Chapter 105 Coahuila: From Conquered to Commonwealth
"Humbly invoking the blessings of Almighty God, the people of the Commonwealth of Coahuila do hereby ordain and establish this constitution."- Coahuila Constitution Preamble, 1876
"Today I announce my candidacy for the Republican party nomination of Presidency of the Republic of Texas."- Governor Venustiano Carranza 1916
"Approximate a hundred and fifty years ago this very day, our Republic was blessed with the inclusion of a new family member, the people of Coahuila. While the first year were harsh as the scars of the Mexican War remained, in the century and a half since then Coahuila has grown and prospered to become an essential core of the Republic, our grand frontier on the Rio Grande.- President Rick Perry 2025
Among European historians it is a well-noted irony that despite proclaiming themselves to be the "Twin Pillars of Democracy", both the United States and the Republic of Texas are two nations that received most of their territory through outright conquest in wars of aggression. In Texas' case almost the entirety of continental Texas can be said to be this as Texas went from a small colony on the Mexican frontier to the second largest nation in the Americas thanks to their military victories and diplomatic strategy. However, while the Commonwealths of Deseret, California, and Arizona were all formed out of territories that were lightly populated with almost little to no presence of western civilization, Coahuila was a moderately populated territory that had gone through three decades of near anarchy and had just been conquered by Texas for the purpose of "Liberation from Mexican territory", in reality a strong geopolitical move against Mexican resurgence. In the early years there was much fear that the "Coahuila Experiment" would be doomed to failure and the region would revert back to Mexican hands through some nefarious scheme of Juarez. However through persistence and extensive investment, Austin was able to turn Coahuila into a loyal Commonwealth that is considered just as much a core of the Republic as Texas or California. This is the story of the Texanization of Coahuila.
The first major obstacle towards integrating Coahuila into the Republic would be the pacification of the populace and the eradication of any rebellious elements. This would be a major ongoing problem for the first few years as many of the people of Rio Grande were still resistant to the very concept of being annexed to the Republic of Texas, a nation that had played a key role in stripping Coahuila, without the consent of its populace, outside of Mexico and prevented it from rejoining Mexico in the Mexican War. The biggest complaints of most Mexican Nationalists towards Austin at the time was the flimsy legal excuse that Texas had to its claim on Texas by claiming that Coahuila was once a part of Texas, when in fact legally it was the other way around with Texas a subordinate to Coahuila that most of the founding fathers of Texas tried so desperately to secede from. At the center of all of these efforts were the Order of Mexican Patriots, with their leader Javier Moreno, heading a small army of around 4,600 guerrilla fighters, along with hundreds of "renegades" who came across the border from Mexico in order to continue what Juarez started. Secretly Mexico City continued to supply the rebels covertly with the donation of outdated rifles along with ammunition stocks that were conveniently "missing" from inventory of the Mexican Army in the post-war environment. Around $50,000 in gold to supply the Patriots activities along with major stocks of food, supplies, and horses. All of this of course was slowly deployed over the next decade so as to not raise the eyes of Texas too much towards Mexico, something that would surely happen if the Patriots were all fully-armed and equipped with a constant and regular supply line. While the Grey House and Congress had raised continuous suspicion towards Mexico, Juarez continuously claimed that the Patriots were merely receiving supplies from sympathetic ranchers and farmers of the border states who were acting without Mexico City's consent. Due to the ongoing Indian Wars, Ranch Wars, as well as future conflicts such as the Hispaniola War, Austin could not act too rashly against Mexico and risk losing the peace once more. Thus, in order to secure their hold on Coahuila, Johnston would need to wipe out all resistance within the territory and make sure there was no possible base for Mexican Nationalism to build upon, a task he would complete with the upmost efficiency.
