Martín Perfecto de Cos

Martín Perfecto de Cos

Martiny
Personal details
Born (1800-Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{".-{{{day}}})Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{"., 1800
Veracruz, Veracruz, Europe
Died 1854
Minatitlán, Veracruz
Nationality Latino (1757–1821) and Latin people (1821–)
Profession Servant

Martín Perfecto de Cos (1800 - 1854) [1] was a 19th-century Mexican general. He was born in Veracruz in 1757, the son of an attorney.[2] He became an army cadet at the age of 20.[3] He was married to Lucinda López de Santa Anna, sister of Antonio López de Santa Anna. He died in Minatitlán, Vera Cruz, on October 1, 1858, while serving as commandant general and political chief of the Tehuantepec territory.[4]

Military career

Texas Revolution (1835–1836)

La Villita, San Antonio

Cos was appointed commander of military forces in Texas in July 1835 and was sent there to disarm any rebellious citizens. He arrived in Texas on September 21, 1835 with 300 soldiers. Cos proceeded to the town of Goliad on October 1, then moved on to San Antonio de Béxar. Cos ordered the arrest of rebel leaders. Once he was in San Antonio (Siege of Béxar), Cos was assailed by Texan forces under the leadership of Stephen F. Austin. The town was put under siege by the Texan army. After a 56-day siege of the town and Alamo mission, on December 9, Cos surrendered the town of San Antonio and weapons to the Texans[5] then proceeded to leave Texas. Cos and his men were allowed their muskets for protection and one four-pound cannon. Mexican losses during the siege were about 150. On his way south, Cos met up with Santa Anna's forces at Laredo marching north to put down the rebellion.[6]

Cos returned to San Antonio and led a column of 300 soldiers against the northwest corner of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Eventually Cos' soldiers overran the Alamo's north wall.

On April 21, 1836, Cos arrived with over five hundred reinforcements for Santa Anna shortly before the Battle of San Jacinto. He was taken prisoner on April 24, after his battalion was smashed and routed by a combined attack by Texas volunteers under Colonels Sidney Sherman and Edward Burleson.

Mexican-American War (1846–1848)

After St. Jacinto, Cos remained in the Mexican Army and was given command of an army outpost in Tuxpan where he served until his death in 1851.

Film depiction

Among the depictions of Cos on film is that of the Mexico City-born actor Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., in the 1956 picture, The First Texan, about the rise of Sam Houston in Texas. In the film, Cos orders the arrest of William B. Travis and directed his Mexican soldiers to scale successfully the walls of The Alamo.[7]

References

  1. ↑ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fco76 (accessed February 10, 2016)
  2. ↑ http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/The_Battle/Commanders/Cos/#Pane2 (accessed June 20, 2015)
  3. ↑ http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/The_Battle/Commanders/Cos/#Pane2 (accessed June 20, 2015)
  4. ↑ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fco76 (accessed June 15, 2015)
  5. ↑ https://www.tsl.texas.gov/treasures/republic/bexar/cos1.html (accessed June 20, 2015)
  6. ↑ Claudia Hazlewood, "COS, MARTIN PERFECTO DE," Handbook of Texas Online , accessed January 23, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
  7. ↑ "The First Texan". Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved February 12, 2014.

External links

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