A New History of Old Texas
Explore the history of early Texas as you’ve never heard it before. The most recent season ("Lipan Apocalypse") unveils the legacy of the Lipan Apaches on modern Texas. Season 6 recounts the outsized impact of José Francisco Ruíz on the state's history. Season 5 traces the roots of Texans' unique psychology - their "Texanity" - to the technological innovations that shaped its people. Season 4 relates the largely unknown story of the Republic of the Rio Grande. Season 3 tells the remarkable tale of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his journey across the North American continent. Season 2 covers the Battle of Medi...
Bonus · Mon, September 16, 2024
Triumph and Tragedy, Tolerance and Toughness
This is the audio from my October 2024 SA PechaKucha talk, which you can find on YouTube as well. As a summary of my thoughts after thinking deeply about San Antonio and early Texas history for the last decade, I'm pretty happy with it. But I'll admit that it's a little incomplete. BTW, the punchline (which you can't see in the audio version) is the picture of the Alamo that I throw on the screen at the end...the "two-sided tactical miscalculation that we turned into the most celebrated defeat in American history." www.BrandonSeale.com
Bonus · Thu, June 06, 2024
The Battlefield(s) of Medina?
We found another site. But so did someone else. And there's a rumored fourth site out there as well now? What in the name of Miguel Menchaca's ghost is going on? Image: Martin Gonzalez, Atascosa County Historical Commission. Photo by Jessica Phelps, , SA Express-News, April 29, 2024. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E2 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Alliance and Advantage
Proto-Apaches, Jumanos, and Puebloans vie for control of the Texas Plains in the face of Spanish entradas, epidemics, and slaving expeditions. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E3 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Apache Empire
Thanks to the horse, Plains Apaches expand their influence over an increasingly broad swath of the Great Plains and Northern Mexico. In the course of one remarkable generation, they drive the Spanish out of New Mexico and absorb their old Jumano rivals, despite an epic last-ditch effort by Jumano Captain Juan Sabeata to frustrate them. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E4 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Changing Woman
A new Spanish outpost on the San Antonio River represents an opportunity and a threat to the Apaches' Texas plains trade. The great empires test each other with equal turns generosity and violence. And a new rival appears on the Texas Plains. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E5 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Lipanes at Last
Following the great peace of 1749, San Antonio becomes the great outlet for native North American trade and for the mediation of Native Texas culture into Spanish society. In turn, Texas Apaches commit to a symbiotic existence with the settler communities around them, and come to take on a distinct identity as “Lipan” Apaches – the "People of the In-Between." www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E6 · Thu, January 04, 2024
San Sabá
In the course of a single generation, Spanish policy toward Lipan Apaches shifts from alliance to extermination. But a generation of alliance-making by Lipan Captain Bigotes makes the Lipan alliance more powerful than ever. They beat back the Comanches to the Red River and the Spanish to a line of presidios that still cuts across the North American continent like a scar as the US-Mexico border. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E7 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Indios Bárbaros
Spanish army officers prove reluctant to change their mindset, however, even as the Lipan alliance under the great Captain Picax-Andé brings to a definitive halt the advance of Spanish conquest. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E8 · Thu, January 04, 2024
The Unbroken
Pressed on all sides by European and native rivals, the Lipanes never should have survived into the nineteenth century. Yet not only had they survived, they had done so with their numbers and their range undiminished. They were wealthier than ever, and more powerful too, and would play a vital role in driving the Spanish out of Texas for good. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E9 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Unshared Sovereignty
In the turmoil of the War for Mexican independence, Lipan Captain Cuelgas de Castro emerges as a beacon of stability in Texas. Perhaps no one saw the Texas geopolitical checkerboard better at this moment. Captain Cuelgas de Castro wins for his people recognition by the new Emperor of Mexico. But it won't be enough to secure true sovereignty for his people. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E10 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Fidelity to the Texian
No Native Texan captured Anglo-Texians’ hearts like Lipan Captain Flacco the Younger. His exploits as a Texas Ranger and his people’s defense of Texas’ borders against Mexico make him the darling of Texas newspapers. Texas newspapers fail to distinguish, however, between hostile native Texans and Lipanes living in their midst. And Lipan wealth becomes an irresistible target of Texian raiding and retaliation. Painting of Flacco the Younger by Jay Hester, available online. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E11 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Grass Will Not Grow on the Path between Us
The Lipan Apaches become proxies for a Texian guerilla war against northern Mexico, until Texian policies cut them off from their lands and their livelihoods. Ever adaptable, the Lipanes flip the script, relocating to their old haunts in Mexico and raiding Texas property. The Texas-Mexico border itself – and the freedom it offers – becomes an artifact of enduring Lipan resistance during these years. The annexation of Texas, however, unbalances the playing field in an oddly legalistic way. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E12 · Thu, January 04, 2024
El día de los gritos
All pretense of accommodation with Native Americans disappears in the 1870’s. Lipanes are pursued equally and openly by American and Mexican forces on both sides of the border. One-by-one, they see their old native rivals picked off and carted off to reservations. But the Lipan Apaches refuse to play the doomed savage. After a brutal massacre by US Army troops at their sacred El Remolino site, they declare “war with the whole world.” www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E13 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Bronco Apaches
The United States dispenses with the pretense of Native American sovereignty and adopts a policy of forced assimilation. Mexico waxes poetic about the “cosmic race” while sending airplanes to track down "Apaches broncos” living free in the mountains. The Lipan Apaches avoid the reservation by dispersing and using the reservation system to project their power and spread their religious ceremonies to the native communities of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Coahuila. www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E14 · Thu, January 04, 2024
Emergence
Contrary to popular usage, an “Apocalypse” isn't an ending. In Greek it means an “unveiling," an "uncovering," a “revelation.” But what have we really revealed about the most powerful, most unconquerable, most exceptional people in Texas history? www.BrandonSeale.com
