The Democratic Farce, A Personal Account

Yesterday was the nation's first primary, right here in the state of Texas. This is not usually the sort of thing I bother with but many have argued that local elections are the most important of all and, regardless of that, I had a cousin on the ballot who would be very cross if I didn't drag my bones to town and vote for him (he's bigger than me). So, I went to town, marched into the parish hall and voted in the Democrat primary. They "warn" you on the ballot that you must be a registered Democrat to do this and are not allowed to vote in any other primaries (meaning the Republican one). You may have already noticed the first absurdity in this farce we call the democratic process. Why on earth would someone as radical-far-right-wing reactionary as yours truly be voting for the most leftist of the "two" American political parties? The short answer is; because they are the only game in town. The longer answer is; because demographics have consequences, even more than elections as it turns out. If you want democracy, these are the facts you are going to have to deal with.

Even in the supposedly "deep red" state of Texas, which everyone regards as a bastion of conservatism, pretty much all the urban areas are solidly Democrat and pretty much anywhere up to and including 100 miles of the Mexican border is also solidly Democrat and I would fall deep within that particular area. Because of the demographics of where I live, the vast majority of the population votes Democrat in every election, no matter what the circumstances are, no matter who is on the ballot. This has been the case for so long that the Republicans do not even bother to run candidates anywhere near where I live as it would simply be a waste of resources. This area is lost to them, they know it and they know it is not coming back. Because of this, you also have to be a Democrat in order to run for local office and appear on the ballot. This applies to my cousin who had to run as a Democrat despite being to the right of Rush Limbaugh. If you're not a Democrat, don't even bother trying. So, where I live, thanks to demographics, you have the "freedom" to vote for the Democrat...or the Democrat when it comes to local elections.

For anyone in an area such as this, who is a typical American conservative, it means you will be allowed no part in choosing who the candidate should be for the party you are certain to be voting for in the general election. This actually annoyed me somewhat this time as I would've liked to vote against George P. Bush just to be on the record about that, however, I could only vote for who is Democrat opponent will be and because of the demographics where I live that vote will count for absolutely nothing as it will be a proverbial drop in the bucket, a single grain of sand on the shore. I should probably also point out that the vast majority of Democrats on the ballot, again, because of the demographics of the area, had no opposition. They were not running against anyone, so it was really a waste of paper at the very least. For those keeping score, that means that you have a "choice" of only one party and a "choice" of only one candidate. I suppose those leftist protesters who are always chanting, "This is what democracy looks like!" might have a point, because what goes on at the polls in my area certainly doesn't look like democracy. The damning thing about the entire liberal model is that none of this is out of order, it is all perfectly legal.

Being well acquainted with this farce, I long ago stopped taking any of this seriously. The liberal model is supposed to be well-informed voters making sober decisions based on the merits of the candidates and their own rational self-interest. Human nature, however, doesn't work that way and so you get what we have in south Texas which is tribal voting. And who can say it shouldn't be? With a "choice" between candidates that each belong to a party I despise, neither of whom, in most cases, I know anything about and do not care to, why not simply vote for the name that sounds most similar to my own? You cannot realistically say you expect otherwise. Deep down, everyone knows this I think. Imagine, for example, a voter in southern California who is a Vietnamese-American. The candidates on the ballot are:

   - Alfredo Gutierrez

   - Pedro Ramirez

   - Juan Gonzales

   - Nguyen Van Sam

   - Alberto Garcia

Do you really think there is much doubt about which one he is most likely to vote for? It is a farce, a farce designed to fool people into thinking they have greater control over the government than they would with, oh, say, a king for example. After all, where I live, as you can see, demographics make all the difference and that demographic change was one which neither myself nor any previous generation here was ever asked to vote on. That, I think, says it all.

Royal Friends of Texas: Spain

Of all the monarchies in the world, none has deeper ties with the state of Texas than the “Land of the Setting Sun”, the Kingdom of Spain. Texas was, at least nominally, under the Spanish Crown for about 302 years which, of course, is far longer than the roughly 159 years that Texas has been part of the United States of America. Given that, it is no surprise that the cultural impact of Spain on Texas has been immense and the relationship between Texas and Spain has been a long one. It all goes back to the reign of King Carlos I of Spain (Emperor Charles V to most people) in whose name Texas was first claimed by the Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Pineda. In 1528 another Spanish explorer, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, became the first Christian to set foot in Texas when he was shipwrecked on the coast. The first major exploration of the interior of Texas was carried out in the reign of King Felipe II by Francisco Coronado who also described a group of natives from whom the area of Texas derived its name (which means “friend”, hence Texas being known as “the friendship state”). However, Spain made little effort to make much of Texas until the French started to take an interest in the region.

When the French explorer La Salle mistakenly landed at Matagorda Bay, he claimed the region for King Louis XIV and established a fort in the area named for St Louis. The French effort did not succeed in establishing a permanent foothold as there was a mutiny and La Salle was killed. A Spanish punitive expedition found that the French had all killed each other or been killed or enslaved by the natives. The natives of the Texas coast were quite a fierce bunch and were the first to ever enjoy French cuisine in Texas -that being the French sailors themselves. Disaster though it was, this made it clear to Spain that Texas was vulnerable to attack and so a campaign began, at the behest of King Carlos II, to establish a string of missions and forts across Texas to guard the frontier with the French territory running down the Mississippi. This led to the first real Spanish presence in Texas and it produced the oldest historic buildings and settlements in Texas that survive to this day. The difference between the missions and the presidios (forts) can sometimes be hard to see since the missions were sometimes built like forts and every fort, of course, had a chapel. It is a mark of the appreciation for history and tradition in Texas that these missions are still standing and mass is still said in them on a regular basis.

The unfortunate King Carlos II was the last Hapsburg to reign over Texas and when the Crown of Spain passed to the Bourbon dynasty there was a marked shift toward greater centralization in government. Texas received a Royal Governor who established himself in San Antonio, the largest settlement at the time, and whose palace is the most lasting remnant of the era of monarchy in the Lone Star State. However, not many people in Mexico were anxious to move to Texas and settle. The relatively few settlers often came from Spain or some Spanish possessions closer to the homeland (such as the Canary Islands) and most of the settlements consisted of those farming Indians who had converted to Catholicism under the instruction of the Franciscan friars and the Spanish soldiers posted at the forts and missions to guard against a French attack and to protect the peaceful Indians from the hostile ones who survived by raiding as well as hunting. Eventually, after being held by Spain for a time, the Louisiana Territory was sold by France to the United States and the threat of a foreign incursion became an American rather than a French one.

