One Star Flag: A Texas TL Rebirthed

herricks

Okay guys I have been thinking about doing this new TL for a while now & finally decided that there’s no time like the present. I’d appreciate any input any might have & I hope yall enjoy.



Birth of a Nation

Following winning their independence from Mexico the people of Texas were faced with a dilemma. Though the Mexicans had been driven from Texas lands, the government in Mexico City refused to recognize the treaties signed by Santa Anna at Velasco claiming that Texas was still simply a rebellious territory of Mexico. That the government was broke & had no way in filling the treasury only added to the problems that were pilling up. In his last act before resigning his position as Texas’s interim president to the incoming 1st elected Texas president Sam Houston, David G. Burnet established a taxation system to provide the nation with some income. While this would help a little its was but a drop in the bucket to what Texas needed if it wanted to survive.

Though Texas’s financial status & the looming threat of renewed war with Mexico was a weighed on Houston, one of his first acts upon entering the office of the President was to gain diplomatic recognition from the outside world in hopes that it would help establish trading networks for Texas & possible allow the country to secure loans from foreign governments to help jumpstart Texas’s economy. Envoys from Texas were sent to Washington as well as several western European countries to achieve diplomatic recognition & establish formal relations. From November 1836 to December 1838 when his time as President came to an end, Houston’s delegates had gotten Texas officially recognized by Belgium (January 1837), the Federal Republic of Central America (February 1837), the Netherlands (April 1837), France (August 1837), & the US (March 1838). Trade was also established with these countries, as well as Britain, allowing Texans to export their goods, such as cotton & corn & other raw materials, & received materials such as iron, tea, beer, machinery, & finished goods from Europe & a wide variety began crossing the border with America.

In December 1839 former Mexican governor of Texas Henry Smith was elected as Texas’s new & 2nd president. During this time tensions between Texas & the Indians occupying the nations western claimed territory were souring even worse than the relations with Mexico. People had slowly but surely been gradually making their way into Texas & as the land in the east got claimed some families moved west encroaching on the Indians. This had began to cause clashes between the two & casualties had occurred on both sides. On April 18,1840 the Treaty of Waterloo, a settlement being called more & more Austin after Texas’s “Father”, established an official boundary along the frontier that divided the territory between the Indians & Texas settlers. While peace was maintained many felt that this was only postponing an inevitable clash with the western Indian tribes.

As things regarding settlers seemed to be getting squared away President Smith moved to continue with Houston’s plan to secure loans to help improve Texas’s fragile economy. Throughout the year of 1840 of Smith’s presidency Texan envoys succeeded in gaining recognition & trade rights with Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Brazil, & Prussia. However the prospect of loans still eluded them. Finally, in February 1841 word arrived that Belgium agreed to a loan of 860,000 to the Texas government. This was followed a month later by a Dutch loan of 1 million. Though this was no guarantee that Texas could survive, at least for now it had a chance.
 

herricks

Darth_Kiryan said:
Is this that Texas-wank of yours where said country takes most of northern mexico and California......:rolleyes:
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no. this is a new reboot i'm hoping to do a little better.


& Texas didn't annex north Mexico in the last one past Baja. at least not until the 20th century......................:rolleyes:
 
100Fathoms

100Fathoms

As a fellow Texan I'm intrigued, but as a realist it's going to be a hard row to hoe, to maintain independence and prosperity stuck between the USA & Mexico. Nevertheless please continue Sir, I enjoyed your last TL. :)
 

knin

What, if I may ask, led to Smith's success in the 1839 election? iOTL, he lost in a landslide to Houston in '36 and then ran for Congress, if I'm not mistaken. Lamar became a popular (if polarizing) figure under Houston that helped him to a big victory in '38.
 

Darth_Kiryan

herricks said:
no. this is a new reboot i'm hoping to do a little better.


