Texan Santa Fe Expedition facts for kids

The Republic of Texas. The present-day outlines of the U.S. states are superimposed on the boundaries of 1836–1845.

Map of the Santa Fe Trail (in red) in 1845. A detailed present-day map is also available.

The Texan Santa Fe Expedition was a commercial and military expedition to secure the Republic of Texas's claims to parts of Northern New Mexico for Texas in 1841. The expedition was unofficially initiated by the then President of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, in an attempt to gain control over the lucrative Santa Fe Trail and with the ulterior motive to acquire parts of New Mexico for the Texas Republic. The initiative was a major component of Lamar's ambitious plan to turn the fledgling republic into a continental power, which the President believed had to be achieved as quickly as possible to stave off the growing movement demanding the annexation of Texas to the United States. Lamar's administration had already started courting the New Mexicans, sending out a commissioner in 1840, and many Texans thought that they might be favorable to the idea of joining the Republic of Texas.

Journey

The expedition set out from Kenney's Fort near Austin on June 19, 1841. The expedition included 21 ox-drawn wagons carrying merchandise estimated to be worth about $200,000. Among the men were merchants that were promised transportation and protection of their goods during the expedition, as well as commissioners William G. Cooke, Richard F. Brenham, José Antonio Navarro, and George Van Ness. Although officially a trading expedition, the Texas merchants and businessmen were accompanied by a military escort of some 320 men. The military escort was led by Hugh McCleod and included a company of artillery.

The journey to New Mexico during the summer was blighted by poor preparation and organization, sporadic Indian attacks, and a lack of supplies and fresh water. After losing their Mexican guide, the group struggled to find its way, with no one knowing how far away Santa Fe actually was. McCleod was eventually forced to split his force and sent out an advance guard to find a route.

Map showing route of the first Santa Fe expedition

The expedition finally arrived in New Mexico in mid-September 1841. Several of their scouts were captured, including Capt. William G. Lewis. Having expected to be welcomed on their arrival, the expedition was surprised to be met by a detachment from the Mexican Army of about 1500 men sent out by the governor of New Mexico, Manuel Armijo. One of Armijo's relatives who spoke English, probably Manuel Chaves or Mariano Chaves, parleyed with the Texans, with Captain Lewis supporting his statements. Both said that Armijo would give the Texans safe conduct and an escort to the border, and Lewis swore to it "on his Masonic faith". After the Texans' arduous journey, they were in no state to fight a force that outnumbered them so heavily, so they surrendered. The New Mexicans gave them some supplies.

However, the following morning, Armijo arrived with his army, had the Texans bound and treated harshly, and demanded the Texans be killed, putting the matter up to a vote of his officers. That night, the prisoners listened to the council debating the idea. By one vote, the council decided to spare the Texans. The latter were forced to march the 2,000 miles from Santa Fe to Mexico City. Over the winter of 1841–42, they were held as prisoners at the Perote Prison in the state of Veracruz, until United States diplomatic efforts secured their release.

After the surviving Texans were released on June 13, 1842, one of the prisoners, Robert D. Phillips, wrote to his father that: "Many of the men are waiting only for the party of a man named Cook to arrive so they may continue on to Vera Cruz and then to New Orleans. The men found their way to New Orleans on board various ships, among them the Henry Clay, which, according to the ship's manifest, arrived in New Orleans on September 5, 1842, carrying 47 "Volunteers of the Texan Army Santa Fe Prisoners."

Some members of the Santa Fe Expedition

Source: Ship's Manifest fe Henry Clay, September 5, 1842:

Source: Sworn Statement Bexar County District Court Sept 23, 1874 (John) Christopher Trautz age 32, Capt J. S. Sutton's Company A Regulars.

Peter Gallagher, a native of Westmeath, Ireland kept a detailed diary during the capture and imprisonment of the Texans.

