Chapter 36 The Border Wars
"What do those idiots think they're doing?! We cannot possibly invade Texas... at least not now."- Presidente Valentin Gomez Farias 1846
"Men, we may have once been Mexicanos but no longer do we owe allegiance down south. I am a Texan and I shall die one." Sargent Carlos Fernandez 1846
"Based on my time down south the Republic of the Rio Grande looks to be a complete and utter disaster. The central government has very little power over the people with outlaws and Indians roaming the countryside as they see fit. While they may act as a buffer to Texas now in the future they will become a hindrance. Mark my words the Rio Grande will not survive in twenty years."- Sam Houston 1846
For the previous two years the Republic of Texas had been relative uneventful in terms of domestic events with President Lamar continuing much of his policies that he had created in his first term. This peace continued until early summer of 1846 when the border wars occurred. After word spread about the January Revolution to the nation of Mexico there was a large divide on how exactly to proceed with these new revelations. Several revanchist congressmen and governors wished to use this as a opportunity to declare war on Texas now that they no longer had the support of France. A small minority of liberals under Farias wished instead to ignore Texas and focus on continuing the development of Mexico. Since the end of the Civil War Mexico had been slowly recovering but was no where near the power she previously had in 1835. The new Federal constitution had granted large amounts of autonomy and self-rule to the state governments, essentially turning Mexico into a Confederation. Farias repeatedly advised the governors not to attack Texas and instead focus on internal development of their own states, yet all of these attempts failed and the Governors went through there plot anyway, with Farias powerless to stop it. The attacks began on May 1st the Veracruz militia along with help from Oaxca launched a direct attack on the province of Tabasco in order to bring it back into the fold of Mexico. This attack was later followed the next day with a group of Central Mexican states under the leadership of Zacatecas moving into the Rio Grande, followed by a Sonora expedition moving to California. When word reached Texas the army was once again mobilized, with volunteers flocking to defend the Republic once more along with the remnants of the French army currently stationed in Texas to honor their pact. War had begun.
Sonora-California: In order to deal with the events of the border wars on land from least to most important we must first discuss the often overlooked California War of the Border Wars. The reason most outside of California forget about its existence is due to the relatively low key nature of the theater with Sonora diverting most of its troops to an invasion of nearby Chihuahua. Still an expedition of around 750 offered to reclaim California from the Texans which would be led by Major Luis Fernando. From its onset the expedition met much trouble as they had to march across hundreds of miles of dessert with a long chain of supply (designated in secondary importance to Chihuahua) and the onset of attacks by Apache Indians who were hostile to this new army which was passing into their territory. By the time they had fully crossed the border a full 24 members of the expedition had died due to heat and attacks by the Apache. The group had two options to attack, Santa Fe or Los Angeles. The latter was chosen in order to cut off Texas from the Pacific as well as the supposed probability of success due to the Mexican army believing that they would be welcomed as liberators. While they would have arrived undetected, their plan was caught on when a platoon of 24 Texan rangers had arrived under the command of the Walker brothers approximately 50 miles northwest of modern day Tucson, Arizona. The Texas Rangers were alerted by their Navajo allies (who had joined the Indian Commission Initiative 5 years earlier) that a large Mexican force was making its way across the desert. The rangers sent out the Walker brothers to confirm these sightings which they did on June 5th following a skirmish which resulted in 5 Mexicans killed and one ranger wounded. The rangers swiftly rode west in order to spread word to Monterrey and alert them of the oncoming Mexican force, while sending a message to Austin in order to alert them of the invasion. On June 20th the Mexican force had arrived outside of Monterrey and began to besiege it, demanding that the Tejano population surrender and overturn the garrison. Much to their shock the Tejanos of Monterrey were near unanimous in rejecting the Mexican offer by signing a full petition that stated that they were citizens of Texas and would never surrender to the Mexican force. Angrily Major Fernando tore up the paper and planned to target the town for an assault on June 28th. Fortunately on the 27th reinforcements from the French garrison had arrived from San Diego and Los Angeles, which the Mexicans did not expect due to the ongoing situation in France. What occurred was the Battle of Monterrey where the well trained French force under the combined command of Colonel Joseph Petain, along with the Texas garrison led by Colonel Frank Johnson, launched an assault into the Mexican camp and used the French cavalry to surround and entrap the army. The battle was a clear Texan/French victory with the combined armies suffering 38 KIA and 44 WIA. The Mexicans suffered 62 KIA along with 75 WIA, with the rest being taken prisoner. Major Fernando surrendered and was forced to retreat back to Sonora with all of the troops under his command swearing an oath to never take arms against the Republic of Texas again or they would be executed. Afterwords half of the French forces went to the border where they would watch over it for the remainder of the Border Wars. California was now safe and firmly in Texan hands.