& Texas didn't annex north Mexico in the last one past Baja. at least not until the 20th century......................:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

My only opinion is that in the 1800s Texas is not going to somehow conqueror/annex any western territory to the damn pacific compared to the United States which WILL.
 

herricks

knin said:
What, if I may ask, led to Smith's success in the 1839 election? iOTL, he lost in a landslide to Houston in '36 and then ran for Congress, if I'm not mistaken. Lamar became a popular (if polarizing) figure under Houston that helped him to a big victory in '38.
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i'm not sure. i just didn't want him as president because i think Texas's best chance is to keep Lamar from being president. at least for now
Darth_Kiryan said:
My only opinion is that in the 1800s Texas is not going to somehow conqueror/annex any western territory to the damn pacific compared to the United States which WILL.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that I'll have Texas conquer California & I'm not saying that i won't. I will say that i believe they could have the ability to take California population wise anyway. at least fairly early on
 

herricks

Will the Feud ever End

Mexico refused to recognize the independence of Texas & considered the area under Texas’s control, which was only a fraction of what Texas claimed as its own, as nothing more than a rebellious territory of Mexico. On August 18,1841 roughly 700 Mexican soldiers under the command of General Ráfael Vásquez invaded Texas occupying both San Antonio & Goliad. Three days later Mexican forces in Goliad would repulse an attack by 279 Texas militiamen at the Battle of La Bahia. Though victorious at Goliad Vásquez received word of a larger force of Texans being formed at Austin & instead of risking a defeat he withdrew his army across the Nueces to Laredo on August 26. Nearly two months later on November 10 a similar sized force commanded by French mercenary General Adrian Woll conducted another invasion of Texas & occupation of San Antonio. This time however 620 Texans under General Thomas Rusk moved on Woll’s force & defeated Woll in the Battle of Medina. With more than 200 dead & wounded along with an additional 189 captured Woll’s force retreated all the way across the Rio Grande. A move soon followed by the rest of the Mexican troops in southern Texas.

Secretary of War Mirabeau B. Lamar had greatly voiced his opinion that the loans received from the Belgians & Dutch should have been used to strengthen Texas’s military. During his term as president, Houston had disbanded the small Texas Navy & had cut the regular army size to only 250, most of whom had been campaigning against the Cherokee in Easter Texas. President Smith however had felt that the loans would be of better use strengthening the Texas economy & give a value to the near worthless Texas dollar. This was viewed by the majority of Texas’s government as the better use & by the end of his term in December 1841 the value of the Texas dollar had close to doubled. However with two Mexican attacks in less than 6 months it was agreed upon to create a standing army large enough to defend Texas from further Mexican aggression.

In December 1841 Edward Burleson entered office as the nations new president narrowly beating out Lamar. A month later in January 1842 Texas Congress approved the finances to create a professional army of 1500 with the option to enlarge to 2000 should the need arise without further Congressional approval. While the Texan Army had a number of veteran officers in its ranks, Burleson felt that Texas would be better suited to combat a foreign foe if its troops were trained by some of the best. France had been friendly with Texas since its formation as an independent state. During the 1839-1840 Pastry War between France & Mexico Texas had allowed French warships safe harbor & French sailors a place to go to shore in its ports of Galveston & Corpus Christi. On one occasion on October 29,1839 French & Texan forces even teamed up to capture several dozen Mexican smugglers that were trying to get around the French blockade with over one hundred barrels of flour by taking them to Corpus Christi. With France looking like the closest thing to an ally that Texas had President Burleson asked the French Legation in Austin, Texas’s capital since May 1840, for assistance in training a professional Texas Army.

The French military mission to Texas began in May 1842 following the arrival of several veteran French officers in Houston. The training of the new Texas Army got off to a rough start as the vast majority of the Texans that had enlisted were raw undisciplined recruits. Those that were veterans often were made NCO’s over the recruits to help with creating discipline. There were several desertions in the first months of training. Those that were found faced the firing squad but the majority never were. While the officers had uniforms created for them resembling French military uniforms, the enlisted often wore regular clothing & only later did they begin to somewhat match their clothes color, usually brown, more closely to even resemble uniformity. Despite the problems, by the fall the makings of a professional Texas Army were really beginning to take shape. The French officers figured that by the next spring the Texans would be an effective fighting force.

