This long-forgotten eyewitness account of the Texas Revolution 
has been translated into English for the first time. Gen. Vicente 
Filisola was second in command of the Mexican army in Texas 
during the Revolution. After the defeat of Gen. Antonio López de 
Santa Anna by Sam Houston's Texans at San Jacinto, Filisola 
became commander-in-chief of the 4,000 Mexican soldiers that 
remained in Texas. The Mexican army eventually retreated to 
Matamoros, Mexico, and Filisola became the scapegoat for all 
that went wrong in the campaign in Texas. His chief accuser in 
this disastrous action was Gen. Jose Cosme Urrea, commander 
of one of the Mexican divisions in the campaign.
 
    In 1838 Urrea published a book he entitled The Military Diary 
of General Jose Urrea. Filisola published his ultracritical 
analysis of Urrea's diary that same year. Totally focusing on the 
actions of the Mexican army, and especially Urrea's division, 
Filisola critiques Urrea's every move, from his advance into Texas 
until the disastrous and humiliating trip back to Matamoros in May 
and June 1836.

    The true jewels of this work are the multiple details that Filisola 
gives in making his verbose case against General Urrea—from 
descriptions of Goliad, Victoria, and Madam Powell's to 
interesting comments on the Deleons, Phillip Dimmitt, and José 
María Carbajal. After reading this fascinating account of the 
Mexican army in Texas the reader may well need to reevaluate his 
opinions of the Mexican army's generals. In spite of the fact that 
the work is extremely biased and at times blatantly unfair, Filisola 
does make valid points that at least make one wonder if Urrea 
deserves the high respect that has been generally accorded him 
by Texan scholars.

_________________________________________________________

GREGG J. DIMMICK is a pediatrician with the South Texas 
Medical Clinics in Wharton, Texas, and is the author of Sea of 
Mud: The Retreat of the Mexican Army after San Jacinto, An 
Archeological Investigation. JOHN WHEAT, archives translator at 
the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, 
is the translator of numerous historically significant documents of 
borderlands history including Almonte's Texas: Juan N. Almonte's 
1834 Inspection, Secret Report, and Role in the 1836 Campaign.


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