Texas (1994) TV
Director: Richard Lang.
Cast: Stacy Kean (Sam Houston), Patrick Dufy (Stephen Austin), John Schneider (Davy Crockett), David Keith (Jim Bowie), Maria Conchita Alonso (Lucia), Benjamin Bratt (Benito Garza), Chelsea Field (Mattie Quimper), Anthony Michael Hall (Yancey Quimper), Grant Show (Travis), Randy Travis (Capt. Sam Garner), Rick Schroder (Otto MacNab).
Republic Pictures
This is a good movie based on the best-seller by Pulitzer Prize-winner James A. Michener. It illuminates Texas history by following the interwoven lives of some key figures in Texas and Mexican history. The time period is from the beginning of white settlement in what later became Texas to Texas independence from Mexico and, finally, to Texas statehood.
Fall of 1821. Stephen Austin arrives in what became Texas. There were 5,000 Hispanics, 20,000 Anglos and 30,000 Indians, mostly Comanche. The Mexican government has given Austin a mandate to populate and tame this wild land. Austin starts recruiting settlers. Mattie Quimper and her step-son Yancey are the first to step into his office. (She is a recent widow, her husband Jubal Quimper having recently died.)
Others include Jim Bowie, the famous knife fighter with his specially made Bowie knife. Zave Campbell arrives and behind him his friend Finlay MacNab and his son Otto.
Coming later is the two time governor of Tennessee, Sam Houston. He says that Andrew Jackson himself had given him a directive to pow-wow with the Comanches (even though Austin does not really believe this).
Already living in the area is Benito Garza, a Mexican mustanger, that is, one who brings in wild mustangs to be broken and then sold. Benito soon falls in love with Mattie. (A problem for Benito, however, is that Matties has taken a shine to Austin.) Benito has two sisters, one who marries Zave Campbell and the other marrying Finlay MacNab.
William Barrett Travis, who would later fight at the Alamo, arrives.
The settlers have to swear an oath of loyalty to Mexico. And they must convert to Catholicism if they are not already Catholics. But even though the Texicans have sworn their loyalty to Mexico, they really want to be Americans. Many of these men do not care for Austin. He is seen as too loyal to Mexico and gutless because he would not stand up to the Mexicans. Austin accuses Sam Houston of coming to the future Texas in order to start a rebellion.
But Austin has an epiphany, doubtless the result of a stint in a Mexican prison ordered by Mexican General Santa Anna. He is only let out of prison when Santa Anna calls for a general amnesty. But Santa Anna wants something from Austin: espionage as to what the Texicans are planning to do. Austin figures that since Santa Anna is going to resort to war against the Texicans, then he may as well call for a war against the Mexicans.
Benito Garza heads off to join the forces of Santa Anna.
These characters keep popping up through the key events of the fight for Texas independence and the struggle for Texas statehood. Some of these events were:
September 19, 1833. Stephen Austin issues a call to arms in every small village in Texas.
October 28, 1933. The Battle of Concepcion wherein a Mexican cavalry surprise attack outside San Antonio ends up with a victory for the Texicans.
First convention to form a constitution and government for the Republic of Texas.
The massacre of Texas prisoners after the fight at Goliad.
The Battle of San Jacinto.
Election of the first president of the Republic of Texas.
The formation of the Texas Rangers to fight the Comanches and Mexican bandits.
The election of James K. Polk as president of the United States and statehood for Texas.
Based on the historical novel by James Michener the film does cover the main events of independence and statehood for Texas. There are a lot of characters and that does not leave much room for character development. We don't learn much about the motivations of the key players beyond excitement, free land and new growth opportunities. What were the primary motivations for Stephen Austin and Sam Houston. They made Austin appear a bit of a weakling, but in 1813 Austin had been commissioned an ensign in the Missouri militia and later served with the First Regiment of Mounted Militia working his way up from private to quartermaster sergeant. He also was the one who created the Texas Rangers. His general approach, however, was a cautious one and probably was interpreted as weakness by the settlers.
Patrick L. Cooney
Historical Background:
1821 -- Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River. He advertised the settlement opportunities in New Orleans for land available along the Brazos and Colorado rivers. A family (husband, wife and two children) would receive 1,280 acres at twelve and a half cents per acre.
1821 (December) -- the first U.S. colonists settled on the Brazos River in today's Fort Bend County, Texas.
1823 (April) -- Austin given a contract to bring 300 families into Texas.
1823 -- Austin unofficially created the Texas Rangers.
Mid-1824 -- The Constitution of 1824 gave Mexico a republican form of
government. It failed, however, to define the rights of the states within the
republic, including Texas.
late 1825 -- Austin brought in the first 300 families.
6 April 1830--Relations between the Texans and Mexico reached a new low when
Mexico forbid further emigration into Texas by settlers from the United States.
26 June 1832--The Battle of Velasco resulted in the first casualties in Texas'
relations with Mexico. After several days of fighting, the Mexicans under
Domingo de Ugartechea were forced to surrender for lack of ammunition.