Such fears were based in reality as, early on, there were attempts by filibusters (land pirates) from the United States to seize Texas from Spain. None of them succeeded but as revolution began to spread in Mexico, the forces of the Spanish Crown in Texas were suddenly faced by two enemies. In 1812 a Mexican republican made common cause with an ex-Army officer from the United States and invaded Texas with an army of Mexican revolutionaries, Indians, escaped slaves and assorted American criminals called the Republican Army of the North. They seized much of the province but were weakened by in-fighting and finally defeated and wiped out by a Spanish royalist army in 1813 at the battle of Medina, the largest battle ever fought on Texas soil. The reign of King Fernando VII was restored but only for the time being. Events in Spain brought together the left and right, at least temporarily, in Mexico and in 1821 what had been New Spain, including Texas, broke away as the Empire of Mexico under the former General Agustin de Iturbide.

The short-lived reign of Iturbide would be the last time Texas was under a monarch. It was also during the brief rule of the first Mexican Emperor that the first Anglo colonists began to settle in Texas. In fact, negotiations for the settlement were interrupted by the overthrow of Iturbide and had to be concluded with his republican successors. So, 1821 was the last year of unity between Texas and Spain and the unity between Texas and Mexico would be much more short-lived. The Kingdom of Spain never recognized the independence of the Republic of Texas, which is not surprising considering that Texas declared independence on March 2, 1836 and at that time Spain did not even recognize the independence of Mexico (that came later in December of that year). Nor was there much improvement in relations in the decades that followed due to American aggression against the remaining Spanish colonies in the Caribbean, ultimately resulting in the Spanish-American War. However, be it the Alamo, Goliad or San Jacinto, all of the most famous landmarks in Texas, all the places with the greatest historical significance, were part of the Spanish cultural legacy. Given the frequency of civil war in Spain itself, there was little opportunity for much business with Texas and when *the* Spanish Civil War broke out, opinion was divided in the United States as it was in the rest of the world. Most, like Mexico for that matter, favored the Spanish republicans but not quite everyone did as there were bitter condemnations against the Texas Oil Company (modern-day Texaco) for diverting shipping bound for the republican government to the nationalists instead.

During the Franco era the Texans saw Spain as a partner in the struggle against communism and the Generalissimo even marked Spanish-Texan ties by sending a statue of a conquistador to San Antonio where it still stands in front of the old Royal Governor’s Palace. Closer ties were forged after the passing of Franco and the restoration of the Spanish monarchy. King Juan Carlos has always made it a priority to try to encourage amity with the lands of the former Spanish Empire and Texas was not excluded. In 1987 King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia became the first Spanish royals to visit Texas, receiving a warm welcome. “Spain is also very happy to have contributed in the passage to forge that identity as you today contribute to make this state one of the most prosperous, beautiful…in the United States,” the King said. Their Catholic Majesties received some cowboy hats, were greeted by crowds waving Spanish flags and musicians playing a combination of country-western and mariachi music. They visited the Alamo, took a floating tour of the San Antonio River and heard mass at the historic Spanish mission of San Jose (where the Cross of Burgundy still flies). In the years since, the King, Queen and other members of the Spanish Royal Family have visited the Lone Star State on numerous occasions.

Today Texas and Spain enjoy a close, friendly relationship, based more on culture and history than trade or commerce. Spanish people may not have a major presence in Texas, but the presence of the Spanish legacy is immense. The largest single religious denomination in Texas is the Roman Catholic Church, whose roots in Texas go all the way back to the original Spanish missionaries and the largest ethnic group in Texas is Hispanic with those of Spanish or at least partial Spanish ancestry recently becoming the majority of the population. By far, the most common language spoken in Texas, after English, is the Spanish language, even if it is more similar to that of colonial Mexico than pure, proper Castilian. Music, food and architecture across Texas have been heavily influenced by our Spanish roots and it is not enough to say that Texas and Spain are close, that they have been or will be but more than that, the fact is that Texas would not be Texas at all without the Kingdom of Spain.

Imperial Friends of Texas: Japan

Most would assume that there could be no two places more father removed than Texas and Japan. However, there is, in fact, quite a deeply rooted historic connection between the Lone Star State and the Land of the Rising Sun. The most poignant, yet often overlooked, reminder of this connection dates back to 1914 and can be found in the heart of Texas, in the city of San Antonio and the most sacred spot for all Texans: the Alamo, “shrine of Texas liberty”. In a small courtyard at the Alamo, visitors will see a small monument bearing the following inscription:

Nagashino is the Alamo of Japan;
The Alamo is the Nagashino of America.
Whoever knows the heroes of the Battle of Nagashino
Knows the heroes of the Alamo

Likewise, if one were to travel to Okazaki, Japan to the remains of Nagashino Castle on the Shitaragahara plain in Mikawa province, one will find the exact same monument with the exact same inscription. This came about thanks to the efforts of Dr. Shigetaka Shiga, a professor of geography from Waseda University in Tokyo. Doctor Shiga was studying and noticed striking similarities between the 1836 battle of the Alamo and the 1575 battle of Nagashino in Japan. Both involved a small band of soldiers, barricaded inside a fortress, holding off a vastly superior enemy army, led by a young commander and sending out messengers calling for help. The difference was in the ending. In Japan, the defenders of Nagashino Castle were eventually rescued by the forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu while, as we know, there was no rescue for the Texans in the Alamo who fought to the death in the Mexican attack on the morning of March 6, 1836. The monument marks the similarities between the two events, telling their stories with exchanged names to highlight this. And, even though the outcomes were different, the fate of the Alamo defenders was also noted by the Japanese scholar as it called to mind the samurai spirit of preferring death before dishonor and, as he wrote:

But their fame, like the blossom’s fragrance, is still in the air.
The custom of the West does not necessarily condemn surrender…

The idea of a group of warriors fighting to the death against hopeless odds was something familiar to Japanese culture at the time and something to be respected. However, the monument had a more peaceful purpose, to encourage friendship and goodwill between the peoples of Japan and Texas, and thus the United States as a whole. When the monument was dedicated in 1914, attended by descendants of the Alamo defenders, Dr. Shiga said his goal was to, “make my people understand the friendliness, generosity, and hospitality of the inhabitants of far-off America”. Because of this shared historical bond, even today, Japanese tourists are a very common sight at the Alamo and the battles of the Alamo and Nagashino hold a special significance for Texas and Japan in relation to each other.

