The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003 Page: 213
675 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara
Salcedo's role in the capture and execution of Hidalgo, Allende,Jim6nez,
and other insurgent leaders.47
Gutidrrez's approval of the executions was in keeping with his sense of
the necessities of warfare against what he considered a ruthless foe. One
commonplace task of the caudillo was either to destroy powerful ene-
mies or else to attract them to the cause. Gutierrez absorbed this lesson
from his Mexican political experience. He contended that rebel com-
mander Mariano Jimenez had made a fatal mistake by offering clemen-
cy to Spanish prisoners who subsequently organized armed bands
against the insurgents.48
On April 6, 1813, Gutierrez wrote to Ignacio Elizondo, royalist com-
mander on the Rio Grande, imploring him to declare again for the in-
surgency he had formerly betrayed. If this suit had succeeded, Guti6rrez
might have gained an opening to Northern Mexico and also increased
his leverage with his discontented Anglo-American allies. He instead met
only scorn. Elizondo bridled at Guti6rrez's statement that he had God's
favor, and cursed him for assuming "the cause of the Devil" with the aid
of "your Protestants and heretics."''
The Republican Army barely weathered the immediate crisis of the Sal-
ado Creek killings. James Gaines, an Anglo-American officer, helped to
quiet the filibusters' outrage by explaining the historical circumstances
justifying Mexican hatred toward Salcedo. William McLane, another vol-
unteer, was perhaps more realistic. Since Mexican soldiers generally sup-
ported the killings, their U.S. allies had to acquiesce if they wished to con-
tinue the campaign." On April 15, Maj. Reuben Ross wrote to William
Shaler about the Republican hold on B6xar: "We are now in peaceable
possession of the Province of Texas [and] we have Established a Govern-
ment and the inhabitants appear content." One day later, the Anglo-
American officers in the army reached an accord with Gutierrez and his
junta concerning the allocation of unappropriated state lands to the vol-
unteers. This agreement indicates that U.S. volunteers accepted the le-
gitimacy of the new Texas regime-at least so far as their own personal in-
terest was involved."'
" Garrett, Green Flag Over Texas, 180o-181; Jose Bernardo Gutierrez to William Shaler, Apr 11,
1813 (quotation), Special Agents MSS. This letter was transmitted to the State Department in Eng-
hsh translation.
" Gutierrez to William Eustis, [1811], Filibustering Expedition MSS.
, Gutierrez's letter, and Ehzondo's reply of Apr. 16, 1813, are m Hernindez y Divalos, Docu-
mentos, V, 31-33; quotations (p. 32)" "la causa del Demomo" and "tus protestantes y ereges."
' Gaines's historical recollections are not accurate on several points, though his words may
have had some impact on the volunteers. See "Information Obtained in 1835 From Capt. Gaines,"
LamarPapers, I, 280; Walker, "McLane's Narrative," SHQ 66 (Jan., 1963), 465.
" Reuben Ross to Wilham Shaler, Apr. 15, 1813 (quotation), Special Agents MSS. Though a
party of volunteers returned to the United States by the end of April, most remained m Texas. See213
2002
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003, periodical, 2003; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101223/m1/265/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.