It's staggering to imagine the level of stress Gen'l Manuel de Mier y Terán was under at this time in 1832.
Actively commanding a government army on the losing side of a civil war, being held up as a candidate for the presidency (rather contrary to his personal desires), 1/
Actively commanding a government army on the losing side of a civil war, being held up as a candidate for the presidency (rather contrary to his personal desires), 1/
having recently learned of the disturbances in Anahuac and despairing of maintaining Mexican authority in Texas, dealing with family issues, suffering from poor physical health and severe depression that had dogged him for years, 2/
July 1832 found him headquartered in the dismal little town of Padilla, where Ex-Emperor Agustín de Iturbide had been executed and entombed eight years earlier. As Sec of War + Marine, Mier y Terán had played an indirect role in Iturbide's proscription, capture, and execution
3/
3/
Though we can't be sure of the part played by any regret he may've felt, the location was a catalyst for melancholy reflections on the course of Mexico's history post-independence, and Terán's secretary worried about his long, distracted trips to the river and Iturbide's tomb. 4/
On July 2, 1832, he wrote a long, candid letter to his friend Lucas Alamán that unmistakably reveals his suicidal intentions. Not going to quote those passages, but you can read the letter yourself (in English translation) beginning here: texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/met… 5/
Tragically, he fell on his own sword early on the morning of July 3, 1832.
Mier y Terán is one of those figures who's especially dangerous to those of us who study the history of Mexico and Texas, because he all too easily inspires a plethora of counterfactuals. 6/
Mier y Terán is one of those figures who's especially dangerous to those of us who study the history of Mexico and Texas, because he all too easily inspires a plethora of counterfactuals. 6/
What if he had become president of Mexico? What would the consequences have been for Texas? For US expansion? Rabbitholes for hours.
But tonight (against my better judgment) I'm sitting here wondering, what could have helped him before he reached his breaking point? 7/
But tonight (against my better judgment) I'm sitting here wondering, what could have helped him before he reached his breaking point? 7/
If you want to learn more about Mier y Terán, here's what I recommend:
Jack Jackson, ed. and John Wheat, trans., Texas by Terán: The Diary Kept by General Manuel de Mier y Terán on his 1828 Inspection of Texas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000) 8/
Jack Jackson, ed. and John Wheat, trans., Texas by Terán: The Diary Kept by General Manuel de Mier y Terán on his 1828 Inspection of Texas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000) 8/
I cannot recommend Dr. Alfredo Avila's 2016 Camino de Padilla: México y Manuel de Mier y Terán en 1832 (Tamaulipas: Instituto Tamaulipeco para la Cultura y las Artes, 2016) highly enough.
(Seriously, he can explain the political context waaaay better than I can.) 9/
(Seriously, he can explain the political context waaaay better than I can.) 9/
Finally, Ohland Morton's dated but still really useful dissertation "Life of General Don Manuel de Mier y Terán as it affected Texas-Mexican Relations" published serially in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly beginning with Vol. 46, No. 1 (Jul., 1942), pp. 22-47. 10/10