S7 E1 · Thu, January 04, 2024
The Whirlwind
Killer-of-Enemies teaches the proto-Apaches, the “Nde,” how to treat with the peoples they meet as they descend into the Texas panhandle: the Puebloans to the west, the Jumanos to the South, and the Caddoan-speakers to the east. Yet the arrival of yet another newcomer – this one from across the ocean – challenges the diplomatic skills of even the most effective Nde alliance-makers. www.BrandonSeale.com
Trailer · Mon, January 01, 2024
The Last Lipanes in Uvalde
Despite centuries of conflict with Spanish, Mexican, Texan, United States, and native rivals, the Lipan Apaches managed to do what perhaps no other native community in the United States has been able to: carve for themselves a place in their ancestral homeland without surrendering it. Join us this season on “Lipan Apocalypse” as we pull back the veil on the Lipanes in our midst and their outsized legacy on modern Texas. www.BrandonSeale.com
S6 E6 · Thu, December 21, 2023
The Conscience of a Republic
José Francisco Ruíz's reputation and personal relationships went a long way toward preserving Tejanos' status in the newly independent Republic of Texas. They weren't enough, however, to ensure true equality. That was a fight that his nephew, his great-great-grandson, and many other Tejanos would have to carry on. Yet Ruíz's life stands as perhaps the best and fullest exemplar of a Tejano Patriot. Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale. www.BrandonSeale.com
S6 E5 · Thu, December 14, 2023
The Die is Cast
For the fourth time in his life, José Francisco Ruíz had to decide where his loyalties lie: to his flag or to his ideology. In 1835, however, there would be no hesitation. Too old now to carry a rifle, Ruíz became a sort of "first quartermaster" of the 1835-36 Texas Revolution, in addition to one of only two Texas-born signers of this second Texas declaration of Independence. His support for the cause of Texas independence was among the most crucial factors holding together the Tejano-Anglo alliance of 1836, for all of the uncertainties that Tejanos would face in an Anglo-dominated republic. Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale. www.BrandonSeale.com
S6 E4 · Thu, December 07, 2023
Immigrants and Indians
1820's East Texas was a melting pot of native Texans, old time Tejanos, Indian immigrants pushed out of the United States, and newcomer Anglos. For all their distaste of José Francisco Ruíz's revolutionary past, the old Mexican officer corps had no choice but to turn to him once again to manage the chaos. It would leave Ruíz more disillusioned than ever with the prospects for Mexico. Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale. www.BrandonSeale.com
S6 E3 · Thu, November 30, 2023
The Impossible Peace
If there was anything more improbable in Texas history than the Lipan-Comanche alliance orchestrated by José Francisco Ruíz in 1816, it was the peace brokered WITH the Lipanes and Comanches on behalf of the newly-independent Mexican empire in 1822. It would culminate in one of the most memorable scenes in Texas history, the journey of Ruíz and a handful of Lipan and Comanche chiefs to the halls of Monteczuma for a three-way peace that Texas would never truly be able to enjoy... Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale. www.BrandonSeale.com
S6 E2 · Thu, November 23, 2023
Comancheros in Exile
José Francisco Ruíz would remain a focus of Spanish royalist vengeance after the Battle of Medina. For good reason. From his exile in Louisiana, Ruíz orchestrated a proxy war by his Lipan and especially Comanche allies against Spanish royalists' fragile hold on Texas. It would bring Spain to the brink of abandoning Texas. Eventually royalists would have no choice but to ask Ruíz to bring peace to the frontier that he had incited to total war. Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale. www.BrandonSeale.com
S6 E1 · Thu, November 16, 2023
Blood in the Sand
The Battle of Medina left José Francisco Ruíz the highest-ranking Tejano revolutionary in the state...and its most wanted man. What drove him to abandon a promising future in the Spanish army and turn on his old comrades-in-arms? And what price would he have to pay for this change of heart? Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale. www.BrandonSeale.com
Trailer · Thu, November 09, 2023
The Man for Texas
José Francisco Ruíz lived through the most turbulent years of Texas history. What was it about Ruíz that always seemed to place him at the center of the action? What made him the man to whom Tejanos, Anglos, and Native Americans all turned in uncertain times? Join us to find out what made José Francisco Ruíz "The Man for Texas." Click here to purchase the complete audiobook of "Tejano Patriot" by Art Martínez de Vara and read by Brandon Seale. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E11 · Thu, August 17, 2023
When Texanity Fails. And When it Doesn't.
Winter Storm Uri. Texas's unique legal system. And Juneteenth. All together in one episode. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E10 · Thu, August 10, 2023
The Texas Love Triangle
Southwest Airlines was born of a uniquely Texan model of regulation and a uniquely Texan appreciation for the challenges of distance. More than that, however, it came to represent Texan ascendancy onto the national political and economic scene, in ways that discomforted the old coastal centers of power, and found them agitating against the Texas model in ways that recalled nineteenth century Texans' efforts to rein in coastal economic power. In the end, however, Southwest airlines democratized the skies and paved the way for broader regulatory reforms across other industries...some with more mixed results than aviation. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E9 · Thu, August 03, 2023
The Integrated Circuit
Jack Kilby's integrated circuit set off the "Second Industrial Revolution" and I want to believe that it was the product of Texans' finely-tuned attention to energy density, going back to the likes of Gail Borden and every plains Indian that ever sat a horse. And yet, is the integrated circuit perhaps a better example of land-obsessed Texans' failing to appreciate the potential of the twentieth century's greatest invention? Photo available at TexasInstruments.com. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E8 · Thu, July 27, 2023
Making Texas Cool
Texas's first true industrial "cluster" might have been ice-making. In the twentieth century, Texans lead the way in applying the science of refrigeration to human comfort and notched many significant firsts in the history of air conditioning. Most Texans' first experience with air conditioning was in movie theaters, and the movie industry repaid their patronage with an entire genre of films (the "Western") that helped make Texas "cool" in a way that it never had been before. The homogenizing effects of cinema worsened the marginalization of some Texas communities, however, even as it drove a massive wave of immigration from other U.S. states. Photo courtesy of Friedrich Air Conditioning. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E7 · Thu, July 20, 2023
Spindletop
Anthony Lucas's gusher at Spindletop marked "a new era of civilization," yet was the product of the humility, persistence, and practical genius of three Waco-area farm boys. Oil rapidly transformed the Texas economy from stubbornly agrarian and colonial into a first-world industrial power. For the first time in Texas history, Texans began to accumulate capital and were set on a countercyclical trajectory from the rest of the U.S. economy in a way that would only reinforce Texans' contrarian impulses. Cover photo by John Trost, available online at the American Petroleum Institute. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E6 · Thu, July 13, 2023
