Black Soldados

[marklemon]

Recently I read a reference to there being black soldados in the Mexican Army. Eric Von Schmidt even depicted one in his "Storming of the Alamo" painting. How prevelant was this, and how did it start? Were they freed, or runaway slaves?

[stuart]

Need to look this one up once I get back from the office.

There certainly were black soldiers in the Mexican Army. Texians were very unhappy about the presence of black soldiers in the Morelos Battallon and absolutely scandalised that one of the was a First sergeant.

[bobdurham]

A long time ago I found a reference about the black sergeant in the Morelos Battalion in Texans in Revolt by Alwyn Barr, pp
13-14. Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of where Barr found that info and I don't have a copy of the book.

[stuart]

That'll be where I got it from. My copy is in the attic but I'll check it out tonight. Bradburn was certainly enlisting runaway slaves at Anahuac - there's some discussion of Travis' outrage at this in Davis' "Three Roads" 264-5

[Rich Curilla]

Got mine handy. Page 13-14 paragraph:


The Mexican army had suffered losses and disruption in the civil wars of the 1830's. New soldiers had been drafted from workers in towns, peasants on farms, and some prisoners in jails. Anglo Texans spoke of "convict" soldiers, although such replacement troops may have been similar in some ways to the indentured servants in the English colonies. One Anglo Texan described part of the Morelos Battalion in September as "a Colonel Commandant... Four Lieut. Cols. two of which appear to be gentlemen and Captains by the dozen and Lieutenants by the scores and from that down to negroes, one of which is a first Sergent to one of the Companies." The observer believed the imbalance between an excessive number of officers and a limited number of enlisted men resulted from desertion. Certainly these regular army infantry found themselves far from their homes in central Mexico, but that background probably gave them a stronger commitment to the national government. The presidial cavalry, more like militia, served in their own border region, which reflected greater discontent with the central government. Yet these troops from northern Mexico had experience in hunting and frontier conditions which gave them military potential. The ethnic diversity of the Mexican army also could be a source of strength. While men of Spanish ancestry held more officers' positions, men of Indian and black ancestry could advance their social status through successful military service."


Barr's sources for this paragraph are footnoted as:

Jenkins, Papers of the Texas Revolution, I, 408; Jose Enrique de la Pena, With Santa Anna in Texas, 8, 21; Christian I. Archer, The Army in Bourbon Mexico, 1760-1810, 300-301.

Checking Jenkins, the first source is a letter from John W. Smith to Thomas J. Chambers dated Bexar, Sept. 2, 1835, and says nothing about negroes.

Checking de la Pena, he mentions nothing of negroes in the pages sited.

I do not have the third source.