History 1821-1860

Chronology of Southwestern US History

Hell Bent For Santa Fe - The Texan Santa Fe Expedition of 1841

This chronology was created on Time Line Maker software, Progeny Software, Inc., http://www.progenysoftware.com/. Some of the events listed are taken from the History of the States downloads available there.

Southwestern US History

Pre-1821 1821-1860 Post-1860

Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California

Chronology of the Native Americans-Spanish-Mexicans-and Anglos.

They wrote the turbulent history of an empty land in blood to make it their own

Start Date	Event	Place	Note


1821	General Augustin de Iturbide declared Emperor Augustin I	Mexico	Independence from Spain came to Mexico and the southwest as a trickle through a hole in the roof. A year before the event the prospect was so unlikely as to catch all the parties unprepared. The immediate need for a new leadership polarized the future of former Spanish holdings in North America into clearly defined camps with diametrically opposing views on fundamental issues. Under Spain's domination the bloodstains were merely blots on the carpet. When Spain's sails vanished over the eastern horizon the real bloodshed began and lasted half a century. The former aristocracy and feudal lords remained bonded to the Catholic Church and the power residing there. Those preferred European monarchy and struggled, until Ferdinand Max, to achieve the goal. This European meddling in Mexican affairs delayed the resolution of the issues for several decades. Meanwhile, opportunistic charismatic leaders rose and fell as dictators. And the poor continued the slow struggle that began with Father Hidalgo and didn't end until the execution of Ferdinand Maximillian almost half a century after Emperor Augustin I enjoyed his spark of power.

1821	Independence from Spain	Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah

1821	Mexicans invite Archduke Karl of Austria to become King	Vienna	Archduke Karl refused the crown because the Hapsburgs were wisely reluctant to become involved in Mexico

1821	Utah Claimed by Mexico	Mexico and US	The Mexican Territorial Claim ran east to the Arkansas River, south to Yucatan and west to the Pacific Ocean

17 Jan 1821	Moses Austin granted permission by Spain to establish colony in Texas	San Antonio, Texas	Spain was on the brink of collapse in the Americas. This permission soon became moot.

24 Aug 1821	Mexico Gains Independence From Spain	Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah	The Treaty of Cordoba establishes Mexican independence from Spain. New Mexicans became official citizens of the Mexican republic rather than subjects of the Spanish monarchy.

1822	Army of Louis XVIII of France restores Ferdinand VII to absolute power in Spain	Madrid, Spain	Ferdinand executes all the liberals once his power is restored. King Ferdinand's power never reached the point of allowing him to attempt to regain Mexico through military intervention. The wealth in minerals had already been looted by Spain and squandered by Ferdinand's forebears. The prospect of economic returns for a military adventure no longer existed.

1822	General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna overthrows Iturbide	Mexico	Santa Anna exiles Iturbide to England but executes him the following year when Iturbide returns to Mexico. Santa Anna was ousted from and regained power repeatedly over the next 40 years during the struggles between conservatives (wealthy land-owners and the Catholic Church), and liberals (advocates for containing the power of the church, religious tolerance, and fundamental human rights). During those years, writes Eugene Lefavre in 1869, "It was permanent civil war, always latent or patent civil war (between the liberals and the church funded conservative juntas caused by church pronunciamentos against the liberal government when it was in power)

1823	Texas Rangers Formed	Texas	The Mexican government, wracked by political and economic turmoil following Independence, cannot protect its northern territories from attack by hostile Indians. Under the pressure of Indian raids, two companies of "men . . . to act as rangers for the common defense" are formed under Stephen F. Austin's authority as empresario. These men are commonly regarded by some as the first Texas Rangers. They bore little resemblance to the later Jack Hayes, Big-Foot Wallace, Rip Ford Texas Ranger tradition of later years.

1824	First Mexican Constitution	Mexico	A major event with little practical meaning at the time. The Texas struggles of 1835 began, not as a fight for independence, but as a declaration and demand in support for the Constitution of 1824.

1824	First wagons travel the Santa Fe Trail	St. Louis, Missouri to Santa Fe	William Becknell trading party

29 Nov 1828	Humbolt River is Discovered		Symbolizes a brief period of exploration and discovery throughout the unexplored lands of the west.

1829	Antonio Armijo opens Spanish trail New Mexico to California	New Mexico, Arizona, California	The political struggles in Mexico created enormous hardships in the periphery. This was one attempt to bring trade and a modicum of prosperity to New Mexico without violating prohibitions regarding trade with foreign countries.

1829	First steamboat enters the Rio Grande	Matamoros	Henry Austin, cousin to Stephen F. Austin, Captain

1830	Cherokees and other displaced eastern tribes arrive in Texas	Liberty, Texas	Insatiable white hunger for lands occupied by tribes in the east was gradually pushing the Native populations further west into areas already occupied by other tribes and causing endless warfare among them. In this instance the lands were already occupied by whites who'd leapfrogged ahead of the displaced ones. This resulted in warfare involving whites and was therefore 'noticed'. Meanwhile, the Comanche, recently arrived from the north, was solidifying his foothold in his new home in Texas. The Comanche were not displaced by whites. They migrated to Texas from the northern mountains because they found themselves in possession of horses and the Texas plains were a perfect home for them. Quahadi and Penteka Comanche eventually exterminated the Lipan and Fara'on Apache bands and severely reduced the indigenous Tonkawan population. The Pentateka Comanche intrusion into central Texas was the main obstacle to white expansion there. None could compete with the Comanche on horseback until the Colt repeater changed the rules of engagement.

1832	Bent's Fort Established	La Junta

06 Jul 1832	Archduke Ferdinand Maximillian born	Austria	Future Emperor of Mexico 1863-1867

1834	Stephen F. Austin held prisoner in Mexico for 10 months	Mexico

Jun 1835	William Travis captures Mexican customs post at Anahuac	Anahuac, Texas	Orders one officer and 40 enlisted soldier-prisoners out of Texas

08 Sep 1835	Council at Brazoria	Brazoria, Texas	Citizens of Brazoria ask Stephen F. Austin to address them. They vote for a 'call to arms'.

28 Sep 1835	Battle of Conception and siege of San Antonio de Bexar	San Antonio, Texas	September 28, Mexican troops surround 400 Texans outside Conception but are forced after several charges to retreat to San Antonio de Bexar. The siege of San Antonio begins and lingers until the house-to-house fighting December 4-8, when Cos surrenders. Treaty signed December 11, allowing Cos and his troops to retreat to Laredo on parole.

01 Oct 1835	'Come and take it' Battle of Gonzales begins the Texas Revolution	Gonzales, Texas

02 Oct 1835	Mexican General Cos arrives at San Antonio de Bexar	San Antonio, Texas

25 Dec 1835	General Cos crosses Rio Grande at Laredo with his defeated army	Laredo, Texas

Jan 1836	Mexican Generals Urrea, Sesma and Cos begin moving troops north into Texas	Matamoros, Texas

24 Feb 1836	Battle of the Alamo	San Antonio, Texas	After bombarding since February 24 general assault was made on the garrison on the morning of March 6 while the band played, 'Deguello', meaning 'Cutting Throats'. All 182 Texas defenders killed, 1600 Mexican Regulars killed according to estimates of Mexican General Castrillon. This was the beginning of the Mexican phrase, 'Tejanos Diablos', Texas Devils.

02 Mar 1836	Texas declares independence from Mexico	Washington on the Brazos, Texas

20 Mar 1836	Santa Anna burns New Washington	New Washington, Texas	Then receives word Houston is advancing on his rear guard. Santa Anna panics and throws his entire army into disorder galloping through the ranks screaming, "Disaster is at hand!". By this time the Texan prowess with firearms at Conception, Bexar and the Alamo had firmly established the phrase 'Texanos Diablos' into the vocabularies of the Mexican army from the highest command to the lowest private.

21 Apr 1836	Battle of San Jacinto, Texas gains independence from Mexico	Buffalo Bayou, Texas	Santa Anna captured, signs documents establishing the boundaries of the Texas Republic

1837	'Pastry War'	Mexico	Louis Philippe of France goes to war with Mexico to obtain compensation for a French pastry cook's damages during a Mexico City riot. Santa Anna lost a leg during this war.

1837	Fort Calabasas (Presidio)	Santa Cruz River, AZ

01 Aug 1837	Revolt of 1837		A group in northern New Mexico issued a proclamation denouncing the new Mexican administration. This protest quickly escalated into a full scale revolt which Governor Perez attempted to suppress with a small and badly equipped militia company. Perez' force was overwhelmed by the rebels near Black Mesa, south of present-day Española. Perez was later captured and beheaded. Despite this victory, the rebels did not succeed in their efforts to establish a new government. The influential merchants and rancheros of the rio abajo did not lend their support to the revolt, and when a squadron of Dragoons from Mexico arrived at Santa Fe, the short lived Revolt of 1837 came to a bloody end.

1839	Pueblo Revolt, Governor Perez murdered	Santo Domingo, NM

1839	Canales Rebellion in Mexico	Northern Mexico and Nueces Strip in Texas	Civil War in Mexico brings renewal of hostilities on Republic of Texas soil. Many Texans fought alongside Canales, Zapata, and Gonzales during this conflict.

1840	Manuel Armijo becomes Governor	Santa Fe, NM

1840	Texas Republic declares war on all Indian tribes		Tonkawans appear to have been exempt. The Republic was being overrun by displaced tribes from the east warring among themselves and with Texas settlers. When the Cherokees attempted to make a separate treaty with Mexico a general war was declared against the tribes.

23 Oct 1840	Battle of Saltillo	Saltillo, Mexico	Canales' colonels Lopez and Molano lure Colonel Jordan and 110 Texans cross the Rio Grande and attack 'undefended' Saltillo, defended by 1000 Mexican Regulars waiting in ambush. When the firing began the Texans retreated to an abandoned rancheria and withstood 4 attacks, killing 400 attackers and losing 4 men. 'Tejanos Diablos' took further root in the minds of the Mexican Army. Zapata was captured at Morales and beheaded.

1841	First Emigrants to Use the Overland Trail to California

1841	Texan Santa Fe Expedition	Republic of Texas declares the Pacific Ocean as the western boundary for the Republic, sends 300 men to enforce the boundary. Surrender without a shot being fired Anton Chico, Cuesta, Laguna Colorado, NM	The chronicle of this expedition is the subject of Hell Bent for Santa Fe

1842	Combined Comanche and Texan force obliterates the last remain Lipan Apache band	Concho River	Meanwhile Pentateka power finally ended in 1841 at Plum Creek. There the combined guns of the Texas settlers and Tonkawan scouts dismembered the Pentatekas as a cohesive force. Those not killed moved northwest to join the Quahadi Comanche on the high plains.

1842	General Adrian Woll invades San Antonio de Bexar	San Antonio, Texas	Santa Anna retracted his agreements made to spare his own life after San Jacinto

1842	Snively Expedition harries trade on Santa Fe trail	West of Arkansas River, Mexican Territory	Texas invaded by Mexico, New Mexico invaded by Texans, Somerville Expedition, Mier Expedition


1845	Texas becomes 28th State of the Union	Washington, D.C.	After 9 violent years as a Republic. Joins the Union on condition Texas be allowed to break itself into 4 separate states, or secede, upon popular demand.

1846	Apache Wars with US	Arizona, New Mexico	When citizens of the United States first entered the Southwest, the Apaches were inclined to consider them as allies against their bitter enemies: the Mexicans. It wasn't until the 1850s that the United States finally realized that the Apaches were going to cause serious problems. Apaches continued to raid Mexico, and Mexico consequently put pressure on the U.S. to cease the raids. Settlers in New Mexico and Arizona, Mexican and American alike, became particularly insistent that Apache raiding stop. What followed were years of bloody struggle between the Apache and the Americans.

1846	Mexican-American War	Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Arizona, Mexico	Stephen Watts Kearny annexes New Mexico to the United States. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican War. The passage of the treaty allowed the United States to achieve its main objectives for participating in the war. The United States fought Mexico for the acquisition of New Mexico and California along with Mexico’s recognition of the Rio Grande as Texas’s southern border. Although Mexico was paid 15 million dollars by the United States, the country lost 50% of its northern territories to the U.S., including Texas.

