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Brigadier General Valentín Canalizo,[9] and certain dissatisfied individuals around Nacogdoches, including Vicente Córdova, once prominent in the affairs of the town, Juan José Rodríquez, Juan Santos Coy, J. Vicente Micheli, Carlos Morales, Antonio Corda, Nathaniel Norris, Joshua Robertson, José Arriola, and others. In Texas history this intrigue came to be known as the Córdova incident or rebellion. The Mexican military commanders sought to stir up the discontented Mexicans around Nacogdoches, as well as Caddoes, Seminoles, Shawnees, Delawares, Biloxes, Cherokees, Choctaws, Alabamas, Kickapoos, Brazos, Tahuacanos, and other Indians to war on the Texans, causing them perpetual alarm and uneasiness. By rapid and well coordinated movements the Indians were to prevent the Texans from uniting in any large number; and, if not daily burning their homes, injuring their crops, livestock, and commerce, at least to prevent them from taking advantage of the troubles in Mexico. "This position," declared Canalizo, who had been defeated by the Federalists at Tampico on November 30, 1838, "is the most favorable for the friendly Indians (as well as for the friendly Mexicans) in order that they shall have the enemy out in front only, keeping a friendly and generous nation as Mexico in the rear."[10] Tell the friendly Indians, he continued (early in 1839), 9. Valentín Canalizo was born at Monterey about 1797; became a cadet in the Infantry Regiment of Celaya on August 31, 1811; joined the independence movement under Iturbide in 1820; and, after serving with credit in various engagements on the conservative or Centralist side, was, for his share in the death of Guerrero, promoted to the rank of general and the command of Oajaca. He succeeded General Filisola as commandant of the northern frontier in February 1839. Late in July 1840, Canalizo turned his command over to General Pedro de Ampudia, who commanded at Matamoros ad interim, pending the arrival of General Mariano Arista. In 1841 Canalizo was promoted to general of a division and subsequently played a conspicuous part in the pronunciamiento against Congress. Alberto M. Carreño (ed.), Jefes del ejército mexicano en 1847: biografías de generales de division y de brigada y de coroneles del ejército mexicano por fines del ano de 1847, pp. 38-40; Boletín del Gobierno (Mexico City), July 24, 1840; Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Mexico, V, 258 n, 272-277. 10. Valentín Canalizo to Vicente Córdova, Feb. 27, 1839, Domestic Correspondence (Texas), 1836-1846, ms. copy (translated); also quoted in H. Yoakum, History of Texas from its First Settlement in 1685 to Its Annexation to the United States in 1846, II, 258-259; see also Valentín Canalizo to Manuel Flores, Matamoros, Feb. 27, 1839, Army Papers (Texas), ms. copy (translated); United States Congress, Senate Executive Documents, 32 Cong., 2d sess., vol. III, no. 14, pp. 31-32; State Department [Texas], Department of State Letterbook, Nov. 1836-Dec. 1841, pp. 110-114, contains correspondence of Canalizo, Córdova, Flores, Juan de la Garza, Juan Baptista Soto, and Filisola. |