Fernando De León (1798–1853) was a co-founder of

Victoria, Texas Victoria is a city and the county seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria, Texas metropolitan area, Victoria Metropolitan Statis ...

, and the first commissioner and colonization manager of

De León's Colony De León's Colony was established in 1824 in the northern Coahuila y Tejas state of the First Mexican Republic, by empresario Martín De León. It was the only ethnically Mexican colony founded during the Mexican period (1824-1835) that is locate ...

. He fought against

Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. often known as Santa Anna, wa ...

. De León was an aide-de-camp to provisional Texas governor James W. Robinson. In the war's confusion about Mexican loyalties, De León was first incarcerated by the Mexican army, only to be released and be incarcerated by the Texas army. When his brother Silvestre was murdered, he adopted Silvestre's sons. After the war, he legally recovered of his land that had been redistributed to Texans.

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Recorded Texas Historic Landmark (RTHL) is a designation awarded by the Texas Historical Commission for historically and architecturally significant properties in the U.S. state of Texas. RTHL is a legal designation and the highest honor the st ...

number 6541 placed at Evergreen Cemetery in 1972 acknowledges Fernando De León's contribution to Texas.

Early life

Fernando De León was born in 1798 in Cruillas, Nuevo Santander (

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...

), the first-born child of

empresario An empresario () was a person who had been granted the right to settle on land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for settling the eastern areas of Coahuila y Tejas in the early nineteenth century. Since ''empresarios'' attract ...

Martín De León Martín De León (1765–1833) was a rancher and wealthy Mexican empresario in Texas who was descended from Spanish aristocracy. He was the patriarch of one of the prominent founding families of early Texas. De León and his wife Patricia de l ...

and his wife

Patricia de la Garza De León Patricia de la Garza De León (1775–1849) was the matriarch of one of the prominent founding families of early Texas. Doña Patricia raised ten children, some of whom helped change the course of history. At age 49, she uprooted her life in 1824 t ...

Texas

De León's Colony

On April 13, 1824, the Mexican government approved a contract allowing Martín De León to settle forty-one Mexican families on the lower Guadalupe River.

Coahuila y Tejas Coahuila y Tejas, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila y Tejas (), was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution. It had two capitals: first Saltillo (1822–1825) f ...

appointed Fernando the first commissioner and colonization manager of De León's Colony. He employed

Plácido Benavides Plácido Benavides (1810–1837) was an early Mexican-born settler in De Leon's Colony, Victoria County, Texas. Benavides earned himself the sobriquet of the Paul Revere of Texas for his 1836 journey from San Patricio to Goliad to Victoria, warn ...

as his secretary. Martín De León died in the 1833 cholera epidemic, and Fernando took over the role and responsibilities of his father. He established his Rancho Escondido seven miles north of town.

War against Santa Anna

When

revoked the

1824 Constitution of Mexico The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 () was the first constitution of Mexico, enacted on October 4 of 1824, inaugurating the First Mexican Republic. Background During the Mexican War of Independence, the liberal domin ...

and installed his own political machine in 1833, many

Tejano Tejanos ( , ) are descendants of Texas Creoles and Mestizos who settled in Texas before its admission as an American state. The term is also sometimes applied to Texans of Mexican descent. Etymology The word ''Tejano'', with a ''J'' instead ...

s were opposed to the regime. When Stephen F. Austin issued an 1835 appeal for arms to equip the Texans in the war against Santa Anna, Fernando De León, his brother-in-law

José María Jesús Carbajal José María Jesús Carbajal (1809–1874) (also spelled Carvajal, Caravajal, Carabajal, and Carbahal) was a Mexican Tejano who opposed the Centralist government installed by Antonio López de Santa Anna, but was a conscientious objector who refus ...

and Peter Kerr, began to run livestock to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

to trade for munitions. During a pursuit by the Mexican warship ''Bravo'' on the return trip with the purchased equipment, the crew was forced to dump the cargo into the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. The crew of the ''Bravo'' boarded the ''Hannah Elizabeth'', taking several prisoners. Carbajal and De León were incarcerated at

Brazos Santiago Brazos Island, also known as Brazos Santiago Island, is a barrier island on the Gulf Coast of Texas in the United States, south of the town of South Padre Island. The island is located in Cameron County. Brazos Santiago Pass partitions the b ...

, but Kerr was set free. Fernando De León was released with payment of a bribe. Carbajal was transferred to

Matamoros, Tamaulipas Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and the municipal seat of the homonymous municipality. It is on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Bro ...

, with an intended transfer for imprisonment at San Juan de Ulloa. Plácido Benavides bribed the guards at Matamoros to effect an escape for Carbajal, who afterwards returned to Victoria. The three men were never recompensed for their loss.

Aide-de-camp to Governor Robinson

In February 1836, De León was appointed as aide-de-camp to provisional Texas governor James W. Robinson. He was put in charge of the local militia. In March, following the Battle of Coleto, Mexican General José de Urrea seized Victoria and arrested De León. Urrea forced De León to disclose all hidden supplies and horses. Even though he had the information he wanted, Urrea kept De León imprisoned. De León was freed when Urrea departed Victoria, only to be arrested as a traitor by Texas Brigadier General Thomas Jefferson Rusk. In July 1836, General Rusk forced the Carbajal, Benavides and De León families to leave Victoria. They evacuated to New Orleans, leaving behind all their possessions. De León returned about 1844 to reclaim the family property, but did not become head of the De León clan. Leadership of the De León family rested with matriarch Patricia de la Garza De León. Fernando De León did, however, manage to regain of his property.Chance (2006) p.43

Personal life

De León married María Antonia Galván before the start of the De León Colony. The couple had one son who died in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. He remarried to Luz Escalera. When his brother

Silvestre De León Silvestre De León (1802–1842) was the second son born to the influential De León family in Victoria, Texas. He became the third alcalde of Victoria. De León joined his brother-in-law Plácido Benavides to fight with Stephen F. Austin at th ...

was murdered, he adopted Silvestre's sons Martin and Francisco.

Death

Fernando De León died at his home in Rancho Escondido in 1853. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Victoria, Texas.