User:Crews Giles/Antonio Gaona

 Antonio Gaona 

Antonio Gaona (1793 – 1848), a Cuban born Mexican military leader of the early Nineteenth Century, serving under Antonio López de Santa Anna as Brigadier General from 1832.

Generalissimo Gaona led troops against the Texans in the Texas Revolution, unsuccessfully defended Veracruz from the French in the Pastry War and commanded against the Americans in the Mexican–American War. He served as Military Governor of Puebla, Mexico.

Texas Revolution
Brigadier General Gaona led the Mexican 1st Infantry Brigade.

In late December of 1835, encamped at San Luis Potosi, Gaona was ordered to move the 1st Infantry to Saltillo and arrived there on January 6, 1836. In late February, Santa Anna called up Gaona to San Antonio de Bexar to reinforce the siege of the Alamo which had already commenced.

Alamo
The forward troops of Gaona's 1st Brigade arrived at the Alamo on March 3, 1836, three days before the final assault. On March 6th, parts of the Brigade took part in the pre-dawn attack on the Texan Alamo defenders, but General Gaona would not arrive with the remains of his Brigade until March 8th.

Northern Prong
From San Antonio de Bexar, Santa Anna devised a three prong pursuit of the still gathering Texas Army being led by Sam Houston. The Main Mexican forces would make up the central prong, moving East toward San Felipe de Austin on the Brazos River. As the second prong José de Urrea would take a more southerly route between the main forces and the coast, securing supply lines and flanking the Texans' left.

Gaona's First Infantry was supplied for a long march up the San Antonio road paralleling the main forces by a northern route, initially to proceed to Nacogdoches in East Texas so as to turn south and block further Texan retreat.

Santa Anna believed that Houston's intention was to flee eastward to the American (Louisianan) border on the Sabine River for safety, supply, and reinforcements. Gaona's Brigade was tasked with positioning Mexican forces so as to cut-off Houston's reaching the Sabine River.

However, on March 25th, Santa Anna redirected Gaona's army to join the main forces at San Felipe de Austin on the Brazos. At the time of these orders, the First Brigade was approaching Bastrop on the Colorado River where the San Antonio Road crossed that river.

No military roads existed between Bastrop and San Felipe, so Gaona was faced with leading a heavily equipped army across unknown terrain. Since the location of the main Texas forces was not known to the General, Mexican scouts were sent from Bastrop to reconnoiter adequate creek crossings and probe for Texan resistance while Gaona remained in Bastrop, looting the deserted town of that which was left, for over a week.

Lost in the Desert
It appears that Gaona began the continuation of the eastward march on the San Antonio Road on April 5th, reaching the right bank of Brazos River on or about the 9th, where he turned south to follow the river to San Felipe.

The region was a sparsely settled frontier and what few residents had existed had already fled ahead of his army in the Runaway Scrape, so Gaona had only dead reckoning as a guide. It is known that the Texas First Ranger detachment out of Bastrop had observed the Mexican forces beginning the crossing of the Colorado River in late March and that the same Texas Rangers (a mounted "spy" scout unit) had captured two Mexican Scouts from Gaona's brigade. This latter event may have given Gaona pause,, fearing he was about the be engaged without contact with the main forces of Santa Anna which he knew to be to his south.

In fact, Gaona's Brigade passed near the secret location of the Texas Army Camp which lay at Groce's Landing between his army and Santa Anna's, then at San Felipe de Austin. Santa Anna had had no communication with Gaona, and his military diary indicates his frustration, referring to the First Brigade's failure to arrive as being "lost in the desert."

Had Houston not had access to the Steamboat Yellowstone to facilitate The Texans' crossing of the Brazos at Groce's, Gaona's Brigade may well have stumbled across the Texan encampment there before the crossing was completed. As it was, Gaona did not encounter any sign of the Texans, and arrived at San Felipe on the 17th, to find Santa Anna had already left in pursuit of Houston and his Texans on the 9th.

Gaona's instructions were to proceed to Fort Bend (a.k.a., "Old Fort") on the Brazos southeast of Harrisburg (modern day Houston). Meanwhile, Santa Anna had rushed ahead to meet the Texan forces at the Battle of San Jacinto.

After the route of the Mexican Army and capture of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, Gaona and the 1st Brigade was ordered to counter-march to San Antonio de Bexar and, eventually, from there, south across the Rio Grande.

The Pastry War
During the brief 1838 conflict over 600,000 pesos demanded by the French for damages to a pastry shop known as The Pastry War, Gaona headed the Veracruz fortress of San Juan de Ulua which was attacked by a French naval bombardment causing Gaona to capitulate.

Mexican-American War
General Gaona essentially served as leading "rear guard" for Santa Anna before the American advance toward Mexico City, and was wounded and captured in a skirmish with American supported Mexican guerrillas (Dominguez and Kane)...

Death and afterward
[If applicable] Legacy If any, describe. See Charles Darwin for example.

Philosophical and/or political views
Wikipedia is not a soapbox for individuals to espouse their views. However, views held by politicians, writers, and others may be summarized in their biography only to the extent those views are covered by reliable sources that are independent of the control of the politician, writer, etc.

Published works
Co-authored [|Convenios_de_Zavaleta]Convenio de Zavaleta (Zavaleta Conventions).

See: http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/pronunciamientos/participants.php?lw=G&lwo=&id=1428&pid=1383

Awards
(If any)