Timeline of the Texas Revolution

• January – The Spanish governor of Texas grants Moses Austin permission to found a colony of 300 families in the Brazos River region.
• June 10 – Moses Austin dies.
• August – Stephen F. Austin, son of Moses Austin, receives permission from Texas governor Antonio María Martínez to take over his father's land grant.
• August 14 – The Treaty of Córdoba gives Mexico official independence from Spain. Texas becomes a part of Mexico.
• December – The first colonists from the United States cross into Texas.

• February 18 – Mexican President Agustín de Iturbide approved Austin's colonization contract.
• July – Austin establishes the town San Felipe de Austin as his headquarters.
• Mexico passes a law forbidding the sale or purchase of slaves and requiring that the children of slaves be freed when they reached fourteen. Any slave introduced into Mexico by purchase or trade would also be freed.

• October 4 – The Mexican Constitution of 1824 establishes a federal republic. Texas is combined with the province of Coahuila to form the new province Coahuila y Tejas.

• Green DeWitt establishes a colony in Texas, west of Austin's.

• July – Comanches burn DeWitt's town to the ground.
• December 16 – Empresario Haden Edwards and 30 of his settlers declare themselves the independent Republic of Fredonia. Mexican forces and militiamen from the other colonies combined to drive Edwards from Texas.

• DeWitt and his settlers rebuild their town, Gonzales.
• United States President John Quincy Adams offers to purchase Texas for $1 million. Mexican President Guadalupe Victoria declines the offer.
• The legislature of Coahuila y Tejas outlawed the introduction of additional slaves into the state and granted freedom at birth to all children born to a slave. The new laws also stated that any slave brought into Texas should be freed within six months.

• Slavery officially outlawed in Mexico. Fearing that the edict would cause widespread discontent, Austin tries to suppress its publication.
• United States President Andrew Jackson again offers to purchase Texas, now for $5 million. Mexican President Vicente Guerrero declines.

• Mexican General Manuel Mier y Teran issues a report on the outcome of the colonization laws in Texas. It concluded that most Anglo Americans refused to be naturalized and tried to isolate themselves from Mexicans. He also noted that slave reforms passed by the state were being ignored. The report recommended new garrisons in Texas which could oversee the Anglo colonists and encourage Mexicans to resettle in the area.
• July – Yucatan governor Antonio López de Santa Anna leads Mexican troops to repel an invasion by Spanish General Isidro Barradas. During the invasion, the Mexican Congress had granted war powers to Guerroro, making him essentially a dictator.

• April 6 – Mexican president Anastasio Bustamante signs a series of laws aimed at Texas. Among the actions taken were
  • an order for Texas to comply with the emancipation proclamation or face military intervention. To circumvent the law, many colonists converted their slaves into indentured servants for life. Others simply called their slaved indentured servants without legally changing their status.
  • rescinding the property tax law, which had exempted immigrants from paying taxes for ten years. He further increased tariffs on goods entering Mexico from the United States, causing their prices to rise.
  • Settlement contracts were brought under federal rather than state control. Colonies that did not have at least 150 inhabitants would be canceled.
  • Prohibited immigration from the United States to Texas. This measure was widely ignored; by 1834, it was estimated that over 30,000 Anglos lived in Texas, compared to only 7,800 Mexicans.

• For protection, the political chief of the region grants Gonzales a small cannon.
• Following Mier y Teran's recommendations, three garrisons are established in Texas. The presidio at Anahuac became the first port in Texas to collect customs. A second custom port, Velasco, was established at the mouth of the Brazos River, while a third garrison established Fort Teran on the Neches River below Nacogdoches to combat smuggling and illegal immigration. The presidios are staffed with convicts.

• A new provincial law prohibits worker contracts from lasting more than ten years.
• October 1 – 55 political delegates meet at San Felipe de Austin for the Convention of 1832. The delegates drafted three petitions to the Congress of Mexico. They wished for an annulment of Article 11 of the colonization law of 1830, which prohibited foreign settlement as well as customs reform, recognition of squatters as valid immigrants, and a separate state for Texas.

• June – The commander of the Anahuac garrison, Juan Davis Bradburn, angers the settlers by strictly enforcing the 1830 laws. In the first of the Anahuac Disturbances, angry colonists attacked Bradburn's garrison to free imprisoned lawyer William Barret Travis.
• June 26 – Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea, commander of the forces at Velasco, attempts to stop colonies from bringing a cannon up the Brazos River to assist in the attack on Anahuac. This begins the Battle of Velasco.
• June 29 – Ugartechea surrenders to the Anahuac settlers.
• July – Colonel Jose de las Piedras arrives in Anahuac with the garrison from Nacogdoches. As a result of negotiations with the settlers, the Turtle Bayou Resolutions were created, and Bradburn was removed from his post, ending the Disturbances.

• Santa Anna was elected president of Mexico.
• March – The capital of Coahuila y Tejas is moved from Saltillo to Monclova, further removed from Texas.
• April 1 – The Convention of 1833, with 56 political delegates, convenes. It appointed a commission to draft a constitution for a new state of Texas and chose Stephen F. Austin to represent Texas before the federal government.
• November 21 – At Austin's urging, the Mexican Congress repeals the ban on foreign settlement in Texas.

