CHAPTER 1

Madisonville—Trinidad,The Green Flag Republic

The first lap of our Cradle of Texas Road celebrates anevent preceding the arrival of Stephen F. Austin to Texas.Our journey begins at Madisonville at the intersection ofhighway 90 and the Old San Antonio Road, OSR, now highway 21.Madisonville is the county seat of Madison County, both city andtown being named for the fourth president of the United States. Alongthe OSR from Madisonville east to the Trinity River were stageddramatic events surrounding both the birth and final demise of the1st Republic of Texas. A marker at Midway, between Madison ville andthe Trinity, tells the story succinctly. We will relay the words of themarker and then expand upon the story the marker summarizes:

Site of Trinidad

Later known as Spanish Bluff. A fort and town as early as1805. Captured by the Magee-Gutierrez Expedition in October1812, Near here the survivors of the Battle of Medina wereexecuted in 1813. Inhabitants of the town were butchered byorder of the Spanish commander and the town desolated.

First Declaration of the 1st Texas Republic

The full name of Trinidad was Santisima Trinidad de Salcedo. TheMagee-Gutiérrez Expedition cited on the marker references a groupof Anglo-Americans, Native Americans and Tejanos termed the"Republican Army of the North." While in Trinidad in October 1812,they declared Texas as a state free of Spanish control— from theTrinity to the Sabine River. By the following April, 1813, the grouphad conquered San Antonio, the Spanish capital of Texas. Declaringthe whole state free on 6 April, they then proceeded to draw up aconstitution on the 17th of that month. Truly a multicultural marvel,this, the First Republic of Texas, featured a Green Irish Flag flyingover a Tejano-Anglo state.

Roots of the Green Flag

The foundation of the Green Flag Republic lay in the "Father ofMexico", Miguel Hidalgo's, drive to free all of Mexico from Spain.As a Lt. Colonel in Hidalgo's Army, the later president of the GreenFlag Republic, Don Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara, began his quest forfreedom acting on direct instructions from Hidalgo, himself, to gothe United States to secure aid. As a result, he recruited a force withUS native, Augustus Magee, the originator of the green flag, at thecommand. Significant to these events was the wife of Don Bernardo,Doña María Joséfa de Uribe Gutiérrez. Staying behind with her familythroughout the ordeal of the rise and fall of the 1st Republic of Texas,she exhibited great courage, her suffering extending to being removedfrom her home at the hands of Spanish authorities. Truly, Doña Maríawas a magnificent original First Lady of Texas, although her time inthe position was short.

Multicultural makeup

Significant to the story of the Green Flag Republic is its multiculturalmake up. The Mexican, Don Bernardo, was a citizen of a Catholicculture. His mentor, Miguel Hidalgo, had taken as his banner theimage of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This image had found root inMexico with the appearance of an apparition of the Virgin Mary toJuan Diego, an Aztec, in 1531, at the shrine of Tonantzin, the Aztecmother goddess. Following the apparition's directive, Juan Diegoattempted to convince the local Catholic authorizes of the miraculousoccurrence. Upon his failure here, he followed her orders to presentto the authorities roses wrapped within a blue cape. It was in Januaryand roses had never been at the shrine at that time of year. However,there they were and Juan Diego did as the apparition demanded. Uponpresenting them however, instead of roses in the cape there was animage of the virgin. Thus was born what would become overtime thePatroness of the Americas, and the fundamental national symbol ofMexico.

Even with this strong Catholic heritage behind him, Don Bernardoyet recruited an army of citizens from the United States, a nation withAnglo-Protestant roots. Not only were those roots Protestant, butthey were riding the crest of a Second "Great Religious Awakening."Exhibiting, therefore, a grand degree of togetherness, the group alsopicked up, along the way, a substantial cadre of Native Americansand a few African-Americans. Together, the assemblage worked itsway from Louisiana to San Antonio, winning every major battle enroute. On 4 August 1813, Don Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara...