The Republican Army of the North: A Filibuster Expedition in Texas

The Republican Army of the North, or Ejercito Republicano del Norte de México, was the military force of the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition, which fought a campaign from 1812–13 to liberate Texas from the Spanish empire and open up all of Northern Mexico to the Mexican revolutionary cause. Originating as a mostly Anglo-American filibuster, it evolved into a heterogenous army of Anglos, French Creoles, Tejanos, and American Indians fighting alongside each other against the Spanish royalist forces. It briefly secured independence for Texas in April 1813 before being defeated in August at the battle of Medina.

There had been Anglo-American interest in a filibuster expedition into Northern Mexico to promote revolution since the Aaron Burr Conspiracy of 1805–06, but serious efforts only began after the Mexican War of Independence broke out in September 1810. A Mexican rebel from Nuevo Santander, José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara, was deputized by rebel officials with the duty of venturing to the United States to secure official support for the Mexican cause. Having narrowly avoided capture by the Spanish, Gutiérrez, with a small group of aides, entered the United States at Natchitoches in September 1811. While he traveled to Washington on his mission to secure official aid or arms for the Mexican cause, Gutiérrez left behind fellow rebel José Menchaca, with the goal of securing a foothold in Texas.

Menchaca had much to work with. An abortive filibuster had been planned in March 1811 by John Smith T, a Missouri mining magnate and former member of the Burr Conspiracy, but American authorities suppressed the effort, which was in violation of the Neutrality Act of 1794. Nonetheless, six months later, Menchaca was able to put together a force of 300 Americans to fight for Mexico; this accomplishment suggested that most of the recruits were likely the same force that Smith T had previously organized. Menchaca duly invaded Texas, but, upon encountering greater-than-expected Spanish forces, he deserted to the royalists and ultimately sought a pardon. His force retired back across the Sabine River and dispersed.

Upon hearing of his subordinate’s defection, Gutiérrez, frustrated in his efforts to obtain official support, sailed to New Orleans. He returned to the border in company with an American special agent, William Shaler. This has been interpreted by many at the time and since to indicate secret United States aid to the cause, however their meeting was accidental. Shaler, who had been appointed envoy to Mexican rebels two years before, was opposed to using government support for the cause and instead encouraged Gutiérrez to tap native Mexican forces for his cause. Nonetheless, Gutiérrez began meeting behind Shaler’s back with numerous pro-filibuster elements, including former Burr Conspirators and a Frenchman, Jean Jacques Paillette, who offered substantial sums to aid the cause. He recruited an American military officer, Augustus William Magee, to join his force as the battlefield commander.

The subsequent filibuster became known as the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition, but organization actually preceded the arrival of either Gutiérrez or Magee on the frontier. After a smuggling ring was broken up by Spanish forces in October 1808, a group of bandits had established itself in the so-called Neutral Ground between the two countries. Despite efforts of both nations to expel them, they remained a presence on the border for the next four years. In 1810 Spanish officials expelled dozens of foreigners from Texas, including French Creoles and Anglo Americans. Many settled in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and made common cause with rebels inside Texas. Among these exiles was Bernard Martin Despallier, a former resident of Trinidad de Salcedo, Texas, who would serve as Gutiérrez’s propagandist for the invasion.

The filibuster that Gutiérrez established drew from both these groups, as well as various Burr-affiliated individuals from an area stretching from Rapides, Louisiana, to Natchitoches to Natchez, Mississippi. The sources of funding and supply for the army likely included New Orleans merchants through a group called the Mexican Association of New Orleans, which had assigned itself the same mission during the Burr Conspiracy six years before. A letter received by Shaler suggested the effort was organized by Daniel Clark, the unofficial head of this association.

Invasion of Texas

United States efforts to prevent the army from forming were ineffective due to a weak military structure, distracted federal officials, and local officials in Natchitoches who were likely sympathetic to the enterprise. A proclamation by Louisiana governor William C. C. Claiborne declaring it illegal was too late to prevent the formation. Individuals seeking to join the filibuster slipped past Natchitoches in small groups, claiming to be hunters. Several key players who joined the force were key recruits to the Burr Conspiracy six years before, including Samuel Kemper, William Murray, and Josiah Taylor. Recruits were advised to rendezvous on June 14 at Crow’s Ferry (later Gaines Ferry) on the Sabine River. The army launched its invasion on August 7 and crossed into Texas on August 8, 1812. Nacogdoches was taken without a fight on August 12. The army then moved to take Trinidad de Salcedo in September and took La Bahía (today’s Goliad) in November.