The Iron Horse in Texas
Railroads made Texans wealthier than they had ever been. They brought labor-saving and efficiency improving implements like riding plows, threshers, mechanical harvesters, and soon, tractors, which collectively lifted the standard of living of most Texans far beyond anything their parents could have imagined. And Texans hated them for it! Texans very conflicted feelings toward the "Iron Horse" exposed an irreconcilable tension between their frontier regulatory model and their unshakable conviction that land was the only proper basis for wealth. Cover art of Texas's first locomotive - the "General Sherman" - available online at Houston Metropolitan Research Center, HPL. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E5 · Thu, July 06, 2023
Comanche Superfood
From "terraqueous machines" (??) to air conditioning prototypes to "condensed milk," Gail Borden was nineteenth century Texas's most prolific inventor. And yet he may owe the inspiration for his most successful inventions to a form of Comanche "superfood," developed with a uniquely Texan appreciation of the power of energy density. Cover art by David Moore, courtesy of IllustrationOnline.com www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E4 · Thu, June 29, 2023
"Peacemaker"
Samuel Colt certainly benefitted from the association of his revolving pistol with the state that most found widespread application for it use. And Texans, by and large, returned the love, coming to believe that "God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal." Did the Colt Revolver blaze the trail for Anglo immigration into the Western half of the state? Or did the power imbalance it created violently accelerate a demographic inevitability? Cover art is available in the Public Domain and online. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E3 · Thu, June 22, 2023
The Republic of Cotton
When they hosted the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936, Dallas boosters had good reason to rename their football stadium and associated bowl game based on a bad pun. The "Cotton Bowl" was a nod to the unmatched roll that "King Cotton" had played in shaping the demographics and politics of Texas, where it constituted as much as 90% of the output of the state for parts of the nineteenth century. But it’s a legacy that Texans have become increasingly uncomfortable with in recent decades, favoring the image of the cowboy and cattle drives. There is something far more romantic about a man on a horse than a man with a hoe…particularly when that man with the hoe is enslaved. Cover art "Young Texas in Repose" available online from Yale University Library. www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E2 · Thu, June 15, 2023
The Font of Texas Government
When Don Juan de Oñate crossed the Rio Grande on May 4, 1598 at a spot which he called “ El Paso del Rio del Norte”, he didn’t just bring with him the horses that would redraw the map of Native Texas. He brought with him the Spanish model of self-government centered on a locally-managed flood irrigation system that still serves today as the philosophical underpinning of the Texas "frontier regulatory model." It was the only real competitive advantage that the Spanish had over native Texas populations...but was it enough to build a permanent civil society around? Cover photo of "San Juan Demonstration Farm" available online at https://www.nps.gov/places/mission-san-juan-farm.htm. www.BrandonSeale.com
Trailer · Thu, June 08, 2023
Season 5: The Engines of Texanity
In telling these new histories of old Texas, I worry that I’ve been focusing too much on individuals. Individuals can move history, no doubt…but just as often, I’ve come to believe, they ride historical waves, rather than make them. Every now and then, however, some invention, some innovation, or just some change in how technology is used comes along and moves history forward with a momentum of its own, subtler perhaps but far more powerful than any political ideology. Such “engines” of history concentrate resources behind them and focus the human mind in front of them like nothing else. They change how people see the world. The stories of these "engines," then, are the reasons why we see ourselves the way that we do. This is what I want to explore this season: no politicians, no ideologies, just the ten engines that most meaningfully propelled Texas history forward and the ten innovations that most profoundly shaped our collective psychology as Texans… our “Texanity” as I call it. Cover art by David Moore, www.illustrationonline.com www.BrandonSeale.com
S5 E1 · Thu, June 08, 2023
Don't Mess with Texas (Horsemen)
The return of the horse to the North American continent and its domestication by people of the Texas plains redrew the map of Native North America and defined the spheres of influence of European colonial empires for three centuries. It led to the formation of highly decentralized, individualistic frontier societies that either successfully adopted the horse or suffered at the hands of those who had. Maybe “Don’t Mess with Texas” didn’t originate with a 1985 anti-littering campaign…maybe it was written the first time a native Texan hopped on the back of a horse. Cover art of "Lipan Apache" available online at Star of the Republic Museum, Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas. www.BrandonSeale.com
Bonus · Sun, January 01, 2023
Cabeza de Vaca as Interpreter of Lower Pecos Rock Art
From a speech I gave at the Witte Museum a while back, this is my attempt to argue that we can actually hear the themes of the famed Lower Pecos Rock Art expressed by Cabeza de Vaca in his attempt to take on the role of a "spirit guide" for the native Americans who joined him on his journey. If true, this would be a really cool confirmation of our current interpretations of that Lower Pecos Rock Art and our efforts to understand the worldviews of the people who created them. www.BrandonSeale.com
Bonus · Wed, October 26, 2022
Connecting the Dots
This is a speech I gave recently to the San Antonio Conservation Society about our Battlefield of Medina search with American Veterans Archaeological Recovery . Jump to 34:38 for the big reveal, and the connection we discovered between our finds and the "Blue Wing Body" found in 1968. www.BrandonSeale.com
Bonus · Thu, August 25, 2022
Autonomy Within a Tradition
Maybe the reason that Texans are so vocal about their "independence" is because they have a different notion of what it means to be independent. And maybe the reason they're so loud about it is because they've been trying - without success apparently! - to explain their notion of "independence" for more than 200 years now. These are some of the ideas that I try out in this speech that I gave a few months ago. Enjoy. www.BrandonSeale.com
Bonus · Tue, July 26, 2022
Digging Medina
The boots hit the ground and the shovels start turning dirt. Listen along for an (extended) account of our first season of archaeologic digs in search of the Battlefield of Medina with our partners from American Veterans Archaeological Recovery . Go to @54:20 if you don't have the patience for the whole build-up. A special thanks to the American Battlefield Trust, Howard Energy, Jefferson Bank, John Dickson, and all of the donors that made this field work possible. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E17 · Wed, March 16, 2022
Y todo para que?
