Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras

Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras, also known as the Álamo de Parras Company, were Spanish lancers from San José y Santiago del Álamo in Coahuila. Their 1803 occupation of the San Antonio de Valero Mission is reputed to be the reason the mission was renamed "the Alamo." The compañía volante (flying company) were mounted militiamen active during the Viceroyalty of New Spain's occupation of Tejas (Texas).^[1] During the occupation, a military hospital was established and the mission's structure was expanded to facilitate its function as a military fortification.

Painting of three soldiers in the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras

The company surrendered their command of the mission during the 1813 Magee-Gutiérrez Expedition. Commandant Vizente Tarin left the company and joined Tejano federalists,^{[FN 1]} in their fight for independence, fighting at the Battle of Medina. His son, Manuel Antonio Santiago Tarín, in later years enlisted in Juan Seguín's Tejano company and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto.^[3]

In 1830, the company under José Francisco Ruiz, built Fort Tenoxtitlán in Burleson County. The Álamo de Parras Company served as reinforcements for Martín Perfecto de Cos during the Siege of Béxar.^[4]

Notes

Footnotes

1. In 19th century Mexico, Federalism was the empowerment of local governments, while Centralism sought to eliminate local political power and give it all to the national government.^[2]

Citations

1. Poyo 1996, p. 50, Efficient in the Cause (Stephen L. Hardin).
2. Todish, Todish & Spring 1998, pp. 2, 4, 6.
3. MacDonald 2009, pp. 260–262.
4. Tarín, Randell G. "Second Flying Company of San Carlos". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. from the original on 6 January 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2014.

References

• MacDonald, L. Lloyd (2009). Tejanos in the 1835 Texas Revolution. Pelican Publishing. ISBN 9781589806382.
• Poyo, Gerald Eugene (1996). Tejano Journey, 1770–1850. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292765702.
• Todish, Timothy J.; Todish, Terry; Spring, Ted (1998). Alamo Sourcebook, 1836: A Comprehensive Guide to the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution. Austin, TX: Eakin Press. ISBN 9781571681522.