Battle of Medina

Battle of Medina
Part of the Mexican War of Independence
Date August 18, 1813 Location Medina River Valley, Texas Result decisive Royalist victory
Belligerents
Royalist army	Republican Army of the North American filibusters
Commanders and leaders
General Joaquín de Arredondo Ignacio Elizondo	General José Álvarez de Toledo y Dubois Henry Perry
Strength
about 1830	about 1400 irregulars
Casualties and losses
55 dead	1300 dead

The Battle of Medina was fought approximately 20 miles south of San Antonio de Bexar (modern-day downtown San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas) on August 18, 1813, as part of the Mexican War of Independence against Spanish authority in Mexico. Spanish troops led by General José Joaquín de Arredondo defeated republican forces (calling themselves the Republican Army of the North), consisting of Tejano-Mexican and Tejano-American revolutionaries participating in the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition, under General José Álvarez de Toledo y Dubois. It was the deadliest battle in Texas History.

Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara took up the effort to free Texas from Spain. Colonel Gutiérrez visited Washington, D.C., gaining some support for his plans. In 1812, Colonel Augustus Magee, who as a lieutenant had commanded U.S. Army troops guarding the border of the Neutral Ground and Spanish Texas, resigned his commission and formed the Republican Army of the North to aid the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition. The army flew a solid emerald green flag, thought to have been introduced by Colonel Magee, who was of Scots-Irish descent.

Nacogdoches was taken on August 12, 1812, with little opposition, and on November 7, 1812, the Republican Army of the North marched into what is present-day Goliad, where they took the Presidio La Bahía. The Spanish Army soon confronted them, beginning a four-month siege. While at La Bahia, however, Colonel Magee died (February 6, 1813). After numerous battles and heavy losses, the Spanish lifted the siege and returned to San Antonio de Bexar.

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