Time For Independence

The frontier lifestyle, to which Dr. Gazley and his family and neighbors had become accustomed, changed drastically as the settlers began to transition themselves into citizen-soldiers and a fledgling military group. Essentially all able-bodied adult male settlers went to war to resist the approach of Santa Anna’s superior Mexican Army. Without proper equipment, supplies, or training, this was not an easy undertaking. As the men departed for military service, their wives and children were left behind to tend the livestock and maintain the homesteads as best they could. There was no question in the minds of all Texans, including the women and children, there were but two choices: flight back to the United States or fight to the death for independence from Mexico. Of the several battles in the War for Independence, Gazley’s involvement was limited to only three: Gonzales, Concepcion Mission, and San Jacinto.

At the Gonzales Battle, the opening skirmish of the war, a local group of eighteen Texans, armed mostly with their own hunting equipment and using the town’s single smooth barreled cannon, faced a force of approximately one hundred well-trained and fully equipped veteran Mexican soldiers, who had come to confiscate the cannon. An immediate plea for assistance brought Captain Michael R. Goheen’s Company “C”, with about a hundred similarly prepared Texas settlers, to assist in the defense of Gonzales and the retention of the city’s cannon. The resulting fight was brief, the Gonzales group prevailed and retained the cannon, and the Mexican Army departed for the moment. During this battle, Dr. Gazley, then properly known in Company “C” as Private Gazley, carried his medical bag in one hand and his rifle in the other. As a combatant, he fought along side the other settlers; and, as an Army Surgeon he also treated the battle wounded. Richard “Big Dick” Andrews, another neighbor of Gazley’s and his associate on the Committee for Vigilance, Safety, and Communication, made Texas history by being the first Texan to be wounded in the War for Independence.

At the Concepcion Mission Battle, the first major battle of the Siege of Bexar (San Antonio) where the resident Mexican forces were routed and removed, Dr. Gazley again served as a Private and an Army Surgeon in Captain Goheen’s Company. During this battle, Richard “Big Dick” Andrews again made Texas history by being the first Texan to be killed in the War for Independence.

At the San Jacinto Battle, Dr. Gazley and several other signers of the Declaration of Independence arrived just before the battle began, and he joined with Captain Jesse Billingsly’s Company “C” under Colonel Edward Burleson’s First Regiment Texas Volunteers to fight alongside Micah Andrews, brother to Richard, as well as Aaron Burleson and other volunteers from the Mina area. Gazley’s close neighbor John Socrates Darling, new immigrant Henry Mordorff, and other locals fought in the battle as well. This final bloody and deadly conflict ended the Texans’ struggle for freedom by soundly defeating the Mexican Army, capturing Santa Anna, and birthing the new and independent Republic of Texas.

It might seem to some observers that the battles fought during the Texas War for Independence were comprised of a limited number of combatants, somewhat minor in nature, rather short in duration, and small in number of casualties inflicted. It should be remembered, however, at the battles of Goliad and San Patricio, all of the Texans who surrendered and were thus defenseless, were taken out in small groups and systematically massacred and slaughtered by the revenge-seeking Mexican Army. At the battle of the Alamo, all Texans made a conscious decision to fight to the last man, which they did. It should also be remembered that this war was fought up close and personal, often eyeball to eyeball, occasionally utilizing hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, as with all wars, the war for Texas’ independence was not kind to either side.

The Conventions of 1832 & 1833 and The Consultation

With the Ayuntamiento being the local official government, the Texas settlers found themselves to be relatively without effective representation to the ruling Mexican government in Mexico City. Accordingly, they chose to hold a large formal deliberate meeting of mandated delegates to address their particular issues of dissatisfaction and to develop a means of directly and personally communicating those needed reforms to the government in Mexico City.

Thomas Gazley’s highly respected reputation in his home area, his frequent travels to San Felipe, his part time residency at the seat of prevailing government, and his established political connections there, all made him an outstanding choice to be a peoples representative, or delegate, to this type of assembly.

Accordingly, he was chosen to be a Delegate from the District of Mina to the 1832 Convention in San Felipe. The Convention met in October for the purpose of drafting resolutions which would inform the Mexican government of the needs of the Texans, particularly regarding tariff relief, more liberal immigration laws, separation from the state of Coahuila, and statehood for Texas. Unfortunately, for mixed reasons, these resolutions were not formally presented to the Mexican government. However, one important outcome of the 1832 Convention was the creation of the Sub-Committee on Vigilance, Safety, and Communication which was composed of Dr. Gazley, a surveyor named Bartlett Sims, and an Indian fighter and frontiersman named Richard Andrews. Their assignment was to strive for safety through vigilance and to communicate needs to the Convention.

Following closely on the heels of the 1832 Convention, Thomas Gazley was called on to be a Bastrop Delegate to the Convention of 1833 in San Felipe, along with Edward Burleson and Bartlett Sims. During this important session, meeting on April first, they took up the same resolutions as before; and they went even further by framing the draft of a constitution for the proposed state of Texas.

In July of 1833, Stephen F. Austin took the resolutions of the convention to Mexico City and personally presented them to the ruling government. Soon thereafter, as he was in route through Saltillo on his way back to Texas, he was arrested without specific charges and detained in various Mexican prisons until December of 1834, at which time he was released on a bond which restricted his travels to within the Mexico Federal District. Then, under the General Amnesty Law of 1835 he was freed and allowed to return to Texas in August of that year.

This period of imprisonment contributed to worsening conditions for the Texas settlers, and their dissatisfaction and unrest led them to call for a Consultation on October15th. They actually met on November 1, 1835, in (West) Columbia. While meeting, they set forth the purpose of a War for Independence, laid out the power and structure of a new Provisional Government for Texas, planned for a Declaration of Independence, and established a Regular Texas Army.

Concurrently during this time period, the Mexican Army had further imposed Santa Anna’s dictatorial will of repression upon the settlers; and the settlers had been forced to take up arms to protect themselves from the overpowering Mexican Army. The Texas Revolution had begun, and the War for Texas Independence was about to begin.

The San Felipe Connection

San Felipe de Austin was founded near the Old San Antonio Road crossing on the west bank of the Brazos River in 1824. It was the postal, social, economic, and political center of the Austin colonies. In 1828 it boasted a population of 200 residents living in about fifty homes. It had three general stores, two taverns, one hotel, one blacksmith, and a ratio of ten men to every woman.

Dr. Gazley’s resupply trips to San Felipe began in1828 and continued for several years. During many of these trips, he was required to wait for the riverboats to arrive with the supplies they were bringing up the Brazos River from the coast. During these respites, he had occasion to obtain land and establish a part-time residence, secure a Mexican license to practice medicine (29April1829), socialize with the city’s business leaders, and ultimately to begin to interact with the prevailing Mexican government (Ayuntamiento) which was strategically based there to be near the center of Austin’s colonists. On April 29, 1829, he became the Secretary to the Town Council and on February 1, 1830, he became the Clerk of the Ayuntamiento. This body functioned much as a town council and was the principal governing body in small municipalities in Mexico; but, it was not a democratic form of government. By July of 1835, Dr. Gazley had been appointed Judge of the First Instance for the Jurisdiction of Mina.