Was there really ever a "Republic of the Rio Grande"? And what to make of the legacy of Antonio Zapata. Image available on the Internet: https://laotraesquina.mx/2020/02/19/un-guerrero-viejo-sumergido-en-el-agua, retrieved 10/15/2021 www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E16 · Wed, March 09, 2022
The Republic of the Sierra Madre
Fiery San Antonian José María Carvajal refuses to give up the dream of a northeastern Mexican republic, only to be defeated by his old commander, Antonio Canales. Carvajal - and his reputation - recover in the turmoil of the French Intervention, however, and he rises to his own moment in the sun as the regional hegemon of Tamaulipas. For a few years. Photo: Arista's Campaign Map, 1840, Courtesy Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E15 · Wed, March 02, 2022
The Concessions of Camargo
Antonio Canales lays down his sword...and emerges as the new kingmaker of northeastern Mexico. Photo of Brandon Seale at the approximate location of Zapata's last stand, Morelos, Coahuila. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E14 · Wed, February 23, 2022
Rescuing Zapata
The normally reserved Antonio Canales throws everything he has at Centralist General Mariano Arista in a desperate bid to rescue his estranged brother-in-arms, Antonio Zapata. Photo: "Zapata's Defeat" inset from Arista's Campaign map, 1840, courtesy Benson Latin American Collection, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, The University of Texas at Austin. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E13 · Wed, February 16, 2022
The Battle of Morelos
Frustrated with Antonio Canales, Antonio Zapata breaks away from the Rio Grande Federalist Army...and rides into an ambush in Santa Rita de Morelos! Photo: Battle of Morelos campaign medal, photo courtesy of Art Martinez de Vara. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E12 · Wed, February 09, 2022
Desperate Measures
Just days after declaring the formation of a new "provisional government of the northern border," Federalist commander Antonio Canales opens up communications with Centralist General Mariano Arista to surrender! Antonio Zapata finds out...and the rift grows between the two Rio Granders. Photo Courtesy of the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, Laredo, TX. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E11 · Wed, February 02, 2022
The Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
The text of the "Casa Blanca Articles of Convention," as transcribed by Professor Stan Green, and as translated by Brandon Seale, with comments from Professor Green and Lic. Jacqueline Pasquel. Photo: Canales's call to convention, photo courtesy of the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, Laredo, TX. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E10 · Wed, January 26, 2022
The Republic of the Northern Border
On January 26th, 1840, the Republic of the Rio Grande was formed. Or rather, the "provisional government for the northern border" was declared. Commentators then and podcasters now consider whether there is in fact a difference between these two ideas. Photo courtesy of the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, Laredo, TX. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E9 · Wed, January 19, 2022
The Battle of Alcantra
Under the command of Antonio Zapata, Antonio Canales and José María Carbajal, the Rio Grande Federalists win their greatest battle to-date. Yet diplomatic recognition eludes them, as a new Centralist opponent emerges with a knack for the public relations game – General Mariano Arista. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E8 · Wed, January 12, 2022
The Kingdom of Zapata
Antonio Zapata - the "mulato" son of a domestic servant and a cowboy - establishes himself as the kingmaker over Northeastern Mexico. And led by San Antonian José María Carvajal, the Rio Grande Federalists call on some old allies in the fight against Centralism - the Texians. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E7 · Wed, January 05, 2022
Zapata Unleashed
In one of the most remarkable campaigns in Mexican military history, Antonio Zapata and a small band of Rio Grande vaqueros and Carrizo Indians immobilize three Centralist armies and launch a punitive expedition against a Comanche war party, establishing the Rio Grande Federalists as the de facto government of the region. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E6 · Wed, December 29, 2021
Order and Disorder on the New Border
Antonio Zapata comes over to the side of the Federalist insurgents... and turns their war of words into a real threat to Centralist rule over Northeastern Mexico. Photo: Illustration of Antonio Zapata by Matt Tumlinson www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E5 · Wed, December 22, 2021
The Federalist Revolts
After the failed "Texas campaign" of 1836, the Mexican centralist army falls back onto the Rio Grande villas. Through a series of requisitions, taxes and just outright theft, they manage to impoverish the region and bankrupt Antonio Zapata. Yet, Zapata doesn't join the first Rio Grande revolt against centralist rule in 1838, led by Antonio Canales. Not yet anyway. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E4 · Wed, December 15, 2021
The Constitution of 1824
Antonio Zapata emerges as one of the most promising young leaders of newly independent Revilla – soon–to–be renamed Guerrero – just as Mexico elects its first president under the famed Constitution of 1824. By the second election in 1828, however, Mexico is in turmoil. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E1 · Wed, December 08, 2021
Las Villas del Norte
In the 1750's, Carrizo Indians living in the lower Rio Grande Valley greeted two new groups of settlers: the Lipan Apaches and the Spanish. For the next two generations, the freedoms - and terrors - of the region continued to attract a hardy array of new settlers, including a surprisingly large percentage of "mulatos," Afro-Mexicans who found refuge on the distant Rio Grande frontier. Photo: The red sandstone church in Old Revilla, Public Domain. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E2 · Wed, December 08, 2021
Young Zapata
Young Antonio Zapata is born in Revilla, Nuevo Santander, the son of a domestic servant and a cow hand. The same town from which our old friend, José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara (go listen to Season 2) was just getting his start as a revolutionary. Photo: Plains Warrior in Blue, Friedrich Richard Petri, artist, circa 1850 Texas Memorial Museum, Austin, accession #2197. Courtesy Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, Laredo, TX. www.BrandonSeale.com
S4 E3 · Wed, December 08, 2021
Mexican Independence
As Antonio Zapata grows into manhood, his unique talents become clear to all around him. Mexico wins its independence...but very little changes for the residents of the Rio Grande. Photo: Ejército_Trigarante, Wikipedia. www.BrandonSeale.com
Trailer · Mon, October 25, 2021
The Republic of the Rio Grande
From 1838 to 1840, the people of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas fought against the Mexican central government for their independence. They fought under the battlefield leadership of one of the most remarkable men in Texas history and – as best I can tell – the only Afro-Tejano to have a Texas county named after him: Antonio Zapata. For the better part of a year, Zapata reigned supreme as the military leader of the region and as the avatar of his people. With his army of Rio Grande vaqueros, Carrizo Indians, and Anglo-Texian volunteers, he held as many as three Mexican centralist armies at bay, and won the respect of his enemies and the love of his men. In following Antonio Zapata’s fight for Federalism, we also get a sort of second run at the war of Texas independence. It serves as a sort of control case to help us understand what it was that Tejanos – like Juan Seguin, who will actually later joined the Rio Grande independence movement –meant when they signed on to fight and die for their “independence.” In this light, Tejano independence comes to look like something very different than the classic, Anglo-American notion of independence as a “fresh start.” In fact, I’ll argue that it starts to look like something much more recognizably Texan. It’s looks like a fight for autonomy within a tradition, rather than independence from tradition. Join us for Season 4 of A New History of Old Texas: The Republic of the Rio Grande. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E25 · Mon, September 21, 2020
The Gospel According to Cabeza de Vaca