In other fields, although the Japanese presence in Texas has never been a large one, it has had a tremendous impact on Texas, particularly in areas such as agriculture and architecture. Rice cultivation has been common in East Texas ever since it was brought over from Louisiana but it was greatly improved thanks to the efforts of some of the first Japanese-Texans who were interested in finding more efficient ways to grow more rice to benefit both Texas and Japan. In 1903 Seito Saibara and 30 other Japanese colonists arrived in Webster in southern Harris County. Rice seed was sent as a special gift from HM the Emperor of Japan and within three years the rice harvest had almost doubled. Seito Saibara, along with his family, among the first Japanese-Texans, have been credited with establishing the Gulf Coast rice industry in Texas. Today, thanks to those early efforts, Texas is one of the largest rice producers in the United States. Later, other Japanese colonists arrived and joined the rice farming industry in various parts of Texas such as Port Lavaca, Fannett, Terry, Mackay, El Campo and Alvin, Texas. Many Japanese also settled in Mission, San Juan and San Benito in the Rio Grande Valley to grow vegetables and citrus orchards. Later, other Japanese families migrated from California to Texas due to racial bigotry being prevalent in California. Texas, the “Friendship” State, was more welcoming.

Of course, World War II put a strain on relations as with the rest of America and in one of the most shameful pages of American history, Texas was home to several of the concentration camps where Japanese-Americans were interned during the war. However, when it was over, goodwill returned quickly as Japan and America became Allies and even looking back at the war years, both sides were able to have a mutual respect for each other. A particularly beautiful example of this can be found in the hill country town of Fredericksburg, hometown of U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz who led the naval campaign against Japan in World War II. There is a large museum there covering the admiral and the Pacific War as a whole but also a lovely garden, the Japanese Garden of Peace that was gifted to the museum by the Japanese government in 1976 on the 130th birthday of the town of Fredericksburg. The garden is an exact replica of that of the famous Japanese Admiral Togo. One of the greatest naval leaders in world history, Admiral Togo was greatly admired by Admiral Nimitz. Aside from the small town of Fredericksburg, big Texas cities like Austin, Ft Worth, Houston and San Antonio also have Japanese gardens. The Japanese-Texan who built the garden in Austin had a son, Alan Taniguchi, who trained thousands of architects as the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas and director of the School of Architecture of Rice University.

There are also, of course, numerous Japanese restaurants, tea houses and art galleries in most every major city in Texas. One area in which Japan and Texas have grown quite close in recent years may be overlooked. Texas is known for cattle ranches and oil wells, space exploration and computer development but few probably know that it is a major center for Japanese anime in the United States. Today there are centers in New York and Los Angeles but Texas is still home to the biggest adaptors and distributors of this widely loved area of Japanese pop-culture. The cities of Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are where much of Japanese anime is sent to be dubbed into English and shared with the American public. Anime Network, Funimation Entertainment, Sentai Filmworks and many other of the biggest names in the industry are based in Texas and they largely employ local talent for their dubbing work so that a great many fans will by now by very used to watching Japanese animation performed by Texan voice-actors. With this industry of rather recent years, combined with the earliest Japanese colonists to East Texas to make rice cultivation a major industry, it is no surprise that Houston, Texas has probably the largest Japanese population in the state. Texas shares many values and interests with Japan and the Japanese have made quite an impact on Texas in business, agriculture, medicine, architecture and even the landscape and in food and entertainment. With great mutual respect and long-lasting ties of friendship, Texas and Japan will certainly only continue to grow stronger in the future.

Royal Friends of Texas: Sweden

On the face of it, Texas and the Kingdom of Sweden would seem to have very little in common. Sweden has a monarchy, Texas does not. Sweden leans heavily to the left in politics, Texas leans more to the right. Sweden is not very religious these days while Texas still takes faith fairly seriously. Yet, Sweden and Texas do have some things in common such as having an independent streak when it comes to defense issues, taking the art of having fun very seriously and for some reason making many of their neighbors nervous. The Kingdom of Sweden had little to no contact with Texas during the colonial days and the era of the Republic but Swedish immigrants began coming to Texas in 1848, not long after Texas joined the Union. In time, because of immigration from Sweden and the movement of Swedish-Americans from the northern United States, Texas came to have the largest Swedish population of any state in the American south. There were, however, individual Swedes who came to Texas even earlier such as Swante M. Swenson who came to America in 1836. He traveled to Baltimore, Maryland and then to Alabama where he met up with his uncle Swante Palm (Swen Jaensson) in 1844.

S. M. Swenson

Swenson became very prosperous and soon purchased a plantation in Fort Bend County. He became good friends with General Sam Houston, former President of Texas, who urged him to invite more Swedish immigrants to move to Texas and settle the interior of the state. Swenson took his advice and in 1848 brought the first group of 25 Swedes to Texas, mostly from Barkeryd parish in northern Småland and most of whom were relatives of Swenson and Palm. After selling off his assets, he took the new settlers and started a new life in central Texas. More immigrants came later, being forwarded travel money in return for their labor after they arrived. A depression in 1873 slowed things down a bit but by 1878 immigration had resumed. By 1880 there were 364 Swedes listed on the Texas census. During this time Swenson had prospered enough to buy a large amount of property in Northwest Texas on which he established SMS Ranches which were operated by his sons and employed many ranch managers and cowboys from the Swedish immigrant population. They adapted well to life in Texas while adding some Swedish flavor to the Lone Star State. In 1899 the Swensons founded the town of Stamford in Jones County, populated primarily by Swedish immigrant ranchers and farmers.

By 1900 there were more than 4,000 Swedes living in Texas but within the decade, immigration dropped off. However, as mentioned, more Swedish-Americans began arriving from the north, many from Illinois. Even today, the Kingdom of Sweden is known for its many newspapers and the Swedes in Texas were no different, founding a number of them, the most prominent and long-lasting of which was the “Texas-Posten” which was published in Austin from 1896 to 1982. In 1906 Swedish Texans sponsored the establishment of Trinity Lutheran College in Round Rock and in 1912 Methodist Swedish Texans founded Texas Wesleyan College in Austin. Both closed by the 1930’s but Trinity Lutheran College merged with Texas Lutheran College to become Texas Lutheran University in Seguin and the assets of Texas Wesleyan College were sold to the University of Texas with some of the funds going to establish the Texas Wesleyan Foundation which provided scholarships for hundreds of Texas children of Swedish ancestry. By the 1940’s there were large concentrations of Swedish Texans in and around Stamford, Lyford, Melvin, Brady, Dallas-Fort Worth and Waco. Even where there are not large Swedish populations, the Texans of Sweden have left their mark on the map with places like Govalle, Lund, Manda, New Sweden, Hutto, Swedonia, East Sweden, West Sweden, Palm Valley, Swensondale and even Bergstrom Air Force Base. By 1980 almost every major city in Texas had a Swedish population of several thousand.