The army was diverse, including the banditti and “abandoned characters” from across the frontier, but also men of substance from Mississippi and Louisiana. It also included college graduates such as Harvard alumnus Henry Adams Bullard and Transylvania University  graduates Darius and Orramel Johnston (half-brothers of Albert Sidney Johnston). There were two West Pointers—Magee and Samuel Noah, the first Jewish graduate of the school.

Native Mexican and Tejano participants had at the outset only included a handful of Spanish deserters, but after Nacogdoches was taken, dozens began to sign on to the Republican Army, and this trend continued as more territory was taken. Key leaders among these were José María Guadiana, who had served as the Spanish commandant of Nacogdoches before being arrested for rebel activity, and former soldiers Miguel Menchaca and Antonio Delgado.

After initial rebel success, the Spanish counterattacked, trapping the Republican Army in the Presidio La Bahía. The siege of La Bahía lasted ninety-eight days and ended with a Spanish retreat to San Antonio. During the siege, the army’s commander, Magee, died of an illness, likely tuberculosis, and was replaced as commander by Kemper.

Capture of San Antonio

The Republicans pursued, defeated the Spanish at the battle of Rosillo, and took San Antonio on April 1, 1813. The army was rocked by the execution of fourteen captured royalist officers by individuals in the force’s native Tejano contingent. American volunteers were outraged, and some of them, including their commander, Kemper, returned to the United States. An American, James Taylor Gaines, defended the action and pointed to alleged brutality by the Spaniards, and thus the majority of the American contingent stayed in the force, electing Reuben Ross as its new commander. After Ross abandoned the force to return to the United States, Henry Perry replaced him. Perry led the force to victory at the battle of Alazán in June 1813, defeating an early Spanish attempt to regain the capital of Texas.

The republican capture of San Antonio, with its large population and the defeat of the Spanish at Alazán, with vast captured weaponry and stores, gave the rebels the chance to at last arm a sizeable portion of the native Tejano population. Although precise numbers are not available, the most likely estimate is that the army by August 1813 had grown to around 1,500–2,000, with about 700–1,000 being native Tejanos, about 500–600 Anglo Americans, and an unknown number of American Indians. The Americans had grown disaffected with Gutiérrez, partly because of the murder of the Spanish officers, but also because they believed he did not possess the courage or fortitude to lead the force in a push into Mexico, which was their aim. They sought to replace him with Cuban revolutionary José Álvarez de Toledo. Gutiérrez’s own secretary of state, Henry Adams Bullard, himself a close acolyte of Toledo, convinced the junta of Béxar to approve the switch, and Toledo arrived in Texas soon after.

Within days of the change of leadership, word arrived that a new Spanish army was marching on San Antonio under the leadership of Joaquín de Arredondo. The Republican Army marched south and met him at the battle of Medina on August 18, 1813. Despite having an unbroken streak of victories, the Republicans stumbled into a trap set up by Arredondo and were defeated. An estimated 700–1,000 rebels were killed on the battlefield, with more executed as the Spanish chased survivors all the way to Louisiana.

Toledo and others kept the Republican Army active on paper in exile, and many of the future filibusters into Spanish Texas, including the Long expedition, included veterans of the 1812–13 campaign. A number of veterans also settled in Texas after Mexican independence. Gaines returned, operated a ferry, and later served as sheriff in Nacogdoches. He ultimately signed the Texas Declaration of Independence alongside Tejano veteran José Francisco Ruiz. Other members of the Republican Army of the North included Republic of Texas Secretary of War Warren D. C. Hall, Aylett Buckner, and Henry William Munson. Sons of veterans of the Republican Army of the North included two future defenders of the Alamo, William Philip King and Charles Despallier, son of Bernard Despallier.