A New History of Old Texas

Episode 7 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande. 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....

Episode 6 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande. 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 Selected Bibliography Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835  (1998). Casa Blanca Articles of Conven...

Episode 5 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande. 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 centra...

Episode 4 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande. 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. Selected Bibliography Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico...

Episode 1 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande. 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 "mu...

Episode 2 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande. 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 our "Finding Medina" series) was just getting his start as a revolutionary. Photo: Plains Warrior in Blue, Friedrich Richa...

Episode 3 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande. 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. Selected Bibliography Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835  (1998). Casa Blanca Articles of Conve...

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...

Episode 25 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez 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: &quo...

Episode 24 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 Ame...

Episode 23 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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, Wik...

Episode 22 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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...

Episode 21 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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). C...

Episode 20 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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...

Episode 19 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 a...

Episode 18 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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...

Episode 17 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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: Illustrat...

Episode 16 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 Caroly...

Episode 15 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 Rese...

Episode 14 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 (19...

Episode 13 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 Doming...

Episode 12 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 DeG...

Episode 11 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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...

Episode 10 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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 ar...

Episode 9 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. 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). C...