Juan Seguín

Juan Seguín
Republic of Texas Senator from Bexar District
In office December 5, 1837 – February 5, 1840
Preceded by	Thomas Jefferson Green
Succeeded by	William H. Daingerfield
101st and 110th Mayor of San Antonio
In office 1834–1835
Preceded by	Miguel Arciniega
Succeeded by	José Ángel Navarro
In office 1841–1842
Preceded by	John William Smith
Succeeded by	Francis Guilbeau
Member of the San Antonio City Council
In office 1828–1833
Justice of the Peace of Bexar County, Texas
In office 1852–1856
County Judge of Wilson County, Texas
In office 1869–1869
Personal details
Born	Juan Nepomuceno Seguín (1806-10-27)27 October 1806 San Antonio de Bexar, Province of Texas, Viceroyalty of New Spain (now Texas, U.S.)
Died	27 August 1890(1890-08-27) (aged 83) Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	María Gertrudis Flores de Abrego (m. 1825)
Military service
Allegiance	Republic of Texas
Service/branch	Texas Army, Republic of Texas Militia
Years of service	1835–1836, 1836–1842
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Texian volunteer and regular army
Battles/wars	Texas Revolution Battle of Concepcion Siege of Bexar Siege of the Alamo Runaway Scrape Battle of San Jacinto Texas-Indian Wars

Juan Nepomuceno Seguín (October 27, 1806 – August 27, 1890) was a 19th-century Texas Senator, mayor, judge, and Justice of the Peace.

Early life

Juan Nepomuceno Seguin was, born on October 27, 1806, in San Antonio de Bexar, Province of Texas, Viceroyalty of New Spain, to Juan José María Erasmo Seguin and Maria Josefa Becerra. As the son of a postmaster, he assisted his mother in the business, while his father was off writing the Mexican Constitution of 1824. In 1825, he married María Gertrudis Flores de Abrego. They had ten children. He was elected an alderman in December, 1828 and served on numerous electoral boards before becoming the San Antonio alcalde (mayor) in December 1833. He then served as political chief of Bexar in 1834, when the previous chief became ill. In 1835, he led a relief force to Monclova, when the Federalist Governor appealed for help.^[1]

Texas Revolution

As a teenager in Mexico, he had a strong interest in politics. When, Antonio López de Santa Anna repealed the Mexican Constitution of 1824, Seguin was very critical of his contemporary Mexican leader. Years later Seguin gladly joined the Texas Revolution to rid the area of Santa Anna's rule.^[2] In 1835–1836, Seguin recruited and commanded troops for the Texian Army.^{[3] [Note 1]} He was commissioned a captain by Stephen F. Austin in October 1835^[4] and was tasked with supplying the Texian troops with food and provisions.^[5] Juan sent out scouting parties to the Missions of San Antonio in search of a suitable base camp for the Texians ^[6] and participated in the early successful Battle of Concepcion^[7] and the 2 month long, Siege of Bexar,^[8] that drove the troops of Santa Anna out of Texas.

In January 1836, he was commissioned as a Captain in the regular Texas army.^{[Note 2]} Upon the return of Santa Anna's army, Juan joined William B. Travis on February 23, in the battle of the Alamo.^[9] Although serving at the Alamo during the thirteen-day siege, he did not actually participate in the final battle of the Alamo ^[10] but was a very significant participant in the battle of San Jacinto.^[11] He was chosen to carry the Alamo message through enemy lines,^[12] that the Texans "shall never surrender or retreat." Seguín got that message through to the other soldiers on the Texian side.^[10] He then returned with men to reinforce the Alamo, but it had already fallen to Santa Anna's army.^[13]

Surrender of Santa Anna by William Huddle, depicts Santa Anna's surrender to the wounded Sam Houston, while Juan Seguín views the proceedings.

After the Alamo, he re-formed cavalry companies at Gonzales and acted as the rear guard, providing protection for fleeing Texas families during the Runaway Scrape^[14] His company, with Captain Moseley Baker's company, blocked the Mexican army from crossing the Brazos river, preventing them from overtaking the Texians.^[9] His cavalry command, participating as infantry with Sherman's company, fought in the victorious Battle of San Jacinto.^[11][15] In May 1836, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.^[16] On June 4, as a representative of the Republic of Texas, he accepted the formal surrender of the Mexican forces in the Alamo.

