In the wild and wooly days between the end of the Texas Revolution and the end of the Mexican War, the border with Texas was in dispute and freedom was in the air.
Mexican Federalist officers opposed to Mexican dictator Santa Anna's government met in January of 1840 at this building in Laredo (a city still in dispute after the Texas Revolution as being in Texas or remaining in Mexico). The Federalists declared independence from Mexico and claimed large parts of Northern Mexico for their new Republic of the Rio Grande.
The humble building they met in was declared the Capitol of this new Republic, allthough the Capitol was moved sevreal times before the independence movement fizzled out.
There are two state historic markers and a plaque here.
The state historic marker next to the building reads as follows:
"Republic of the Rio Grande
In January 1840 Senor Antonio Canales and other Federalists met near Guerrero to found the Republic of the Rio Grande. Canales and friends were loyal to the Mexican constitution of 1824, which had been set aside by Centralists in Mexico City. The Republic was to govern northern Mexico and the part of Texas south of the Nueces. Jesus Cardenas was president; Francisco Vidaurri y Villasenor, vice president; and Juan Francisco Farias, secretary. The capitol was established at 1000 Zaragoza Street, on this plaza in Laredo. Centralist General Manuel Arista brought an army here to crush the Republic. In March he took Laredo without a fight; then after a battle at Morelos, he captured and killed Federalist leader Antonio Zapata. Mexican and Anglo-Texan Federalists counterattacked, and recaptured Laredo and several other towns; but confronted by a large Centralist force at Saltillo, the Anglo-Texans found themselves and some Carrizo Indians making a lone stand. Many comrades had fled. After a bloody battle, the Indians and Texans escaped to the north of the Rio Grande. Canales, deserted by his army, surrendered to Arista near Camargo, and in a few days Cardenas gave up Laredo. The Republic of the Rio Grande had lasted 283 days. (1976, 1994)"
The smaller medallion and plate historic marker on the building itself reads:
"A seventh Texas flag marks this adobe as the 1839-1840 Capitol of the REPUBLIC OF THE RIO GRANDE. Federalists opposed to regime of Santa Anna in Mexico City were headed by Jesus Cardenas as president. Recruited aid in Texas, won victories in Mexico, after 2 years made peace with Centralists. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965"
Another plaque also on this building reads as follows
"In commemoration of this building
"The Capitol of the Republic of the Rio Grande"
1839-1841
Upon the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city of Laredo by Captain Don Tomas Sanchez de la Barrera y Gallardo
1755-1955
Dr. Miguel Valls, Presdient
Laredo Historical Society
Seb S. Wilcox
Historian
J. C. Martin Jr., Mayor
City of Laredo"
From the Handbook of Texas online, some information on the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande: (
visit link)
"REPUBLIC OF THE RIO GRANDE. The Republic of the Rio Grande was an effort on the part of Federalist leaders in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila to break away from the centralistic government of Mexico in 1840 and to form a new confederation.
Since 1835, with the ascension of Antonio López de Santa Anna, then a Centralist, to the presidency of Mexico, Federalist leaders throughout the nation had attempted to force a return to the federalistic Constitution of 1824. This feeling was particularly strong in the northern states of Mexico, and, when they failed to achieve success in that enterprise, the northern Federalists worked to win independence from the Mexican Republic. Contiguity with Texas, recently successful in winning de facto independence, in all probability influenced their action.
After much Federalistic flurry in the northern frontier Mexican states, leaders of the party met at Laredo, Texas, in convention on January 17, 1840. The convention declared independence from Mexico and claimed for its territory the areas of Tamaulipas and Coahuila north to the Nueces and Medina rivers, respectively, and Nuevo León, Zacatecas, Durango, Chihuahua, and New Mexico.
Officers and a general council were elected as follows: Jesús de Cárdenas, president; Antonio Canales Rosillo, commander-in-chief of the army; Juan Nepomuceno Molano, delegate and member of the council for Tamaulipas; Francisco Vidaurri y Villaseñor, for Coahuila; Manuel María de Llano, for Nuevo León; and José María Jesús Carbajal, secretary to the council.
The government was moved to Guerro, Tamaulipas, where it was to have remained temporarily. Canales with his force took the field against the Centralist army under Gen. Mariano Arista, and on March 24–25, 1840, met Arista in battle at Morales, Coahuila, and was disastrously defeated. Col. Antonio Zapata, cavalry commander of Canales, was captured and executed.
Canales with his few remaining troops retreated to San Antonio, while Cárdenas and the provisional government fled to Victoria, Texas. Canales then toured Texas in an effort to raise interest and aid for the continuance of his campaign. He arrived at Austin in the latter part of April 1840 and conferred with President Mirabeau B. Lamar, who, though privately interested in Canales's cause, officially gave no sanctions to him on the basis that Texas was at that time striving to secure recognition of its independence from Mexico.
Canales left Austin on May 2, 1840, proceeded to Houston, where he was well received and on June 1, 1840, arrived finally at San Patricio, where his army was undergoing reorganization. The army at this time consisted of 300 Mexicans, 140 Americans, and 80 Indians, the number increasing daily. The principal leader of the Americans was Col. Samuel W. Jordan. Jordan and ninety men were ordered to the Rio Grande as the vanguard of the army late in June. They proceeded into the interior of Tamaulipas and captured Ciudad Victoria without a battle.
From there treacherous subordinate officers led them toward San Luis Potosí, but, suspecting the treachery, Jordan changed direction and marched toward Saltillo. There, on October 25, 1840, he was attacked by Gen. Rafael Vásquez, the Centralist commander at Saltillo, but in spite of the desertion of part of his command, managed to defend himself and return to Texas.
Early in November commissioners of Canales and Arista met, and Canales capitulated at Camargo on November 6, 1840. He was taken into the Centralist army as an officer, and Federalism was dead for the time being.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
David M. Vigness, "Relations of the Republic of Texas and the Republic of the Rio Grande," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 57 (January 1954). David M. Vigness, Republic of the Rio Grande: An Example of Separatism in Northern Mexico (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1951). David M. Vigness, "A Texas Expedition into Mexico, 1840," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 62 (July 1958)."