While many historians have given the label to Johnston's policies within Coahuila as "Divide and Conquer", a more accurate label would be "Expand and Settle". Upon analyzing the situation, Albert Sidney Johnston knew that the main factor that would limit his success was the degrading economic conditions within the territory that would encourage the local populace to side with the Patriots, and the fact that the absolute absence of law and order for the past three decades erased any sizable foundation for Johnston to rely upon in his administration. In order to accomplish his mission, Johnston would have to innovate and use every tactic he could think of to both win the heats and minds of the people of Coahuila, and kill Mexican Nationalism within the territory forever. Within his first few months as the Governor of Coahuila, Johnston instituted a strict martial law and dispersed his 10,000 troops into 20 bands of 500 to garrison the largest settlements and cities remaining within the territory, Johnston himself taking command at Satillo. While the divisions would be foolish in protection against an external threat, Mexico's weariness would prevent them from taking action and only the Patriots, which would never dare to combine into a single army, could stand against the Texans. The Rangers were also spread out in a similar fashion with multiple stations spread across Coahuila to protect travelers and help dispense justice to the more isolated towns and prevent outlaws from escaping. Using his broad powers as military governor, Johnston would then institute several controversial (while the methods are more understood by today they are still contested by more Conservative and Libertarian minded individuals) of gradual population relocation to gather various peoples from dying towns and villages and resettle them within close vicinity of the garrisoned cities. Unlike the brutal relocation of the Indian populations within the United States, this was not done out of a sense of greed, but rather realpolitik to win the loyalty of Coahuila's native citizens. Through his near authoritarian powers, along with extensive cooperation of Congress through the War Department and Seguin which granted Johnston about $1.3 million Redbacks from 1863-1873, Johnston planned to take the impoverished citizens of the frontier settlements, and give them their constitutional land along with small fiscal compensations so that they can settle and start a new life with better living conditions in the garrisoned towns. The remaining money would be used to develop infrastructure and invest in local business and legal/fiscal institutions to create the functions needed for a healthy urban area. Johnston's reasons for these were twofold, it would keep the people of Coahuila in the eyes of the Texan Army and prevent any contact and cooperation with the Patriots, and by giving them decent lives and stability the people of Coahuila would feel greater devotion towards Texas and integrate themselves willingly as national citizens. Johnston's plan was a huge success that by 1868 local revolts and dissent had largely decreased by around 70%. With a steady economy returning to Coahuila and more Coahuilans applying for citizenship, Johnston was able to raise his own native militia which added to his strength and were deployed to garrison and protect new towns from citizens of dying ghost towns or Mexican refugees along with immigrants from the North. While Coahuila could be said to have a distinctly more "Mexican" culture than the rest of Texas, by their time of admission the Commonwealth could be said to be mostly accepting of Texan law and culture.
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The city of Saltillo, Coahuila. 1872
Outside of Johnston's plan of legal assimilation and expansion into unsettled territory, the Governor-General still needed to deal with the threat of the Patriots. These men were driven by Nationalistic zealotry above all else and would not be swayed by promises of returned stability or a decent wage. Since Johnston could not easily control the borders and prevent more Mexicans from joining in on the fight, he needed to control the war within Coahuila and make the conditions of engagement so unwinnable for the Patriots, that it would demoralize them entirely and prevent an hope of a successful insurgency from taking place. In order to accomplish this, Johnston would innovate cavalry warfare and implement a doctrinal style that many historians would note was similar to a quasi form of Blitzkrieg. Johnston's strategy was largely reliant on his cavalry force of about 5,000; an unusually large amount at the time but a necessary due to the vast range of Coahuila and the absence of roads or developed infrastructure to support the transportation of a large infantry force. The cavalry, along with the occasional Texas Ranger compliment, would commit to a daily patrol of a search area within a 40 mile radius around their garrison towns, the search area would be divided into several sectors for platoons to scout. Platoons would switch sectors along with shifts on a monthly basis so as to not create a pattern, and search areas were selected at random with the possibility of consecutive patrols of the same sector, or absence of presence in a sector for a given period of time, giving an absolute random feel to the movements of the Texan forces. The Texan cavalry would move out and search of suspicious activity for the whereabouts of the Patriots or any outlaw presence in the desert. If they found a suitable presence, then a cavalry detachment would head towards the nearest base with some of the platoon acting as middle men for the garrison and the deployment, while the rest would split around the presence and watch them for sides of activity. A coordinated tailing of the Patriot presence would begin for the next several days for the period of time to mobilize the garrison and militia, allowing for them to not escape the watchful eyes of the Texans and allow a sledgehammer of a strike to take place that would wipe out the Patriot presence, there rarely being prisoners. Except for small patrols caught unaware, these cavalry platoons would win a vast majority of engagements and would force the Patriots to retreat from any semblance of civilization and not give them enough time to establish a proper base to work with. Due to these constant attacks, the Patriots would almost retreat entirely from the civilized portions of Coahuila, and move as far away from a garrison as possible in moving camps to isolate themselves, only coming out to launch attacks. Unfortunately for the Patriots, Johnston had another card up his sleeve, the Apache.
