Jose Enrique de la Peña (1807 – 1841 or 1842) was a colonel in the Mexican Army. Under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, de la Peña participated in the Battle of the Alamo. In 1955 a book purporting to be his memoirs of the battle was published. The book claimed that David Crockett surrendered during the battle of the Alamo and was later executed. Historians disagree on whether the memoirs are accurate.

Life

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,^[1] 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.^[2] Later that year, de la Peña travelled to Veracruz to report for sea duty. During his journey he met Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the commander of the state of Vera Cruz.^[3] De la Peña received Santa Anna's permission to remain in Jalapa rather than continue on to Veracruz.^[2] Under Santa Anna's command, he participated in the battle of Tampico, which drove Spanish invaders from Mexico.^[3]

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".^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[3]

When Santa Anna assumed power in 1833 de la Peña requested a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Mexican Army. He was granted a post as captain of a cavalry unit.^[3] In May 1833 he was assigned to a legation in London. Although he had requested such assignments for seven years,^[4] de la Peña did not wish to travel to London, whose climate and language he disliked.^[5] After unsuccessful attempts to be change his asssignment to France, de la Peña withdrew his request and instead asked to become a part of the Federal Division of the President.^[4][6] He was transferred to the Federal Division in December 1833, but in May 1834 he requested to be assigned to the Mexican Legation in the United States; this request was denied.^[3]

By the onset of the Texas Revolution in October 1835, de la Peña had been demoted to lieutenant and was a staff officer for the elite Zapadores Battalion. However, when the Mexican Army of Operations marched into Texas to subdue the revolution in January 1836, de la Peña was serving as an aide for Colonel Francisco Duque of the Toluca Battalion. The Toluca Battalion joined the rest of Santa Anna's army in San Antonio on March 4, 1836, eleven days after the siege of the Texas garrison in the Alamo Mission had begun. Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo in the early hours of March 6.^[3] Duque was assigned to lead one of the four assault columns, and he requested that de la Peña accompany him. De la Peña remained at the front until Duque fell wounded and then returned to the rear to find General Manuel Fernández Castrillón, second-in-command of that column. At least twice more de la Peña returned to the front lines to accept or deliver messages. His only wound was a serious bruise.^[7] After the Battle of the Alamo, de la Peña saw no further action.^[3]

After Santa Anna was captured at the Battle of San Jacinto, de la Peña retreated with the rest of the Mexican army back to Mexico, arriving in Matamoros on June 6, 1836.^[7] The Zapadores Battalion had an unfilled slot for a captain, and de la Peña was soon promoted to take that position. For the next few months de la Peña requested letters of commendation from other officers for his actions during the Texas campaigns, receiving ones from Lieutenant Colonel Ampudia, Duque, Lieutenant Colonal Amat, and even from General Jose de Urrea, who had not been part of the battle of the Alamo.^[8]

In December 1836 de la Peña was in Mexico City, where he testified in the inquiry into the actions of General Vicente Filisola during the army's retreat from Texas.^[3] During this time, de la Peña wrote a newspaper articles criticizing Filisola, which he signed "An Admirer of Texas". Filisola knew that de la Peña had authored the article and the following week published a counterattack, referring to de la Peña as "Peñita". De la Peña then published a very long article defending himself and further criticizing Filisola. His letters of commendation were published in conjunction with the article.^[8] The articles also mentioned that de la Peña had kept a diary during his time in Texas.^[3]

De la Peña was promoted to lieutenant colonel by April 1837. That month, he was sent to Sonora, where he served under General Urrea.^[3] On January 7, 1838, de la Peña published a "fiery proclamation" exhorting his garrison in the District of Baroyecca to support liberty and Urrea.^[8] The following week he issued a similar proclamation, published in El Cosmopolita in the town of Los Alamos.^[9] De la Peña joined Urrea in an uprising to overthrow Santa Anna and restore the Constitution of 1824. He was arrested and imprisoned at Guadalajara before being dishonorably discharged in 1839. He died in either 1840 or 1841. ^[3]

Alamo memoirs

While in prison, de la Peña wrote an article about some of his experiences fighting in Texas.^[3]

If those in the cultured countries name us savages and assassins, none more than general Santa Anna has given an occasion to this. In the Alamo he ordered the murder of a few unfortunates who had survived the catastrophe, and whom general Castrillón presented imploring his mercy. Among those had been a man who pertained to the natural sciences, whose love of it had conducted him to Texas, and who locked himself up in the Alamo not believing it safe by his quality of foreigner, when general Santa Anna surprised [San Antonio].^[9]

This article contained de la Peña's first mention of the execution of Texian survivors at the Alamo, but did not mention names of any of those executed and did not claim that de la Peña was an eyewitness.^[3] The article was never published and the original copies have been lost. Although a reprint survives, because of the lack of publication it is difficult to determine the authenticity of the documents.^[3]

