Mexican Broadside Enlisting Privateers To Fight Texans

Mexican Broadside Enlisting Privateers To Fight Texans, issued by the Secretary of War, José María de Tornel.

• Mexico City: Palacio del Gobierno Nacional, May 2nd, 1836.
• Caption title: Secretaria de Guerra y Marina. Seccion 3.a — Mesa. El Exmo. Sr. Presidente Interino de la República Mexicana Se Ha Servido Dirigirme el Decreto que Sigue.
• Single letterpress broadside printed recto only.
• Text in Spanish.

Official printed government notice of Mexico's continuing efforts to maintain control over Texas immediately after the loss at San Jacinto.

When Mexico finally won its independence from Spain in 1821 its territory included modern-day Texas, settled by a mix of Tejano (Mexican) and Texian (Anglo-American) populations, in addition to indigenous tribes and enslaved African Americans. Tensions between the Tejano and Texian factions increased and finally erupted into full-scale violence in 1835, beginning what is now called the Texas Revolution. Its most famous battle, at the Alamo, occurred a few months before this broadside was issued.

The decisive battle of the war, San Jacinto, occurred on 21 April, a Mexican defeat that led to the formation of the Republic of Texas. While the Mexican general Santa Anna negotiated a surrender, the Mexican government deposed him for it and refused to recognize an independent Texas. After San Jacinto, Mexico avoided pitched battles, but continued to take action to undermine and antagonize the new Texas nation. This broadside was one such effort, issued just over a week after the defeat at San Jacinto. It announces the formal employment in the navy of private ships to aid in attacking Texans at sea and forming a blockade ("para terminar la guerra con los colonos de Tejas, é impedir el contrabando en los puertos y costas de la República"). Privateers were necessary because the Mexican government did not yet have a robust navy, a weakness that the United States would later exploit in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848.

Ephemeral broadsides like this survive in few numbers.