The Most Important Primary Account of the Battle of Medina

08/19/19 • 36 min

Sometime in the 1820's or 30's, an anonymous survivor of the Spanish Royalist occupation of San Antonio in 1813 wrote down his (or her?) memories of those tragic events. As far as I know, it is the only contemporary Spanish-language account of these events from the Republican perspective, and our friend Joe Arciniega joins us once again this episode to read it into the historical record.

Previous Episode

The Battle of Medina Revisited

Episode 10 of Brandon Seale's podcast series on the Battle of Medina.
After a year of research and interviews, we sum up everything we’ve learned over the last year to recreate what happened on August 18, 1813, when 1,830 Spanish Royalists under the command of General Joaquín de Arredondo finally met up with the unbeaten 1,400 man Republican Army of the North twenty miles or so south of San Antonio.

Additionally, the battlefield search team attempts to validate the artifacts they have uncovered. The results are simultaneously disconcerting, exhilarating...and confusing.
Selected Bibliography
1813 Texas Declaration of Independence.
Anonymous. “Memoria de las cosas más notables...”
Bernsen, James A. The Lost War for Texas: Mexican Rebels, American Burrites, and the Texas Revolution of 1811 (2024).
De la Teja, Jesús F. San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier (1996).
Folsom, Bradley. Arredondo: Last Spanish Ruler of Texas and Northeastern New Spain (2017).
Martínez De Vara, Art. Tejano Patriot (2020).
Menchaca, Antonio. Memoirs (1937).
Navarro, José Antonio. “The Memoirs of José Antonio Navarro, Originally Appearing in the San Antonio Ledger in 1853.”
Schwarz, Ted, and Robert H. Thonhoff. Forgotten Battlefield of the First Texas Revolution: The Battle of Medina, August 18, 1813. (1985).
Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online.
Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821-1836 (1994).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Next Episode

Is this the Battlefield of Medina?

Episode 12 of Brandon Seale's podcast series on the Battle of Medina.
The trauma of 1813 stuck with Tejanos...and it emboldened them. What lessons did they draw from the Battle of Medina? What lessons should we draw today?

And at long last, we point our finger to the map and ask, “Is this the Battlefield of Medina?”
Selected Bibliography
1813 Texas Declaration of Independence.
Anonymous. “Memoria de las cosas más notables...”
Bernsen, James A. The Lost War for Texas: Mexican Rebels, American Burrites, and the Texas Revolution of 1811 (2024).
De la Teja, Jesús F. San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier (1996).
Folsom, Bradley. Arredondo: Last Spanish Ruler of Texas and Northeastern New Spain (2017).
Martínez De Vara, Art. Tejano Patriot (2020).
Menchaca, Antonio. Memoirs (1937).
Navarro, José Antonio. “The Memoirs of José Antonio Navarro, Originally Appearing in the San Antonio Ledger in 1853.”
Schwarz, Ted, and Robert H. Thonhoff. Forgotten Battlefield of the First Texas Revolution: The Battle of Medina, August 18, 1813. (1985).
Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online.
Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821-1836 (1994).