____________________
Lorenzo de Zavala, pictured above, quite bluntly and fairly was a fundamental hero to and for Texas. He was born as much a Mexican as one could be in that he was born upon what would become officially Mexican soil. During his first span of 22 - 25 years, he would see rule by vice-regency, by a presidium of The Regency of combined Mexican political and Spanish Royal political interests, and Empire ruled by an unwilling Emperor of Mexico Iturbide I, who had been something of a hero in the fight for Mexican Independence.
He had a turbulent, dangerous, exciting, rewarding first 25 years of his life. Along with all of that, he mastered with eloquence his own native tongue (Spanish), French, and English he was accomplished as a student of the Latin and classical Greek languages. He was a good student of Roman Catholic concepts of moral guidance, and he was also a 33rd Degree, York Rite Mason (liberal theistic, non-papal guided). Further, he was a qualified and credentialled doctor of medicine and a qualified member of the fraternity of barristers during the 1820s through the end of his life on this Earth.
He was an eloquent speaker, a florid writer, and generally a friend of all men of good will. He was a good anti-Imperial politician, very pro-republican and followed Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna during those turbulent years from 1822 - 1825. Lorenzo saw Guadalupe Victoria, an erstwhile republican and true hero of the Independence Revolution (1810 - 1821), turn into a pawn of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
That man whom we must name so often concerning any and every matter from 1822 through 1856 and who retarded Mexico from gaining a reasonable place in the Hall of Great Nations, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna came to distrust...fear...loath...be jealous of the more suave Yucatecan-born "provencial"...de Zavala.
As a politician and despotic dictator in the making, Lopez de Santa Anna raged almost Herrod-like when he watched this upstart, with no military accolades, spin a defence of Epresario Sen~or Stephen Fuller Austin that would result in Austin's release from unjustifiable imprisonment by a Mexico City superior court. That was in 1835. Oddly, Austin thought there was some way Mexico could allow Texas an independent Statehood, and something of an Independent Mexico-related Commonwealth. Coahuila State which was joined with Texas as a combined legal entity thought that they (the people of Coahuila) were being as shortchanged as Texas in terms of military allocations, public works, etc. They were right, and relations between the two entities, (Texas and Coahuila) were actually quite good.
Let us end this overly long preambulatory statement with the simple fact that the Texians won their contention against Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He was captured, and should have been assigned to the dust-bin of history. But, at least he was peripheralised for a period long enough for the provisional Vice-President of the Republic of Texas (de Zavala) to write a reasonable Constitution, while his very close friend Stephen F. Austin served as provisional President of the Republic of Texas. All of this was while the "smoke of battle still blurred the future".
From 1836 and the expulsion of Mexican Centralist forces, by surrunder and agreement, the Centralist forces retired to the south side of the Rio Bravo (Grande).
But, neither Lorenzo nor Stephen would serve to see 1837. In December of 1836, as Austin lay dying of various conditions, especially pneumonia, he rose up briefly and declared in his feverous stupour, "The Independence of Texas is Recognised!!!". Minutes later, he was gone.
Talk about patriotism. He had not been informed that his closest friend had gone to be with the Angels a month and a half earlier. He had had the same ailments and pulmonary compromises. It was a loss to the Republic which will never be measured adequately.
______________________
Concerning Major General Manuel Fernandez Castrillon:
Please consider from a warrior without qualifications (your humble servant), what warriors with scars and bloody wounds said of this enemy...and gentleman, major-general in the Regular Army, and the only person who could possibly reach Antonio de Santa Anna's soul...but alas...Antonio, by that time, had no soul. Please review this reasonable capsule of the life of a good, loyal soldier.
Castrillón was a major general in the Mexican army, originally from either Cuba or Spain (the reviewer tends to believe he was born in Spain and arrived in Cuba with his military family as a child ) Like Santa Anna, he was a career soldier who fought alongside Spanish and loyalist forces near the Mexican state of Veracruz. It was there he met Santa Anna.
Santa Anna's ally through much of their working relationship, Castrillón often took exception to Santa Anna's decisions especially during the Texas Revolution. He opposed the hurried assault on the Alamo. Yet when he received his orders to lead the battle's first column of troops, he did so with expert efficiency.