However on October 3,1842 a Mexican force attacked & briefly occupied Fort Lipantitlan in southern Texas. On October 15 President Burleson ordered troops to be moved to the Rio Grande as a show of force in hopes of Keeping another Mexican attack from occurring, for a while anyway. Soon 650 Texas troops crossed the Nueces River & marched to the Rio Grande. 400 when to Laredo where an earthen fort, named Fort Stephen, was quickly formed while the remainder traveled to the southern tip of Texas fortifying the “Texas” side of the river as Fort Travis across from Matamoros. French officers moved with the Texans & continued to train them at their new stations. Everyone however, kept an eye on the happenings across the river & knew that it was only a matter of time before the Mexicans returned.
 

fox~ringo

Interesting TL, I'll be following this. Why are the Texans under Sam Houston fighting the Civilized Tribes like the Cherokee? Relations weren't perfect, yes, but Houston was pretty sympathetic towards the Natives.
 

herricks

fox~ringo said:
Interesting TL, I'll be following this. Why are the Texans under Sam Houston fighting the Civilized Tribes like the Cherokee? Relations weren't perfect, yes, but Houston was pretty sympathetic towards the Natives.
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they're not under Houston. at least not right now & these are the Cherokee still in Texas. idk if they were the Civilized Tribes yet
 

herricks

Dance on the Rio Grande

Mexico did not take well to Texan soldiers building fortifications on “their” soil. Nor did they like the fact that France was assisting these “rebels” in organizing themselves into a functioning military force. Instead of waiting until the Texan Army was of enough strength to repel their attack, on December 2,1842 1500 Mexican soldiers under General Vasquez crossed the Rio Grande west of Fort Travis under the cover of night. As dawn began on December 3 the Texans within the fort awoke to find themselves surrounded by Mexican forces, who promptly began to shell the Texas fort. After a day of off & on shelling the Mexicans charged Fort Travis’s walls. Like the Alamo before the Texans fought valiantly under, unofficially of course, their French officers keeping the walls of the fort from being successfully breached for 3 hours. Finally the sheer weight in numbers Mexico had began to take their toll on the Texans & an hour & 45 minutes later Fort Travis fell. All but 31 of the 250 Texan defenders, including the forts commander General Sidney Sherman, were either killed or would die later of their wounds, however in capturing the fort Mexico had suffered far worse with 483 dead & 218 wounded in the battle.

News of the Battle of Fort Travis wound be heard the next day after riders traveling to the fort discovered Mexico’s presence. On December 6 General Woll & 1200 Mexicans launched an attack on Fort Stephen as well. After several hours of fighting however the Fort remained firmly in Texan hands & Woll had lost a third of his men. Word of the Mexican attack spread quickly throughout Texas & on December 10 President Burleson stated to the residents of Austin that Texas was once again at war with Mexico, though no formal declaration would ever be made.

Aside from the troops sent to these two forts the Texan Army had an additional 1200 men camped outside Corpus Christi under General John C. Neil. There were also 200 Texas Rangers that were excellent horsemen. However they were out mostly on the frontier & it would take some time for them to arrive. The militia was also growing. Though untrained by the end of December almost 2500 men had volunteered & it was estimated that several more were to come. On December 29 in an emergency session of Congress, Congress approved temporarily raising the size of the Texan Army to 3500 until the war with Mexico had concluded. As new recruits started entering training camps, several militia units began moving directly into southern Texas. By January the troop levels at Fort Stephen had climbed to 1100 & there was the ever louder call by the men to their commander General Felix Huston to launch an invasion of Mexico. Huston’s orders were to hold firm however &, for the moment anyway, he kept his men under control.

On January 2,1843 General Vasquez made a move out of Fort Travis & began moving north. His army had been strengthened to number 2100 men & it was his intentions to use his superior numbers to defeat the Texans encamped their before continuing on to Victoria & finally Houston. Crossing the Rio Grande the following day General Jose de Urrea marched towards San Antonio with 1000 men. Woll was to remain in the vicinity of Fort Stephen to keep Huston from leaving & moving around to Urea’s rear.

General Neil chose to fight from a good defensive position, rather than sally forth & engage the enemy like some wanted. Just a couple miles south of San Patricio Neil set up his army’s new camp & had the men begin preparing defenses. There were some fears that Vasquez could simply go around Neil but the General believed that he would attack instead of potentially leaving a force in his rear. On January 9,1843 the Battle of San Patricio began as Texan sharpshooters opened fire on Mexican scouts. Soon both armies were in full view of each other & the battle was in full swing. For the first half hour the two sides simply fired back & forth at each other. However 45 minutes in to the battle Vasquez ordered his men to fix bayonets & charge the Texan ranks. At this time the Texans were still outnumbered with 1890 Mexicans still fighting to their 1007. In seconds though the Battle of San Patricio went from a gun fight to an out & out brawl as both sides went at one another’s throats. General Neil himself would be shot once & stabbed twice during the fighting before a blow to the head from a rifle stock finally made his aides remove him from the fight. The brawl seemed to go on for hours but in fact lasted only about 10 minutes before 612 bloodied & exhausted Mexican soldiers, included General Vasquez, limbed from the field. General Neil had won the Battle of San Patricio but with only 397 of his men not dead or wounded he knew that another large attack, however unlikely, would destroy his army. The next day on January 10 General Neil would order the army’s withdrawal to Refugio. This proved to be his last order in this world as later that day while enroute to Refugio he would slip into a coma & die three days later. Upon reaching Refugio his second, Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston was promoted to Major General & given command of Neil’s army.
 