King Carl XVI Gustaf

Additionally, the Swedes have left their mark on Texas. When most people think of Texas, they think of cattle ranches, cowboys and oil wells and there are plenty of those but they may not realize that Texas is a major center for things like computers, rocketry and space exploration too. The Swedes proved themselves capable of being ranchers and cowboys early on but they also stood out in other fields as well. For example, the co-founder of Texas Instruments which pioneered such developments as silicon transistors, integrated circuits, pocket calculators and semiconductor microprocessors was Swedish Texan Erik Jonsson. Another notable figure was Carl G. Cromwell, former mayor of Dallas who contracted the drilling of the famous Santa Rita oil well and who became drilling superintendent for the Texon Oil & Land Company. Swedish culture can be found in many parts of Texas and the long ties between the Kingdom of Sweden and Texas were celebrated especially in 1988 to mark the anniversary of the arrival of the first Swedish settlers. The festival was called “New Sweden ‘88” and included many cultural events in central Texas but the highlight, of course, was the visit to Texas of HM King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, making the King the first Swedish monarch to ever visit Texas. Today there are over 100,000 Texans of Swedish birth or ancestry and hopefully the close friendship between Texas and the Kingdom of Sweden will only grow stronger in the future.

Royal Friends of Texas: The Netherlands

Dutch immigration to the New World has been extensive over the centuries but has mostly been concentrated in areas far removed from Texas. However, Dutch influence in Texas history goes back to the colonial period with the very first Dutchman in Texas being a very prominent figure in Texas history. That man was Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop. He was born Philip Hendrik Nering Bögel in the colony of Dutch Guiana (modern-day Surinam) in South America. He promoted himself to Baron de Bastrop when he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana and adopted the Spanish version of his name after coming to San Antonio, Texas. He had served in the Dutch army (cavalry of course) before marrying, having five children and then working as a tax collector. When he was accused of having sticky fingers he packed up his family and moved to Louisiana (at that time under the Crown of Spain). He made a fortune, lost it and started to make another when he moved to Texas after France received Louisiana and sold it to the United States. Baron de Bastrop moved to San Antonio in 1806 and received a grant from the Spanish government to establish a colony between Bexar and the Trinity River.

Baron de Bastrop

Baron de Bastrop was an extremely important figure in the development of Texas. He was elected mayor, established good relations and trade with both the Mexicans and the local Caddo Indians as well as helping Moses Austin gain permission to establish the first Anglo colony in Texas which was later carried out by his son Stephen F. Austin, the “Father of Texas”. Baron de Bastrop was trusted and respected by the Spanish and later Mexican governments and his influence brought about the passage of numerous laws that greatly benefited Texas such as the establishment of a port at Galveston island. He was commissioner of colonization for the Austin colony and was later elected to the state legislature of Coahuila y Tejas. He served there up until his death in 1827. A city and a County in Texas are named Bastrop in his honor though it was not until some time after his death that it was learned that his title of Baron de Bastrop had been a fabrication. Nonetheless, because of his great contribution, no one thought that mattered and in Texas he has forever remained Baron de Bastrop. Not long after, came the War for Independence and the establishment of the Republic of Texas.

The Kingdom of The Netherlands was fairly quick to recognize the Republic of Texas and establish full diplomatic relations. When the Kingdom of Belgium did so, the Dutch did not want to be left out and so did the same, opening a Dutch embassy in Austin and welcoming a Texan ambassador to Amsterdam. The Kingdoms of France, Belgium and The Netherlands were the only European countries to fully recognize the Republic of Texas as a sovereign state. Dutch settlers, however, were slow to come to Texas, though there was some trade between Texas and the Netherlands and Dutch colonies in the Caribbean and South America. Dutch settlement in Texas would never be extensive but it did pick up after the end of the American Civil War. One early group was led by Pieter Nieveen and a man named Mr. Roelofs who brought Dutch settlers to establish a farming colony in Denton County. Unfortunately, the enterprise was not a success. Another Dutch colony was attempted at Gothland but met a similar fate. However, in 1895 a group of Dutch businessmen started the Port Arthur Land Company and bought 66,000 acres of prairie land in southeast Texas for resale at $8 per acre. The first Dutch immigrant to buy some of the land was George Rienstra in 1897 and a few months later about fifty Dutch families followed him to start a new life in Texas. To house them while their new homes were built they constructed the Orange Hotel named in honor of the Dutch Royal Family. This little settlement became what is now the town of Nederland east of Houston.

At first the Dutch stuck to what they knew best, making cheese, raising dairy cattle and growing rice. However, not long after oil came bursting out of the ground at nearby Spindletop and an oil processing plant was soon built a mile south of Nederland. This proved beneficial when the local rice industry was wiped out in the 1907 depression, the local Dutch families were able to find work with the oil companies and the town of Nederland prospered. The town of Nederland remains a unique little corner of Texas and eventually the locals built a large, Dutch-style windmill in the center of town to honor the Dutch settlers who founded it. Another little town, less noticeably, has Dutch roots in Texas. That is thanks to Willem Henrik Snyder, later known as “Pete” (for some reason) who was the first settler in Robber’s Roost where he set up a trading post on Deep Creek. He primarily did business with West Texas buffalo hunters who traded hides for supplies, hence the area became known as Hide Town but which was later renamed Snyder, Texas in honor of the Dutch frontiersman who founded the place.

