Tampico Expedition

The "Battle of Tampico" was fought November 15, 1835, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Gregorio Gómez and the Mexican Centralist garrison engaged Gen. José Antonio Mexía and 150 American volunteers. This was part of an uprising against General Santa Anna, and its outcome affected the future of the Texas War of Independence.

After the Mexican Congress elected General Santa Anna as President of Mexico in 1833, he appointed Valentín Gómez Farías as his vice president and turned over much of the governing of Mexico to him. However, the Vice President began implementing liberal reforms, particularly impacting the Mexican Army and the Catholic Church. These reforms angered the powerful conservative forces, who urged Santa Anna to abandon his semi-retirement. Santa Anna agreed and led the reaction against liberalization, forcing Gómez Farías and his Federalist supporters to flee into exile in the United States.

When the revolt began in October 1835, a majority of the Texas colonists remained loyal to Mexico. "The Consultation", a meeting at San Felipe de Austin on November 7, 1835 resulted in a statement that the colonists were defending the republican principles of the Mexican Constitution of 1824. This statement emboldened Santa Anna's exiled opponents in the United States. Mexican General José Antonio Mexía and several other political opponents of Santa Anna's opponents fled to New Orleans, USA where they planned to resist the Centralist government. Mexia declared that capturing Tampico, Mexico would be a fatal stroke against that government.

In October 1835, Mexía raised a military force in New Orleans for the purpose of supporting Federalist opposition thought to be present in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. On October 29, Mexia reported to Texian leaders that he had commissioned the armed schooner Mary Jane, to transport his expedition with a 12-pound cannonade and two eight-pound cannon. He added that there was a crew of fifty men, armed and provisioned for three months, plus 150 men ready for service on land. A subsequent report stated that the expedition contained a company of grenadiers with 52 men, a 42-man company of sharpshooters, 33 French and Creole volunteers known as the Company of Liberty and a marine corps consisting of 15 men. The latter included a captain, eight seamen, a first mate, a second mate, two cooks and two stewards.

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