herricks

Hold the Line

The high casualty number Texas acquired at the Battle of San Patricio riled Texans up throughout the nation. From Fort Stephen 410 of the militia soldiers there had had enough of the waiting. They had known many of the men hat had lost their lives during the battle & promptly rode out of the fort on January 12 to retaliate against Vasquez's army. 6 days later they met up with the Mexicans near the San Patricio battleground at Fort Lipantitlan & attacked. Brave as the Texans were the outgunned & out-trained Texans were soundly defeated in just over an hour of fighting. Embarrassed & broken the 218 remaining Texans limped north to Victoria & Johnston' recovering army.

With a large portion of the Fort Stephen garrison having left General Woll saw it as an opportune time to strike at the fort & reclaim his honor after being defeated in the previous engagement. On the night of January 15 Woll & 970 Mexicans crossed the river a few miles north of Laredo & began slowly moving to the Texas side of the fort where the defenses were slightly less formidable than they were facing Mexico. The next morning the Mexicans attacked the fort beginning the 2nd Battle of Fort Stephen. By late morning after repeated Mexican shelling & several probing attacks the walls of the fort had begun to weaken. However at 1145 shots rang out to Woll's rear. 265 Texas Ranger & volunteers under the command of Colonel John Coffee Hays had arrived after two days hard ride from San Antonio to strengthen General Huston's command to eliminate the threat of Woll's forces across the river & to then march to San Antonio. Instead they arrived to see a climactic battle occurring. Colonel Hays ordered his Rangers to begin striking at the Mexicans rear taking out their command & artillery. Within minutes Mexican artillery was put out of action & General Woll & his staff was quickly surrounded. Fighting continued for another 30 minutes before the remaining Mexican forces either surrendered or scattered. The threat of Woll's army had been eliminated though at the cost of 309 Texan casualties. The next day General Huston would leave Fort Stephen in the care of Hays & his Rangers to return to San Antonio with his army.

General Huston's departure however was too late. On the same day as Woll's attack on Fort Stephen, General Urrea & his men reached San Antonio. Upon their arrival however they discovered the city nearly deserted with only a few of the older residents remaining. The 1200 Texan soldiers, almost all raw recruits that had been in training, from the town had been withdrawn by ex-president & recommissioned commanding General of the whole Texan Army Sam Houston to Austin. Houston saw the abandonment of San Antonio as a necessary action to give the army's new recruits further training to give them a greater chance of victory over the Mexicans. 2700 Texan soldiers were now in Austin with more arriving everyday, some even as far as Europe. French officers training of Texan troops intensified as they all knew that soon the Mexican Army would be upon them.

For 3 days Urrea's army rested in San Antonio with many being quartered in the great monument of the Alamo. Scouts from Huston's force would luckily discover that San Antonio was under Mexican control before they themselves were discovered & Huston would have his men return to Fort Stephen.

On January 20 General Urrea & his men set forth from San Antonio enroute for Austin. Houston still believed that his army wasn't ready for a fight. However, President Burleson & the rest of the Texas Congress refused to flee the nations capitol which put Houston in a tight spot. Eventually he agreed to fight Urrea here. Late in the afternoon on January 22 the Mexican Army reached Austin & began to set up camp as their men were exhausted from a hard march. Both sides knew that tomorrow was destined to be a bloodbath in which Houston was unsure that his untested men could pull off. Houston decided that his army's best chance at victory would be in a pre-emptive strike on the Mexicans.