Over the years the Dutch-Texans became known for their religious faith, family ties and uniquely Dutch habits. Unlike other Texans, they saved their horses for plowing and walked everywhere. They saved their money and never bought on credit and whereas most Texans love eating tomatoes raw with a little salt, the Dutch figured that, being a fruit, tomatoes should be eaten stewed with sugar and cornstarch. There were also a number of Dutch natives who became notable throughout Texas history such as David Levi Kokernot who was born in Amsterdam but later moved to New Orleans were he became a pilot and eventually bought his own ship. While hunting smugglers on the Texas coast, he shipwrecked at Anahuac and ended up joining the local Texas forces in the War for Independence. He became good friends with General Sam Houston who, after becoming the first President of the Republic of Texas, gave Kokernot a number of special jobs and he was even the captain of a company of Texas Rangers for eleven years. His sons later grew up to be major cattle ranchers in West Texas. Descendants of his are still working in the cattle business in the area west of Fort Davis. Another Dutch family who came to Texas was that of Maarten and Antje Koelemay who settled with their eight children in Nederland. After having no luck at the cheese business the sons became railroad workers while living at the Orange Hotel which their father managed until 1915 when a storm forced the historic hotel to close.

The Dutch influence on Texas has been considerable for their relatively small numbers. They were pioneers in the hotel business, dairy farms and in the oil business. Dutch settlers were known for maintaining strong ties with their homeland, including the regular marking of ‘Queen’s Day’. John Brands was a noted priest from the Netherlands who was instrumental in the strengthening of the Catholic Church in Galveston in the 1840’s and they introduced things to Texas as varied as coleslaw and doughnuts. Dutch people have played a part in Texas history ever since the days of the famous Baron de Bastrop and the Kingdom of the Netherlands has enjoyed friendly diplomatic relations with Texas ever since the early days of the republic. For a little while, in a very nominal way, Texas and The Netherlands were even under the same monarchy in the days of Emperor Charles V and King Philip II of Spain before Dutch independence was won. Hopefully the close ties and friendship between Texas and the Kingdom of The Netherlands will always continue.

International Monarchist Conspiracy Against Texas?

It sounds absurd to be sure and, in this case, it certainly was. However, it says something about how paranoid early Americans were about monarchs and the monarchies in Europe. The time was January 10, 1836 in the middle of the Texas War for Independence. The source of this conspiracy theory was Colonel Francis W. Johnson, one of the four (yes, four) men claiming to be commander-in-chief of the Texas army. This was after the main Mexican garrison of Texas in San Antonio had surrendered and paroled back to Mexico. Many Texans hopefully thought the war was over but one audacious Scotsman named Dr. James Grant had rallied support, mostly among the aggressive and impetuous volunteers newly arrived from the United States, to make a (rather ridiculous) assault on the Mexican city of Matamoros across the Rio Grande. Colonel Johnson went along with this plan by his co-commander-in-chief Grant as did commander-in-chief General Sam Houston, at least so long as he thought he would be in charge of it. When he found out otherwise, Houston turned into an opponent of the hair-brained Matamoros expedition. He spoke out against it and tried to influence the volunteers to abandon the enterprise and remain in Goliad with their commander-in-chief Colonel James Walker Fannin Jr. Keeping up? Well, suffice it to say that with an undisciplined army of volunteers, raised on the most overblown and romanticized tales of the American War for Independence and the War of 1812, Colonel Johnson decided to try to win the volunteers over to the attack on Matamoros by waving the threat of a monarchial conspiracy. He said (and please forgive my inability to refrain from commenting):

To arms! then, Americans [note: not Texans -MM], to aid in sustaining the principles of 1776 [note: not 1824 -MM], in this western hemisphere. To arms! native Mexicans, in driving tyranny from your homes, intolerance from your altars [note: a swipe at Catholicism, the at least nominal faith of many Texan leaders -MM], and the tyrant from your country. In this very hour the crowned despots of Europe have met in unholy conclave, to devise the means of crushing liberal principles [if only that were true -MM]. Louis Philippe of France, faithless to his oath, now sits side by side with the monarchs of Russia, and Austria, and Prussia, and Spain, and the minister of Santa Anna is seen among them. Before this, it is more than probable that the freedom of Mexicans has been sold to the tyrants, that European force is to sustain the diadem on the head of the traitor Santa Anna [and he was a traitor, to the King of Spain, which would make one wonder why Spain would wish to help him -MM]. Not only Texas and Mexico, but the genius of liberty, demands that every man do his duty to his country [look out there Frank, you’re starting to sound like that great monarchist Lord Nelson there -MM], and leave the consequences to God. Our first attack will be upon Matamoros; our next, if Heaven decrees, wherever tyranny shall raise its malignant form [bringing democracy to the world, even in 1836 folks -MM].

Colonel Frank Johnson (later in life)

Now, lest anyone here become so outraged as to direct their vitriol against the whole of the great state of Texas, let me say that Texas Governor Henry Smith, who was also against the whole hair-brained Matamoros scheme, was no less outraged himself at this shockingly aggressive and dangerously jingoistic pronouncement by Colonel Johnson. In fact, so opposed to the whole expedition was he that Governor Smith soon lost his job, though he denied the right of the provisional government to do that to him. This led to Texas having two rival governments and four rival commanders of the army at the same time (yet they still managed to win the war thanks to years of rampant republican incompetence in Mexico -imagine that). It should go without saying that there was not a word of truth to anything that Johnson said. Of course there was no conspiracy of European monarchs to stamp out “liberty” in the Americas. Expecting that level of solidarity between the monarchs of France, Spain, Prussia, Austria and Russia was definitely expecting too much. Oddly enough, given the memories and callbacks to 1812 and 1776 it seems that Great Britain was the only major European monarchy not included in this ‘vast, right-wing conspiracy’.

It seems also particularly unfair that, among all of these crowned heads of Europe, the only one Colonel Johnson singled out by name was the hapless French King Louis Philippe. In fact, after the Republic of Texas won independence from Mexico at the pivotal battle of San Jacinto in April of that year, King Louis Philippe was among the first foreign leaders to recognize the Republic of Texas and establish friendly, diplomatic relations (one can even still visit the old embassy of the Kingdom of France in Austin). One also cannot help but wonder how someone like Colonel Johnson, in the wilds of northern Mexico, commanding a ragtag army of, well, probably tens of men at that point, was so well informed about the secret conclaves of European monarchs? However, as it happened, and as we have discussed before, Santa Anna did, in fact, send a delegate to Europe to see about importing a royal to Mexico but this was around six years after Colonel Johnson made the above declaration and, even then, one cannot help but be cynical as to the sincerity of the man who had betrayed King Fernando VII of Spain, Emperor Agustin I of Mexico and was then hailed as a hero for thwarting the Spanish attempt to retake Mexico at the siege of Tampico (and it should also be remembered that this Spanish expedition stood no chance at all of conquering Mexico and was defeated by coastal illness rather than Santa Anna).

