Come and Take It!

While Austin sat in a Mexican jail, Santa Anna changed allegiance from the Federalists to the conservative Centralists and proclaimed himself the permanent president of Mexico in 1834.  He abolished the federal government and installed his own yes-men.  Then he turned his attention to Texas...

In 1835 Santa Anna prepared to lead an army northward to crush uprisings in the northern regions of Texas.  This stirred the Texan radicals to action and with a band of 40 men, they forced the Anahuac garrison to evacuate.  William Travis and his men were promptly arrested and marshal law are proclaimed throughout Texas.

Stephen Austin who was by then released from jail, had come to the end of his patience along with most of the citizens of Texas.  When Santa Anna ordered San Antonio held under military watch, that was the last straw.  Austin ordered a petition declaring "there is no other remedy but to defend our rights, ourselves and our country by a force of arms."

The actual revolution began when General San Martin Perfecta de Cos (Santa Anna's brother-in-law) attempted to forcefully take a cannon belonging too the citizens of Gonzales.  The cannon had been given to defer Indian attacks and was a pseudo-symbol of the community.  The citizens responded to Cos by placing a sign on the cannon "COME AND TAKE IT".  Then they let fly with a load of nails, wire, and horseshoes, followed by rifle fire.  The Mexicans, shocked that the citizens would retaliate, fled to San Antonio.

The cocky Texans of Gonzales resolved to drive General Cos and his entire army all the way back to Mexico.  The "Army of the People" was hastily assembled with 500 armed farmers.  With their celebrated cannon they set out for San Antonio and found the city well fortified.  It was a long siege.

Next time...Preparing for Independence
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Today in Pioneer History: "On September 19, 1827, after a duel turns into an all-out brawl Jim Bowie disembowels a banker in Alexandria, Louisiana, with an early version of his famous Bowie knife. The actual inventor of the Bowie knife, however, was probably not Jim Bowie, but rather his equally belligerent brother, Rezin Bowie, who reportedly came up with the design after nearly being killed in a vicious knife fight.