In 1955 Jesús Sanchez Garza published a book called La Rebelion de Texas—Manuscrito Inedito de 1836 por un Ofical de Santa Anna purporting to be de la Peña's memoirs. Inedito means "unpublished" in Spanish, meaning that this was the first time the memoirs were publicly available. ^[10] Garza self-published the book, which included the diary, 40 pages of introductory material on de la Peña and an additional 90 pages of supporting documents, including the only known copy of the article de la Peña wrote from prison. The book had little impact on historical research into the Alamo as it had only a limited printing in Spanish in Mexico, and many researchers did not know it existed. ^[11] In 1975 the Texas A&M University Press published an English translation of the book, called With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution.^[10] The English publication caused a scandal within the United States as it asserted that Crockett did not die in battle:

Some seven men had survived the general carnage and, under the protection of General Castrillon, they were brought before Santa Anna. Among them was one of great stature, well proportioned, with regular features, in whose face there was the imprint of adversity, but in whom one also noticed a degree of resignation and nobility that did him honor. He was the naturalist David Crockett, well known in North America for his unusual adventures, who had undertaken to explore the country and who, finding himself in Bejar at the very moment of surprise, had taken refuge in the Alamo, fearing that his status as a foreigner might not be respected. Santa Anna answered Castrillon's intervention in Crockett's behalf with a gesture of indignation and, addressing himself to the sappers, the troops closest to him, ordered his execution. The commanders and officers were outraged at this action and did not support the order, hoping that once the fury of the moment had blown over these men would be spared; but several officers who were around the president and who, perhaps, had not been present during the moment of danger, became noteworthy by an infamous deed, surpassing the soldiers in cruelty. They thrust themselves forward, in order to flatter their commander, and with swords in hand, fell upon these unfortunate, defenseless men just as a tiger leaps upon his prey. Though tortured before they were killed, these unfortunates died without complaining and without humiliating themselves before their torturers. It was rumored that General Santa Anna was one of them; I will not bear witness to this, for, though present, I turned away horrified in order not to witness such a barbarous scene.

Historians disagree on whether any or all of the book has been faked.^[10][12] Because the original book was self-published, no editor or publisher ever vetted its authenticity.^[13] Garza never explained how he gained custody of the documents or where they were stored after de la Peña's death.^[14] It is now generally accepted that, although de la Peña may possibly have witnessed seven prisoners being executed, it is unlikely that he would have known who the men were by name. It is believed that he embellished by including Crockett, to make Santa Anna appear in a more negative manner due to Crockett's notoriety.^{citation needed}

Some historians, including Bill Groneman, found it suspicious that Garza's compilation was published in 1955, at the height of interest in Crockett and the Alamo caused by Walt Disney's television series about Crockett's life. Groneman also points out that the journals are made up of several different types of paper from several different paper manufacturers, all cut down to fit. ^[14] Historian Joseph Musso also questions the validity, also basing his suspicians on the timing of the diaries' release.

However, James Crisp, a history professor from North Carolina State University, has studied the papers and is convinced they are genuine. As to whether the content is accurate, however, there is little way of knowing. The claims made by de la Peña contradict the accounts given by Susannah Dickinson, widow of Alamo artillery officer Almaron Dickinson, who stated Crockett's body was seen by her lying near the chapel. Alamo survivor and witness Enrique Esparza, 8 years old at the time, stated that Crockett fell just after the Mexican Army breached the walls, in front of the chapel entrance.

In addition to this, in his book With Santa Anna in Texas, de la Peña gives a vivid and dramatic depiction of the death of William B. Travis. However, Travis was one of the first defenders to fall, this happening before the Mexicans breached the walls, and before sunrise, making it impossible for de la Peña to have seen it in the fashion he described. This description, which has definitely been proven false, calls into question his description of Crockett's death. It has been indicated that de la Peña possibly mistook another Alamo defender to be Travis, therefore not intentionally inventing the event he described, but instead simply naming the wrong man. Historian Joseph Musso also points out that regardless of whether the account by de la Peña of Crockett's death is accurate or not, it changes nothing, as neither depicts him as anything less than heroic.

According to historian Mary Deborah Petite, author of 1836 Facts about the Alamo & the Texas War for Independence, "every account of the Crockett surrender-execution story comes from an avowed antagonist (either on political or military grounds) of Santa Anna's. It is believed that many stories, such as the surrender and execution of Crockett, were created and spread in order to discredit Santa Anna and add to his role as villain".

The original manuscript, consisting of 200 loose pages, was auctioned in 1998 for $387,500. It now resides at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.^[15]

Notes

References

• Groneman, Bill (1999), Death of a Legend: The Myth and Mystery Surrounding the Death of Davy Crockett, Plano, TX: Republic of Texas Press, ISBN 9781556226885 
• Nofi, Albert A. (1992), The Alamo and the Texas War of Independence, September 30, 1835 to April 21, 1836: Heroes, Myths, and History, Conshohocken, PA: Combined Books, Inc., ISBN 0938289101 
• Todish, Timothy J.; Todish, Terry & Spring, Ted (1998), Alamo Sourcebook, 1836: A Comprehensive Guide to the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution, Austin, TX: Eakin Press, ISBN 9781571681522 

External links

• First Hand Alamo Accounts
• CNN, Journals Challenge Texas Legend
• Diary Excerpts of the death of Will Travis and Davey Crockett
• Diary Examinations
• Facts, Research, and Legends of the Alamo