King Louis Philippe, actually a friend of Texas

What is clear from this is just how much anti-monarchy paranoia there was in the American psyche of that time. This was the era of American presidents like Andrew Jackson who gloried in their humble origins and congressmen like Davy Crockett who boasted that in all the time he served as a magistrate he had never read one page of any law book. We can see from such attitudes how the class hatred first incited by men like Thomas Paine had worked out. Monarchy and aristocracy were so vilified and the common man so glorified that the result was a ‘race to the bottom’ in which everyone seemed determined to out-do each other in their crudity, origins in poverty and ignorance. Unfortunately, such attitudes remain alive and well in many quarters of America today and in many other countries around the world. At the time, thankfully, this little outburst by Colonel Johnson was generally treated with the seriousness it deserved; which was very little. The expedition never made it anywhere near Matamoros and the scattered remnants were defeated by the Mexican column of General Jose Urrea though, as we know, the Texans eventually won the war (thank God). And, just to show how absurd the above rant by Colonel Johnson was, the Kingdoms of France, Belgium and The Netherlands established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Texas. The United Kingdom did as well, at least in fact but not in name for fear of offending Mexico (it was rather like the situation with Taiwan and Red China today when it comes to foreign diplomatic relations). The British were even pleased with the Republic of Texas as a potential third power in North America that would balance out the growing United States and for that reason even tried to work out a deal for the Mexican recognition of Texas independence in exchange for Texas staying out of the United States though, alas, the Mexicans rejected such a proposal.

A Royal History of Texas

Royal Standard of Texas (my own design anyway)

The royal history of Texas begins with reign of King Carlos I of Spain, better known as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of the German nation. It was in his name that Alonso Alvarez de Pineda first claimed Texas in 1519. However, he was simply exploring the Gulf of Mexico and though the map he made is the first document in Texas history it would be some time longer before Spain ever got really serious about the land of Texas. In 1528 Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca became the first Christian to set foot on Texas soil. He was shipwrecked on the Texas coast, washed ashore and was the first to make contact with the natives of Texas. It is rather surprising that he survived given how fierce the natives of the Texas coast were, particularly the cannibalistic Karankawas, however, he did so and eventually made it back to civilization to report on his travels. So, Carlos I, Felipe II, Felipe III and Felipe IV all reigned over Texas but throughout all that time most of Texas remained devoid of non-native inhabitants. In about 1541, during the reign of King Felipe II, Francisco Coronado explored north Texas during his epic trek through the northern reaches of New Spain. I 1598 near what is now the west Texas town of El Paso, explorer Juan de Onate (not many months before the death of Felipe II) celebrated the first Thanksgiving in Texas when he had the Franciscan missionaries with him say a mass of thanksgiving for their finding a place of abundant food and water during what had been a harsh overland march.

The big push for Spanish settlement in Texas came as a result of another claim on Texas by the Kingdom of France and it was one made by accident. The intrepid explorer Rene Robert Cavalier de La Salle missed Louisiana and crashed onto the Texas coast in 1685 on the shores of Lavaca Bay. He claimed the land for His Most Christian Majesty King Louis XIV and established Fort St Louis. Eventually, a party determined to set out on foot for New France (which means they intended to walk to Canada) but there was a mutiny and La Salle was killed. Eventually, most of the remainder were killed by the Karankawas (the first to eat French cuisine in Texas) and this French incursion prompted Spain to take action. A Spanish expedition was dispatched to expel the invaders though when they arrived they found only the ruins of the old fort. The largely nominal reign of the King of France over Texas ended in 1690 but it was still very important in lighting a fire under the Spanish. Just the French being in Louisiana, between Spanish Texas and Florida, was considered a threat to Spanish trade and interests in the region. So, the Council of War of King Carlos II (the last Hapsburg to reign over Texas) recommended that action be taken to fortify the frontier.

1690, under King Carlos II, was when things really got moving in Texas. A string of stone forts and missions (which often doubled as forts) were established across the eastern half of Texas in a line running down from the border with Louisiana (which was disputed), near the coast down to south Texas. Famous examples of these beautiful structures can be seen in the missions of San Antonio or the presidio La Bahia in Goliad, Texas and mass is still said in all of them. The most famous mission, of course, is the Mission San Antonio de Valero, even though it was never finished, named after St Anthony of Padua and the Viceroy of New Spain but better known as the Alamo. The idea was to establish a network of fortified bases to discourage any French attacks coming out of Louisiana as well as to convert the natives to Christianity, protect those engaged in farming from those engaged in pillaging and to settle and civilize the area. However, the inhabitants of what is today Mexico proved very reluctant to move to Texas so settlers were often brought in from great distances. Most of the original settlers of San Antonio, for example, were from the Canary Islands. It was not until 1715, for example, that the first Spanish women arrived in Texas as part of colonization efforts undertaken by King Felipe V, the Bourbon prince who had come to the Spanish throne after the death of the unfortunate Carlos II.

courtyard of the Spanish Royal Governor's Palace 

The Bourbon reign was an era of centralization of power in Spain and in the colonies of New Spain. A Royal Governor of Texas established himself in San Antonio. The Royal Governor's Palace in San Antonio is the only surviving residence from that era and it is a bit uncertain when exactly it was built. Some sources place it as early as 1722, however, the royal arms on the capstone over the main door (though displaying the Hapsburg eagle still) bear the date of 1749 and the initials of King Fernando VI. Efforts to defend Texas and try to encourage more settlement and investment continued throughout the reigns of Kings Carlos III and Carlos IV. Trouble, however, came with the reign of King Fernando VII. During the course of the Napoleonic Wars he was overthrown by the French conquest of Spain and replaced with Napoleon's brother who reigned as King Jose I.

The Spanish colonies refused to recognize the legitimacy of King Jose I whose nominal reign lasted from 1808 to 1813. However, the lack of a strong government in Spain that everyone was loyal to caused rebellion to break out in many parts of the Spanish empire. Foreign filibusters also took advantage of the chaos to try to to grab Texas away from Spain. It was the rough start to what would later be known as the first Mexican Revolution. One of the biggest threats to royal authority in Texas was the Magee-Gutierrez Expedition, made up of a combination of American filibusters and Mexican revolutionaries. They invaded and took control of much of Texas in 1812-13. However, a Spanish royalist army under General Joaquin de Arredondo marched up from the south and defeated the republican army at the battle of Medina, the largest battle ever fought on Texas soil. The reign of King Fernando VII over Texas had been saved but only for the time being.

