities.
• Mexican Americans were legally deemed aliens and foreign born.
• Between 1860 and 1900, an alliance of lawyers, businessmen, and
politicians known as the Santa Fe Ring wrested about 80 percent of
the original Spanish grants from Hispanic land holders in New
Mexico.
• In disputes over land titles held by Californios and Tejanos, United
States courts tended to disregard the validity of their land titles.
Californios, Tejanos, and Nuevomexicanos
under the U.S. Flag
• The appearance of groups like Las Gorras Blancas
(New Mexico, late 1880s - early 1890s) and La
Alianza Hispano-Americana (Arizona, founded 1894)
indicated that Mexicans were challenging the rising
Anglo presence.
• In the Southwest, by 1900 most Mexicans lost their
land to Anglo Americans through violence, squatting,
and litigation.
Juan Cortina in South Texas (18591861)
• Juan Cortina led Tejano resistance and
retaliation against Anglo-American elites
and Texas Rangers in the Rio Grande
Valley (1859-1861).
• “To defend ourselves, and making use of
the sacred right of self-preservation, we
have assembled in a popular meeting with
a view of discussing a means by which to
put an end to our misfortunes.”
• “You have been robbed of your property,
incarcerated, chased, murdered, and
hunted like wild beasts . . . to me is
entrusted the work of breaking the chains
of your slavery.”
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Building the Transcontinental Railroad
Railroads
•
•
•
•
•
Facilitated migration.
Boom towns.
Commerce.
Mobilization of troops.
Tracks frequently ruined by bison
herds.
The Transcontinental Railroad
(completed November 6, 1869)
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Chinese and Irish Labor
• The Irish. The Transcontinental Railroad in the
east, from Omaha, Nebraska, to Promontory
Point, Utah.
• Chinese workers. In the west, from Sacramento,
California to Promontory Point, Utah
• By 1870, Chinese laborers represented 25 percent
of the work force in California.
Promontory Point, Utah Territory, 1869
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1882: Chinese Exclusion Act
– Suspended Chinese
immigration for 10
years
– Renewed for another
10 years in 1892
The Great Plains and the West
Native Americans
• Native Americans in the Great Plains for the past 22,000
years
• 1492. c. 10 million Native Americans in today’s U.S. and
Canada.
• 1867. About 250,000 Native Americans and 13 million
American bison in the West and the Great Plains
• At the close of the Civil War, the majority of Indians in
the trans-Mississippi West lived in the Great Plains.
• Devastated by massacre, starvation and disease by 1890.
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Velino Herrera, Buffalo Hunt. Watercolor on white paper.
Purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1935.
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“Buffalo Soldiers”
1866. Creation of all African American 9 th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and 24th and
th
25 Infantry Regiments. Primarily used in the Great Plains and the West to crush
Native Americans during this period.
Cavalry weapons included 1,000 yard range rifles and the Hotchkiss Revolving Gun.
Indian Lands Lost, 1850-1890
Major Indian Battles and Indian
Reservations, 1860–1900
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Comanche Territory c.1850
The Comanche
• (1867). Kiowa and Comanches forced to give up their
territories and move into a reservation in the SW corner of
present-day Oklahoma.
• Young warriors refused and faced the U.S. Cavalry and the
Texas Rangers.
• 1875. Last Comanche band surrendered.
• Devastated by massacres, starvation, and disease.
– Mid 1800s, Comanche numbers c. 20,000.
– 1870: Less than 8,000.
– 1920: Less than 1,500.
The Nez Perce reservation in 1855 (green) and the reduced reservation of 1863 (brown).
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Hotchkiss Revolving Gun (1874)
The Slaughter of the Buffalo
• 1870s. Commercial hunters shipping hundreds of thousands
of buffalo hides eastward each year. More than 1.5 million
were packed aboard trains and wagons in the winter of 187273 alone.
• Train companies offered tourists the chance to shoot buffalo
from the windows of their coaches.
• Soon, military commanders were ordering their troops to kill
buffalo — not for food, but to deny Native Americans their
own source of food.
• By 1880, the slaughter was almost over..
• Soon, just a few hundred animals were sheltered in
Yellowstone National Park.
•
Source: American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation. PBS, 2008.
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Buffalo skulls to be ground for fertilizer. 1880s.
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
• Authorized the President to divide tribal
lands and redistribute the lands among
tribal members, giving 160 acres to each
head of a family and lesser amounts to
bachelors, women, and children.
• Remaining land turned over to
speculators and sold to white colonists.
The Ghost Dance Movement and the Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI0Jfdkq4z8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkJaYe1T8l8
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The Open Range
• The destruction of buffalo opened the path for
the western cattle industry.
• After the Civil War, entrepreneurs like Joseph
McCoy began driving longhorn cattle from
Texas to the Kansas railroad towns for
shipment East to cities like Chicago.
Railroad Routes, Cattle Trails, Gold and Silver Rushes, 1860–1900
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The Long Drives
• Cowboys rounded up herds for $30 a month (at best) and lived
under harsh circumstances, stimulating efforts to unionize.
• One-fifth to one-third of cowboys were Indian, Mexican, or African
American.
• Few women worked on the open range.
• Elizabeth Collins, the “Cattle Queen of Montana” who took over
her husband’s ranch, was a rare exception.
Gold from the Roots Up:
The Cattle Bonanza
•
•
•
•
1880. Wheat farmers begin fencing range
Mechanization modernizes ranching
1886: Harsh winter kills thousands of cattle
Ranchers reduce herds, switch to sheep
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Sodbusters on the Plains:
The Farming Bonanza
• 1870–1890 farm population triples on plains
• African American “Exoduster” farmers migrate
from the South to escape racism
• Water, building materials scarce
• Sod houses common first dwelling
The Chrisman sisters. Nebraska, 1886
Frontier Violence and Racism
• Racist violence against Native Americans, Mexicans,
Chinese.
• Personal violence commonplace
• Horse theft and cattle rustling rose rapidly
• 1870s: Range wars turned violent when farmers,
sheep ranchers, and cattle ranchers battled over the
same land.
• Mid-1880s: cattle business went bust
– Overstocking
– Bad weather
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New Farming Methods
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•
•
•
•
Barbed wire
Dry farming: Deeper tilling, use of mulch
New strains of wheat resistant to frost
1885–1890: Drought ruins bonanza farms
Small-scale, diversified farming adopted
1889: Oklahoma opened to white settlement
The Oklahoma Land Rush
• Thousands participated.
• Land promised to Indians who had been
forcibly relocated in the 1830s was first
opened to white settlement in 1889.
• In a little over two months settlers filed 6,000
homestead claims.
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Conclusion
• The development of Texas, Oklahoma, and the West stands as
a microcosm of the 19th-century West. As railroads, mining,
cattle and farming “tamed” the region and its challenging
environment, white settlers adapted their culture to the
frontier. Marginalized in national economics and politics,
Westerners, along with Southerners, would turn restive by
century’s end and demand their fair share of national wealth,
challenging the political system.
Main Source
John Mack Faragher, et. al. Out of Many: A
History of the American People, Seventh Edition.
New York: Pearson Longman, 2011.
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