Rogue Soldiers: The Disaster of the Texas Mier Expedition

Among the greatest of tragedies of the American frontier-the Donner Party, the Alamo, Wounded Knee-a little known but no less tragic event was the Texas Mier Expedition. Originally part of a 1,200-man invasion to retaliate against Mexican incursions on Texas soil in 1842, the Expedition unfolded when several hundred fighters stubbornly defied President Sam Houston’s orders to disband and return home at once. Fiercely independent and recently reorganized under new leadership, this motley mix of Texas volunteers and militia turned south and proceeded to invade Mexico, determined to avenge past humiliations at the hands of Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Drawing from over a dozen first-hand accounts, the author extracts this exciting narrative recounting in compelling detail the pathos of these fighting men–from the blood-soaked Battlefields of Mier and the subsequent surrender to their harrowing 1,300-mile forced march to Perote Prison. It was a march of attrition during which many Texans were executed or died from exposure, disease, or starvation. Once in Perote, they were forced to sleep on stone floors in chains and put to hard labor. Of the original three hundred and eight members of the rogue expedition who survived, only half eventually left the prison alive. After two years in captivity, the prisoners were finally released only to be ignored and forgotten by their own countrymen upon their return home.