The Texas Revolution marked the violent collapse of Mexican control over Texas and the founding of a breakaway republic. Though brief, the Texas Revolution was linked to a broader political crisis within Mexico, marked by regional uprisings against the centralist regime of President Antonio López de Santa Anna. After a series of military engagements from the fall of 1835 to the spring of 1836, Texian forces captured Santa Anna and forced his army to retreat, securing Texan independence.
The revolution involved a range of actors with overlapping but distinct agendas. On one side stood the Mexican Army, commanded by Santa Anna, who sought to reassert national control over Texas and intimidate other rebellious Mexican states by crushing the rebellion in Texas.
Opposing him were both Texan federalists—including some Tejanos—who initially hoped to restore the Constitution of 1824, and Anglo settlers who favored either continued autonomy within Mexico or outright independence. From the beginning, many leaders among the Anglo-American settlers saw the revolt not only as a local struggle, but as a step toward alignment—or even union—with the United States. Sam Houston, for example, was a former congressman and governor of Tennessee and a political protégé of U.S. President Andrew Jackson. He openly envisioned eventual annexation, and served as both commander of the Texian Army and the first president of the Republic of Texas.
Historians have offered additional explanations for the revolt, including land hunger, cultural prejudice against Mexican authority, and the Anglo practice of slavery—which was officially prohibited in Mexico but tolerated in Texas.
While the revolutionaries had varied motives and ideologies, the immediate spark for the conflict was the abrogation of the Mexican Constitution of 1824 and Santa Anna’s consolidation of power through military means. His dismantling of the federalist system—combined with the deployment of troops to Texas—transformed local grievances into open rebellion.
First Hostilities
The first shots of the Texas Revolution were fired on October 2, 1835, near the Guadalupe River at Gonzales. Mexican troops under Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea had been sent to retrieve a small cannon previously lent to settlers for defense against Native raids. Amid growing unrest across Texas, Ugartechea feared the cannon might be turned against centralist forces and sought to reassert authority before open rebellion spread.
The local alcalde, Andrew Ponton, refused to surrender the cannon without written orders, and settlers quickly organized a militia. As reinforcements arrived from surrounding communities, the Texians took the initiative. In the early morning hours, they crossed the river and attacked the Mexican encampment, raising a homemade banner with the words “Come and Take It.” After a short skirmish, the Mexican troops withdrew, leaving the cannon behind.
Though the skirmish was brief and casualties were minimal, it marked a point of no return. Texans had defied federal orders with armed force. The confrontation at Gonzales followed months of rising tension between colonists and Mexican authorities, especially after General Martín Perfecto de Cós announced plans to reoccupy Texas and prosecute perceived dissidents. Settlers feared a permanent military occupation and the loss of their local institutions. Many still identified as loyal Mexican citizens, but believed Santa Anna’s government had overstepped its constitutional limits.
In the weeks after Gonzales, Texian volunteers began organizing under local committees of safety. Some sought to defend their rights under the Constitution of 1824. Others already called for separation. Sam Houston, newly arrived in Texas and appointed to lead a proposed “regular army,” issued a recruitment proclamation in December 1835—but most military activity remained in the hands of citizen militias and spontaneous volunteer units.
Texian vs. Texan
During the Texas Revolution and the early years of the Republic, Anglo-American settlers were commonly referred to as Texians. By the late 19th century, Texan had largely replaced Texian in common usage. Today, Texian is primarily used in historical contexts.
While General Cós fortified his position in San Antonio de Béxar, Texian forces moved to cut off supplies and reinforcements. On October 9, 1835, volunteers led by George Collingsworth captured the presidio at Goliad without serious resistance, seizing munitions.
The fall of Goliad alarmed Mexican authorities, as it disrupted a key supply corridor from the Gulf Coast to the interior. With both Goliad and Gonzales in Texian hands, the rebellion no longer appeared to be a local flare-up—it was a coordinated uprising with the potential to isolate and encircle Cós’s garrison in San Antonio.
In Mexico City, President Santa Anna saw the developments as a challenge to national authority and began preparing a larger military expedition to suppress the revolt. At the same time, his government escalated its crackdown on dissent, silencing federalist sympathizers across Mexico.
The Capture of San Antonio
For the Texians, the capture of Goliad boosted morale and emboldened the rebellion. Their attention now turned inland toward San Antonio de Béxar, the regional seat of Mexican power. There, General Martín Perfecto de Cos remained entrenched with several hundred Mexican troops. Roughly 300 Texian volunteers, under the provisional leadership of Stephen F. Austin and later Edward Burleson, laid siege to the city throughout the fall.