Life under the Republic of Texas

After Texas became a Republic, he was the head of the San Antonio military, commanding a force to defend the western frontier.^[17] In 1837, Colonel Seguín directed the burial of the ashes of the slain Alamo defenders.^[9][18] In 1839, Seguín, captain of a Texas force of about fifty-four men, again protected the colonists in the Henry Karnes campaign against the hostile Comanche Indians.^[19]

Seguín was elected as a Texas Senator from 1837 to 1840 and worked closely with Congressman José Antonio Navarro to ensure legislation that would be in the best interest of the citizenry of Texas, who were quickly becoming the political minority. In 1839, at a town thirty miles east of San Antonio, he was honored by parade and celebration; that newly named town would now bear his own name, Seguin. In 1840, he resigned his congressional seat in order to join a controversial campaign against the Centralist government in Mexico City.^[2] Juan became mayor of San Antonio in 1841.

Texas became flooded with adventurous and land-hungry North Americans who were unfamiliar with the native Texans' history^[20] and their loyal support of Texas.^[21] Seguin's leadership and loyalty was challenged by these newcomers.^[22] Refusing to burn San Antonio to the ground by order of the new head of the Texas military was just the beginning.^[9]

In 1842, San Antonio was overrun twice by Santa Anna's forces. During March 1842, Colonel Seguin and the citizens of San Antonio sought refuge at Manuel Flores' Ranch in the city of Seguin, Texas.^[23] A counterattack was planned, and even though Seguín pursued the army of Ráfael Vásquez, chasing them from Texas,^[24] he was deemed to be to blame for the attack.^[25]

Seguín resigned from office in April, due to threats on his life.^[26] Opposition to his defense of Texas rights, adversities, and false charges that he was aiding the Mexican army proved too much to bear. He fled to Mexico to "seek refuge amongst my enemies," where he was captured, arrested and coerced to enlist in the Mexican army as a staff officer. He returned to San Antonio with the opposition army of Adrian Woll^[26] in September 1842 and later served under Santa Anna in the Mexican-American War of 1846–1848.

Later life

In February 1848, Seguín requested permission to return to Texas. By the year's end, he had returned,^[27] establishing a home adjacent to his father Erasmo Seguín's house, and ranching in Floresville, Texas.^[22] He was elected to two terms as Justice of the Peace of Bexar County in 1852 and 1854, and became a founding father of the Democratic Party in Bexar county.^[28] In 1858, he published his life memoirs. Seguín served as County Judge in Wilson County in 1869. However, business dealings occasionally took him back to Mexico, and in around 1883 he settled in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, to be near his son Santiago, who was mayor. He died there on August 27, 1890. His remains were returned to Texas in 1974 and as part of the nation's Bicentennial celebration were reinterred in his namesake town, Seguin,^[9] during ceremonies on July 4, 1976. A large monument, depicting him on horseback waving his saber, now honors his service to Texas, in the downtown Seguin Central Park.^[29]

Legacy

• 1838 – Walnut Springs in Guadalupe County, Texas was renamed Seguin.^[30][31]
• 1908–2010 – Juan Seguin School (aka Juan Seguin Elementary School), Guadalupe County, originally established for children of Mexico's refugees from the Mexican Revolution.^[32]
• June 13, 2001 – Juan N. Seguin Memorial Interchange, State Highway 225 between Houston and La Porte, HB3460 designated by the 77th Regular Session, 2001 of the Texas State Legislature^[33][34]
• June 13, 2001 – Juan N. Seguin Boulevard, Park Road 1836 between SH 134 and the San Jacinto Battleground^[34]
• October 28, 2000 – A statue of Juan N. Seguin sculpted by Erik Christianson of Bulverde was erected in the public square south of the courthouse in the city of Seguin.^[35]
• War II Liberty Ship SS Juan N. Seguin, Hull No. 2934.^[36] The builder's plaque and ships bell from Juan N. Seguin hangs inside the city hall in Seguin.
• Juan Seguin High School - Arlington ISD.^[37]
• Juan Seguin Elementary, Richmond, Fort Bend Independent School District^[38]
• Juan Seguin Early Childhood Center, Lamar CISD, Richmond, Fort Bend Independent School District
• Juan Seguin Elementary, La Joya Independent School District, Mission, Hidalgo County^[39]
• 2007– Seguin Circle , River Bend Golf Club , Floresville, Texas Commemorates exact location of the home Juan Seguin built next to his father Erasmo, in Floresville.
• October 25, 2014 Juan Seguin Texas Ranger memorial placed near grave in Seguin, Texas dedicated by Former Texas Rangers Association.

