José María Jesús Carbajal

José María Jesús Carbajal (1809–1874) (also spelled Carvajal, Caravajal, Carabajal, and Carbahal) was a Tejano who was rejected by the Anglos after the Battle of San Jacinto and had to leave Texas. He then became a Mexican revolutionary, who opposed the Centralist government installed by Antonio López de Santa Anna. Carbajal was a direct descendant of Andres Hernandez and Juana de Hoyos (1709-?) (m.1729) of the settling Spanish soldier's founders of Villa de Bejar in 1718 and Canary Islands settlers who immigrated to San Antonio, Texas in the 18th Century. As a teenager in San Antonio, he was mentored by Stephen F. Austin and came under the spiritual guidance of Alexander Campbell while attending school in Virginia. He was a surveyor by trade and a politician as a result of historical events. Carbajal married into the influential De Leon family of Victoria, Texas. He called himself "a true Mexican" whose allegiance lay with the people of Mexico. He turned his back on the Republic of Texas after his land and that of many other Tejanos were confiscated by the liberal Rebels. He moved to Mexico, where he conducted guerrilla warfare against Mexican military forces. Carbajal was active in the establishment of the Republic of the Rio Grande and made an unsuccessful attempt at establishing the break-away Republic of Sierra Madre. Indicted twice in the United States for his activities, Carbajal was never convicted in a court of law. He was an early supporter of Benito Juárez and was appointed the military governor of Tamaulipas.