At 0015 420 Texan soldiers, nearly all of the trained veterans, marched out under the cover of darkness their orders were to move as closely as possible to the Mexican lines before attacking & busting a hole through the Mexican Army's center for other units to pour through. All of the Texans participating in the attack knew that with it going on during the night the fighting would consist of almost solely hand to hand fighting. So each soldier already had bayonets at the ready as they silently crept forward. At 0030 the Battle of Austin began as the first screams of bayoneted Mexicans pierced the otherwise quiet night. In minutes both sides were up. Shots were fired wildly through the air striking both friend & foe as hundreds of Texans surged forward into the Mexicans. The most intense segment of fighting lasted only about an hour, however throughout the rest of the night as the two sides soldiers found one another sporadic fighting could be heard everywhere. As night gave way to day he battleground covered over two miles of land. Both Mexican & Texan soldiers on several occasions realized that they were but only a few feet from one another & never knew it in the dark. Quickly the ground erupted in gunfire & the fighting intensified. Fighting would continue for a few more hour before it finally began to peter out as Mexican troops began to slowly make their way south towards San Antonio. By noon the Battle of Austin was over & Houston had achieved victory.
 
100Fathoms

100Fathoms

Great posts, keep going, eventually the Texas Republic will need a small navy to secure it's Maritime borders from incursions from Criminals and Non Nationals at a minimum.
 

knin

Just a nitpick, but I question the wisdom of having a force weary from heavy marching camping close enough to Austin to leave themselves open for ambush, but I suppose Urrea, like Santa Anna iOTL in years previous, perhaps would expect a certain level of uh, decorum in the tactical scheme. And in any case, I suppose hindsight is 20/20.

I like this, keep up the good work.
 

herricks

Route

Before the war had begun there was already plans in the works in Austin for a military expedition to Texas claimed Nuevo Mexico to secure Santa Fe for Texas. Scouting parties had already been exploring the best routes when the war began again against the Mexicans. On December 18,1842 an army of 500 set out from Austin for Santa Fe. Though the expedition was originally planned as a trading one now businessmen & merchandise were replaced with more soldier, ammunition, & provisions. It would be more than a month before they'd reach Santa Fe & it was all of those on the treks hope that there would still be a Texas when they got there.

General Johnston had been scraping together every available body he could to throw against Vasquez. By late January his army he had managed to increase his army's size to 900. General Vasquez had also been straining for reinforcements & had gathered a little over 1000 soldiers to move on Johnston. After learning of Urrea's defeat at Austin Vasquez put his army in motion towards Victoria hoping to decisively defeat Johnston so he could turn his attention on Austin. On February 1 Vasquez's forces neared Victoria & the waiting Texan Army. The Battle of Victoria began about 1330 in the afternoon as Texan cannon began firing on the advancing Mexicans. Fifteen minutes later each ides infantry were engaging one another in near constant gunfire. For nearly an hour both armies continued to fight. Mexico had the numbers, slightly, but the Texans were fighting defensively & had constructed a small earthen wall to help cover their lines. At 1455 Vasquez had finally had enough & ordered his men to fix bayonets.

Soon after the tired & dirty Texans saw hundreds of Mexican soldiers moving through the clouds of powder smoke towards their lines. The Texans quickly started firing into the mass of bodies moving towards them with rifle & canister. However within seconds the Mexicans were among the Texans & bloody hand to hand fighting commenced. After just a few minutes the Mexicans were withdrawing back to their line in defeat. Johnston however saw an opportunity to turn this withdrawal into a route & possibly shatter the Mexican Army. The general quickly ordered his men to fire a volley from their muskets & cannon cutting several more Mexicans down before the Texans left their line in pursuit. A second brief round of fighting soon followed that succeeded in scattering much of the Mexican Army.

Most of General Vasquez's army had been shattered, scattering in ever direction & surrendering in droves. Vasquez retreated first to San Patricio & then back to & then across the Rio Grande a few days later. General Johnston had won a dramatic victory over Mexico & significantly improving Texas's chance at total victory. The victory came at a price however, with nearly 50% casualties sustained in the Battle of Victoria, General Johnston's would not be a significant threat to Mexico for the forceeable future.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
One thing comes to mind immediately:

If Texas actually wanted a professionally-trained regular army in the 1830s, there's a much more likely source of a training mission (official or not) a LOT closer than St. Cyr...

This place, for example:

The_Plain_at_West_Point_in_1828.jpg


Plus the graduates all speak the same language as the Texans (more or less);)

Interesting, but I have a hard time seeing Lamar lose; for good or for ill, he was the man of the hour (being vp, a former secretary of war, war hero, and the Democratic party's choice); he was also pro-independence, which seems little more likely to lead to the end result you're looking for...

Best,
 
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