Battle of Monterrey
Yucatan Theater: The Veracruz militia under Governor Javier Torano had launched the invasion into the Yucatan not to completely conquer the nation but retake the states of Tobasco and Chiapas. He knew from the Guatemala War that the Yucatan was a force to be reckoned with and could not entirely be conquered with their aggressive and patriotic Mayan population. Instead he focused on the bordering two states as they had the largest ratio of Hispanics to Natives within the Republic. A combined force of around 1500 Mexican millitia had gathered in Veracruz and launched an official invasion of Tobasco in order to capture the capitol of Villahermosa. Meanwhile a force of 1,000 men from Oxaca launched a similar invasion into Chiapas in order to capture of Tuxtla. At first both forces were successful in their aims and had defeated all Yucatan border forces who had tried to stop their advances, resulting in a siege of the Capitols around May 10th. The Yucatan however would not sit idly by and had General Santiago Iman once again mobilize the army to meet the current threat. An overall impressive force of around 20,000 soldiers had gathered, with the majority of volunteers once again coming from the Mayans who had flocked to the military in order to repulse the Creole invasion of their homeland. While this was going on some minor rebellions in the former Central American states had erupted by Creole Patriots. The 5000 stationed French troops were dispatched in order to quell the revolt by President Barbachano as he did not want Yucatan to fight Yucatan. When the French arrived they had dispatched the rebels with relative ease as they were already overwhelmed by the empowered Mayan population who had bitterly fought against them to retain their rights. Back to the border zones the Yucatan had arrived on June 3rd with the 20,000 army being split in half to relieve both sieges. In the resulting battles of Villahermosa and Tuxtla, the Yucatan overwhelmed and broke the Mexican militias as their troops were far more experienced with the Mayan battalions fighting in a savage ferver. The Mexicans had taken over 1,260 casualties in both battles with the rest becoming prisoners, while the Yucatan had suffered combined casualties of 391 men. Once the Mexicans were driven off and the border was secure the Yucatan were not done. In order to teach Mexico a lesson the Yucatan army marched directly to the city of Veracruz and sacked the port, burning much of the city and killing around 100 civilians. While this act of savagery would be condemned today the Yucatan celebrated as they thought the teached Mexico a lesson once and for all. Following June the Border Wars was unofficially over for the Yucatan as the Mexicans would not launch another invasion. Though Southern Mexico was filled with much grief and anger that would give rise to mass support for Unification and the Mexican War.