What the legacy of the four old Narváez expeditionaries in the New World amounted to. How their legacy back in the Old World may have been more meaningful. How Cabeza de Vaca saw his legacy. And how we might think of it as well. Pages: f63v-67r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "La Relación Cover," by unknown, Wikipedia, Public Domain. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E24 · Thu, September 17, 2020
The "Ideal" Conquest
How the four expeditionaries translated their gospel into terms their Native American followers might understand. How the four expeditionaries then translated the Native American worldview into terms Castilians might understand. How they became apostles from the Indians. How they advocated for the full humanity of Native Americans. And how they came up short. Pages: f60v-63v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover Art: "Historia de México a través de los siglos," 1929-35. By Diego Rivera, Palacio Nacional de México. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E23 · Mon, September 14, 2020
Four Horsemen
What the four expeditionaries found when they were reunited with their countrymen. How they were horrified by what they saw. And how they resolved to do something about it. Pages: f56v-f60v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Michuaca Lienzo Nuño de Guzmán," by unknown, Wikipedia, Public Domain. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E22 · Thu, September 10, 2020
Crossing the Divide
How the four expeditionaries crossed the Continental Divide. How they re-connected with the Castilian world. And how they saw the first signs of the devastation wrought by their countrymen on the Native American communities of which they now considered themselves a part. Pages: f52r-56v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Cabeza de Vaca, Estevanico, and the other Survivors," artist unknown. Image available on the Internet, viewed on 24 April 2020. httpstshaonline.orghandbookonlinearticlesfca06. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E21 · Mon, September 07, 2020
The Arrowhead
How Cabeza de Vaca removed an arrowhead from the beating heart of an ailing native. How the four expeditionaries' "authority" continued to grow. How the expeditionaries abused that authority. And how they came to repent of it. Pages: f49v-f52r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover Art: "The First Recorded Surgical Operation in North America," 1965. By Tom Lea, Courtesy of the Tom Lea Institute., El Paso, Texas. All Rights Reserved. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E20 · Thu, September 03, 2020
All Things to All People
What clues Native Americans left as to how they viewed the four expeditionaries. Why they seemed so determined to carry the expeditionaries up into northern Coahuila. And how the expeditionaries entered the spiritual heartland of Native North America. Pages: f48v-f49v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: Photo by Jean Clottes, Courtesy Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, taken from The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos. University of Texas Press, Austin (2016), fig 1-6. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E19 · Mon, August 31, 2020
The Inexplicable Turn
How the four expeditionaries came to within a few weeks’ march of the Rio de las Palmas, their goal for the last seven years. How they turned away from their goal. And how it becomes apparent that the spiritual movement they were "leading" wasn't really about them. Pages: f46v-f48v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Children of the Sun" by Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia, Courtesy of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, DeGrazia Foundation, Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E18 · Thu, August 27, 2020
The First American Ponzi Scheme
How Estevan prepared the way for his companions as they crossed the Rio Grande. How to interpret the agendas of the "headmen" leading the natives now surrounding the four expeditionaries. How the expeditionaries realized they were still, despite their following, as vulnerable as they had been back on the Galveston beach. Pages: f41v-f46v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions in the Big Bend area. Texas Beyond History. Image available on the Internet, viewed on 12 May 2020. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E17 · Mon, August 24, 2020
Mala Cosa
When the expeditionaries came to question their medicine. How they came to fear that they - perhaps - might be bringing the evil they thought they were curing. How they stopped healing. And how that made things even worse. Pages: f38v-f41v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: Illustration by Carolyn E. Boyd, Courtesy Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, taken from The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos. University of Texas Press, Austin (2016), fig 5-33. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E16 · Thu, August 20, 2020
Signs and Wonders
How the expeditionaries' cures became increasingly challenging. How their faith continued to work for them...and for their patients who were cured by it. And how Cabeza de Vaca raised a man from the dead. Pages: f37r-f38v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: Illustration by Carolyn E. Boyd, Courtesy Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, taken from The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos. University of Texas Press, Austin (2016), fig 5-20. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E15 · Mon, August 17, 2020
Tests of Faith
How the four castaways became medicine men. How they performed their "cures." And how a burning bush showed Cabeza de Vaca the course he needed to follow. Pages: f36r-37r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: Illustration by Carolyn E. Boyd, Courtesy Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, taken from The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos. University of Texas Press, Austin (2016), fig 6-2. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E14 · Thu, August 13, 2020
The Great Escape
How prickly pears brought the four old expeditionaries together. How they gorged on the nasty little fruits. And how they embarked on the first leg of their great pilgrimage that would carry them across the continent over the next eighteen months. Pages: f34v-f36r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Estéban." The Granger Collection, New York. Image available on the Internet, viewed on 12 May 2020. https://kids.britannica.com/students/assembly/view/148310. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E13 · Mon, August 10, 2020
The Utility of Belief
How Cabeza de Vaca was separated from Castillo, Dorantes, and Estevan. How his status decreased with his utility in the new landscape of South Texas. And what he did to survive this most difficult year. Pages: f34r-34v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Claustro de Santo Domingo," by unknown, presumed burial location of Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, Wikicommons, Public Domain. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E12 · Thu, August 06, 2020
The Great Tunal
How the peoples of South Texas differed from those of the upper Texas coast. How the four expeditionaries planned to escape from them. And how their plan was foiled. Pages: f31v-f34r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Cactus Patch" by Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia, Courtesy of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, DeGrazia Foundation, Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E11 · Mon, August 03, 2020
Faith the Size of a Pecan
How Alonso Castillo, Andrés Dorantes, and Esteban had made their way down the Texas Coast in 1529. How they had fallen into "slavery." How they were reunited with Cabeza de Vaca. And what to make of the "faith" that these men profess so unquestioningly in the face of repeated misfortunes. Pages: f28v-f31v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Encircling Deer with Fire" by Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia, Courtesy of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, DeGrazia Foundation, Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. Texas Beyond History: Learning from Cabeza de Vaca www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E10 · Thu, July 30, 2020
He Who Has a Why
How Cabeza de Vaca decided to leave Galveston Island. How his companion, Lope de Oviedo, decided he couldn't. And how Cabeza de Vaca first heard rumors of other surviving expeditionaries amongst the native peoples of South Texas. Pages: f28r-f28v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Trader" by Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia, Courtesy of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, DeGrazia Foundation, Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E9 · Mon, July 27, 2020
