The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997 Page: 189
551 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The State of Coahuila y Tejas in 1824
state's immense size from first-hand experience. No more than thirty-five
years old, Jos6 Rafael Gonzales had been born in the villa of San Fernan-
do de B6xar, present-day San Antonio, and may have been reared in
Texas. In his mid-teens he entered the military as a cadet in the presidial
company at Bahia del Espiritu Santo, today's Goliad, on March 1, 18o6.
He served there for four years, then was transfered to Chihuahua in
1810o and to Monclova in 1814. Along the way he received promotions
to second ensign (alfirez segundo), first ensign (alfirez primero), and sec-
ond lieutenant (teniente segundo). Transferred again in 1815, to the pre-
sidio of Rio Grande, he rose to the rank of captain (capitdin) by 1818.
With the coming of Mexican independence in 1821 he became a lieu-
tenant colonel (coronel teniente) and on March 3, 1824, was appointed
provisional commandant general (comandante general) in charge of the
new state of Texas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Le6n.4 It was probably his posi-
tion as the ranking military officer in the region that made him the
unanimous choice for governor when a half dozen deputies met in
Saltillo in August 1824 to form the government of the free state of
Coahuila y Texas. In his acceptance speech the new governor declared
himself prepared to sacrifice for his country, and he modestly protested
the inadequacy of his preparation for the position.5
Gonzales was one of seven governors who replied to Alamin in time
for the secretary of state to include information from their reports in his
own annual report to Congress.6 Several items in Gonzales's report
seemed of sufficient importance for Alamin to convey to Congress: the
secularization of the state's missions, the founding of two towns in
Coahuila on the sites of the former missions of San Juan Bautista and
San Bernardo, the introduction of three hundred colonists into Texas
4 See, too, Adin BenavidesJr., The Bixar Archives (1z77-1836): A Name Guide (Austin: Universi-
ty of Texas Press for the Institute of Texan Cultures, 1989), 438. Tijerina, Tejanos and Texas,
82-83. Adan BenavidesJr., "Loss by Division: The Commandancy General Archive of the Eastern
Interior Provinces," The Americas, XLIII (Oct., 1986), 212, hsts officers who held the post of co-
mandant general, a position that Gonzales occupied on April 16, 1824. Gonzales's name does
not appear on the list, but his tenure coincided with a gap in the archives-perhaps the same
archival problem that plagued Gonzales.
9 This biographical outline derives from Vito Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas desde la con-
sumaci6n de la independencia hasta el tratado de paz de Guadalupe Hzdalgo (2 vols.; Mexico City: An-
tigua Librerfa Robredo, 1945-1946), I, 194, who consulted Gonzales's military service record,
and from Benavides, The Bixar Archives, 437-438, who provides a road map for a researcher to
trace Gonzales's life.
6 Alaman lamented that, by the time he gave his report to congress on January 1 , 1825, his
request for information on public administration had been answered only by Guanajuato,
Coahuila y Tejas, Nuevo Le6n, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, and Colima. Memoria presentada a las dos
Cdmaras del Congreso General de la Federaci6n por el Secretario de Estado y del Despacho de Relaciones Este-
riores i interiores, al abrirse las sesiones del asio de 1825 ... (Mexico: 1825), in Aguayo Spencer (ed.),
Obras de D. Lucas Alarmin, I, 131.189
1996
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997, periodical, 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101218/m1/239/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.