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Seguin
was born in San Antonio
in 1806, the son of a public servant. Juan followed in his father’s
footsteps, serving as an alderman and on various electoral boards
before joining the Texas revolution in 1835. Austin, a political
ally of the elder Seguin, made Juan a captain. In December, Seguin
was back in his hometown where his company helped take San
Antonio back from Gen. Martin de Cos’s army. Seguin was among
those who entered the soon-to-be hallowed gates of the Alamo
when Santa Anna’s army arrived in town.
Because Seguin could speak Spanish and, being Mexican, would not
stand out as much as the other men, Travis chose to send him for
reinforcements. The Alamo
had fallen by the time he returned but Seguin’s unit was at San
Jacinto on April 21, 1836, the only Tejano unit present at that
pivotal battle. In June he accepted the surrender of San
Antonio and served as military commander of that city.
Seguin, the only Mexican Texan in the Senate during the republic
years, was selected in 1840 to be mayor of San
Antonio. Two years later he would lead the defeat of a Mexican
expedition to take back San
Antonio. The Mexican commander turned the diplomatic tables,
saying publicly that Seguin, mayor of San
Antonio, mind you, was actually a loyal Mexican subject and
had been all along.
This was about the time things began to go sideways for Seguin in
a hurry. Some of his fellow Tejanos had accused him of being a sellout
because he helped Austin bring Anglo settlers to Texas, and he was
a land speculator to boot. Many of his former brothers-in-arms turned
on him as well, labeling him a traitor. He became a man without
a country.
“A victim to the wickedness of a few men... a foreigner in my native
land; could I be expected to stoically endure their outrages and
insults?" he wrote in 1858. “I sought for shelter amongst those
against whom I fought; I separated from my country, parents, family,
relatives and friends, and what was more, from the institutions,
on behalf which I had drawn my sword, with an earnest wish to see
Texas free and happy.”
Texans didn’t feel sorry for him and neither did the Mexicans. Detained
when he returned to Mexico, he was given a choice of imprisonment
or service in the Mexican army. He chose the latter and provided
fodder for his Texas enemies by serving, under duress he insisted,
with General Woll’s invasion of San
Antonio. He also fought against the U.S. in the Mexican-American
war.
The popular press of the day, including the “Telegraph and Texas
Register” in Texas and the “Crescent City” in New Orleans, took
a hard line against Seguin. The sentiment never completely died
down. He returned to Texas six years after being run out of San
Antonio by vigilantes and settled on his father’s land in Wilson
County.
Again, he became active in local politics and again he was accused
of being a traitor. He went back to Mexico and died there at Nuevo
Leon in 1890, just a few miles from the land he fought to liberate
and defend.
The town of Seguin
is named for him and his name continues to pop up during even a
cursory reading of Texas history. History still struggles to understand
the true nature of Seguin’s contribution to Texas but he is a key
part of that history and always will be, not because of what people
thought of him but because of what he contributed. The question
he must have asked himself by the end was: Why?
© Clay Coppedge
October
2, 2013 Column
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