José Enrique de la Peña

Jose Enrique de la Peña (1807–1840) was a colonel in the Mexican Army. Under General Antonio López de Santa Anna, de la Peña participated in the Battle of the Alamo.

In 1955, a book of his memoirs of the battle was published. The memoirs are controversial in that they said that Davy Crockett did not die fighting (as is the common belief), but instead surrendered (along with his Tennessee boys) during the battle of the Alamo and was later executed. Historians disagree on whether the memoirs are accurate.

De la Peña was born in Jalisco, Mexico in 1807. After training as a mining engineer, he entered the Mexican Navy in 1825, as a cadet first-class. Within two years he was promoted to second lieutenant, and in 1827 he requested an assignment as part of the Mexican Legation to a European country. The assignment was not granted. Between July and November 1828, he wrote a series of articles for El Sol. Published under the pseudonym "Lover of the Navy", the articles were highly critical of David Porter, the American-born commander of the Mexican navy. Later that year, de la Peña travelled to Veracruz to report for sea duty. During his journey he met Antonio López de Santa Anna, the commander of the state of Vera Cruz. De la Peña received Santa Anna's permission to remain in Jalapa rather than continue on to Veracruz. Under Santa Anna's command, he participated in the battle of Tampico, which drove Spanish invaders from Mexico.

In September 1829, de la Peña wrote several more articles critical of the Mexican navy. Rather than use a pseudonym, he signed the articles with his initials "JEP". At some point that year de la Peña was transferred into the service of General Melchor Múzquiz. Little is known of his life over the next several years. In 1830 he suffered from smallpox. The following year he attended military college to study arithmetic, algebra, speculative geometry and plane trigonometry. After completing his studies, in October 1831 he was ordered to accompany students to Acapulco for shipboard duty. He did not follow the order, later explaining that he was ill. By the end of the year he reported for duty on the corvette Morales.

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