He later commanded militia troops and helped defend the town from a Mexican invasion by General Adrian Woll in 1842.
[5] After the Texas Revolution began in October 1835, Antonio Menchaca joined the Texian Army, enrolling in a cavalry company under Captain Juan Seguin.
After the Mexican army was expelled from Texas in December 1835, he was stationed with other Texan forces at the Alamo Mission in Béxar.
In February 1836, word came that Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was leading an army into Texas to reclaim the territory.
Alamo co-commander James Bowie held a council of war with his officers, including Menchaca, to determine what steps to take next.
Alamo co-commander William Barret Travis immediately began sending letters throughout the region, begging for reinforcements for his small troop.
There he found Edward Burleson, who had led the Texan army in December 1835 and was now serving as a private in a volunteer company wanting to reinforce the Alamo.
Assured that DeWitt was aware of the events in Béxar, Menchaca announced his intention to take his family further east, across the Guadalupe River.
[13] On April 18, the Texian army reached the ashes of Harrisburg, arriving shortly after Mexican troops under Santa Anna had left.
[13] Later that day, a scouting party led by Deaf Smith and Henry Karnes captured three Mexican horsemen.
[17] Colonel Sidney Sherman brought Menchaca orders from Houston that Seguin's company should remain behind and guard the sick.
Houston rescinded his orders but, as a compromise, insisted that all of the men in Seguin's company place a piece of cardboard in their hatbands as a sign that they were part of the Texian army.
[22][23] Santa Anna's men had spent much of the night preparing for a Texian attack, building makeshift breastworks around their exposed camp.
Unable or unwilling to mount any sort of unified resistance, Mexican soldiers and officers fled for their lives.
[31] After the Mexican army retreated from Texas, Menchaca accompanied Seguin and several other Tejanos to Nacogdoches to retrieve their families and return to Béxar.
On their journey home, most of the other adults in the convoy became ill, and Menchaca took sole responsibility for nursing the sick.
[32] The Congress of the Republic of Texas passed a joint resolution in 1838 honoring his service in the Revolution and granting him a home in San Antonio.
[33] Menchaca was given a military command in July 1842, leading a company to protect the frontier south of Béxar from Indian attacks.
His company helped to defend Béxar in September 1842, when Mexican General Adrian Woll invaded the town.
[2][35] Menchaca became a spokesperson for Tejanos who felt they had been treated unjustly by the Republic, and later State, of Texas after the war ended.
He frequently spoke up for Tejano veterans who thought they had been denied proper compensation for their service and was often a witness in legal proceedings.
[36] The first half of his memoirs, covering his life through the Battle of San Jacinto, was first published in 1907 by James Pearson Newcomb.
Note that Seguin's men at the Alamo were scouts/couriers going in and out, between San Antonio and nearby Gonzales, the rallying point for volunteers.