A Texan Cavalry Charge.
During his life Johnston was never a man who was particularly fond of the presence of Indians in Texas, as indicated by his collection of papers that were examined after death. While he was never so xenophobic to advocate the complete eradication and removal of Indians from their lands, he was never too trustful of a race that had tens of thousands of people who would not convert to Christianity with a culture that was so alien to European ideals. Even with these prejudices, Johnston knew that if used correctly, the Indians could be a useful ally that could serve the Republic for the greater good if given a proper opportunity during the war, as proven time and time again during the Mexican War. With regular contact with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Johnston was able to get the cooperation of a couple of the few Apache tribes who had chosen to live as Texan citizens under the ICI, remaining as wandering hunters within their territory, though with a beginning shift to agriculture and permanent settlement. With the help of these Texan Apache, negotiations began with some of the major tribes within the territory with the offer to join the Republic as official citizens with the territory of their nations kept, and the driving out of any Mexican presence with compensation for their contribution. While most of the native Apache belonging to various bands of the Chircahua and Mescalero Apache refused the Texans offer, not trusting them thanks to Texas being perceived as the same as Mexico, several dozen small bands were intrigued and agreed to act as allies to Texas in return for their own organized territory and continuous trade of goods and materials. This coalition of various men and women would be lead by one man who would become a legend in Texan history, Geronimo.
Geronimo is an Apache Indian of the Bedonkohe band who was born in 1829. In his early years of Adulthood, Geronimo and his band would move as nomads throughout the Texan, Rio Grande, and Mexican frontiers, Geronimo's tribe often taking advantage of the chaos in the Rio Grande and Mexico and launching raids to gather supplies and materials, though Geronimo rarely went into conflict with the Texans due to the absence of a Texan presence in the Southwestern desert and the Navajo acting as their loyal citizenry in the region. In 1856 Geronimo's life would be changed forever when a contingent of around 300 soldiers led by Colonel Jose Maria Carassco, attacked Geronimo's band while he was away, massacring his wife and three daughters along with hundreds of other Apache in retaliation for a previous raid led by Geronimo. In the aftermath Geronimo developed an intense hatred for the Mexican people, killing any and all Mexicans he encountered in brutally savage ways, Geronimo vowing to kill as many Mexicans as he could before his death. In 1859 after another encounter with Colonel Carassco, Geronimo was wounded in battle and due to his fall, most of Geronimo's followers were killed in the fighting, before Geronimo could make a last stand he slipped into unconsciousness and was dragged away by one of his followers out of the battlefield. Living in shame with the fact that he did not die a warrior's death against the Mexicans, Geronimo fled north to Arizona territory where he wandered in Navajo lands for the next two years. After the start of the Mexican War, Geronimo found a glorious opportunity coming before him as now he could rely on the resources of Texas to wage an intense war against Mexico and finally have his revenge. Geronimo journeyed to Tuscon and volunteered as a scout to help the local Texas Rangers and Army regiment. During the El Dorado campaign, Geronimo distinguished himself highly among the scouts with his ingenious tactics against the Mexican expedition and his brutal terror attacks that would take dozens by suprise, destroying many critical supplies for the Mexicans. After the success of El Dorado, Geronimo won himself a battlefield commission within the Texas Rangers, heading southeast under the command of Deaf Smith to join the fight in Coahuila. In Coahuila, Geronimo's legendary battlefield prowess would spread throughout both the Texas and Mexican Armies as he lead his men to countless victories and proved to be a deadly thorn in the side of the Mexican Army, earning him equal amounts of respect and fear. After the war Geronimo had considered quitting and returning to his band, only to be approached by General Johnston with an offer to make Geronimo leader of the Apache and other Indian troops under his command with the mission to try and recruit the native Apache to join the Texan cause. With Geronimo still feeling a deep amount of hatred against the Mexican in his heart, he gladly agreed.