Battle of Villahermosa (Right) Sack of Veracruz (Left)
Rio Grande Theater: Compared to the Yucatan and California, the Republic of the Rio Grande suffered horribly in the Border Wars. Since the end of the Mexican Civil War the central government of the Rio Grande had become increasingly corrupt with lawlessness and chaos surrounding the country. Oftentimes the French garrison was the only force of order within the country, with many stationed there wondering why this was worth so much to France. While Mexico had undergone much instability in the past decade it was a paradise compared to the Yucatan. Thus when a force of around 5,000 Mexican troops invaded the Rio Grande under the command of General Filisola, they found much support among the population. The Republic of the Rio Grande attempted to gather its forces of around 3,000 troops to meet the Mexicans head on. What resulted was the Battle of Torreon where the Mexican forces won a decisive victory with the Mexican militia rushing a large assault against the poorly organized Rio Grande army with the Rio Grande troops breaking under combat with the Mexicans along with their superiority in cavalry in artillery. During the battle many of the Rio Grande troops simply surrendered or deserted in large droves. The results showed the one sidedness of the battle with the Mexicans only suffering 167 KIA and 184 WIA. The Rio Grande suffered an immense 624 KIA, 890 WIA, and 350 POW with the rest retreating to the national capitol of Satillo. The Mexican forces then followed suit and pursued the Rio Grande army to the capitol where they laid a siege, with the expectation that by capturing the capitol the nation would collapse. A portion of the Mexican army was dispatched to Durango in order to capture the west. While initially successful they meet fierce resistance from the garrisoned 1000 French soldiers and were defeated in the Battle of Victoria de Durango on June 7th. During all of these events the Republic of Texas did not sit by and on May 25th, President Lamar had dispatched The Texan Army under the command of Brigadier General Travis and the reinstated Major General Sam Houston. The army had gathered over 15,000 volunteers and regulars along with 500 Texas Rangers with the intent to launch an expedition to protect Rio Grande in order to keep Mexico away from its borders. Among the army where several major Texan soldiers who would play key roles in the Mexican War which included Albert Sidney Johnson, John Hood, John Wharton, and Santos Bienavedes. The Texan Army was increasingly diverse as it reflected the now mixed racial buildup of Texas with several companies of Anglos, Tejanos, Germans, French, and Indians. The Texan Army crossed the border in Laredo on June 10th, making its way towards Coahuila at a fast pace. Unfortunately they were too late after Satillo surrendered on June 16th with capitol's defenders surrendering while the French fought a battle and lost to the Mexicans due to numerical superiority, later retreating to north to link up with the Texan Army. Fortunately the Rio Grande government had already evacuated to Nuevo Leon before the city fell, though this gave the national government the reputation of cowards. Strategically it would have made sense for the Mexican Army to consolidate their territory and reach peace with the surrounding nations. Instead the greedy officers in the army forced Filisola to consolidate Satillo and send out a call to Mexico City to officially invade the rest of the Rio Grande. This planned invasion never came as on July 4th the an overwhelming force of over 18,000 Texan and French troops converged on the city in order to liberate it from the Mexicans. In the days since the siege and first battle the Mexican militia forces in incompetency had not erected the defenses and thus the city came under waves of hundreds of men from the Texan-French forces. The Second Battle of Satillo was one of intense hand to hand combat and intense street warfare as the Mexican militia fought fiercely in order to preserve their gains from Texas. The bloody battle went on for the rest of the day before the Mexican forces under Filisola surrendered at dusk due to their tired state and increasingly low numbers. The casualties of the battle were high as the Texans suffered 215 KIA, 322 WIA; the French 191 KIA and 285 WIA, and the Mexicans and astounding 773 KIA and 694 WIA, with the rest surrendering. The main factors that allowed Texas to win was its specialization in hand-to-hand combat, the diverse fighting styles of its troops (especially the Indians) and the support from combined Texan-French artillery and cavalry. For the next three months the Texan-French army would sweep the rest of the Rio Grande, restoring order and kicking all Mexican forces out.
Second Battle of Satillo
Gulf of Mexico: Immediately after hearing word of the Mexican invasions of the Border states, President Lamar immediately dispatched Commodore Edwin Moore and all 15 ships of the Republic Navy to the Gulf in order to institute a blockade of Mexico. While the task would seem overwhelming it was relatively easy with only the Mexican states of Mexico, Puebla, and Veracruz having full access to the Gulf. While the campaign was nowhere near as largescale or intense as the Napoleonic Wars, there was still much action as the Texas Navy was working on a daily basis to halt all ships from going to and from Mexico. They were highly successful with over 100 ships of various kinds seized from Mexican civilian and military hands during the Border Wars. All other nations where convinced to abandon trade with Mexico which the United States complied with as they had little business and the Latin American states did along with in order to not provoke a war. While the European nations such as Great Britain would have attempted to challenge the Texas Navy, no such attempt went forward as the European nations were too focused on the revolutions back home while the Royal Navy focused its attention on the United States. Several small scale battles resulted during this time with the majority being one-on-one duels between ships of both Navys. The Texan Navy was near victorious in all of them as they had superiority with 10 ships of their fleet being steam powered vessels led by the flagship RTS Zavala along with the 5 steam ships bought from France with the steamship RTS Alamo receiving the most action. The only major casualties for the Texan Navy was the sinking of the RTS Potomac on June 18th by an enemy brig while the RTS San Bernard was badly damaged in another. The Texan Navy also resulted in the Sack of Veracruz by cooperating with the Yucatan virtually destroying the port along with all remaining ships in dock, though Commodore Moore did not allow any Texan Marines to assault the city directly or its civilians. When the war ended the Texas Navy was praised once again by the population for virtually destroying the remnants of the Mexican Navy. Edwin Moore was promoted to Rear Admiral while the Texas Congress would order the development of 10 more ships for the Navy, with 5 going to the Gulf Fleet while the other 5 would head to the California to form the Pacific Squadron.