Eventually, the policies coming out of Madrid alienated the conservatives in New Spain and they began to join the independence movement. The leader of the new coalition was Don Agustin de Iturbide. He wanted New Spain, which is to say Mexico and Central America, to be independent but still under the Spanish Crown. However, King Fernando VII refused and forbid any of his family to accept the crown of Mexico. Nonetheless, independence could not be stopped and in 1821, by popular acclaim, General Iturbide became Emperor Agustin I of Mexico, which of course included Texas at that time. In fact, it was under the reign of Emperor Agustin I that the first steps were taken toward the Anglo colonization of Texas by the "Father of Texas" Stephen F. Austin. His father had received a land grant from the Spanish in 1820 but it was Stephen F. Austin who led the first official Anglo colonization of Texas, giving birth to Texas as we know it today in late 1821. The change in government threw things into confusion and Austin had to go to Mexico City to sort it all out but his plan was ultimately approved by the Emperor. Unfortunately, things had hardly had time to settle when Emperor Agustin was overthrown in 1823 by liberal republicans led by a man who would later become infamous in Texas history, one Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Mexico became a republic and Texas became an independent Republic in 1836 making Emperor Agustin the last man to reign over Texas as monarch.

A Word of Thanks to the Czechs

As some of you may know, there was recently a terrible catastrophe in central Texas (nowhere too near your humble blogger -it’s a big country) when a fertilizer plant in the small town of West exploded, killing at least fourteen people and wounding over a hundred. Coming so soon after the despicable terrorist bombing in Boston, there were, naturally, fears that this may have been part of some wider plot. Thankfully, though much costlier in terms of lives lost than Boston, the massive explosion in West was simply a tragic accident. Nonetheless, it has been a traumatic event for the area, with much of the area all around the plant being totally devastated. During such a time though, Texans pull together and look out for one another, being the tough, soft-hearted sort of people we are. A memorial ceremony was recently held in the nearby town of Waco, attended by President Obama, and we even managed to graciously accept his words of praise and comfort, even though the President is very, very far from being a popular man in central Texas. However, at times like this, people are usually expected to come together, lend a hand and be a little kinder than usual. That does not happen everywhere, but I would like to think it is more common than the reverse would be. In Texas it is certainly expected. Still, there was one aspect of this disaster that did take me by surprise and pleasantly so.

Not long after the full extent of the explosion and the terrible loss of life and property became known all around the world, reports came in that assistance was being sent to the area from, of all places, that former corner of the Hapsburg lands currently known as the Czech Republic. The Czech Ambassador to the United States, Petr Gandalovic, was quick to visit the area and the Foreign Ministry has said that it plans to donate four million koruna (or about $200,000) to the small Texas town to aid in local recovery. Obviously, this is a much greater amount in the Czech Republic than it is in Texas, but the amount is not the point. The point is that even in the midst of considerable economic troubles of their own, the Czech people are extending a helping hand to their brothers and sisters in the Lone Star State in their time of need. Czech flags still dot the central Texas countryside and the small town of West is made up predominately of the descendants of settlers from Bohemia and Moravia who immigrated in the late 1800's. That was, at the time of course, part of the "Dual-Monarchy" of Austria-Hungary and it reminds me of the more distant history of Texas when both Texas and the Czech lands were both under the reign of a Hapsburg monarch.

It is a rather slim historical tie, but there nonetheless. The area of Texas was, however nominally, under the reign of the Hapsburg King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, after whom of course the Hapsburg lands were divided between the Spanish and German dominions. Colonization mostly got underway toward the end of the Hapsburg era in Spain and during the reign of the Bourbon dynasty. However, there are places, such as at the old Spanish Royal Governor's Palace in San Antonio, where the Hapsburg double eagle can still be seen, despite the fact that it was completed under the Bourbon dynasty. That connection is important to me, if to few others and it illustrates the extent to which the Hapsburg empire was a truly global entity, grouping together an extremely diverse range of peoples.

My primary point here though is simply to express my thanks to the Czech people for their generosity and compassion on this occasion as well as my admiration for the Czech people in looking out for each other even over such a large span of both time and area. It speaks well for them and I would hope would serve as an example to other peoples to show solidarity with those of their blood when in difficult times. It speaks well for them indeed and from one Texan to the Czech people back in their homeland; thank you.

Struggle for Monarchy on the U.S.-Mexican Border

Throughout most of the 1860’s war was raging on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. North of the Rio Grande American fought American and south of the Rio Grande Mexican fought Mexican with outside assistance for each. It was inevitable that the two would overlap but few today are aware of the struggle between republicans and monarchists that was going on right in the backyard of Texas. At the end of the American Civil War roughly eight to ten thousand Confederates fled to Mexico (then the [second] Mexican Empire) rather than live under Union rule. The Mexicans called them los Confederados and some of the more notable ones included Texas governors Edward Clark and Pendleton Murrah as well as generals such as Edmund Kirby Smith, Sterling Price, John B. Magruder and Joseph O. Shelby. For some, the war in Mexico was quick to greet them such as when Missouri General Mosley Monroe Parsons along with his officers and their families were robbed and then massacred by republican bandits. Others made the trip safely and offered their support to the embattled Emperor Maximilian.

Confederates in Mexico

The welcome given to the Confederates in Mexico did not help the already tense relations between the United States and the Empire of Mexico. General Tomas Mejia of the Imperial Mexican Army was wary of the increasing number of U.S. troops being sent to the south Texas border. The U.S. had been openly antagonistic about the French intervention in Mexico and never recognized the government of Emperor Maximilian. The largely African-American force of U.S. soldiers on the border were sympathetic to the fugitive Mexican president, Benito Juarez, with only some of the more devoutly Catholic Irish-American U.S. soldiers speaking favorably of Maximilian because of his greater respect for the Church compared to the notoriously anti-clerical Juarez. In time, both the Mexican imperial and republican armies on the border would come to include former U.S. and Confederate soldiers. The Confederates naturally took the side of Emperor Maximilian for the most part, due to his closeness with Imperial France which had been somewhat friendly toward the Confederacy. Most of the Union soldiers sided with Juarez and the republicans. Some still serving with the U.S. Army were allowed and even encouraged to “desert”, cross the border and join the forces of Benito Juarez. Despite orders from Washington to the contrary, Union officers provided large amounts of supplies, uniforms, guns and ammunition to the Juaristas.

