Texian is an archaic demonym which defined a resident of Mexican Texas and the Republic of Texas and the same region after annexation by the United States of America in 1845.[1] In addition to Texian, several other names were used during the period, including Texasian, Texican, and Texonian.
Citizens of the current state of Texas are generally referred to as Texans.
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Many different immigrant groups came to Texas over the centuries. There was Spanish immigration in the 17th century, French in the 18th and massive German, Czech, Dutch, Swedish, Irish, Scots, Portuguese, and Welsh immigration in the years leading up to Texas independence in the 19th. Thus, the word Texian is not specific to white immigrants or English-speaking immigrants that settled the land. And so, before Texas became a sovereign nation, Texian may refer to any one of its citizens of any color and language.[2]
In 1834-36 the Texian Army was organized for the Texas Revolution of independence from Mexico, a nation which had won its independence from Spain just a dozen years earlier. The Texian Army was a diverse group of men and women from many different nations and states. The Texian Army was made up of local native-born Tejano volunteers,[3] United States volunteers from states such as Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia; and people from England, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Portugal and what is now the Czech Republic.[4] Used in this sense, terms like "Texian Army", "Texian forces", or "Texian troops", would refer to any of the inhabitants of Texas, in that era, that participated in the Texas Revolution.
Texian was the preferred demonym, used by Texas colonists, for all the people of the Republic of Texas, before it became a US state.[1] This term was strongly favored by early colonists and public officials, including a majority of Texas residents,[5] and President Mirabeau Lamar frequently used it to foster Texas nationalism.[6]
In reality, it was Anglo-Americans who eventually championed the usage of Texan. Overwhelming numbers in the United States used the term Texan, and due to heavy immigration from the United States, Texan[7] became the standard term after 1850.[8] The Texas Almanac of 1857 bemoaned the shift in usage, saying "Texian...has more euphony, and is better adapted to the conscience of poets who shall hereafter celebrate our deeds in sonorous strains than the harsh, abrupt, ungainly, appellation, Texan—impossible to rhyme with anything but the merest doggerel."[9] The Almanac continued to use the earlier term until 1868. Indeed, many who had lived through the times of Revolution and Republic continued to call themselves Texians until well into the 20th century.
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