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The Battle of Agua Dulce Creek was a skirmish during the Texas Revolution between Mexican troops and rebellious immigrants to the Mexican province of Texas, known as Texians. As part of the Goliad Campaign to retake the Texas Gulf Coast, Mexican troops ambushed a group of Texians on March 2, 1836. The skirmish began approximately south of San Patricio, in territory belonging to the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. When Mexico transitioned to a centralized government in 1835, supporters of federalism took up arms. Colonists in Texas, primarily immigrants from the United States, revolted in October 1835 and by the end of the year had expelled all Mexican troops from their province. With hostilities temporarily suspended, Frank W. Johnson, the commander of the volunteer army in Texas, and James Grant gathered volunteers for a planned invasion of the Mexican port town of Matamoros. In late February 1836, Johnson and half of the volunteers drove a herd of horses to San Patricio, while Grant took the remaining men to gather more horses and to attempt contact with federalist sympathizers near Matamoros. Unbeknownst to the Texians, on February 18 Mexican General José de Urrea led a large contingent of troops from Matamoros into Texas to neutralize the rebels gathered along the coast. His troops easily defeated Johnson's small force on February 26. Several days later, informants revealed Grant's location, and on the morning of March 2, Urrea sent 150 troops to ambush the rebels. After a brief battle, the main body of the Texian and Tejano troops were defeated. Grant and two others escaped the battle and were pursued for . Grant was killed, as were 11 men under his command. Six Texians were taken prisoner; contrary to Santa Anna's orders, Urrea did not execute them, but instead sent them to a jail in Matamoros. An additional six Texians escaped; five of them later died in the Goliad Massacre. == Background == Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government began to shift away from a federalist model to a more centralized government. His increasingly dictatorial policies, including the revocation of the Constitution of 1824 in early 1835, incited federalists throughout the nation to revolt.〔Davis (2006), p. 121.〕 The Mexican army quickly put down revolts throughout the country's interior, including a brutal suppression of militias in Oaxaca and Zacatecas.〔Davis (2006), p. 121.〕〔Hardin (1994), p. 7.〕 Unrest continued in the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The area that bordered the United States, known as Texas, was populated primarily by English-speaking settlers, known as Texians. In October, the Texians took up arms in what became known as the Texas Revolution.〔Davis (2006), p. 142.〕 The following month, Texians declared themselves part of a state independent from Coahuila and created a provisional state government based on the principles of the Constitution of 1824.〔Davis (2006), p. 168.〕 By the end of the year, all Mexican troops had been expelled from Texas.〔Davis (2006), p. 183.〕 Leading federalists in Mexico advocated a plan to attack centralist troops in Matamoros, a major Mexican port.〔Davis (2006), pp. 187–9.〕 Members of the General Council, the interim Texas governing body, were enamored with the idea of a Matamoros Expedition. They hoped it would inspire other federalist states to revolt and keep the bored Texian troops from deserting the army. Most importantly, it would move the war zone outside Texas.〔Stuart (2008), p. 60.〕 The Council officially approved the plan on December 25, and on December 30 Frank W. Johnson, the commander of the volunteer army, and his aide James Grant took the bulk of the army and almost all of the supplies to Goliad to prepare for the expedition.〔Hardin (1994), pp. 107–8.〕 Historian Stuart Reid posits that Grant was a British secret agent and that his efforts were an unofficial scheme to advance British interests in the region. Britain did not welcome the idea of an independent Texas, and the invasion of Matamoros was a way to tie Texas more tightly to Mexico.〔Reid (2007), p. 70.〕 Determined to quash the rebellion, Santa Anna began assembling a large force to restore order.〔Hardin (1994), p. 102.〕 In late December, at Santa Anna's behest, the Mexican Congress passed the Tornel Decree, declaring that any foreigners fighting against Mexican troops "will be deemed pirates and dealt with as such, being citizens of no nation presently at war with the Republic and fighting under no recognized flag." In the early nineteenth century, captured pirates were executed immediately. The resolution thus gave the Mexican Army permission to take no prisoners in the war against the Texians.〔Historians Jack Jackson and John Wheat in their research of Mexican government records believe that although the wording of the December 30, 1835 Tornel Decree specified "foreigners", the document was a mere formality to green-light Santa Anna's broader plan of dealing with opposition both foreign and domestic. In a letter to General Joaquín Ramírez y Sesma on February 29, 1836, Santa Anna wrote "in this war there are no prisoners". At the Battle of the Alamo prior to the final siege, he offered a three-day amnesty to allow Tejanos inside the mission to leave unharmed. At other skirmishes in the war, there is no indication either he or his generals made that distinction. Jackson and Wheat stated, "When he learned that Urrea had taken several hundred prisoners near Goliad, Santa Anna expressed his amazement that they had not been treated as pirates and swiftly executed as Tornel's decree specified. He sent more letters until the tragic deed was done." Jackson, Wheat (2005), p. 374, 377, 386–7, 390; Poyo (1996), p. 53, 58 Efficient in the Cause (Stephen L. Harden); Lindley (2003), p. 94, 134; Todish et al. (1998), pp. 137–8; Castañeda (1970), pp. 55–56; Scott (2000), p. 71〕 Santa Anna personally led the bulk of his troops inland to San Antonio de Béxar, and ordered General José de Urrea to lead 550 troops along the Atascocita Road toward Goliad. Urrea's efforts to quell the rebellion along the Texas Gulf Coast have become known as the Goliad Campaign.〔Hardin (1994), p. 120.〕〔Hardin (1994), p. 121.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Agua Dulce」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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