As always, the conflict on the border had a style all its own. On one side was General Mejia with 3,000 imperial troops, including about 300 French and Austrian soldiers. Their army was harassed constantly by the regular and bandit forces of Benito Juarez as well as the bandits of the local border chieftain Juan Cortina who switched allegiances several times. In the summer of 1865 General Mejia embarked on an offensive toward Camargo that cleared out the republican bandits and Juaristas. Consolidation was able to take place and the city of Matamoros was cleaned up and work even got underway by a Belgian company to build an opera house in anticipation of a visit by the Emperor and Empress.

Juan Cortina

The bandit-chief Cortina continued to be very problematic though. On May 1, 1865 he joined with Juarista General Miguel Negrete for a three-day attack on Matamoros. The Imperial Army of General Mejia defeated them and sent the Juaristas packing but Cortina stayed behind. U.S. forces even allowed the Cortinistas to recruit new men in Brownsville, Texas across the river, to use U.S. Army camps on the Texas side of the border and to buy U.S. guns and ammunition. The French, naturally, protested this blatant violation of American neutrality but the U.S. effectively ignored them. Cortina was even employed in trying to track down the Confederates entering Mexico but with little effectiveness.

Eventually, Cortina drove the imperialistas out of Camargo but he was in turn dealt severe defeats in an attempted raid on an imperial supply train and an imperialista attack on his own encampment. The situation soon degenerated into a no-holds-barred guerilla war. The French and Mexican imperialists decided to fight fire with fire and turned to the flamboyant and vicious Colonel Charles Dupin, leader of the contra-guerillas who struck the republican forces with such ferocity and cruelty that he was nicknamed the “hyena of Tamaulipas” and his men, the “Red Devils”. However, both sides were equally brutal no doubt about it.

General Tomas Mejia

The primary goal of the republican forces on the border was to drive the Imperialistas out of Matamoros. Toward this goal, U.S. General Lew Wallace (future author of “Ben-Hur”) and Mexican rebel Jose Maria Jesus Carbajal collected men, money and weapons for an ‘Army of the North’ to attack the city. The effort began in October of 1865 with an attack by Juarista General Mariano Escobedo. General Mejia met the challenge bravely, at one point personally leading a charge with five hundred cavalry to drive out Juaristas who had broken through his defenses. Supporting fire came from the French gunboat “Paisano” on the Rio Grande which shelled the Juaristas from the river. Another French gunboat, the “Antonia”, was actually openly fired upon by U.S. troops on the Texas side of the river. In fact, Escobedo’s republican army included many U.S. soldiers on “leaves of absence” to participate in the battle and help ensure a Juarista victory. Cortina’s men were also involved and harassed the French marines from the safety of U.S. soil. Of course, General Mejia and the local French naval commander in the Gulf of Mexico protested such blatant violations of American neutrality and, of course, it did them no good whatsoever.

The attack on Matamoros went on for sixteen days until an imperial cavalry patrol discovered that the Juaristas had abandoned their lines and retreated on November 9. Total losses for the Juaristas amounted to five hundred dead or wounded and fifty-eight taken prisoner while General Mejia had lost fewer than twelve. Yet, as long as the republicans remained in the area the fight went on with Juarista raiders attacking French and Imperialista detachments. In December, General Escobedo even managed to take Monterrey though it was quickly taken back by only seven hundred imperial cavalry. The town of Bagdad also came under attack, first by American land pirates and again in January of 1866 by forces allied with the scheming U.S. General Lew Wallace. Lt. Colonel J.D. Davis commanding the 118th Colored Troops (the official designation for African-Americans serving in the U.S. Army at the time) at Clarksville, Texas also allowed the invaders to pass and many of his troops even joined the expedition. The raiders overcame the guards at Bagdad on January 5, surprised and captured the guard commander and murdered the imperialist mayor. The town was seized and plundered by the American forces.

Austrian troops in Matamoros

With all sides taken by surprise, soldiers of the 2nd U.S. Colored Troops entered Mexico and took possession of Bagdad. Pressure from local merchants and leading citizens of the area forced a U.S. investigation but naturally no American officers were punished for what amounted to an unauthorized (presumably) U.S. invasion of a foreign country with which the U.S. was not at war. The Americans naturally allowed the republicans to take over, but these forces evacuated on the 24th and monarchist rule was restored though it took threats of a French blockade of Brazos de Santiago to see even a fraction of what was looted returned to Mexico. In the end, it was of little consequence because, with the U.S. again in control of the Texas side of the border, the Mexican Imperial forces could not hold out for long. Already the U.S. had applied diplomatic pressure to stop Austria-Hungary sending reinforcements to their volunteers in Mexico and equal pressure was being put on Napoleon III to get the French out before a massive American army invaded to push them out. With republican bandits to their south and unfriendly U.S. forces across the river to the north, supplies soon grew scarce for the imperialistas in Matamoros.

Emperor Maximilian

As spring turned to summer in 1866 the tide of war began to turn irreversibly against the forces of Emperor Maximilian on the northern frontier of Mexico. Throughout the summer of 1866 republican forces re-took Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Tampico, Acapulco, Monterrey, Saltillo and even Matamoros as the French pulled out of Mexico and U.S. aid to the republicans, in men and materials, increased. On the border, Matamoros was the key position and Mejia and his imperial forces were in a precarious position. As a change in the wind was felt by all, Mexican units formerly loyal to the Emperor began to waver and the key battle came on June 14, 1866. A large imperialista column, already brought near to ruin by thirst and lack of supplies, was ambushed by a massive republican army at the battle of Santa Gertrudis, known thereafter as the ‘Waterloo of the Mexican Empire’. During the grueling fight the equivalent of two whole battalions of Mexican troops deserted to the Juarista side, leaving their former comrades to their fate. Much of the cavalry abandoned the fight to save themselves while the Austrian contingent decided to go out in a blaze of glory, fixed their bayonets and launched a last, suicidal charge into the republican lines. The most unfortunate were the contra-guerillas who, whether armed or not, wounded or not, were immediately shot by the republicans. Millions of dollars worth of supplies, equipment and war materials were captured and in the aftermath, after learning of the disaster, General Mejia had no choice but to abandon Matamoros and retreat south. It marked the end of the conflict on the border and the beginning of the end for the cause of the noble Emperor Maximilian.