Battle of Medina: Texas’ Forgotten Fight (Oct 15, 2023)

by Scott Sosebee

Texas has been the location of a number of military engagements, ones that range from the major fights of the Texas Revolution, to the numerous clashes between Natives and those who invaded their homelands, to some Civil War skirmishes. But, if I was to ask for the name of the bloodiest battle ever fought on Texas soil, would you come up with the answer of the 1813 Battle of Medina? Would you know who actually fought at Medina or that, despite the fact that many people have never heard of it, and we are not exactly sure where it took place, it was one of the most consequential military engagements ever fought in Texas, a significance that extended to the larger War for Mexican Independence conflict?

The Battle of Medina was the final action of the Gutíerrez-Magee Expedition that had established the short-lived Republic of the North—often called the “Green Flag Republic” after the banner the army carried before it—in Nacogdoches in 1812. Northern Mexico, which, of course, included Texas at the time, was the scene of a great deal of intrigue during the early years of the Mexican War of Independence. The northern reaches of New Spain were perhaps the site of the strongest support for those opposing the Royalists who controlled the governmental levers of New Spain in these last years of Spanish rule. The chaos of the war, which is more properly termed a series of revolts involving intense fighting and then lulls between more fighting between 1810 and 1820, also provided fertile grounds for opportunists to try to exploit the fighting and separate parts of New Spain into new nations, many of those involving American schemers who conspired with Mexican counterparts to sow discord. The Gutíerrez-Magee Expedition, often referred to as one of many “filibuster” attempts into Texas, was such an action. José Bernardo Gutíerrez de Lara, a Mexican independence advocate and organizer who would eventually become the first governor of Tamaulipas, in 1812 traveled to the United States to seek American help in the fight for Mexican independence. Unsuccessful in gaining aid from the U.S. government, Gutíerrez de Lara instead, while in Louisiana on the way back to Mexico, convinced former U.S. Army officer Augustus Magee to join him in a plot to sever Texas and the rest of northern Mexico away from New Spain and establish a new nation, one they would name The Republic of the North.

Magee and Gutíerrez de Lara—joined by another man, José Álvarez de Toledo y Dubois, a Cuban revolutionary—recruited and outfitted the “Republican Army of the North” or RAN, a force mostly American that was of a bit over 300. The RAN marched from Louisiana into Texas in August 1812 and captured Nacogdoches with virtually no resistance. In fact, the residents of Nacogdoches—mostly isolated descendants of the original Los Adeseños colonists who had founded the villa in 1779 who had no real love or attachment to the Royalist government of New Spain—generally welcomed the RAN, and a number of men in the frontier villa decided to join up with the effort. It was in Nacogdoches that Gutíerrez de Lara declared the “Republic of the North.” Toledo y Dubois, along with William Shaler, brought in a printing press and published one edition of the Gaceta de Tejas, generally recognized as the first newspaper in Texas.

The RAN marched on and captured Trinidad de Salcedo next and then—in a surprise move since the Royalist governor in San Antonio expected the force to march there next, and he began preparations—instead moved on and secured La Bahía. There, the troops rested and recuperated, but its fate began to change. Augustis Magee, who had military training and was a fairly good strategist, became ill and died. The loss of his leadership intensified the competition between Gutíerrez de Lara and Toledo y Dubois. Eventually, the Cuban deposed Gutíerrez de Lara—who went back to the U.S. and would eventually make his way back to Mexico—and took over the generalship of the RAN. He then led the RAN against the Royalist troops in San Antonio and took that city as well.

At the time the intrigue was advancing in Texas, the war was in a fairly benign period farther in the interior. When the Royalist leaders received word of what was taking place in Texas, they immediately acted. Joaquín de Arredondo, the commanding general of the Provincias Internas, of which Texas was a part, raised an army of 1,850 men and, in August 1913, departed Laredo for San Antonio. Arredondo was a very capable general who had a reputation for brutally suppressing any attempts to revolt against Royalist rule. He would soon enhance that reputation at the Medina.

The RAN soon learned of Arredondo’s advance, and Toledo ordered his men to move to meet the force. They moved out of San Antonio on about August 8 with 1,400 men under arms. They stopped near where the Atascosa and Medina Rivers met on August 17 with the intention of ambushing the Royalist army the next day. Arredondo, however, had discovered their camp and sent a scouting patrol ahead to force the RAN to move from their position. The RAN fled into a dense wooded area, and Toledo—still hoping his ambush plan would work—ordered his men to remain. But, the main group of RAN soldiers, under Miguel Menchaca, disobeyed orders and pursued the small scout party, thinking it was the primary Royalist force. They were led straight into the heart of Arredondo’s troops, who were well protected behind breastworks and other defensive barriers. The result was almost wholesale slaughter as the RAN soldiers were overrun after a four-hour battle. True to his reputation, Arredondo had all prisoners immediately executed. He would then move on to San Antonio, where he would kill almost one hundred more men whom he accused of helping the RAN. His next destination would have been Nacogdoches, where he threatened to put the entire villa to the sword for helping the RAN. When his advance scouts came into the villa, they found it abandoned, with almost every resident having run to Louisiana. The RAN rebellion was over.

Perhaps as a side note to the Battle of Medina, Arredondo was accompanied on his march by a young junior officer seeing some of his first action on the battlefield. He took notice of how Arredondo treated and dealt with those he considered traitors. He marched back toward Coahuila with the Royalist army, but Lieutenant José Antonio López de Santa Anna would return to Texas in 1836 with another army determined to teach those who would rebel against authority another lesson.

The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu; www.easttexashistorical.org.