1846	Mexican American War

1847	First Chinese Immigrants

1847	Juarez elected Governor of Oaxaca	Oaxaca, Mexico

1847	The "Provisional State of Deseret"

1847	Colonization of Utah

1848	Governor Charles Bent murdered in Taos	Taos, NM

1848	Louis Napoleon elected President of the French Republic	Paris, France	Nephew of Napoleon 1, this is the first step in the historical process leading to the invasion of Mexico by French troops in the 1860s

1848	Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1848	Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo	Washington, Mexico City, New Mexico

1848	US Acquires Utah

Jan 1848	Gold Discovered	California

02 Feb 1848	The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1849	First Gold Mine	Dayton

1850	Becomes a Territory	New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada	New Mexico (which included present-day Arizona, southern Colorado, southern Utah, and southern Nevada) is designated a territory but denied statehood.

1850	Utah Territory Established

07 Sep 1850	Utah Territory Organized


1851	First Non-Native Permanent Settlement	San Luis

18 Sep 1851	Fort Defiance established	Canon Bonito, AZ

12 Nov 1851	First Permanent Building in Nevada	Genoa

02 Dec 1851	Louis Napoleon Bonaparte coup d' etat	Paris, France

1852	Dona Ana and Rio Arriba Counties formed	New Mexico

1854	Gadsden Purchase Treaty		Representatives of the United States and Mexico signed the Gadsden Purchase Treaty, by which the U.S. acquired disputed territories west of the Rio Grande and south of the Gila River, territories that comprise almost half of present-day Arizona and part of present-day New Mexico as well. These newly acquired lands were added to the United States Territory of New Mexico, creating a gigantic Territory which extended from the Texas border west to the Colorado River.

1855	Prostitutes outside Fort Union caught with military supplies	Fort Union, NM	Many tons of purloined military supplies found in their caves. The ladies were punished by having their heads shaven and whipped out of Fort Union

14 Jun 1855	Latter-day Saints Mission Established	Mormon Fort

09 Jun 1856	Handcart Pioneers Arrive in Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City

Sep 1856	Captain Chandler invades Gila with 100 troops, attacks friendly Apache settlement	Fort Craig

1857	Cozzens visits Tucson	Tucson

1857	Mormon Exodus

1857	Overland California Mail Act

1857	Utah War		Soon after taking office, President Buchanan removed Brigham Young as governor of Utah Territory and sent a 2,500-man military force to accompany the new governor, Alfred Cumming, thus precipitating the so-called Utah War. The troops wintered at Camp Scott, Wyoming. When they finally marched through Salt Lake City on June 26, 1858, they found it abandoned by the Mormons. The army proceeded to a site 40 miles southwest of the capital where they built Camp Floyd. Cumming assumed office unchallenged and made peace with the Mormons.

1857	Bonneville expedition against Apaches and Navajos	Western New Mexico

1857	Utah War

07 Mar 1857	Fort Buchanan established	Near Tubac, AZ

Jul 1857	Gila country declared 'terra incognita' by Maj. George Crittendon	Southwest NM

22 Jul 1857	Sgt. McQuade finds several Mexicans killed and scalped south of Fort Craig	South of Fort Craig, NM on the Rio Grande

07 Sep 1857	Mountain Meadows Massacre	Mountain Meadows, Utah	All the adults of the Fancher wagon train murdered by combined force of Indians and Mormon Militia led by John Lee. This event is examined in some detail in The Lost Adams Diggings

1858	Gold is Discovered	Cherry Creek

1858	Jacob Snively discovers gold at Gila Bend and Vulture Gulch	Gila Bend, AZ

1858	War of Reform	Mexico

1858	Dixon S. Miles' Navajo campaign

26 Jun 1858	US Army Enters Salt Lake Valley	Utah	After having been stopped for the winter by the delaying tactics of the Mormons, Gen. Johnston's army finally entered the Salt Lake Valley, but peacefully. The army's permanent encampment, until 1861 was at Camp Floyd in Cedar Valley un Utah County. Meanwhile, most of the saints north of Utah County had moved south, but the returned to their homes when peace seemed assured.

1859	The Great Comstock Lode

Created with TimeLine Maker on 11 Aug 2003

Pre-1821 1821-1860 Post-1860 Chronology

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03/20/2005