Skirmishes flared intermittently, including the Battle of Concepción on October 28, in which a smaller Texian force led by James Bowie and James Fannin repelled a much larger Mexican column. The engagement raised rebel confidence, but logistical constraints and command disagreements delayed a full assault for several weeks.
The turning point came in early December. Frustrated by inaction, veteran soldier Ben Milam rallied volunteers to launch an attack. Beginning December 5, Texians and allied Tejano fighters—including a company under Juan Seguín—fought their way through the city in bitter street-to-street combat. Milam was killed on the third day, but the assault continued under Frank Johnson.
On December 9, Cos surrendered. In exchange for clemency, he and his remaining soldiers agreed to retreat beyond the Rio Grande and not take up arms again against the Constitution of 1824. The Texians, for the moment, controlled the region.
The capture of San Antonio gave many the impression that the conflict had ended. With Mexican forces in retreat, some volunteers returned home. Others saw it as proof that military occupation had been repelled and that the constitutional order could be restored. But the revolution had already begun to move beyond those goals. Even as some settlers still professed loyalty to the Mexican federation, others were preparing for a clean break.
Declaration of Independence
In the wake of the Texian victory at San Antonio, political leaders moved quickly to formalize their cause. Calls went out for a convention to be held at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where delegates from across Texas would decide the future of the rebellion. Though some still favored reconciling with Mexico under a restored federal constitution, most now saw independence as the only viable path forward. The war had outpaced compromise.
The convention convened on March 1, 1836, with fifty-nine delegates in attendance. The group included prominent Anglo settlers, recent immigrants from the United States, and three Tejanos: Lorenzo de Zavala, José Antonio Navarro, and José Francisco Ruiz. Sam Houston, William Wharton, and other key figures in the Texian movement also took part.
On March 2—while Santa Anna’s army advanced toward San Antonio—the delegates adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence, severing all political ties with Mexico. The document cited a long list of grievances, including the abolition of the 1824 Constitution, the dissolution of local legislatures, and the establishment of military rule. It framed the conflict not as a civil war, but as a struggle for natural rights and representative government.
Drafting a New Constitution
After declaring independence, the convention turned to the task of governance. On March 17, 1836, delegates ratified the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, establishing a new national government. The document created a separation of powers among executive, legislative, and judicial branches, closely modeled on the United States system.
The convention elected David G. Burnet as interim president and Lorenzo de Zavala as vice president. General Sam Houston, already popular among the militias, was officially appointed commander-in-chief of the Texian forces. With Santa Anna’s army closing in, the new government hastily adjourned and dispersed. Officials fled east to avoid capture, beginning a period of disarray known as the Runaway Scrape.
Despite the chaos, the core institutions of a breakaway republic had been established—at least on paper. What had begun as a decentralized resistance movement had now become a formal declaration of nationhood.
Santa Anna’s Offensive: The Alamo and Goliad
In early 1836, President Santa Anna launched a sweeping military campaign to crush the rebellion in Texas. He personally led an army of more than 6,000 troops across the Rio Grande, determined to retake the territory and make an example of those who resisted. His strategy was uncompromising: treat the insurgents not as wayward citizens, but as pirates deserving of no quarter.
The first target was San Antonio de Béxar, where a small Texian garrison—roughly 220 to 250 men—held the former mission complex known as the Alamo. Commanded by William B. Travis, James Bowie, and later joined by David Crockett and other volunteers, the defenders fortified the compound as best they could. On February 23, Santa Anna’s forces laid siege to the site.
Over the next thirteen days, the Texans refused multiple demands to surrender. Travis sent out urgent appeals for reinforcements, but few arrived. On March 6, before dawn, Mexican troops launched a full assault. The defenders were overwhelmed. All were killed in the battle or executed afterward, including Travis, Bowie, and Crockett. A few civilians—mostly women, children, and enslaved persons—were spared and released to carry word of the defeat.
Though a tactical victory for Mexico, the Siege of the Alamo backfired politically. Far from crushing the rebellion, it inflamed it. “Remember the Alamo” became a rallying cry for Texian forces and helped frame the conflict in stark moral terms: liberty versus tyranny, defiance against brutality.
The Goliad Massacre
As Santa Anna advanced, a second column of Mexican troops under General José de Urrea moved along the Gulf Coast. His forces engaged and defeated scattered Texian detachments at San Patricio, Refugio, and Agua Dulce. The most consequential encounter came at Goliad, where Colonel James Fannin had assembled a poorly supplied force of about 400 men at Presidio La Bahía.