Geronimo, Father of the modern Apache.
Geronimo soon got to work and began active diplomacy with native Apache, many bands joining the ICI thanks to Geronimo himself leading the negotiations in person, the man having become a legend among the Apache south of the Rio Grande that was feared and revered. Using his new Apache allies and the Texan Indians of the Army, Geronimo began a campaign of espionage and deception, to turn all of the Indians of Coahuila against the Patriots and make both sides play against each other. To do this Geronimo had his men dress solely in the dress of the Apache and use Apache weapons along with Texan guns. Geronimo and his "Apache" soldiers would join the mission of scouting out the Patriots and track them down to their camps and large gatherings. Due to their dress and the Patriot's ignorance of the Texan's usage of their Indian populace, the Patriots at first did not pay heed and assumed Geronimo and others to just be mindless Apache of little worth. This was a huge hand in Geronimo's father as sometimes he was able to camp out within a mile of Patriot groups, and then relay their information to the Texans to launch a strike. Geronimo would also launch small raids with the objective of stealing supplies or killing a couple of men, and then lead them out onto a fake trail to a nearby non-allied Apache band. With the Patriots enraged, they would launch attacks on the Apache who would then counterattack and launch attacks on the Patriots, escalating from skirmishes to fullscale wars. While this tactic quickly lost Geronimo the element of hiding in plain, sight, it ensued that the non-allied Apache and Patriots would have to spend most of their efforts on each other than the Texans, allowing the Texan Army and Rangers to pick off the remnants. Geronimo's strategy was so successful that by 1870 Patriot attacks had largely ceased and about a third of the native Apache integrated themselves into Texas. With Geronimo's success he was called to Austin in 1868 in an invitation by the outgoing President Seguin. There Geronimo was given a heroes welcome and paraded around the capitol as a war hero and a true model of the Indian Texan, Geronimo soon becoming the face of the Apache. Behind closed doors Juan Seguin gave him an offer that Geronimo couldn't refuse, beginning his epic journey that would shape the Southwest for generations to come.
Geronimo posing with his men before going on a mission, 1866.
Outside of the Mexican and Lipan Apache colonization, there wasn't too much of an migration surge into Coahuila in the initial years. The reason for this is simply due to geography, the environment of Coahuila being too hostile to most of the traditional ethnic groups with its largely arid environment. Most of Texas' ethnic minorities came from Europe which is a continent that is mostly filled with temperate forests. While it would be slightly difficult for say, a German, to adapt to the scorching heats of Texas with its vast rolling plains and dense forests in the east, living in a vast desert with even higher temperatures seemed to hellish to bare. As such when the calls for land purchases came from Austin, it was mostly those of the Tejano group who made the journey down south across the Rio Grande. That did not mean that others were absent however, as over 70,000 of non-Hispanic descent would make the journey to become citizens of Coahuila from 1863-1873, providing a slightly diverse mix for its demographic. Most of these settlers were white men of American descent, seeking fortune in that while Coahuila was not suitable for most agriculture, there was one area where a man could become a King, cattle. The lands of the Rio Grande basin were highly suitable for mass grazing and with the rise of cattle prices in America after the Civil War, the cattle industry became one where cowboys could make a fortune off of their herd in a way that had never been thought of possible after the end of the California Gold Rush. Many men would flood the region in pursuit of becoming the next Ranch King that would dominate the Texas countryside. Over the next three decades the cattle industry would boom to become a mainstray of the Coahuila economy, to the point that in 1890 there were near 300,000 head of cattle in Northern Coahuila. The horse industry would also grow to become profitable in a lesser extent and Coahuila would for half a century play host to the legend of the cowboy.
