The next band of adventurers found Nacogdoches in a very different
temper. In 1810 the Mexicans rebelled against the government of Spain,
and Nacogdoches lost no time in assisting in the formation of the
Magee-Gutierrez expedition, under the leadership of Lieut. Augustus
Magee, who resigned his position in the United States garrison at Fort
Jesup to take command of the American and Mexican forces in their effort
to throw off the yoke of Spain.
It is said that every able-bodied man east of the Trinity river joined
in this expedition. For a time it prospered, and by 1813 had
successfully driven the Spanish military forces from Eastern Texas and
pursued them to San Antonio, where Governor Manuel Salcedo and most of
the high Spanish officials there were butchered.
One of the interesting incidents of this expedition, to the whole
province as well as to Nacogdoches, was the publication of two
newspapers here, the first ventures of their kind in Texas; the first of
these, “The Gazette,” appeared in May, 1813, while the second, “El
Mejicano,” was published the following month.
Vengeance of Spain was swift, and the Spanish army sent into Texas swept
the inhabitants of Nacogdoches beyond the Sabine and into American
territory, where they remained until 1818-20. Erasmo Seguin was sent by
the new government of Mexico in 1821 to Nacogdoches to invite the old
settlers back to their former homes, as well as to welcome Stephen F.
Austin to Texas.