Fannin had been ordered to retreat to Victoria and link up with Sam Houston’s army, but delayed too long. On March 19, Urrea’s cavalry intercepted the Texans on open ground near Coleto Creek. After a day of fighting and heavy casualties, Fannin surrendered under the belief that his men would be treated as prisoners of war.
Instead, by order of Santa Anna, the captured Texans were executed. On March 27, more than 400 men were marched out of the fort in small groups and shot. A few escaped; others were spared by sympathetic officers. The massacre shocked observers and further radicalized the Texian cause.
Among those spared was a group hidden by Francisca Álvarez, the wife of a Mexican officer stationed at Goliad. Remembered as the “Angel of Goliad,” she is credited with intervening on behalf of several Texian prisoners, shielding them from execution. Though few details of her actions are known with certainty, accounts from survivors consistently honored her compassion. Her quiet defiance stood in contrast to the brutality of the massacre and became a symbol of humanity amid the violence of the revolution.
Civilian Flight and Texian Retreat
News of the Alamo and Goliad triggered widespread panic. Thousands of settlers—mostly women, children, and enslaved persons—fled eastward in a chaotic evacuation known as the Runaway Scrape. Farms and towns were abandoned. Roads became impassable. Food and supplies ran short. Many fell ill or died along the journey. The new Texian government, now headquartered in Harrisburg, was in disarray.
Sam Houston, meanwhile, struggled to assemble a viable army. Most men had volunteered for short service, and desertion was common. With little ammunition, few provisions, and unclear support from the civilian government, Houston avoided direct confrontation. Instead, he conducted a slow retreat eastward, training his men and waiting for the right opportunity to strike.
To Santa Anna, it seemed the rebellion was collapsing. But his pursuit of Houston’s scattered forces would soon lead him into a fatal miscalculation.
Santa Anna’s Blunder
By mid-April 1836, Santa Anna believed victory was within reach. The Texian government had fled east, Houston’s army was retreating, and Mexican forces controlled most key positions west of the Brazos River. But in his haste to secure a final blow, Santa Anna overextended his lines and fatally divided his army.
While General Vicente Filisola remained with the bulk of the Mexican force, Santa Anna pushed ahead with about 1,300 troops to intercept the Texians near the confluence of the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou. Houston, now commanding around 900 men—bolstered by two recently arrived cannons known as the Twin Sisters—moved to meet him.
On April 20, the two armies exchanged fire in a brief skirmish. Santa Anna assumed Houston would stay on the defensive and planned a full assault for the following day. Confident and exhausted, he allowed his men to rest on the afternoon of April 21. No fortifications were constructed. Guards were lax. The Mexican camp was exposed.
That afternoon, Houston ordered an attack.
The Battle of San Jacinto
At around 4:30 p.m., the Texians emerged from the tree line and launched a full assault on the Mexican position. Taken by surprise, Santa Anna’s troops had little time to form ranks. The Texians shouted “Remember the Alamo!” and overran the Mexican Army perimeter and into the camp.
The fighting lasted less than twenty minutes. Mexican resistance collapsed almost immediately, and the aftermath turned into a rout. Hundreds of soldiers were killed or captured as they fled through the marshy terrain. Others drowned in the bayou. Houston was wounded in the leg, but his army had achieved a total victory. After the battle, Houston penned this account of the action:
“The Artillery advanced and took station within two hundred yards of the Enemy’s breastwork and commenced an effective fire with grape and canister. Col. Sherman, with his regiment having commenced the action upon our left wing, the whole line at the center and on the right, advancing in double quick time, sung the war cry ‘Remember the Alamo,’ received the Enemy’s fire, and advanced within point-blank shot before a piece was discharged from our lines.
“Our line advanced without a halt, until they were in possession of the woodland and the Enemy’s breastwork. The right wing of Burleson’s and the left of Millard’s taking possession of the breastwork, our artillery having gallantly charged up within seventy yards of the Enemy’s cannon, where it was taken by our troops.
“The conflict lasted about eighteen minutes from the time of close action until we were in possession of the Enemy’s encampment, taking one piece of cannon (loaded), four stand of colors, all their camp equipage, stores, and baggage. Our cavalry had charged and routed that of the Enemy upon the right and given pursuit to the fugitives, which did not cease until they arrived at the bridge which I have mentioned before, Capt. Karnes, always among the foremost in danger, commanding the pursuers.
“The conflict in the breastwork lasted but a few moments; many of the troops encountered hand-to-hand, and not having the advantage of bayonets on our side, our riflemen used their pieces as war clubs, breaking many of them off at the breech. The rout commenced at half past four, and the pursuit by the main army continued until twilight. A guard was then left in charge of the Enemy’s encampment, and our army returned with our killed and wounded.”