This following list was published in the Telegraph and Texas Register Newspaper 8-17-1842. It is a List of people mentioned as being released on June 13, 1842, from the fort at Perote in Mexico. These freed prisoners were to be marched to Xalpa. While it is not mentioned in the article that they were associated with the Santa Fe Expedition Col. Cooke was a part of it. 1. Col. Wm. G. Cooke 2. Dr. Richard F. Brenham 3. Capt. J. S. Suften 4. Theodore Sevey - Adjutant Lieutes. 5. Ira Munson 6. John W. Hann 7. L.H. Brown 8. C. J. Barquess - Surgeon 9. J. A. Whitaker - Commissary 10 H. L. Grush - Quarter Master 11. Valentine Bennet Musicians 12. A. F. Kendall 13. W. H. Seant Soldiers 14. W. W. Alsbury 15. J. Alexander 16. J. M. Adams 17. James M. Edgar 18. L. Butler 19. P. Rickford 20. J. McLaughan 21. H. A. Allen 22. J. Bedler 23. Levi Payne 24. George Bainpell 25. George Barnard 26. S. P. Hunter 27. L. C. Blake 28. J. L. Mabry 29. M. D. Brady 30. J. M. Allen 31. John M. Miller 32. A. Story 33. H. Chamberlain 34. John Cummings 35. G. D. Miller 36. Ls.Jenkins 37. B, Ware 38. J. L. Walker 39. B. N. Gilmore 40. George Grover 41. J. Hughes 42. Thomas E. Jenks 43. P. Scarborough 44. Charles White 45. D. White 46. William Stegee 47. James Ward 48. John Talk 49. J. H. Rogers 50. F. Rudge 51. J. Hudson 52. H. A. Kuykendall 53. John Morgan 54. William Rosenbury 55. A. Baker 56. E. Kellet Honigan 57. P. Liddy 58. L. Freeman 59. S. Ralph 60. J. W. Norton 61. P. Murphy 62. M. Campbell 63. T. D. Coyle 64. L. F. ______ 65. E. Judin 66. P. Barison 67. G. Rhan 68. Thomas M Hunt 69. C. Manly 70. J. David 71. B. Palmer 72. B. Lockhart 73. J. C. Heit 74. P. S. Ward 75. P. Newman 76. G. N. Gibson 77. F. K. Perkins 78. S. G. Wells 79. E. Hall 80. E. Blackwell 81. Gen. Ayres 82. W. J. Bell 83. B. M. Owen 84. A. C. Bedlar 85. J. Nornans 86. B. Pindar 87. J. S. Estund 88. E. Stoud 89. W. Yonng 90. J. McGuire 91. B. R. Flemming 92. John Brown 93. S. S. Thomas 94. B. Cottell 95. J. Ensherland 96. J. Pratt 97. William Rosier 98. E. McDonald 99. E. Bullard 100. James Boyd 101. B. Kordill 102. George S______ 103. S. Dennis 104. B. Y. Tunler 105. J. Jemison 106. J. Gage 107. B. Stroud 108. M. Flores 109. W. Modos In Hospital 110. William James 111. J. P. Gilmore 112. N. G. Hudson 113. T. Hancock 114. Jactici 115. J. S. Enorder 116. V. Covington Died 117. Lewis 118. S. M. Bowin

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Role of Native Americans

New Mexico enlisted Puebloans in their effort to repel Texas from expanding its borders in the early 1840s. In 1843 the effort "fell heavily on Taos Indians who were impressed into service to ward off the Texas invaders."

Aftermath

Lewis was widely considered a traitor by the people of Texas, but the options facing the Texans were stark, and standing and fighting would almost certainly have led to their annihilation. Furthermore, there is no information on whether Lewis or Chaves knew Armijo's real intentions. For the rest of his life, Chaves vehemently insisted that he had personally acted in good faith in dealing with the Texans.

Already under serious criticism for his mishandling of the Texan economy, Lamar was widely held responsible for the disaster and the expedition further tarnished his presidency. More importantly, the episode offered clear and convincing proof that Texas did not have the resources to maintain even a tenuous control over its claimed western territories. In a state where the overwhelming majority of inhabitants were born in the United States, unenthusiastic at best with respect to Lamar's ambitious expansionist agenda and skeptical of the very existence of a Texan national identity distinct from the U.S., such a fiasco was enough to convince many citizens to abandon whatever aspirations they had to maintain Texan independence, as they became convinced that a fledgling Republic effectively hemmed in at the Nueces River and constantly threatened with Mexican invasion could not realistically hope to be a viable country on its own. Whereas Lamar had openly boasted of plans to turn Texas into one of the continent's great powers, following the expedition Texans turned to Lamar's predecessor, the Texas Revolution war hero Sam Houston who was the leading political figure advocating annexation to the United States. In 1845, Texas was admitted to the Union.

The annexation changed the ongoing border dispute from being a quarrel between Mexico and Texas to one involving Mexico and the United States. This (combined with controversy over Mexico's treatment of Texan prisoners) helped to increase tensions between the United States and Mexico, leading up to the Mexican–American War. After Armijo surrendered Santa Fe to the U.S. Army without firing a shot, Chaves formally switched allegiance to the U.S.

The war ended in victory for the United States and gave the U.S. undisputed control of all of the lands that at this point were still claimed by the State of Texas. However, Texas faced stiff opposition from within the U.S. in its bid to actually administer these lands. This resistance came largely from other Southern states, which wanted Texas' western territorial claim carved into new slave states that would maintain the balance of power in the United States Senate.

As part of the wider Compromise of 1850 between slave states and free states, the Texan state government agreed to relinquish its northwesternmost territorial claims, including the Santa Fe region that had been the focus of Lamar's expedition. In return, the federal government agreed to assume responsibility for Texan state debts. Texas was left in control of its present boundaries, which was still an area around twice the size of the territory it had ever effectively controlled as a Republic. Most of the remaining lands were organized into the New Mexico Territory while the northernmost strip remained unorganized. Armijo, who returned to New Mexico after the war, died there in 1853.

The final disposition of these regions was not settled prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, during which the Confederacy attempted to establish its own control of the region based in part on the old Texan claims. The conflict placed Chaves and the Texans on opposing sides once more, as Chaves remained loyal to the Union. Texan troops fighting under the Confederate banner would play a major role in the Confederates' unsuccessful attempt to control present-day New Mexico, while Chaves himself played a key role in the decisive Battle of Glorieta Pass.

In popular culture

A Texas Ranger is mentioned as being a "Santa Fe expeditioner" in The Lone Ranch: A Tale of the Staked Plain (1860) by Capt. Thomas Mayne Reid, having "spent over twelve months in Mexican prisons." The expedition also forms the backdrop to Clarence E. Mulford's 1922 novel Bring Me His Ears and to Larry McMurtry’s 1995 novel Dead Man's Walk; also the 1996 TV miniseries - which is part of the Lonesome Dove series.