The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 493
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Santa Anna in Texas: A Mexican Viewpoint
juato, and Yucatan. It can be seen that few of these soldiers came
from the northern portion of Mexico, the general area in which
they were to fight. Santa Anna, however, added strength from
companies on the northern frontiers. These men knew the land,
but Santa Anna failed to reorganize them into efficient scouting
elements.14
The Mexican army was not nearly so inflated as its statistics
claimed. The army on paper totaled 27,oo000 regulars, and the
militiamen swelled the total to 48,600 men.'5 These figures were
not reliable. If they had been accurate, there would have been
enough soldiers to guard the Mexican interior while at the same
time sending a fraction of them to Texas. The personnel statistics
for Santa Anna's army of operations were just as unreliable. In
addition to losses through desertions, strength rosters were never
exactly correct.6" Actually, it was necessary to recruit through
levies in order to build the army of operations for Texas.
Most of the troops were conscripted for the purpose of the cam-
paign, but there were two bodies of veterans, the zapadores, and
the activos of Toluca. Members of Santa Anna's personal guard
were later distributed among the military bodies which were or-
ganized in San Luis, Coahuila, and Nuevo Le6n.17 The experi-
enced soldiers in this invading group were spread thin.
Not only were the recruits untrained and undisciplined, but
because of the already-mentioned limited resources the army was
ill-fed, ill-clothed, and ill-equipped. Its arms had been inherited
from colonial days.:8 Many of the recruits did not have sufficient
clothing, and few displayed any great esteem for the service."
14Jos6 Enrique de la Pefia, La rebelidn de Texas; manuscripto inddito de 1836
por un oficial de Santa Anna (Mexico, 1955), 33.
'1George Lockhart Rives, The United States and Mexico, 1821-1848 (2 vols.;
New York, 1913), I, 322.
1,De la Pefia, La rebelidn de Texas, 33.
17Valad6s, Santa Anna, 169.
1sIbid., 165. An American merchant in Mexico at the time the army left for
Texas reported that the troops "were well armed, and well clothed, and a well
disciplined cavalry and fine train of artillery went out with them." See Clarence
R. Wharton, El Presidente, A Sketch of the Life of General Santa Anna (Austin,
1926), 50. In the light of evidence to be presented, this obviously was a mis-
statement of the facts.
'9C6s to Santa Anna, December 29, 1835 (Barker Transcripts, Texas, 1835-1836,
Archives, University of Texas Library), Part I, 8-9.493
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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/m1/590/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.