Heritage Rekindled

March has become more meaningful. In 1836 the Mexican army under its most infamous caudillo, Santa Anna, came to Texas to put down Anglo-Texian rebellion. With an iron fist Mexico routed the defenders of the Alamo leaving few to tell the tale. Then, Santa Anna's eye turned toward Goliad where Col. Fannin and his men were between a jagged rock, a crown of thorns, and an unyielding hard place: answer Col. Travis' desperate plea for assistance, stay and defend Goliad against the coming storm or follow Houston's orders: raze the presidio and return to Gonzalez.

What to do? what to do?

Fannin chose the latter. They didn't get far, just a few miles, when they were met by Gen. Urrea and his men. Goliad is not famous for its battle (at Coleto Creek) but for the massacre that came after. Under Santa Anna's orders the rebels, every one of them, were to be given "no quarter" that is, executed. Many were either gunned down or killed with the bayonet. Col. Fannin himself was shot sitting down as he was too wounded to stand. Thus emerged the most famous battle cry in Texas: "Remember the Alamo!...Remember Goliad!"

I learned at our first annual Alvarez family reunion some years ago that I am a 6th generation descendant of participants in the Goliad campaign. In other words, my grandfather's grandfather's mother, Panchita, was remembered by a few of the survivors of the massacre. From them, we learn that she helped the wounded and aided those that would eventually escape execution; this in defiance of direct orders of Santa Anna.

From them and subsequent research, we learn she came to Texas with a Capt. Telesforo Alavez (as a mistress essentially). He had come to Texas from Toluca in Central Mexico, where he was married to a prominent local woman, under Gen. Jose Urrea very early in 1836. I tend to think he got her along the way through Matamoros, as in those days (even now!) Mexican men kidnapped women from the various small ranchitos. After his Texas duties had ended, she and Capt. Alavez traveled back to Mexico where he abandoned her ( in Matamoros?). Thereafter, presumably, he returned to Toluca. It is here that she disappears from the historical record for ever.

Many years later in a 1930's newspaper interview, Mrs. O'Shea tells this story of her time teaching on the King Ranch (1901-02). Often after the days work, one Matias Alvarez, an illiterate ranch-hand at the Santa Gertrudes Div. of the King Ranch (among others), would gather to hear the days news and/or educational books read to them. While hearing about the events surrounding the Goliad battle, Matias inquired whether there is mentioned in the textbook a Mexican woman who helped the Anglo-Texians? "No" Mrs.O'Shea answered. He proceeded to tell her that he is the son of Telesforo and Panchita Alavez, that in fact his mother was there at the Goliad massacre and helped as she could the Anglos and other wounded. Mrs. O'Shea relates that she met the "Angel of Goliad" who was already in her 90's at the time. After her death, it is said that she was buried "somewhere on the King Ranch in an unmarked grave"

I realize, of course, the Alavez-Alvarez incongruence . The few primary sources we have, survivor journals and memoirs, call her by different names: Francisca or Panchita Alavez, Alvarez and Alevesco. I tend toward the view that few Anglos knew or cared to know how to correctly spell or pronounce Mexican surnames. And, in any case, these memoirs and journals coming as they were many years later, I don't have a problem with the confusion. I don't imagine spelling was so important in that monumental struggle to survive. Somewhere along the way, through a phenomenon of philology, Alavez became Alvarez.

Guardamos las memorias de su pasado que podriamos rescatar--Viva Panchita Alvarez!




**Special Thanks to Reynaldo G., Rudy (Ramirez) and Gilbert Alvarez for their tireless efforts to bring Panchita Alavez to the fore of Texas history**

Montejano's New Book

I can't wait for this to come out. I'm a fan of his work. His Anglos & Mexicans in the Making of Texas has been influencial in my understanding of S.TX history.

This is from the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Dept. site:



In the mid-sixties, San Antonio was a segregated city governed by an entrenched Anglo social and business elite. The Mexican American barrios of the West and South sides were characterized by substandard housing and experienced seasonal flooding. Gang warfare broke out regularly. Then the striking farm workers of South Texas marched through the City and set off a social movement that transformed the barrios and ultimately brought down the old Anglo oligarchy. In Quixote's Soldiers, David Montejano uses a unique blend of history and sociology to present a thick description of this social movement.

