The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985 Page: 31
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LORENZO DE ZAVALA: MEXICAN TRAITOR OR TEXAS IDEALIST?
and fevers until his death.
Zavala's immediate entry into the Texas revolutionary movement in-
dicates that while in France he had reached a decision to espouse the Texas
cause. Initially he received a cold reception from the Anglo-Texians because
of his Mexican ancestry; but ultimately, his activities, his speeches, his spon-
sorship by Austin, and his obvious qualities of leadership and experience
won the Texians' approbation. Zavala was invited to speak at Lynch's Ferry
about October 15 to an Anglo-Texas group, but he was unable to accept
the invitation because of his continued ill health. However, he sent a writ-
ten speech in which he denounced Santa Anna and proposed that a conven-
tion be called.
In a letter to Austin of September 17, 1835, Zavala indicated his hope
of rising to power in Mexico and expressed his view that any proposed Mex-
ican adjustments would be entirely unsatisfactory.
The Texians received encouragement from some sympathetic Mexicans,
including Governor Augustin Viesca of the State of Coahuila and Texas
who wrote as follows:
Citizens of Texas, arouse yourselves or sleep forever! Your
dearest interests, your liberty, your property - nay, your very
existence - depend upon the fickle will of your direst enemies. Your
destruction is resolved upon, and nothing but that firmness and
energy peculiar to true republicans can save you.21
In December the defeat of Cos at Bexar by Ben Milam and Frank
Johnson convinced many of the Texians that independence was to be ac-
complished easily and quickly. Thus, generally the Texians favored the
December 12, 1835, resolution of the Consultation calling for a February
1, 1836, election of delegates to meet March 1, 1836, at the town of
Washington, later called Washington-on-the-Brazos.
1836 Washington Convention
Zavala was elected a delegate from Harrisburg (now Houston) to the
proposed Washington meeting; he arrived on March 1 and joined in the
decision on March 2 to declare Texas independent of Mexico. Subse-
21 Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of the North Mexican States and Texas (San Francisco,
1889), Vol. II, 158-159. Viesca, a strong adherent of the Constitution of 1824, attempted to move
the capital of Coahuila-Texas to Bexar; he failed and fled to Nacogdoches, January 5, 1836.Nov. 1985]
31
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Texas Gulf Historical Society. The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985, periodical, November 1985; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433656/m1/33/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Gulf Historical Society.