1832-1833 -- The Convention of 1832 and the Convention of 1833 in Texas were
triggered by growing dissatisfaction among the settlements with the policies of
the government in Mexico City.
1834 (January 2) -- at Saltillo Austin was arrested and charged with insurrection for having written to all the town halls of Texas to unite to organize independent local governments.
1835 -- Texas Rangers formally constituted.
1835 (August) -- Austin finally released from prison.
Section 2: Revolution and the Republic
2 October 1835 -- Texans repulsed a detachment of Mexican cavalry at the Battle
of Gonzales. The revolution began.
9 October 1835 -- The Goliad Campaign of 1835 ended when George Collingsworth,
Ben Milam, and forty-nine other Texans stormed the presidio at Goliad held by a
small detachment of Mexican defenders.
28 October 1835 -- Jim Bowie, James Fannin and 90 Texans defeated 450 Mexicans
at the Battle of Concepcion, near San Antonio.
3 November 1835 -- The Consultation met to consider options for more autonomous
rule for Texas. A document known as the Organic Law outlined the organization
and functions of a new Provisional Government.
8 November 1835 -- The Grass Fight near San Antonio was won by the Texans under
Jim Bowie and Ed Burleson. Instead of silver, however, the Texans gained a
worthless bounty of grass.
11 December 1835 -- Mexicans under Gen. Cos surrendered San Antonio to the
Texans following the Siege of Bexar. Ben Milam was killed during the extended
siege.
2 March 1836 -- The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed by members of
the Convention of 1836. An ad interim government was formed for the newly
created Republic of Texas.
ALAMO -- The Alamo was built by the Spaniards in the early 1700s. In the
Alamo was a church, corrals, barracks, storage rooms, along with a blacksmith shop. It
had walls that were 12 ft. high and 3 ft. wide. It was a large mission. The
Texas defenders gathered in the Alamo in the year of 1835-1836 and were
prepared to fight. Mexicans were busy at the Alamo, and Sam Houston had
organized his army.
6 March 1836 -- Texans under Col. William B. Travis were overwhelmed by the
Mexican army after a two-week siege at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio.
The Runaway Scrape began -- the flight of anglo settlers from their homes
when Santa Anna began his march through eastern Texas after the fight for the
Alamo.
10 March 1836 -- Sam Houston abandoned Gonzales in a general retreat eastward to
avoid the invading Mexican army.
27 March 1836 -- James Fannin and nearly 400 Texans were executed by the
Mexicans at the Goliad Massacre, under order of Santa Anna.
21 April 1836 -- Texans under Sam Houston routed the Mexican forces of Santa
Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. Thus, independence was won in one of the most
decisive battles in history. They took Santa Anna prisoner. The
Mexican general bought his freedom by signing a treaty recognizing Texas independence.
Within the Texas revolution, all restrictions on slavery were removed. The
response was a large influx mainly from the Gulf Coastal Plain states of
Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana.
1836 (December 27) -- death of Stephen Austin of pneumonia.
November 1839 -- The Texas Congress first met in Austin, the frontier site
selected for the capital of the Republic.
11 August 1840 -- The Battle of Plum Creek, near present-day Lockhart, ended the
boldest and most penetrating Comanche challenge to the Texas Republic.
June 1841 -- The Texan Santa Fe Expedition set out for New Mexico. Near Santa
Fe, they were intercepted by Mexican forces and marched 2000 miles to prison in
Mexico City.
5 March 1842 --A Mexican force of over 500 men under Rafael Vasquez invaded
Texas for the first time since the revolution. They briefly occupied San
Antonio, but soon headed back to the Rio Grande.
11 September 1842 -- San Antonio was again captured, this time by 1400 Mexican
troops under Adrian Woll. Again the Mexicans retreated, but this time with
prisoners.
Fall 1842 -- Sam Houston authorized Alexander Somervell to lead a retaliatory
raid into Mexico. The resulting Somervell Expedition dissolved, however, after
briefly taking the border towns of Laredo and Guerreo.
20 December 1842 -- Some 300 members of the Somervell force set out to continue
raids into Mexico. Ten days and 20 miles later, the ill-fated Mier Expedition
surrendered at the Mexican town of Mier.
29 December 1842 -- Under orders of Sam Houston, officials arrive in Austin to
remove the records of the Republic of Texas to the city of Houston, touching off
the bloodless Archives War.
25 March 1843 -- Seventeen Texans executed in what became known as the Black
Bean Episode. It resulted from the Mier Expedition, one of several raids
by the Texans into Mexico.
27 May 1843 -- The Texan's Snively Expedition reached the Santa Fe Trail,
expecting to capture Mexican wagons crossing territory claimed by Texas. The
campaign stalled, however, when American troops intervened.
29 December 1845 -- U. S. President James Polk followed through on a campaign
platform promising to annex Texas, and signed legislation making Texas the 28th
state of the United States.
The war with Mexico soon followed.
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