--Abstract of Quixote's Soldiers: A Local History of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981 (University of Texas Press, forthcoming 2010)

Perspectives

As this blog is still in its infancy, and as I've chosen to write about a subject that is, in many ways, on a surer footing, historically speaking, than my previous studies (Christian origins and New Testament literature), I wanted to share my thoughts on historical interpretation and writing.
Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, in the Forward to his work Triumphs and Tragedy, opens with this assertion:

"Nothing is as it was," insisted Ramon del Valle Inclan, the Spanish intellectual, "merely as it is remembered." What Valle Inclan meant was that history is what actually occurs, but something else when historians recall it. Valle Inclan's wisdom, which I deem indisputable, flies in the face of Leopold van Ranke's hory cry for objective history, the need, as he put it, to "simply show how it really was," a call to arms answered by three generations of German, British, and French historians of the nineteenth century, and, also true, by a legion of American scholars and not a few Mexicans"

The writing of history is an art form says David McCollough. As such, it carries with it the limitations of being human (culturally-conditioned, geographically bound, etc). As aloof as we try to be, and as often as we try to work within the framework of "distanciation" (distancing oneself from the subject), Heisenberg's principle burdens historians as well. By the mere act of observation, we've changed the variables and, therefore, the outcome. Even our university systems, with respect to historical education, are plagued by this dry objectivity as the goal.
In this sense, J.D. Crossan is correct, our goal should not be an "...unattainable objectivity but an attainable honesty."

It seems a rather naive demand, doesn't it? When reputations and careers, money and revenues, popular acceptance and public notoriety are at stake, it seems honesty is an acceptable expenditure. And the very fact that these things are even an issue, speaks pointedly to the human condition in which we do our work.

The only remedy for the situation, I believe, is the critical (self and otherwise) process. Holding a thing up to criticism and question (that is to say, NOT ridicule and suppression) and examine its flaws. This is nothing new, of course. Socrates taught us this so very long ago. We need only apply it!

Nothing has happened until it has been described, warns Virginia Woolf, so write everyday. Something interesting happens every day. I tend to see the work of the historian in that light. We describe life in the hopes that, in doing so, the past and the present will resonate. I think that's when the awe of history arrives. (my fav. part, of course)

So there it is, this is how I approach studying history. Keenly aware of my own biases and limitations, I delve into the sources to tell a story. I can only hope (because I'll never know) that what I perceive to be true is congruent with what was "actually" true.

EAIII

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I am not entirely sure what this might be. I accidentally stumbled upon it and became intensly curious. After all, my water is headed toward the boil. I imagine that the spaghetti, if it could process thought, would be fearing the next 30 mins. If it were a prognosticator, the spaghetti would dred the next hour! The only consolation to be found for my poor unfortunate pasta is shortly before its demise, into a tissue encased gastric pool (closely resembling THE worst nightmare a foodstuff might have), it will partake of a homely and inviting marinara sauce. The meat accompanying the red sauce, though drastically altered from its former self, shall dance, in delight, with pasta. Together, they shall create for me a dance to last the evening. And, if I'm lucky, or get full really fast, the dance shall continue into the morrow as well. Spaghetti Bolognese, "...you's my only friend!"

Mr. Q

Congratulations to Joe Quintanilla for a lifetime of dedication to drums in the Conjunto-Tejano music world of South Texas. He will be inducted into the Tejano Roots Hall of Fame in Alice, Texas on January 29 & 30, 2010.

His work with Los Exitos de Joe Alaniz has continued to inspire and educate me on how to think musically when drumming to a genre that can, at times, come eerily close to mundane. Many congratulations to Mr. Q on his acheivment as a family man, business man and drummer!

"...amor es el pan de la vida. Amor es la copa Divina..." - Obcession, Los Exitos

AOGDHP News

For those interested in the history of the Angel of Goliad here are some upcoming events:

*Angel of Goliad Descendants Historical Preservation (AOGDHP) will meet on March 27, 2010 in Goliad, Texas. The meeting will be held as part of the Annual Battle of Goliad Re-enactment Ceremony.

*2010 Descendants of the Angel of Goliad Family Reunion (3rd Annual) will take place on Saturday July 17, 2010 at the Henrietta Memorial Center Kingsville, Texas.

The Site: www.angelofgoliadhp.com

About This Blog

South Texas is a place where memories linger. Perhaps the flat land, where one can see for miles around, and in any direction, keeps memories tied to the earth; for there are no mountains to guide them upward into infinity.
Growing up in South Texas, I had always wanted to live somewhere else. Perhaps Jerusalem, Virginia, Rome, France, England; any place where great world changing events had occured; where the history I read in school happened. I wanted to be a part, if not of that time, then that place; where I could stand on the ground where "they" stood. I fully realize, now, that South Texas has a history as well. It is as tumultuous and tragic, profound and inspiring, mysterious, and full of people whose names and stories-lives lived!- survived the sweep of history. Their story, however, is little known and little told; quite unlike all that amazing history that happened someplace far from here.
I now see it as part of my destiny to tell these stories. The history of this region, my region, our region..."this ground." In doing so, I hope to secure a small piece of immortality for those who came before me, so that, those that come after me shall know, or at least have the ability to know, their story. Noone escapes the sweep of history but their stories must do so!