Out of Slavery
How the Native population of Galveston Island was decimated. The expeditionaries too. How Cabeza de Vaca was left behind. And how he lifted himself up from "slavery" to become a merchant plying his wares up and down the Texas coast. Pages: f26r-f28r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Slaves Digging Roots" by Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia, Courtesy of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, DeGrazia Foundation, Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. Texas State Center for the Study of the Southwest Cabeza de Vaca Resources www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E8 · Thu, July 23, 2020
Castaways
How Cabeza de Vaca and his companions were reunited with some of their fellow Narváez expeditionaries, including Alonso Castillo, Andrés Dorantes, and Estevan. How they tried to integrate themselves into the daily rhythms of the Cavoque community. And what happened that first winter when Native American and European immune systems were compromised by hunger, cold, and exposure to diseases they had never met before. Pages: f23r-f26r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Expedition Cabeza de Vaca Karte," Wikicommons, Public Domain. The Witliff Collections, Texas State University www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E7 · Mon, July 20, 2020
Naked in the New World
How the expeditionaries debated what to do in the face of 100 armed "Cavoques," as the natives of Galveston called themselves. How the Cavoques offered to take the expeditionaries back to their village. And how the welcoming party they threw for the castaways scared the bejeezus out of them. Pages: f22r-f23r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: Courtesy Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, taken from The White Shaman Mural: An Enduring Creation Narrative in the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos. University of Texas Press, Austin (2016), fig 2-8. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E6 · Thu, July 16, 2020
The Island of Ill-Fate (aka, Galveston)
How the conquistadors became castaways on Galveston Island. How the natives of Galveston Island found them. And what the natives decided to do with them. Pages: f20v-f22r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Barges Capsize" by Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia, Courtesy of DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, DeGrazia Foundation, Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E5 · Mon, July 13, 2020
The Gulf
How the Narváez expeditionaries returned to the Gulf of Mexico. How the Gulf "turned" on them. And how all the tools of conquest began to fail them. Pages: f16r-f20v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Hernando Colon Map," courtesy of Jim MacDougald (1527). Note the label on the North American portion, "Tierra que aora va poblar panfilo de narvaes." www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E4 · Thu, July 09, 2020
Apalache
How the Narváez expeditionaries "conquered" Apalache. And then had to flee for their lives. How they made it back to the Florida coast. And how they confronted the frightening reality that they had lost contact with their ships. Pages: f11r-f16r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca," by Alfred Russell. www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E1 · Mon, July 06, 2020
The Sons of 1492
How Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and 600 others came to the New World under the command of Pánfilo de Narváez. What the men and women in the Narváez Expedition were hoping to find. And what they actually found instead. Pages: f1r-f2v in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Portrait of Cabeza de Vaca," by unknown, Wikicommons, Public Domain. Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca: His Account, His Life, and the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narvaez, by Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz (1999). www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E2 · Mon, July 06, 2020
Missing the Mark
How the Narváez expeditionaries missed their target by a mere 1,000 miles. How they mistook the western coast of Florida for the eastern coast of Mexico. And how they doubled down on their error after finding the first hints of gold. Pages: f3r-f7r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Panfilo de Narvaez Expedition," viewed 2 February 2020, https://www.trailoffloridasindianheritage.org/narvaez-mound-jungle-prada#. A Land So Strange, by Andrés Resendez (2007). www.BrandonSeale.com
S3 E3 · Mon, July 06, 2020
A Land So Strange
How the Narváez expeditionaries marched on their Floridian Tenochtitlán. And how the whole story goes a little Gabriel García Márquez upon the colorful entrance of a Floridian native chief. Pages: f7r-f11r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999). Cover art: "Panfilo de Narvaez and his Companions Reach the Gulf of Mexico after Crossing Florida," 19th century wood engraving. www.BrandonSeale.com
Trailer · Sat, April 25, 2020
Season 3 - Cabeza de Vaca
Back in the first episode of the first season of this podcast series, I begged someone to make a movie about the wanderings of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions. Well, as several of you pointed out, someone actually has made this movie. In 1991 Mexican filmmaker Nicolás Echevarría created a really striking and kinda trippy art-house film that actually does a pretty good job capturing the surrealness of Cabeza de Vaca’s adventures. But it’s not an easily digestible film. And in its strangeness, it partly obscures the facts of what happened. Join us this season as we retell Cabeza de Vaca's implausible tale. And join us as we try to understand what exactly Cabeza de Vaca hoped to accomplish in writing out his story…and what he thought the material and spiritual legacy of his incredible journey should be. www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E12 · Mon, August 26, 2019
Is this the Battlefield of Medina?
The trauma of 1813 stuck with Tejanos…and it emboldened them. What lessons did they draw from the Battle of Medina? What lessons should we draw today? And at long last, we point our finger to the map and ask, “Is this the Battlefield of Medina?” www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E11 · Mon, August 19, 2019
Terror in Texas (Explicit)
(WARNING: This episode contains graphic language and descriptions of Spanish Royalists' sack of San Antonio following the Battle of Medina.) After defeating the Republican Army of the North at the Battle of Medina, Spanish Royalist General Joaquín de Arredondo entered San Antonio intent on teaching its citizens a lesson they would never forget. The subsequent Sack of Béxar, the execution of hundreds of Tejano men, and the imprisonment and assault of just as many Tejana women marked Texans for many generations to come…though not, perhaps, in the way that Arredondo intended. The research team makes one last effort to high-grade the various leads they have compiled over the course of the previous year to map the battle site, based solely on the observations of contemporary, post-Battle of Medina accounts and artifacts. www.BrandonSeale.com
Bonus · Mon, August 19, 2019
The Most Important Primary Account of the Battle of Medina
Sometime in the 1820's or 30's, an anonymous survivor of the Spanish Royalist occupation of San Antonio in 1813 wrote down his (or her?) memories of those tragic events. As far as I know, it is the only contemporary Spanish-language account of these events from the Republican perspective, and our friend Joe Arciniega joins us once again this episode to read it into the historical record. www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E10 · Mon, August 05, 2019
The Battle of Medina Revisited
After a year of research and interviews, we sum up everything we’ve learned over the last year to recreate what happened on August 18, 1813, when 1,830 Spanish Royalists under the command of General Joaquín de Arredondo finally met up with the unbeaten 1,400 man Republican Army of the North twenty miles or so south of San Antonio. Additionally, the battlefield search team attempts to validate the artifacts they have uncovered. The results are simultaneously disconcerting, exhilarating…and confusing. www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E9 · Mon, July 22, 2019
Artifacts at Last!
