William Barret Travis (1809 to 1836) is best-known as the commander of the Alamo during the 13-day siege (23 February to 6 March 1836), dying in the Battle of the Alamo on 6 March at the age of 26. Arguably, however, Travis should receive greater recognition as the man who almost single-handedly started the Texas Revolution with theof 1832 and 1835.
The Texas Revolution began on 2 October 1835 with the Battle of Gonzales, and the Texian forces won every engagement for the rest of that year. Their luck changed when Mexican General José de Urrea (1797-1849) won a string of victories, defeating Texian forces at the Battle of San Patricio on 27 February 1836, at the Battle of Agua Dulce on 2 March, at the Battle of Refugio on 14 March, and the Battle of Coleto on 19-20 March.
General José de Urrea (1797-1849) was commanding the troops who had defeated the forces of Texian Colonel James W. Fannin (1804-1836) at the Battle of Coleto (19-20 March 1836) and was in charge of the prisoners between then and 27 March, but Urrea disagreed with Santa Anna's policy of executing prisoners of war and so left it to his senior staff, chiefly Colonel José Nicolás de las Portilla, to deal with the prisoners.
The Anahuac Disturbances are not considered the beginning of the Texas Revolution because no others followed immediately after; whereas, after Gonzales, the war proceeded rapidly until it was won by the Texians at the Battle of San Jacinto on 21 April 1836, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Texas. The battles of the Texas Revolution are:
The region of Mexico was taken as a colony of Spain in the 16th century and held until the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821). After winning independence, however, Mexico's economy was in ruins, and it struggled to form a working government. The northern territory of Coahuila y Tejas faced constant threats from Apache and Comanche raids and, consequently, was sparsely populated. In an effort to revive the economy and win popular support for the government, Anglo-Americans were invited to settle in the region.