As an humane and honourable soldier, Castrillón also pleaded clemency on behalf of the seven Texian fighters who survived the Alamo siege. Castrillón's arguments for mercy were ignored, and the men were brutally executed. Castrillón again stated his protest when Santa Anna ordered the execution of the Goliad prisoners.
Castrillón's compassion was a sign of kindness, not weakness. When the Texians roused Mexican forces from their afternoon siesta on April 21, 1836, at the Battle of San Jacinto, he was one of the few Mexican officers who stood his ground.
His bravery was recorded in the memoirs of Texian Second Lieutenant Walter Paye Lane:
"As we charged into them the General commanding the Tampico Battalion (their best troops) tried to rally his men, but could not. He drew himself up, faced us, and said in Spanish: "He estado en cuarenta batallas!! Nunca he dado mi espalda a ningun enemigo!! Y ya estoy demasiado viejo para empezar horita!!"('I have been in forty battles and never showed my back; I am too old to do it now.')
He continues: "Gen. Rusk hallooed to his men: 'don't shoot him,' and knocked up some to their guns; but others ran around and riddled him with balls. I was sorry for him. He was an old Castilian gentleman, Gen. Castrillo (sic)."
Honoured on both sides of the Texas Revolution — except by Santa Anna, who blamed the loss at San Jacinto in part on Castrillón — he was even buried in the family graveyard of Lorenzo de Zavala, the vice-president of Texas, at the request and agreement of Austin and de Zavala. No one objected.
Your humble servant is quick to point out that General Castrillon had nothing to do with the failures of tactics, preparation, nor strategy at San Jacinto. There was only one fool large enough to sacrifice such a large and effective army to a bunch of militia. I shall leave the three guesses up to the reader to name a possible candidate. Castrillon was a brilliant warrior, a good Catholic, and a reasonable opponent.
______________________
And now finally we arrive at my sadness, melacholy, and concern. Lorenzo de Zavala was awarded a fine piece of land in the bayou country. There was a home of sorts which was fixed up to be a nice accommodation for someone with the title of the Vice-Presidency of the Republic of Texas - Author of the Constitution!!
As an honour to Castrillon, both Austin and de Zavala offerred their home grounds as an august and dignified burial place for the noble enemy Castrillon. He was known, and in positive terms, to both Austin and de Zavala. Many others among the Texian politicians and soldiers knew of his magnanimous disposition.
It was finally determined that the honour should go to the yards and gardens of the de Zavala home...and the 1,200 acres that surrounded the swampy, mystical, yet beautiful area. And so there-in were interred the remains of a true hero of Mexico and an enemy who would guard him forever because of his nobility. It is / was very near the San Jacinto Battlefield.
Or so it seemed...because sometimes, forever can be defined in very strange ways...
____________________
We do not wish to ruin your day. But, after the fiasco of the 1925 removal of Lorenzo's body and supposedly the remains of old General Castrillon, and various other pertinent interments, there was a form of sedimentary chaos. The mud of the bayou's banks was steadily sliding into the muck. Barge traffic was causing wakes that, with each pass, seemed to take down another 1 / 16th of an inch of mud and muck.
During the Fiasco of 1925, Lorenzo's grandson...still bearing the surname "de Zavala"...invaded the proceeding and declared that all that was being done violated Roman Catholic canon (although some Roman prelate or another was presiding over the re-interment). The de Zavala family was heavily intermarried into the highest levels of Harris County (Houston) correct society. All were aghast...only the Lord God Yahweh knows how many times His name was invoked during this contention. Smelling salts must have been du jour for that grand episode in Houstonian social history....there were an estimated 25, 000 attendants at the event.
The "likely remains" were returned to from whence they had come. And now...there really is no perfect scientific reasoning where the cemetery was or should have been; or where the first Lorenzo de Zavala home and its second, more elaborate home along with it, have gone.
 |
| A bayou at its best...and worst |
At my age, and I at my selfish concern...and considering my affection for the efforts of Lorenzo as a Texian, I find it all a matter of the darkest contemplation.
Finally, in as few words as is possible for your humble servant.
Thanks for your attention. Pray for the restoration of the de Zavala legacy, the re-veneration of old man Castrillon, and for the Glory of the Republic of Texas!!
El Gringo Viejo
_________________________