On August 4, 1813, after months of plotting, José Álvarez de Toledo personally arrived in San Antonio and overthrew Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara as commander-in-chief of the Republican Army of the North. Just as the Republicans found themselves more divided than ever, their most fearsome opponent to-date – Joaquín de Arredondo – began his march up the Laredo Road to challenge them. At long, long last, our research team uncovers artifacts from the battle. Even better, we find cannonballs! And once we plot them on the map, a pattern begins to emerge… www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E8 · Mon, July 08, 2019
The Battle of Alazán Creek
After the Republican victory at the Battle of Rosillo and Texans’ bold declaration of Independence in April of 1813, a Royalist commander from Veracruz decided to take charge of the situation. While he began assembling an army to reconquer Texas, he sent forth a force of 700 men to pin down the Republicans and reconnoiter their movements. In command of that force was the flip-flopping Colonel Ignacio Elizondo, whom our listeners may remember from his ambush and capture of Father Miguel Hidalgo. The Republicans didn’t let pass the opportunity to use Elizondo’s impulsiveness against him. Back in the present, the search team uncovers our first body from the Battle of Medina. www.BrandonSeale.com
Bonus · Mon, July 01, 2019
The Original Texas Declaration of Independence
For the first time that I know of, we present here the original Texas Declaration of Independence in English – as performed by a direct descendant of the men who brought about that independence back in 1813! www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E7 · Mon, June 24, 2019
The Free and Independent State of Texas
On April 6, 1813, Texas declared its independence, having momentarily rid the province of all traces of Spanish control. Eleven days later, the new Texas government promulgated a constitution, drawing from both Spanish civil and Anglo-American natural law traditions. Unfortunately, a horrific series of executions of captured Spanish officers nearly ripped the Republican Army apart at its seams, just as a Royalist army of retribution came sneaking up the Camino Real. The research team starts digging at the suspected site of the Republican camp the night before the battle. What they learn while digging may be even more important than what they find! www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E6 · Mon, June 10, 2019
The Battle of Rosillo
In February of 1813, Spanish Royalist forces under Texas Governor Manuel Salcedo stormed the Republicans besieged in Goliad – and were resoundingly repulsed. The Republicans broke out of Goliad and pursued the Royalists all the way back to San Antonio, where Salcedo and Gutiérrez de Lara met in one final battle. We finally lay our hands on maps from the early 1800’s that might tell us where contemporaries believed that the Battle of Medina had taken place. www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E5 · Mon, May 27, 2019
The March on Goliad
In 7th grade Texas history textbooks, Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara figures only peripherally in the events covered in this series. In reality, he may have been the great unifying figure for the Tejano, Native American, and Americans volunteers marching across Texas in the fall of 1812. Texas Governor Manuel Salcedo certainly took notice of his movements and rode out to ambush the revolutionary commander on the road to San Antonio in October 1812. It would be Gutiérrez de Lara, however, who had a surprise in store for Salcedo. The research team takes to the air to look for the “canyon” chosen by Republicans to later ambush the Royalist Army before the Battle of Medina. www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E4 · Mon, May 13, 2019
José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara
Before Father Miguel Hidalgo was captured by Royalist forces in March of 1811, he commissioned a modest but vocal supporter from the Rio Grande Valley as his emissary to the United States. With a dozen or so loyal followers, that emissary - José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara - escaped Royalist capture and crossed over the Sabine, where he would spend the next two years rallying recruits and resources to the cause of Mexican independence. Multiple contemporary accounts of the Battle of Medina relate the Republican army's route to the battlefield. Unfortunately, they almost all relate it differently or contradict each other in some material point. Despite their contradictions and ambiguities, what details might they have in common? www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E3 · Mon, April 29, 2019
The Governor Returns
After capturing Father Miguel Hidalgo, Texas Royalist Governor Manuel Salcedo returned to San Antonio in a less-than-magnanimous frame of mind. San Antonio, after all, was the town that had deposed him and the town to which Father Hidalgo had been fleeing. Governor Salcedo took it upon himself to impress upon San Antonians the true cost of disloyalty to the Crown…and to him. The battlefield search team, meanwhile, combines the results of modern technology (LIDAR) and the grunt work of a dedicated UTSA researcher (Bruce Moses) to map out the roads into San Antonio in 1813 and locate General Arredondo’s camp and line of march on the morning of the Battle of Medina. www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E2 · Mon, April 15, 2019
The Casas Revolt
On September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla unleashed a cry of protest against centuries of Spanish exploitation of New Spain. San Antonians under a retired militia captain named Juan Bautista de las Casas took up the cry and attached themselves to his cause. We start our search for the battlefield of Medina by examining the most primary account of them all: the post-action report of the Spanish Royalist commander, Joaquín de Arredondo., who gives us our first important clues for narrowing the search area. www.BrandonSeale.com
S2 E1 · Mon, April 01, 2019
The Roads to Revolution
Texas in 1800 was defined by its isolation, which Tejanos felt all the more acutely because of Spain’s restrictive trade laws and general neglect towards its most distant colonies. Tejanos began to see themselves as a people apart and to crave more autonomy and control over their own affairs. Three different battle markers claim to be the site of the Battle of Medina, though none has ever produced archaeological evidence of the battle. What can the markers tell us, however, about where the battle might have occurred? Listen to learn more. www.BrandonSeale.com
Trailer · Mon, March 04, 2019
Season 2 - Finding Medina
Episode 11 of the first season of this podcast described the Battle of Medina as having taken place “somewhere in the area between modern-day Lytle, Somerset, and Von Ormy.” That was way off. But this podcast wasn’t the first to express confusion over the location of the battlefield. Today, three different markers dot the Bexar-Atascosa County line claiming to mark the spot where the largest, bloodiest battle in Texas history occurred. What was the Battle of Medina and why was it fought? How do you lose a battlefield of this size and importance, particularly in a state like Texas that is so obsessed with its history? Might we be able to use modern technology to find this “Forgotten Battlefield” that has eluded searchers now for almost a century? Listen to the introductory episode of Finding Medina to find out. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E22 · Sat, May 05, 2018
The Past is Present
The past lives in San Antonio. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E21 · Tue, May 01, 2018
A City Divided
San Antonio in 1860 didn't look like the rest of Texas, or for that matter, the rest of the United States. The U.S. Civil War nearly tore the town apart all the same, and almost 1/3 of her sons fell on distant battlefields. As it had previously, however, war created opportunity, and this war laid the foundations of the great businesses that would lead San Antonio into the industrial age. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E20 · Tue, April 24, 2018
San Antonio on the Brink
