Manuel María de Salcedo

After he persuaded his captor, Ignacio Elizondo, to switch allegiances, Salcedo assisted in capturing documents detailing the movements of Miguel Hidalgo's army.

Salcedo then joined the infantry, where he reached the rank of lieutenant and served under his father at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

[1] At this time, Texas was a sparsely populated province consisting of three primary settlements connected by the Camino Real, with a few presidios and over a dozen missions scattered throughout the wilderness.

They also visited New York City, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh before cruising down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez and then traveling overland to Texas.

[16] At one point, Salcedo became desperate enough for funds that he asked citizens in the province to donate money to pay the troops who helped protect them.

While visiting Nacogdoches, Salcedo recommended that Spanish troops combine with an equal number of American soldiers to mount an offensive against the bandits.

[26] When news of the revolt reached East Texas, many of the colonists fled into Louisiana, afraid the presidio would be unable to protect them.

[28] Salcedo returned to San Antonio de Bexar in late October and began making plans to protect Texas.

[30][31] To guard against the spread of seditious literature, Salcedo instructed the San Antonio postmaster, Erasmo Seguin, to hold all incoming and outgoing mail pouches until they had been inspected by the governor.

[33] To improve response time, however, Nemesio Salcedo did authorize his nephew to open any correspondence from the United States that was addressed to the commandant general.

[35] Eager to find a solution, Salcedo attempted to recruit 200 Lipan Apache warriors to fight with them, but the deal fell through.

Four days later, Salcedo was forced to publish a proclamation to all inhabitants of the province, appealing for support for the royalists and denying that Spanish authorities intended to abandon New Spain.

[37] On January 15, rebels launched an attempt to seize the Texas government; the plot was uncovered and the conspirators, including a lieutenant in the army, were arrested.

[39] Las Casas chained Salcedo, Simón de Herrera, the governor of Nuevo Santander who was living in San Antonio, and twelve other Spanish officers and humiliated them in front of the town.

[40] Las Casas promptly confiscated property belonging to Spanish residents, proclaimed himself the head of a provisional government, released political prisoners and jailed royalists.

[39] His arbitrary rule disenchanted much of the army, and Juan Manuel Zambrano, the subdeacon of San Antonio, soon led a counter-insurgency against him.

[41] During his captivity, Salcedo had been slowly enticing Ignacio Elizondo (his captor), with promises of a promotion and other rewards if he would renounce his revolutionary tendencies.

With his help, on March 13, Salcedo and his military officers were able to capture Pedro de Aranda, who held documents detailing the movements of the revolutionary army.

[45] Nemesio Salcedo finally told him that the higher authorities trusted him with the assignment or else he would not have been allowed to return to Texas, and thus any other promotions or compensation were superfluous.

The lack of that compensation, however, lessened Salcedo's standing in the eyes of many of the residents of the province, with some refusing to follow verbal directives from the governor.

[47] Revolutionary tendencies were still high, and on February 12, 1812, Salcedo appointed a military council on public safety to oversee cases of sedition.

[49] Salcedo ignored protocol and wrote directly to the viceroy of New Spain about troop strength levels in Texas,[50] including copies of documents which had been sent to the Commandant General in previous pleas.

[51] During this time, revolutionary Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara traveled to the United States to try to gain support for overthrowing the royalists in Mexico.

[53] The Republican Army of the North gathered in the Neutral Ground, and in early August 1812 they crossed the Sabine River into Texas.

[57] Unable to win a decisive victory, Salcedo lifted the siege on February 19, 1813, and returned towards San Antonio de Bexar.

As news of the republican victory reached the east, new recruits began to pour into La Bahia; and, thus reinforced, Samuel Kemper (in command after the death of Magee) soon struck out in pursuit of Salcedo's force.

When Samuel Kemper and the other Americans objected to this as a betrayal of the terms offered the Royalists, Gutiérrez suggested that Salcedo and his Spanish officers be taken to the Gulf coast and from there sent by ship to New Orleans for parole.

On the night of April 3 (Salcedo's birthday), some 10 miles southwest of Béxar, near the site of the Rosillo Creek battle, the column was halted.

Spanish officials decided to reconquer Texas, and to speed their response the viceroy created a new administrative unit, the Commandancy General of the Eastern Interior Provinces, headquartered in Monterrey.

The new commandant general, José Joaquín de Arredondo, entered the city two days later and immediately arrested 700 male residents.