Domingo de Ugartechea

Domingo de Ugartechea

Domingo de Ugartechea (* before 1813; † May 24, 1839 in Saltillo , Coahuila ) was a Mexican officer .

Career

Domingo de Ugartechea pursued a military career. In 1813 he served as a cadet under Joaquín de Arredondo at the Battle of Medina , who at that time was governor of Nuevo Santander in the viceroyalty of New Spain . In the following years he rose the career. In June 1832, as Colonel , he commanded 125 men in Fort Velasco in Texas, which was then still part of Mexico . With the use of his artillery he tried to prevent the Texan troops under John Austin from taking a cannon from Brazoria ( Brazoria County ) to Anahuac ( Chambers County ) during the unrest in Anahuac in 1832 . Although defeated by the Texans in the eleven hour battle of Velasco , Ugartechea was allowed to evacuate the fort. In 1835 he was military commander of Coahuila and Texas and commanded the troops in San Antonio de Béxar Presidio - a Spanish fort on the San Antonio River , where he had to contend with deficits in funding, supplies and manning. Although on paper he had 200 men under him, in reality only half of them were in active service. His observations from his location in the spring of 1835 contributed to the hardening of attitudes in Mexico regarding the Anglo-American abuse of land policy and the indigenous Tejanos in the departments of Nacogdoches and Bexar. He also considered the Texans to be disrespectful to the Mexican government and its leadership, which was made clear in a letter:

“Nothing is heard but God damn St. Anna. God damn Ugartechea. "

In mid-May 1835, Ugartechea worked with the political authorities to avoid an armed conflict with the militiamen under Juan N. Sequín , who left the city of Bexar (now San Antonio in Bexar County ) for Monclova ( Coahuila ) in order to support the federalist there Governor Augustín Viesca . Only last minute concessions from José Ángel Navarro prevented a clash between the militia and Ugartechea's soldiers. Subsequently, Ugartechea received and wrote many reports to Mexico that the situation gradually relaxed in the summer of 1835 and that the greatest threat to the peace would now be the sending of more troops from Mexico to Texas. However, at the end of July, he changed his view of the situation towards his superior, Martín Perfecto de Cos , that reinforcement troops were now required.

In dealing with the people of Texas, Ugartechea relied on appeasement to keep the peace when his warrants were carried out. Those whom he ordered the Texas authorities to arrest and detain included members of the Coahuila Legislature, leaders of the Anahuac Campaign or Rebellion in July 1835, and other opponents of the central government such as Manuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala y Sáenz . During the summer of 1835, the unit under his command grew to about 500 men, which included about 200  cavalrymen in active service. In September 1835 reports circulated that Ugartechea intended to execute those arrested himself. Indeed, Lieutenant Francisco de Castañeda at his command to Gonzales ( Gonzales County hingesandt) to secure a gun out of the hands of the Texans. On October 2, 1835 there was then a battle at Gonzales , which marked the beginning of the Texan War of Independence . Ugartechea pressed for peace. He asked the Texans to hand over their weapons or to risk a new advance from San Antonio. During the siege of Bexar, Ugartechea initially stayed in the forts of the city. One of his cavalry units explored the area around Cibolo Creek in mid-October 1835 . On the morning of October 28, 1835, he led a unit of 275  infantrymen with two cannons out of town and faced the Texan troops in the battle at Concepción . On November 12, 1835, he commanded a cavalry unit that broke through the siege lines and went to Rio Grande , about ten days away , to seek reinforcement troops there. On November 26, 1835, he then led a force of 454 conscripts and 173 veterans from Laredo ( Webb County ) to support the centralist army under Cos at Bexar. Their arrival on December 8, 1835, however, led to supply problems with the centralist army and to the surrender on December 9, 1835. Ugartechea returned to Laredo with Cos' troops. He then returned to Texas with the Mexican Army in 1836 . At the end of March 1836 he received command of the inexperienced troops, which were left behind as reserve troops in Copano , Victoria and Goliad . He moved his headquarters in the latter city. He was responsible for building the garrison accommodation and the fortifications. After Mexican retreat after the Battle of San Jacinto , Ugartechea went to Matamoros , where he reportedly tried to get the Indians to go to war against the Texans. He went on to support the centralist cause. In doing so, he helped put down a federal uprising in Saltillo from his post in Monterrey in February 1839. He then fell in the defense of Saltillo on May 24, 1839.

literature

• Jeff Long: Duel of Eagles: The Mexican and US Fight for the Alamo. New York: Morrow 1990.

Web links

• Domingo de Ugartechea on the Texas State Historical Association website