Official battle report of General Sam Houston to David Burnet, Provisional President of the Republic of Texas, April 21, 1836
Of the roughly 1,300 Mexican troops, more than 600 were killed and 300 captured. Texian losses were minimal—just 11 killed and about 30 wounded. It was the most decisive battle of the revolution.
The President Taken Prisoner
Santa Anna fled the battlefield in disguise, wearing a common soldier’s uniform, but was captured the next day by a Texian patrol and brought before General Sam Houston, who had been wounded at San Jacinto. Recognizing the political leverage Santa Anna represented, Houston ordered that his life be spared—over the objections of many in the Texian ranks.
In the meantime, the remnants of the Mexican Army—now under the command of Vicente Filisola—began a retreat southward. Filisola, facing poor logistics, illness among his troops, and dwindling morale, believed withdrawal was the only viable course. However, some of his fellow officers, including General José de Urrea, opposed the retreat and argued that the army still had the strength to recover the lost ground. In the end, Filisola’s caution prevailed, and the Mexican forces withdrew beyond the Rio Grande, effectively ending the campaign.
Though the military threat had receded, the political future of Texas remained uncertain. Santa Anna, while held as a prisoner of war, signed two “Treaties of Velasco”: a public agreement ending hostilities and ordering the withdrawal of Mexican troops, and a secret accord pledging to recognize Texas independence. However, the treaties were negotiated under duress and ultimately disavowed by the Mexican government.
Attempting to secure his release, Santa Anna also exchanged letters with U.S. President Andrew Jackson, portraying himself as a stabilizing figure and seeking American support in securing peace. Eventually, the Texans released him, and he returned to Mexico by way of the United States, meeting unofficially with Jackson during his journey.
Upon his return to Mexico, however, Santa Anna found his political standing severely damaged. He was ousted from power later that year and forced into temporary exile as Mexico rejected both the Treaties of Velasco and his role in them. Although he would return to power in later years, the defeat in Texas marked a lasting blow to his reputation and authority.
Aftermath of the Revolution
With the fighting halted, Texian leaders moved quickly to consolidate control. David G. Burnet’s provisional government resumed its functions and began seeking international recognition for the new republic. Elections were held under the Constitution adopted earlier that spring, and Sam Houston was overwhelmingly chosen as the first president.
The new government faced enormous challenges. Many settlements had been abandoned during the Runaway Scrape, trade and agricultural production remained disrupted, and the fledgling economy struggled to recover. The war had also displaced many Tejano residents, especially in contested areas like San Antonio, raising uncertainty about land rights, property claims, and political allegiance. Additionally, although the immediate military threat had receded, Mexico’s refusal to recognize independence kept the specter of renewed invasion ever present.
Nevertheless, with the withdrawal of Mexican forces, Texans had secured de facto independence. A new constitution was in place, a provisional government had taken the reins, and a volunteer army—hastily assembled and often disorganized—had defeated a powerful military regime.
How Long Did the Revolution Last?
Though fighting began in October 1835 and effectively ended by April 1836, the political status of Texas remained contested for years. Mexico never formally recognized the Republic of Texas, despite the Treaties of Velasco signed by Santa Anna after his capture. It was not until after the Mexican-American War, after Texas had joined the United State, that Mexico officially ceded Texas.
Who Benefited—and Who Didn’t
The revolution marked a sharp break from the centralized authority of Santa Anna’s government and the beginning of a new political order. The Republic of Texas, declared in March and made real in April, drew heavily from American constitutionalism and the political culture of the Southern United States. It established a presidential system, provided for direct elections, and guaranteed common law rights such as trial by jury,
Still, the new republic was not equally inclusive. Though Tejano leaders like Lorenzo de Zavala and Juan Seguín played vital roles in the revolution, many would soon be marginalized by rising Anglo political dominance. In the decades that followed, Tejano communities faced discrimination and episodes of violence, as Anglo settlers consolidated control over land, politics, and law enforcement.
Enslaved Black Texans remained in bondage under a constitution that forbade emancipation and barred free Black people from residency without legislative permission. Indian nations, already under pressure before the war, came into conflict with the new republic and its citizens, as the westward Anglo settlement accelerated after independence.
Women, meanwhile, remained excluded from political life. Like their counterparts in both Mexico and the United States, they could not vote, hold office, or serve on juries.
In the years that followed, Texas struggled with internal divisions, debt, and persistent questions about its long-term viability. The republic endured for nearly a decade before being annexed by the United States in 1845.
Today, Texas schoolchildren learn about the revolution of 1836 as a unifying origin story—one rooted in defiance of tyranny, the assertion of local self-rule, and the vision of a separate destiny for Texas.
