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Gutiérrez-Magee expedition squashed in bloodiest Texas battle
On this day in 1813, the Spaniards defeated a would-be Texas republic in
the bloodiest action ever fought on Texas soil. The battle of Medina ended
the filibustering efforts of the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition. The
expedition collided with the Spanish royalist army twenty miles south of
San Antonio in an oak forest then called el Encinal de Medina. The
republican force of 1,400 men was under the command of Gen. José Alvarez
de Toledo y Dubois. The royalist army of some 1,830 men was commanded by
Gen. Joaquín de Arredondo and included the young Lt. Antonio López de
Santa Anna. On the morning of August 18, royalist scouts lured the
republican army into an ambush. A four-hour slaughter ensued. Only 100 of
the defeated republican army survived, whereas Arredondo lost only
fifty-five men. The dead royalists were buried the next day on the way to
San Antonio. The bodies of the fallen republicans were left to lie where
they fell for nine years. The first governor of the Mexican state of Texas
ordered a detachment of soldiers to gather the bones and give them an
honorable burial under an oak tree growing on the battlefield.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- GUTIERREZ-MAGEE EXPEDITION
- ARREDONDO, JOAQUIN DE
- TOLEDO Y DUBOIS, JOSE ALVAREZ DE
- MEDINA, BATTLE OF
- SANTA ANNA, ANTONIO LOPEZ DE
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Mexican Congress passes colonization law (1824)
- Famous Hollywood designer born in Waco (1894)
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