In 1845, San Antonians voted to join the United States and plunged themselves right back into war with their old foes in the Valley of Mexico. The war, however, brought new prosperity to the frontier outpost and new prosperity brought new immigrants from all over the globe. These new immigrants reveled in the freedoms the isolated town offered them and soon made San Antonio the largest city in Texas. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E19 · Tue, April 17, 2018
The Fall of San Antonio
In the first years of the Republic of Texas, San Antonio was assaulted by Mexican Centralist forces almost every year until finally falling - twice - to Mexican armies in 1842. These invasions struck a tragic blow to the unity of the fragile new multi-ethnic Republic, even as the period gave birth to the national symbols of the two peoples warring over the little frontier town. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E18 · Tue, April 10, 2018
Texian San Antonio
The new Texian government broke off San Antonio's special relationship with the Comanche empire, provoking renewed hostilities from the horsemen off the plains. Newcomers to the town had to integrate themselves quickly into the fighting units of Old San Antonians and learn the lessons of frontier warfare firsthand. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E17 · Tue, April 03, 2018
The Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo as you've never heard it before. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E16 · Tue, March 27, 2018
The Siege of Béxar
In late 1835, Centralists and Federalists clashed in San Antonio over the course of a two-month long siege that culminated in five days of brutal house-to-house fighting. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E15 · Tue, March 20, 2018
Santa Anna
In 1833, Santa Anna was elected President of Mexico. In 1834, he declared himself dictator. Mexico rose in revolt and San Antonians rode to Coahuila in support of their fellow Federalists. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E14 · Tue, March 13, 2018
Illegal Immigration
In 1830, Mexican Centralists outlawed future Anglo immigration to Texas and walked back the freedoms recognized by the 1824 Federalist Constitution. San Antonians - who had long been the loudest advocates for both immigration and Federalism - responded with a bold defense of their new neighbors and an even bolder threat to break away if Centralists wouldn't respect their hard-won rights. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E13 · Tue, March 06, 2018
Sons of Libertad
The most fascinating account of Jacksonian America doesn't come from a French aristocrat who spent barely nine months on the continent. It comes from Lorenzo de Zavala, author of the 1824 Mexican Federalist Constitution, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and first Vice President of the Republic of Texas. It was in Texas - and in particular, in San Antonio - where De Zavala saw the ultimate opportunity for a new “mixed society of the American system and the Spanish customs and traditions,” which would represent the triumph of the New World over the tired ideas and prejudices of the Old. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E12 · Tue, February 27, 2018
Mexican San Antonio
In 1821, Mexico finally won its independence from Spain. In 1824, the new nation promulgated one of the most enlightened constitutions in the world, establishing a federal republic with clearly-defined civil liberties and checks and balances. San Antonio appeared to be on track to recover from the trauma of 1813 and to emerge from the poverty that old Spanish system had left behind. And the key to their prosperity, they believed, was immigration. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E11 · Tue, February 20, 2018
The Battle of Medina
Spanish Royalists responded to San Antonio's 1813 Declaration of Independence by massacring the Republican Army of the North and by implementing a deliberate policy of terror against San Antonio's civilians, summarily executing almost three hundred of San Antonio's leading men while forcing their wives, daughters, and mothers to slave away on behalf of the soldiers murdering their loved ones. No community in New Spain suffered the way that San Antonio did for Mexican Independence, and it remains the bloodiest episode in Texas history. CORRECTION: Although the location of the Battle of Medina is not precisely known, it appears to have occurred further east than I describe it in this episode. Go listen to Season 2 for an extended attempt to rectify this error. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E10 · Tue, February 13, 2018
The First Republic of Texas
In 1813, San Antonians declared their independence from Spain. The 1813 Texas Declaration of Independence and the 1813 Texas Constitution show San Antonians drawing from both Hispanic and Anglo legal traditions to develop their own political ideology, shaped by and tailored to the hard realities of the Texas frontier. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E9 · Tue, February 06, 2018
San Antonio Revolts
The first decade of the 19th century brought more tumult to San Antonio than she had experienced in the entire century before. The missions were shuttered, a menacing new neighbor arrived on Texas's Eastern border, and a civil war erupted in town between republican and royalist factions, as San Antonio took on a tragically leading role in Mexico's War of Independence. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E8 · Tue, January 30, 2018
San Antonio Strong
In 1790, San Antonians finally won peace along the frontier from their old foes: the Apaches and the Comanches...though at a terrible cost. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E7 · Tue, January 23, 2018
The Capital of Texas
When San Antonio became the capital of Texas in 1772, it was a recognition in law of something that was already true in fact. The new concentration of resources on the town and the opening of new lands led to a minor boom, particularly in the cattle business, which immediately ran afoul of Spanish royal authorities and their inflexible mercantile system. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E6 · Tue, January 16, 2018
The Comanches
The Apaches just used horses...the Comanches were horseMEN. Had they lived in a different time and place, you might have sworn that they were the inspiration for the legend of the Centaur. And in 1759, San Antonians launched an expedition 400 miles into their territory... www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E5 · Sun, January 07, 2018
The Apaches
After thirty years of constant harassment by the Apaches, San Antonians did what few other frontier peoples ever could: beat them and force them to seek peace. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E4 · Fri, January 05, 2018
Building San Antonio
During the fifty year period beginning in 1718 and ending around 1768, Spanish friars and Native American converts moved nearly 1 million metric tons of limestone around the San Antonio River valley and erected the UNESCO World Heritage San Antonio Missions, using only crude hand tools and native ingenuity. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E3 · Thu, January 04, 2018
The Canary Islanders
When sixteen Canary Island families arrived in San Antonio in March of 1731, they quickly made an impression on the small town. Their first fourteen years in San Antonio would be marked by political conflict, as they formed the first civic government and used their political savvy to advance their vision for their new home. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E2 · Wed, January 03, 2018
Missionary San Antonio
Between 1718 and 1731, San Antonio would grow to almost 300 "vecinos," thanks to the establishment of four new missions and the "entrepreneurialism" of the soldiers stationed there, who defied Spanish import restrictions to blaze the first trade routes between Spanish Texas and Eastern North America. www.BrandonSeale.com
S1 E1 · Tue, January 02, 2018
Founding San Antonio
On June 13, 1691, Spanish explorers gave a name to the spring-fed river whose banks they crossed on that feast day of St. Anthony de Padua - San Antonio. It would take twenty-seven more years of political intrigue, religious zeal, and French incursions before they would be able to plant a permanent settlement there, seeding it with a hardy mix of soldiers, missionaries, and frontiersmen. www.BrandonSeale.com
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