• January – Stephen F. Austin arrested in Saltillo on suspicion of treason. No charges were ever formally filed against him.
• March – Texas was granted more representation in the provincial government. Trial by jury was introduced, and English was authorized as a second language.
• Santa Anna rescinds the Mexican Constitution of 1824. As the national congress attempted to centralize the nation, a civil war ensued. Saltillo declared that Monclova had been the capitol illegally and appointed their own governor.

• Stephen F. Austin published his Exposition to the Public Regarding the Affairs of Texas. In this document he explained that Texas wanted to be a separate state, not an independent nation.

• 25 – Fearing that Santa Anna would march against Coahuila after subduing the rebels in Zacateca, federalist governor Agustin Viezca disbanded the state legislature in Monclova. Viezca travelled towards Texas, intending to set up a new government in the more remote San Antonio. He was arrested en route.

• 20 – In the second of the Anahuac Disturbances, William Barret Travis led a militia to free colonists who had been arrested in a customs dispute. The Mexican troops surrendered and were expelled from the province.

• Austin was freed from prison as part of a general amnesty.

• The political chief of the Nacogdoches region told the militias to take arms against the Mexican troops.
• "Texas Committees" in the United States organized to send money and volunteers to Texas.

• 1 – Correo-San Felipe affair. Texas armed schooner San Felipe exchanges fire with and captures Mexican Navy armed schooner Correo de Majica with help of small steamer Laura. Arguably the first shots in the conflict.^[1]
• 8 – Austin reverses himself and calls for war with Mexico to secure the freedom of Texas.
• 20 – General Martin Perfecto de Cós, lands at Copano with an advance force of 300 troops and marches toward Goliad.
• 29 – Mexican Lieutenant Francisco Castañeda and 100 dragoons arrive near Gonzales to force the settlers to return the cannon they had been given in 1831.

• 2 –
  • The Battle of Gonzales officially begins the Texas Revolution. The Texian settlers retained their cannon; Castañeda and his men retreated.
  • Cos occupies Goliad. After receiving 450 reinforcement, he departs for San Antonio, leaving a residual force of about 30 men in Goliad.
• 9 – After the Battle of Goliad, Texians occupy the presidio at Goliad.
• 11 – Austin is eleced commander of the Texian volunteers. The army begins marching towards San Antonio.
• 27 – Austin sends James Bowie and 90 men to scout for a base of operations from which to launch a siege. Despite orders to return that day, Bowie and his men camp overnight on the grounds of Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña.
• 28 – 400 Mexican troops attack Bowie and his men. The Battle of Concepcion ended with a Mexican retreat.

The Consultation meets in San Felipe de Austin to form a new government. The group does not declare independence, and affirms their intention of restoring the Constitution of 1824.

• 1 – The Texians begin the Siege of Bexar.
• 3 – Texians capture Fort Lipantitlan.
• The Consultation names Sam Houston commander-in-chief of a regular Texas Army, with no authority over Austin's volunteers.
• 15 – José Antonio Mexía attacks Tampico. When expected help does not arrive from federalists in Matamoros, he retreats to Texas.
• 26 – Bowie leads Texians in the Grass Fight.
• 28 – Santa Anna leaves Mexico City with a 6,000-strong Mexican Army, marching northward to take back Texas from the rebels.

• 30 – Santa Anna receives declaration from Mexican Congress that all foreigners taken in arms against the government should be treated as pirates and shot.

• 5 – Under Ben Milam, Texians launch an assault on San Antonio.
• 10 – General Cos surrenders over 1,000 Mexican troops and the Alamo to Texan forces at San Antonio. Cos and his men are paroled to Mexico under a promise to not fight against the Texians again.

• Sam Houston arrives at Goliad.
• J.C. Neill, commander at the Alamo, pleads for supplies.

• Santa Anna and his army reach the city of Guerrero.
• Travis and Bowie agree upon joint command of the Alamo's forces.

• Travis writes his famous "To the People of Texas & all Americans in the world" letter.
• Bowie becomes ill.

• The Convention of 1836 of elected delegates convenes at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

• Thirty-two to sixty men from Gonzales of the "Gonzales Company of Mounted Volunteers" enter the Alamo at 1:00 A.M.

Texas Declaration of Independence is signed and the Republic of Texas is declared. David G. Burnet is elected interim president by the delegates.

Texans defeated at the Battle of Agua Dulce.

• Sam Houston is appointed commander of Texas forces.

• Santa Anna holds a council of war with generals Joaquín Ramírez y Sesma, Martín Perfecto de Cos, Manuel F. Castrillón and Colonels Juan Almonte, Agustín Amat, Francisco Duque and Manuel Romero to plan the final assault.

• Goliad Massacre: James Fannin and nearly 400 Texans are executed by order of Santa Anna.
• Houston and his army camp near San Felipe de Austin.

• David G. Burnet and his cabinet barely escape the arriving Mexican army. Colonel Almonte decides not to shoot the fleeing party.

• Santa Anna crosses Fort Bend on the Brazos River.
• Houston uses the boat Yellow Stone to cross the Brazos River.

• Texan and Mexican patrols clash at Morgan's Point.
• Houston moves his army to Buffalo Bayou
• J.C. Neill is wounded and replaced by G.W. Hockley.
• A cavalry attack lead by Sidney Sherman engages the Mexican army.