In 1873 a great event would happen which would change the history of Coahuila forever and jumpstart its path to becoming a Commonwealth. In the mountains of Sierra Madre Oriental, a mining expedition led by Diego Escobar in search of potentially rare minerals, struck a fortune when they found substantial quantities of the same ore that had become the fuel for the California Boom, gold. Mining over the next few days found that the area was filled to the brim with gold, huge caches lying untouched in the Coahuila desert thanks to limited colonization by the Spanish along with the anarchy of the Rio Grande preventing any potential exploitation to go through. Mining as much gold as they could carry with them, Escobar and his men hastily made their way to the Rio Grande, crossing the river and becoming some of the richest men in the nation. When they arrived in San Antonio to deposit their gold in the city's mint, overnight the city would be buzzing with activity as word spread to everyone in the city that the backwater territory of Coahuila was filled to the brim with gold, a new California that was right on Texas' doorstep. Within the following months word spread throughout the nation and gold fever infested the second generation of Texans. For the next five years a total of 330,000 people (80,000 Texan, 70,000 American, 105,000 Latin American, and 75,000 Europeans) would travel from Coahuila, uplfiting the territory into a proper state with several boom towns springing across the territory. With the large influx of gold along with silver entering into the Texan economy, investment in Coahuila soared and the territory was finally deemed worthy to become a territory. In 1876 Major General Patrick Edward Connor (who succeeded Johnston as Military Governor in 1870), would oversee a constitutional convention in the city of Seguin, a large boom town of 50,000 on the Rio Grande which served as a waypoint into Coahuila, Connor choosing to have Seguin become the new capitol in 1873. After months of debate and deliberation, the Commonwealth Constitution of Coahuila would be passed by the gathered delegates, and sent into Austin were it was near unanimously passed on June 9th. The Lone Star Republic grew once more.
Coahuilan Gold Miners at work, 1874 (Left). An illustration of the Coahuilan Constitutional Convention (Right).
A/N: And now we finally finish the Coahuila Arc, at least for now. While some of you may have noticed that I have away a lot more spoilers than I usually did in regards to future events, that is because I wish to try something new for the future. Instead of a purely chronological timeline with the seperation of chapters being Texan and American presidential terms, I'm going to try a new method of having each chapter address one particular issue for a standard period of about 5-10 years. We are getting into new periods in both Texan and American history where each nation has a multitude of issues that simply cannot be sufficiently addressed within a Presidential chapter for about three or four years. Thus, unless the issue is one that will take decades and has substantial divisions in time, I will write about each issue in a standalone chapter that has major hints, but does not spoil in totality future events. This way I can be much more fluid in my writing and not be held back too much by an artificial order. I personally like to think of Lone Star Republic as a series of books that stand alongside each other in history rather than a single textbook.
Lastly guys I would like to completely apologize for my utter failure to update for the last two months. I have no good excuses besides a combination of writer's block, spanish summer school, and my current summer internship. While these are all busy things, I should have at least produced a couple of updates during the same time excuse. As for the reason I hardly responded on the thread or conversations, it was more or less due to myself feeling disgusted at not being able to follow up replies with an immedeate post, so I withdrew. Hopefully with the time I have left, along with the recent jumpstart in creativity, I can get a somewhat semi-regular pace. Hope you guys liked this update for what it's worth, and tell me what you'd like to see in the future.
Next chapter we will be covering one of the most divergent topics in this TL, the rise of the Black States within America. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more. Long live the Republic!
