Governor Arrested

[Craig Tx]

From the Texas State Historical Association

Mexican governor arrested trying to cross into Texas

On this day in 1835, Agustín Viesca, the governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas, was arrested trying to cross into Texas. Viesca had taken office in April during a controversy between Saltillo and Monclova over location of the state capital. The state legislature disbanded and authorized the governor to move the seat of government to any site he might select. Viesca decided to move the capital to Bexar and urged the Texans to rise against the anti-Republican movement. He left Monclova in late May with the archives but learned of orders not to cross into Texas and returned to Monclova. With Benjamin R. Milam and John Cameron, he then attempted a secret escape to Texas, but was captured and sent as a prisoner to Monterrey. He escaped his guards and later made his way to Goliad with Dr. James Grant. By that time anti-Mexican sentiment was so strong that the officials at Goliad preferred a declaration of Texas independence to asserting loyalty to the Mexican Constitution of 1824, and Viesca was not acknowledged as governor. Viesca died in 1845.


Craig