GONZALES, RAFAEL (1789-1857). Rafael Gonzales, governor of Coahuila and Texas, was born in San Fernando de Béxar in 1789. He began his military career as a cadet in the presidial company of Nuestra Señora de Loreto. He was made second alferez in October 1810 and first alferez in 1813. He was promoted to second lieutenant on June 3, 1814, and moved to the presidio at Monclova. He became a first lieutenant on July 14, 1815, and captain on May 18, 1818. On July 3, 1821, Gonzales joined the Mexican independence movement and on December 12, 1821, was made a lieutenant colonel. He was governor of Coahuila and Texas from August 15, 1824, to March 15, 1826. In 1834 he was secretary of the comandancia of Coahuila and Texas. He died in 1857. The present town of Gonzales, Texas, was named for him.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Vito Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas en la época colonial (Mexico City: Editorial Cultura, 1938; 2d ed., Mexico City: Editorial Porrúa, 1978). Dudley Goodall Wooten, ed., A Comprehensive History of Texas (2 vols., Dallas: Scarff, 1898; rpt., Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1986).