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The Battle of San Patricio was fought on February 27, 1836 between Mexican troops and rebellious immigrants to the Mexican province of Texas, known as Texians. The battle marked the start of the Goliad Campaign, the Mexican offensive to retake the Texas Gulf Coast. It took place in and around San Patricio. By the end of 1835, all Mexican troops had been driven from Texas. 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. After spending several weeks gathering horses for the Matamoros Expedition, in late February Johnson and about 40 men led the herd to San Patricio. Johnson assigned some of his troops to a ranch outside town to guard the horses, while the rest of his men garrisoned in three different locations in town. Unbeknownst to the Texians, on February 18, Mexican General José de Urrea led a large contingent of troops from Matamoros into Texas. Their goal was to neutralize the Texian soldiers gathered along the coast. Urrea's men easily followed the trail left by Johnson's herd of horses. Mexican soldiers surprised the sleeping Texians in San Patricio in the early hours of February 27. After a fifteen-minute battle, all but six Texians had been killed or imprisoned. One Mexican soldier was killed and four injured. ==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 in the Mexican 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.〔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.〕 Determined to quash the rebellion, Santa Anna began assembling a large force to restore order; by the end of 1835 his army numbered 6,019 soldiers.〔Hardin (1994), p. 102.〕 In late December, at his 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.〔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), pp. 120–1.〕 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 San Patricio」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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