Jackson: Watching Texas
Jackson’s Bills, known as the “Westward Package” by certain senators, passed with flying colors. Only the Texas Act gained any noticeable resistance, with 20 outright nays and as many as 10 abstains. Yet Jackson’s will had been done, and so he moved on in January to a more peaceful subject. Upon his drafting of the Colonization Bill and Texas Act, Jackson was apparently struck with an abject fear of being remembered as simply a warmonger who used military might willy-nilly.
The result of Jackson’s fear was the Ashburton-Forsyth Treaty [1], signed on January 14th, which transferred the contested British territory of Northern Maine to the control of the United States. The treaty however, contained one clause in favour of the British. It confirmed America’s commitment against the Atlantic Slave Trade, and with its signing US officials were now threatened with penalties for failing to act against slave traders.
This clause was expected to see uproar in the Senate, as it was said by one Whig to be the British forcing laws on Americans. Yet it did not. Apparently the fact that the question of Maine had been solved for good absolved Jackson’s sin of bending to the whims of a foreign power. Within days Maine had confirmed its anti-slavery laws in accordance with the pleas Senator Archibald Cartwright had been sending for the last decade.
1. The internationally recognized borders of the United States on January 14th 1836.
Jackson then once more shifted his attention to Texas. His “Enforcers” had left for Oregon and Washington the day the Colonization Bill had been passed, and at that time were supposedly passing the northern border of Texas. To the south of their position, the Mexican 3rd Army was laying waste to the area round Amarillo. Santa Anna’s plan was to break the back of Texan resistance by “turning the republic into a graveyard”. The general himself witnessed none of the destruction caused to Northern Texas. He took command of the 2nd Army personally and headed for San Antonio.
The commander of the Texan Armed Forces, General Sam Houston, knew that his army only stood a chance if they caught Santa Anna off guard. So on the night of February 16th 1836, after the Mexicans had settled down in and around a small town about 12 miles from San Antonio, Houston attacked with his cavalry. Santa Anna’s force was thrown into disarray by the charge, and was unable to recover properly before Houston had already gone back to his original positions, and ordered his artillery to fire on the town.
The Mexican attempt at counterattack against the Texan force, which was on higher ground, turned into a three-day bloodbath. Santa Anna’s men were unable to get past the improvised trenches of the Texan infantry, and suffered intolerable casualties every time Houston’s cavalry sallied down the hill. The Mexicans withdrew from the San Antonio area on February 20th, having lost 2541 dead. Houston had lost 1640 men, but unlike Santa Anna, he could not afford it.
2. A highly romanticized painting of the battle from the late 1840’s.
Houston’s army had used up most of its ammunition at San Antonio [2], and so he asked the government for more. The fledgling republic’s representatives knew they had no stockpile in Texas, so they turned to the United States, or more specifically, Jackson. The president immediately set up a system with which to get the ammunition and weapons the Texans needed, without having to ask the Senate for permission. He simply told the American units on the Texan border to sign all of their shipments of materiel as having arrived, when in fact almost two thirds of it would cross the border and travel to Houston’s army. Jackson’s Underground Railway [3] was born.
Having filled the ranks of the dead by recruiting any able-bodied Texan man he could find, and received the American materiel, Houston moved north. As Houston did this, Santa Anna gathered the Mexican armies into one unified force. He then marched on the Texan capital of Austin. Upon receiving news of Santa Anna’s movements, Houston, already halfway between Amarillo and Austin, made a full turn.
The Texans caught up to Santa Anna’s grand army on July 6th. Houston declined a full on assault, knowing that they would lose in a test of manpower. Instead he opted to send a messenger to Austin, telling the government to evacuate as a precaution [4]. The following week was spent in a continuous running battle toward Austin.
The Texans harassed the Mexican column non-stop, destroying many of Santa Anna’s personal belongings in the process, so that by the time the column reached the outskirts of the city, it was exhausted from marching and having to stay awake day and night in order to guard against Houston’s raids. The vast majority of the Texans on the other hand, were well rested, having made a dash for Austin and let the cavalry do the damage. Even so, Houston’s horses were in much better health than Santa Anna’s most high ranking officers on July 14th.
The battle of Austin’s outcome was thus never in any real doubt. Santa Anna’s troops were completely incapable of fighting as determinedly as the Texans. The battle turned into a five day a bloodbath like San Antonio, the only difference being the streams of Austin citizens delivering what food and drink they had to their soldiers during lulls in the fighting.
3. William Henry Huddle’s painting, “Field of Dreams”, also known as “Austin”.
Santa Anna was forced to flee the field of battle yet again, having wasted the lives of a further 9823 Mexicans. Houston’s forces had lost 3498 men, but the fighting for Austin had effectively crushed Mexican hopes of victory in Texas. The next day, Houston wrote Jackson a letter, personally thanking him for the materiel, without which the outcome of the battle may well have been in Santa Anna’s favor.
When Santa Anna returned to Mexico City, he was stripped of his rank and forced to resign. Houston was officially made General of the Armies of Texas around the same time, an irony which he undoubtedly appreciated. Jackson on the other hand, was subjected to a session in the senate which was seemingly devoted purely to the indignation felt by various senators that the president’s Underground Railroad had bypassed them.
This was all forgotten by December 1st, when the Whigs and Democrats gathered in Washington for their respective National Conventions, and the Mexicans sent out the first feelers of a possible peace with the republic of Texas. For the United States and its new ally, the sky seemed filled with opportunity.
[1] - The Treaty received its name from its two signatories, US Secretary of State John Forsyth and British diplomat Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton.
[2] – The battle was actually fought around the town of Devine, but Houston miscalculated, and believed the town to be San Antonio, which he had never been to.
[3] – It was given this name mostly by abolitionists in the late 1830’s, who wanted to compare the ”Underground Railroads”, used by escaping Southern slaves, to Jackson’s act of generosity, which was well-received by the public despite the Senate’s indignation.
[4] – There are those who argue that Houston’s plan was to do the same to Austin as the Russians did to Moscow in 1812, further demoralizing Santa Anna’s army by leaving it a completely useless city, despite overwhelming evidence that Houston’s intent was always to fight outside the city.
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Exceptional Situation(s):
None that I could think of right now. Senators McAttack and King, send me those policies.
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