Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin, also known as the Father of Texas, played a leading role in both the creation of the Texian colony and the Revolution itself. He was born on November 3, 1793, in Wythe County, Virginia, but his family moved further west to Upper Spanish Louisiana five years later. In 1814, at the age of 21, he was elected to the Missouri Territory Legislature, but the ruinous Panic of 1819 left him penniless and prompted him to move south to the Arkansas Territory, where he became a First Circuit Court judge. He did not stay there long as the new Arkansas Territorial Assembly abolished his judgeship and contested his land claim, forcing him to move to New Orleans by the end of 1820.
During this time, Stephen’s father Moses became an empresario in Spanish Texas, a position granting him the right to recruit a colony and settle the province. Unfortunately, Moses caught a severe case of pneumonia when he returned to Missouri to begin his recruitment. Upon his death, Moses transferred the grant to his son Stephen. Following in his father’s steps, Stephen Austin recruited a small party of colonists and led them to San Antonio de Bexar in 1821. During this journey, however, Mexico declared its independence from Spain and refused to recognize his title and land grant. Travelling to Mexico City in early 1823, Austin convinced the new imperial government to reinstate empresario grants. When the emperor abdicated, the new Mexican Congress instead decided to let each state pass its own immigration rules. Thus, returning to Coahuila y Tejas, Austin had to once again convince the provincial government to pass the empresario law. He succeeded, and the law was passed in March 1825. With three hundred families, Austin founded his colony on the mouth of the Colorado River. These families would be known as the Old Three Hundred.
The Austin colony faced some early challenges from both Native Americans and the Mexican government. Settled in the home of the Karankawa people, Austin’s colony faced frequent raids and plundering. Austin called for the creation of a militia (which would become the Texas Rangers years later) to combat the Karankawa in late 1825. Meanwhile in Mexico City, the Mexican government grew weary of American immigration and slavery, banning both. Austin, despite his supposed personal disapproval of the practice, argued that slavery was vital to the operations of his colony. To get around the 1827 and 1829 slavery bans, he encouraged his residents to ‘free’ their slaves only to make them indentured servants for life.
With more and more American families immigrating to Texas (another 900 joined by 1829) and Santa Anna’s coup shaking up the Mexican government, Austin tried to secure himself and his colonists more rights. In the Convention of 1832, Texian delegates including Austin asked for greater American immigration, tariff exemptions, and the separation of Texas from Coahuila. Reiterating their demands the next year, Austin travelled to Mexico City to negotiate. Believing he was attempting to incite an insurrection and pushing for independence, the Mexican government arrested Austin in January 1834. Staying in captivity for a year with no charges, Austin was finally released in December and returned to Texas in August 1835.
Upon his return, Austin saw his community in turmoil and a full-blown revolution about to start. On October 11, after their victory at Gonzales troops unanimously elected him to lead the Texian Army of the People, despite having no military experience. The army, composed of volunteers, had to be strongly disciplined and trained. In fact, his first command as an officer was to remind his troops that they must obey their commanders. With Austin now in control, the Texians began marching towards the regional hub of San Antonio de Bexar to take control of the city. Surrounding San Antonio and successfully entrenched, the Texians laid siege until the Mexicans surrendered on December 11. Austin, however, never saw the victory as he resigned from his position to become a commissioner to the United States in late November.
Stationed in New Orleans, Austin heard about Sam Houston’s defeat of Santa Anna at San Jacinto in June. Returning home, he declared his candidacy to the presidency of the new Republic of Texas. While he lost to Houston, Austin did become Texas’ first secretary of state. Only two months into his term, Austin caught pneumonia, and his health rapidly declined. He passed away on December 27, 1836, at the age of 43. He was originally buried at the Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Brazoria County, Texas, before being moved to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin in 1910. Texas’ modern capital was named in his honor.
