Mier expedition
1842 CE
The Mier expedition is an unsuccessful military operation launched in November 1842 by a Texian militia against Mexican border settlements; it is related to the Somervell expedition.
It includesa major battle at Ciudad Mier on December 26 and 27, 1842, which the Mexicans win.
The Texian attack is launched partly in hopes of financial gain and partly in retaliation for the Dawson Massacre (as named by Texans) earlier that year, in which thirty-six Texas militia had been killed by the Mexican Army
Both conflicts are part of continuing efforts by each side to control the land between the Rio Grande and Nueces River.
The Republic of Texas believes that this territory had been ceded to it in the Treaties of Velasco, by which they gained independence; but Mexico does not agree.
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The Somervell Expedition recaptures Laredo on December 7, 1842; then, with a reduced force of five hundred, takes the Mexican town of Guerrero.
Lacking serious backing for the expedition from the Republic of Texas, Somervell orders his men to disband and return home on December 19, 1842.
Five captains and their men disobey, initiating the privateering Mier Expedition.
More men are gathered at La Grange.
They continue the march to Ciudad Mier under the command of William S. Fisher.
They camp on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
Seven hundred soldiers participate in the capture of the town, while the others remain behind as the camp guard.
The Texans are unaware that three thousand Mexican troops are in the area under the command of generals Francisco Mexia and Pedro de Ampudia.
In the Battle of Mier that results, the Texians are outnumbered ten to one.
They inflict heavy casualties on the Mexicans—six hundred and fifty dead and two hundred wounded—but they are forced to surrender on December 26.
The Mexicans took 243 Texans as prisoner and marched them toward Mexico City via Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Monterrey, Nuevo León
The Texian prisoners reach Saltillo, Coahuila, to learn that an outraged Santa Anna had ordered all the escapees to be executed, but General and Governor Francisco Mexía of the state of Coahuila had refused to follow the order.
The new commander, Colonel Domingo Huerta, moves the prisoners to El Rancho Salado.
By this time, diplomatic efforts on behalf of Texas by the foreign ministers of the United States and Great Britain have led Santa Anna to compromise: he says one in ten of the prisoners will be killed.
Officers and enlisted men, in alphabetical order, are blindfolded and ordered to draw beans.
The seventeen men who draw black beans are allowed to write letters home before being executed by firing squad on March 25, 1843.