Haden Edwards (August 12, 1771 – August 14, 1849) was a Texas settler.

Edwards County, Texas Edwards County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census its population was 1,422. The county seat is Rocksprings. The county was created in 1858 and organized in 1883. It is named for H ...

on the

Edwards Plateau The Edwards Plateau is a geographic region forming the crossroads of Central, South and West Texas, United States. It is named in honor of Haden Edwards. It is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east; the Llano Uplift and the Lla ...

is named for him. In 1825, Edwards received a land grant from the

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republ ...

, allowing him to settle families in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

. His grant included the city of

Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Stephen F. Austin State University is located in Nacogdoches and specia ...

, and Edwards soon angered many of the previous settlers. After his contract was revoked in 1826, Edwards and his brother declared the colony to be the

Republic of Fredonia Fredonia may refer to: Places Colombia * Fredonia, Antioquia, a town and municipality United States * Fredonia, Alabama, a town * Fredonia, Arizona, a town * Fredonia (Biscoe), Arkansas, a city * Fredonia, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...

. He was forced to flee Mexico when the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...

arrived to put down the rebellion, and did not return until after the

Texas Revolution The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the Centralist Republic of Mexico, centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of ...

had broken out.

Early life

Born

Mexican Texas Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its Mexican War of Independence, war against Spain, whi ...

to American immigration, Edwards traveled to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, where he joined forces with Stephen F. Austin, among others, in a 3-year attempt to persuade various Mexican governments to pass a law to allow Americans to settle in Texas. In 1824 the Mexican federal government passed a

General Colonization Law The Colonization Law of August 18, 1824 was a Mexican statute allowing foreigners to immigrate to the country. Background Under Spanish rule, New Spain was populated almost solely with native peoples or Spanish settlers. Foreign immigration was fo ...

, which for the first time permitted immigration into Texas. Under the terms of the law, each state would set its own requirements for immigration. Despite his abrasive attitude, Edwards was granted a colonization contract on April 14. The contract allowed him to settle 800 families in East Texas. It contained standard language requiring Edwards to recognize all pre-existing Spanish and Mexican land titles in his grant area, to raise a militia to protect the settlers in the area, and to allow the state land commissioner to certify all deeds that Edwards would award.Ericson (2000), p. 37.Davis (2006), p. 70. Edwards colony encompassed the land in the

Navasota River The Navasota River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. It is about 125 miles (201 km) long, beginning near Mount Calm and flowing south into the Brazos River at a point where Brazos, Grimes, and Washington counties converge.''Merriam-We ...

to 20 leagues west of the Sabine River, and from 20 leagues north of the Gulf of Mexico to 15 leagues north of the town of Nacogdoches. To the west and north of the colony were lands controlled by several native tribes which had recently been driven out of the United States. The southern boundary was a colony belonging to Stephen F. Austin, the first ''

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 ...

'' in Texas; he had received special permission to establish his colony several years previously. East of Edwards's grant was the former

Sabine Free State The Neutral Ground (also known as the Neutral Strip, the Neutral Territory, and the No Man's Land of Louisiana; sometimes anachronistically referred to as the Sabine Free State) was a disputed area between Spanish Texas and the United States' ne ...

, an area which had been essentially lawless for several decades.Ericson (2000), p. 36.

Life as an empresario

Edwards arrived in Nacogdoches in August 1825. Under the mistaken belief that he was authorized to determine the validity of pre-existing land deeds,Ericson (2000), p. 38. in September, Edwards posted notices alerting all residents that they must provide written proof of their ownership or their land would be forfeited and sold at auction.Ericson (2000), p. 38. None of the English-speaking residents had valid titles; those who had not arrived as filibusters had been duped by land speculators.Samora ''et al'' (1993), p. 79. Most of the Spanish-speaking landowners were unable to find documentation that their families might have received 70 or more years previously. Edwards's goal was to remove many of the less-prosperous settlers and assign their lands to wealthy planters from the southern United States. A wealthy planter himself, Edwards scorned the residents who were poorer or of a different race than himself. Anticipating that there might be conflict between the new empresario and the long-time residents of the area, municipality acting ''alcalde'' Luis Procela and the municipality clerk, Jose Antonio Sepulveda, a member of the Sepúlveda family, began validating old Spanish and Mexican land titles. Edwards accused the men of forging deeds. It is likely that both Edwards and the municipality authorities were in the wrong; the state land commissioner had been given authority to validate existing land titles.Ericson (2000), pp. 38–39. The settlers protested to Political Chief Saucedo. In June 1826, Mexican President

Guadalupe Victoria Guadalupe Victoria (; 29 September 178621 March 1843), born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, was a Mexican general and politician who fought for independence against the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence and afte ...

annulled Edward’s contract and expelled him from Mexico. Word traveled slowly. On November 22, 1826, thirty-six armed men who supported Edwards, arrested the anti-Edwards

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

Samuel Norris and other officials. The party then arrested Jose Antonio Sepulveda, the commander of Nacogdoches’ tiny Mexican

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

Mexican Response

On December 16, 1826 the rebels rode into Nacogdoches and raised a flag of independence. On December 21, 1826, Edwards signed a document declaring the

, which would comprise land from the Sabine River to the Rio Grande. On December 13, 1826, Mexican Colonel Mateo Ahumada and Saucedo moved against the Texas rebels. Austin rallied the other colonists against Edwards and his attempt at open rebellion. Austin offered to negotiate with Edwards, but he refused. On January 22, 1827, Colonel Ahumada moved towards Nacogdoches. All was not going well inside the Edwards camp either. There was internal fighting and the rebellion weakened. With the advancing Mexican and Anglo troops Edwards fled to Louisiana for safety on January 28, 1827. He returned to Texas during the

, participated in the

battle of Nacogdoches A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

in 1832 and made his home in Nacogdoches until his death on August 14, 1849.

References

Sources

* originally published 2004 by New York: Free Press * *

External links

Edwards, Haden
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Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...