The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 491
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Santa Anna in Texas: A Mexican Viewpoint
he named General Vicente Filisola as his second-in-command
on October 8.6
While the wily caudillo prepared to suppress the Texans, the
situation in the rest of Mexico was far from rosy. Instability char-
acterized the times. Hunger, pestilences, wars, and intranquility
marked Mexico as she attempted to rise from internal strife.'
The situation might have been less than propitious for putting
down a rebellion in Texas, but certainly a better man would have
been hard to find for the job than Santa Anna. It was no easy task
to raise an army in the circumstances, much less march it to the
distant northern frontier. The wonder is that the matter was even
accomplished. Besides the lack of troops to man the army, it
needed money and food. The revolutions of 1832 and 1833 in
Mexico had almost completely destroyed the army, and time for
reorganization was not available. The federalist revolts and the
Texan rising brought urgent need for a new army. There was
no time to train new recruits, and many received their first tastes
of discipline on the march northward. According to Filisola,
"most of them fired their first volleys at the enemy."8
The fact that Santa Anna became commander of the army
brought sorely needed prestige to the organization. His recent
victory in Zacatecas probably made him one of the more popular
generals. He also possessed the knack of whipping up enthusiasm
in his men when it did not previously exist. Of course, the fact
that Santa Anna was dictator of Mexico no doubt influenced a
junta of generals in the capital which concurred in his selection
as commander of the army of operations in Texas.9 He was the
logical choice, and the junta probably would have accepted him
even if he had not been so powerful. When the government gave
Santa Anna responsibility for arranging the whole expedition and
campaign, the caudillo apparently did not protest.
,eSanta Anna to Filisola, October 8, 1835, in Umberto Daniel Filizola, Correspond-
ence of Santa Anna during the Texas Campaign, 1835-1836, Translated, with In-
troductions and Notes (Master's thesis, University of Texas, 1939), 2o.
7Jos6 C. Valadds, Santa Anna y la Guerra de Texas (Mexico, 1936), 164-165.
svicente Filisola, Memorias para la historia de la Guerra de Tejas, por el Sr.
General de division y actual Presidente del supremo Tribunal de guerra y marina
de la Repdblica (2 vols.; Mexico, 1848-1849), II, 228.
olbid., 229. Cf. Jos6 Maria Tornel y Mendivil, "Relations Between Texas, the
United States of America and the Mexican Republic," in Carlos E. Castafieda
(trans.), The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution (Dallas, 1928), 350-351.491
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/588/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.