On November 1st representatives from all three nations met in the neutral nation of Nicaragua in order to discuss terms for the end of the conflict. Though the Mexican side tried to explain that it was the rouge actions of the governors and not the central government that started the conflict, the southwestern nations would have none of it and sought to enforce their terms. For the Yucatan a status quo antebellum was reached in relation to borders though A 15 mile demillitarized zone was established on the Mexican side of its border with Yucatan. Texas sought to strip a piece of territory from Sonora which was responsible for the invasion of California. This piece of territory which was called the Archer purchase in relation to Secretary of State Branch Archer, was a 29,670 square mile piece of land obtained for the purpose of building future railroads in California. For its compensation Mexico would receive $1.5 Million Redbacks. France meanwhile would petitioned for $200,000 of Francs and demanded fishing rights in Mexico's pacific ocean. The Rio Grande for its part could not enforce any demands as it was on the verge of near collapse in the conflict. Both sides later agreed to exchange prisoners of war by the end of the year. The resulting Nicaragua Accords caused very different reactions within all parties. In Texas the population cheered in jubilation as they once more managed to defeat Mexico on their turf and received extra territory from the conflict. Lamar would later be elected to his third term the next year in a landslide victory against Western Unionist Robert Fulton. The Republic of The Yucatan also rejoiced for they had protected their sovereignty and defended Mayan lands, while the rebels in Central America were punished harshly. When Paris received word of the conflict hey were quite happy that the French forces performed well and next year would pledge to renew their security pacts with the Southwest nations under the demand of then-President Napoleon III. Napoleon also offered a complete pardon for the loyalist french soliders and gave them a chance to settle in the three countries so long as they swore to not support the Bourbons, most French loyalists would later settle in Nagodoches. For Rio Grande the nation once more descended into chaos and anarchy as the population was quite discontent with the central government for failing to protect them, many now started to look towards Mexico as their homeland. As for Mexico itself, the nation once again reeled in shock as they had lost for a second time to the rebels. The state governments of the participating states were disposed and President Farias was assassinated on February 17th for failing to officially declare war on the southwest nations. The next four years was a period of anarchy and turmoil in Mexico. This would all change in 1851 with the arrival of British aid and support after the Oregon War. The United Kingdom did not want to see France gain further influence in the Americas and wanted Mexico to become its proxy satellite to establish total British dominance. For the next decade the Unification movement would be born as millions of Mexicans across the nation cried out for blood, reconquest, and punishment for the secessionists. One man would emerge during all this with a mission to make Mexico great again, Benito Juarez.
President Valentin Gomez Farias 1781-1847 (Right) California Commonwealth in 1846 with the Archer Purchase in Tan (Left)
A/N: Yeah! A post about Texas in the Texas timeline. For those of you who read the Lone Star Republic primarily for independent Texas, as a warning I will not be posting another Texas chapter until the end of the Revolutions and the Oregon War. After that the next decade or so will once more be devoted to Texas with a mix of chapters being dedicated to European and some Asian events. The next big War for Texas will be the Mexican War around 1861/1862. Until then stick around and let's see how well our revolutionaries can do. Preview for future chapters is Chapter 37 Invasion of Canada. Chapter 38 German Unification. Chapter 39 Might of the Magyars. Chapter 40 The Legions Advance.