José Cosme de Urrea y Elías González (full name) or simply José de Urrea (March 19, 1797 – August 1, 1849) was a Mexican general. He fought under General

Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...

during the Texas Revolution. Urrea's forces were never defeated in battle during the Texas Revolution. His most notable success was that of the

Goliad Campaign The Goliad Campaign was the 1836 Mexican offensive to retake the Texas Gulf Coast during the Texas Revolution. Mexican troops under the command of General José de Urrea defeated rebellious immigrants to the Mexican province of Texas, known as ...

, in which

James Fannin James Walker Fannin Jr. (1804 or 1805 – March 27, 1836) was an American military figure and slave trader in the Texas Army and leader during the Texas Revolution (1835-1836) against Mexico. After being outnumbered and surrendering to Mexi ...

's 400 soldiers were surrounded and induced to capitulate under terms, but were

massacred A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

in Urrea's absence on the orders of Santa Anna. Urrea also fought in the Mexican–American War.

Early life

Urrea was born at the Presidio Real de San Augustín de Tucsón (now the U.S. city of

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

), during Spanish regime of the region. Despite being born on the northern frontier of Mexico, his family had deep roots in the state of

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

Military career

In 1807 Urrea entered the Spanish army. He was a military cadet in the presidial company of San Rafael Buenavista in 1809 and a lieutenant in 1816, participating in battles in Jalisco and Michoacán. In 1821 he supported the Plan of Iguala of Agustín de Iturbide. He participated in the anti-Iturbide Plan of Casa Mata and the siege of San Juan de Uluá. In 1824 he rose to the rank of captain, but he resigned from the army and entered private life. In 1829 he rejoined the military as a major and helped to liberate the city of Durango, allying himself with

.Roell (2013), p. 70. He was promoted to colonel for his actions. In 1835 he reluctantly took part in Santa Anna's attack on the state of Zacatecas (the state had openly rebelled against his rise to power). Santa Anna promoted Urrea to Brigadier General for his role in this.

Texas Revolution

When the Mexican state of Texas also revolted against Santa Anna's Centralist government, Urrea was sent there to help put down the colonists. He easily defeated small groups of Texan forces at the Battle of San Patricio,

Battle of Refugio The Battle of Refugio was fought from March 12–15, 1836, near Refugio, Texas. Mexican General José Urrea and 1,500 Centralista soldiers fought against Amon B. King and his 28 American volunteers and Lieutenant Colonel William Ward and hi ...

, and

Battle of Coleto The Battle of Coleto, also known as the Battle of Coleto Creek, the Battle of the Prairie, and the Batalla del Encinal del Perdido, was fought on March 19–20, 1836, during the Goliad campaign of the Texas Revolution. In February, General Jos ...

. The last, also known as the " Goliad Massacre", included the deliberate slaughter of Texans who had surrendered. The execution of prisoners, however, was not Urrea's choice, but an order by General Santa Anna.. Due to Urrea's string of victories, Santa Anna decided to stay in Texas and personally finish off the rebellious Texas government. His motives were personal and politicalEdmondson (2000), p. 287. as Urrea was getting all the headlines and would be seen back in Mexico as a more popular figure.

Aftermath

The military defeat of Santa Anna's forces at the

Battle of San Jacinto The Battle of San Jacinto ( es, Batalla de San Jacinto), fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day La Porte and Pasadena, Texas, was the final and decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Samuel Houston, the Texan Army engage ...

on April 21, 1836 resulted in Santa Anna's capture, and him being forced to order all Mexican forces to withdraw from Texas soil. Urrea was infuriated and, after linking up with Vicente Filisola's forces, he wanted to continue the war against the Texans since the Mexicans still had over 2,500 troops in Texas against less than 900 of Sam Houston's Texans. But both Urrea and Filisola had no choice but to comply with Santa Anna's orders, so by the middle of June, Urrea and all Mexican forces had withdrawn from Texas. The Mexican authorities criticized Filisola for leading the retreat, stripped him of his command, and made Urrea the new commander of the army. Within a few months, Urrea gathered an army of 6,000 troops near Matamoros to finally reconquer Texas. However, the invasion never occurred as he and his troops were redirected to address several federalist rebellions across Mexico. In 1837, Urrea turned against Santa Anna upon his return to Mexico, and fought against him at the Battle of Mazatlán in 1838. The attempted uprising resulted in his eventual arrest, and he was sent to Perote Prison. He later revived his military career with the invasion of French forces into Mexico, and another failed coup attempt followed. The Mexican–American War saw Urrea leading a cavalry division against invading American troops. Urrea died August 1, 1849 of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

shortly after the war ended.

Notes

References

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External links

* *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DBUFJSaZDY *