The Refugio Militia was a
living history organization with members from all over Texas. We portrayed a
militia unit that existed in the 1830's from the town of Refugio. We were formed
to be an organization interested in the education of members and the general
public on the topic of the Texas War for Independence.
We worked in concert with
other progressive groups and re-enactors to develop events and re-enactors to
become more progressive in their interpretations for the public and themselves.
---
The town of Refugio was the
colonial seat of the Power-Hewetson colony founded in 1834. The majority
of the men that made up the colony and its militia, also founded in 1834, were
of Irish descent.When the Mexican government approved Power’s grant, they
reached an agreement that fifty percent of the colony’s population would be of
Irish descent and the other fifty percent would be made up of Tejanos. Regardless
of their trade, it was common during the 19th Century for men between the ages
of eighteen and forty to have served in the civic militia. Many
communities even made it mandatory for citizens to serve in the militia. These
civic militias would serve as a National Guard force and an auxiliary arm of
the national Mexican Army.
As Santa Anna came to power
as a Centralist dictator in 1834, he demanded that all civic militias be
disbanded and their arms be returned to the government arsenals. This
created civil unrest throughout Mexico and Santa Anna responded with military
violence. Texans were unwilling to comply with this demand which resulted
in the Mexican campaigns into Texas to regain control of cannons given to the
colonist to guard against Indian raids. Texans were strong supporters of
the Republic of Mexico and the rights given to them under the Mexican Constitution
of 1824 and believed that these demands went against the laws they were
accustomed to living under.
For more Refugio Militia history go to our 'Files Page"
