Anahuac was located on the east side of the Trinity River near the north shore of Galveston Bay, which placed it astride the trade route between Texas and Louisiana and from there to the rest of the United States.
In new attempts to curtail smuggling and enforce customs tariffs from the coastal settlements, Mexico placed a garrison there after 1830.
On April 6, 1830, the Mexican government passed a series of laws restricting immigration from the United States into Texas.
[1] Mexican military officer Juan Davis Bradburn, formerly an American citizen, was appointed commander of a new customs and garrison post on Galveston Bay.
[3] Although the commissioner was finally able to grant the titles, Anglo settlers were angry with Bradburn for enforcing Mexican law.
[4] In January 1832, Bradburn received a letter listing 10 men in his jurisdiction who wanted to separate Texas from Mexico.
From that point onward, Bradburn became increasingly obsessed about the Anglo-Americans and their intentions, believing that every event was part of a conspiracy to detach Texas.
[6] After Bradburn refused, local men organized a Texian Militia company, supposedly to protect the settlement from the Indians.
[7] Mexican law forbade residents from creating militias and so Bradburn arrested the ringleader, Patrick Jack.
[9] In May 1832, Bradburn received a letter, ostensibly from a friend, warning that 100 armed men would come from Louisiana to reclaim the slaves.
[10] He intended to send Travis to Matamoros for a military trial on charges of attempted insurrection to separate the territory from Mexico.
[11] Unfamiliar with Mexican law, the settlers were outraged that Bradburn could arrest the man without a warrant, a statement of charges, or trial by jury.
One of the Brazoria councilmen, John Austin, stopped to consult Colonel Domingo Ugartechea, who commanded the garrison on the Brazos.
[13] Bradburn's officers explained to Austin and company that the laws prohibited turning the accused men over to civilian authorities.
Bradburn worried that the armed men wanted to do more than free the American prisoners; he suspected a full-scale revolt.
After the skirmish, the remaining Texians gathered at Turtle Bayou to await the arrival of cannons coming from Brazoria.
In this document, they announced they were federalists who supported rebellious Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
Austin invited Colonel Domingo Ugartechea, who commanded the small Fort Velasco on the Brazos, to join their cause.
[23] Bradburn's chosen successor, Lieutenant Colonel Felix Maria Subarán, refused to take his place.
William C. Davis believes that he "overreacted and made heroes of two local malcontents whose actions their own people otherwise had not been much inclined to sanction".
The current commander was reported as being uneasy about the insubordinate attitudes of the locals, and he requested additional military assistance from his superiors.
[33] Andrew Briscoe, a local merchant and boat captain as well as a member of this group, complained that taxes were not being enforced equally at all ports.
When news of the arrests was heard in San Felipe de Austin, where radical sentiments were taking hold, the political chief Peter Miller authorized Travis to gather a Texian Militia company for a response.
[34][35] Because Travis had acted without broad community support, he apologized to avoid endangering Stephen F. Austin, then in Mexico City.
Austin was the most prominent empresario under contract by the Spanish, and later Mexican, governments to oversee the immigration of people to Mexico's frontier.