In popular culture

Film and TV

• 1955 – The Last Command, portrayed by Edward Colmans.^[40]
• 1960 – The Alamo, portrayed by Joseph Calleia.^[41]
• 1982 – American Playhouse: Seguin, portrayed by A Martinez and written by Jesús Salvador Treviño.^[42]
• 1986 – Gone to Texas (retitled from Houston: The Legend of Texas), portrayed by Peter Gonzales Falcon.^[43]
• 1987 – The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory, portrayed by Michael Wren.^[44]
• 1988 – Alamo: The Price of Freedom, portrayed by Derek Caballero.^[45]
• 1994 – James A. Michener's Texas, portrayed by Roland Rodriguez.^[46]
• 2004 – The Alamo portrayed by Jordi Molla.^[47]

Books

• 2013 – The novel Los Tejanos and Lost Cause, a fictionalized imagining of Seguin's perspective on the Mexican–American War.^[48]

Tejanos who served under Juan Seguín

Gallery

• 

  Bell from the SS Juan N. Seguin

• 

  Monument in Seguin, Texas

• 

  Juan Seguin burial site

See also

• Erasmo Seguín, Juan's father

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Juan Seguin.

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

Bibliography

• Brode, Douglas; Parker, Fess (2009). Shooting Stars of the Small Screen Encyclopedia of TV Western Actors, 1946–present. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71849-4. 
• De la Teja, Jesus (1991). A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin. Austin, TX: State House Press. ISBN 0-938349-68-6. 
• Edmondson, J.R. (2000). The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts. Plano, TX: Republic of Texas Press. ISBN 1-55622-678-0. 
• Groneman, Bill (1990). Alamo Defenders, A Genealogy: The People and Their Words. Austin, TX: Eakin Press. ISBN 0-89015-757-X. 
• Hardin, Stephen L. (1994). Texian Iliad – A Military History of the Texas Revolution. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-73086-1. OCLC 29704011. 
• Lindley, Thomas Ricks (2003). Alamo Traces: New Evidence and New Conclusions. Lanham, MD: Republic of Texas Press. ISBN 1-55622-983-6. 
• Lozano, Ruben Rendon (1985). Viva Texas: The Story of the Tejanos, the Mexican-born Patriots of the Texas Revolution. San Antonio, TX: The Alamo Press. ISBN 0-943260-02-7. 
• Lord, Walter (1961). A Time to Stand. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-7902-7. 
• Matovina, Timothy M. (1995). The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-75186-9. 
• Moore, Stephen L. (2006). Savage Frontier: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas, Volume II, 1838–1839. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press. ISBN 1-57441-206-X. 
• Nofi, Albert A. (1992). The Alamo and the Texas War of Independence, September 30, 1835 to April 21, 1836: Heroes, Myths, and History. Conshohocken, PA: Combined Books, Inc. ISBN 0-938289-10-1. 
• Schoelwer, Susan Prendergast (March 1986). "About the West: Forgotten Heroes of the Alamo". Journal of the West 25 (2): 73–81. 
• Thrall, Homer S. (1879). A Pictoral History of Texas. St. Louis, MO: N.D. Thompson. OCLC 1059768. 
• Todish, Timothy J.; Todish, Terry; Spring, Ted (1998). Alamo Sourcebook, 1836: A Comprehensive Guide to the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution. Austin, TX: Eakin Press. ISBN 978-1-57168-152-2. 
• Woods, J. M. (1908). Don Erasmo Seguin. Gaylord Brother Inc. 

Further reading

• Hansen, Todd (2003). Alamo Reader. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0811700603. 
• Manchaca, Martha (2001). Recovering History, Constructing Race: The Indian, Black, and White Roots of Mexican Americans. The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-75253-9. 
• Simons, Helen; Hoyt, Cathryn A.; Perry, Ann; Smith, Deborah (1996). A Guide to Hispanic Texas. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-77709-5. 

External links

• Juan Seguín from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Seguin Descendants Historical Preservation
• Remember the Alamo, PBS American Experience (2004) Alamo/timeline/1835
• The West, PBS (2001), Juan Seguin