Editing Martín Perfecto de Cos

{{short description|General of the Mexican Army}}{{Infobox military person
| name          = Martín Perfecto de Cos
| image         = Martin perfecto de cos.jpg
| birth_date    = 1800
| death_date    = October 1, 1854 (aged 55–56)
| birth_place   = [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]], [[New Spain]]
| death_place   = [[Minatitlán, Veracruz|Minatitlán]], [[Second Federal Republic of Mexico|Mexico]]
| allegiance    = {{flag|Second Federal Republic of Mexico|name=Mexico}}
| branch        = [[Mexican Army]]
| rank          = [[Brigadier general]]
| battles       = {{tree list}}
*[[Texas Revolution]]
**[[Siege of Béxar]]
**[[Battle of the Alamo]]
**[[Battle of San Jacinto]]
{{tree list/end}}
}}

'''Martín Perfecto de Cos''' (1800–1 October 1854) was a general for the Mexican army and a politician during the mid-19th century. Born in [[Veracruz]], the son of an attorney, he became an army cadet at the age of 20, a Lieutenant in 1821, and a Brigadier General in 1833.

Cos is perhaps best known as a commander of Mexican forces during the [[Texas Revolution]] in the 1830s. In September 1835, he was sent by President-General [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]] to investigate the refusal of [[Texian]]s to pay duties during the [[Anahuac Disturbances]]. General Cos dispersed the legislature of [[Coahuila y Tejas]], then in session at [[Monclova]], landed 300 men at [[Matagorda Bay]], established a headquarters in [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]], and declared his intention of ending Anglo-American resistance in Texas. He attempted to arrest several Texian critics of Santa Anna, but his demands were resisted; a force of Texians under [[Stephen F. Austin]] and [[Edward Burleson]] held the Mexican troops for two months in the [[siege of Béxar]] until Cos surrendered after an attack led by [[Ben Milam|Benjamin R. Milam]] in December 1835. Cos and his men were released on their pledge not to oppose further the [[Mexican Constitution of 1824|Constitution of 1824]], which Santa Anna had recently repealed.

Texans believed this pledge was broken when Cos returned in the spring of 1836 to command a column in the [[Battle of the Alamo|attack on the Alamo]]. On April 21, 1836, he reached [[Battle of San Jacinto|San Jacinto]] with reinforcements and crossed Vince's Bridge just before the Texians destroyed it. He was taken prisoner by [[Sam Houston]] in the general surrender and later released, after which he returned to Mexico. Cos later commanded a post at [[Tuxpan]] during the [[Mexican–American War]]. He died in [[Minatitlán, Veracruz]], in 1854, while serving as commandant general and political chief of the [[Tehuantepec]] territory.

==Family==

It is generally accepted that Martín Perfecto de Cos was a relative of [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]], and most accounts refer to him as a brother-in-law.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas|date=1880|publisher=Southern Publishing Company|location=New York|url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5827/m1/340/?q=de%20cos|pages=276–277}}</ref> ''The Encyclopedia of the Mexican American War'' states that he was married to Lucinda López de Santa Anna, the general's sister.{{sfn|Tucker|Arnold|Wiener|2013|p=176}} Some early Texas accounts also credit him as being either a cousin or nephew of Santa Anna.{{sfn|Jackson|Wheat|2005|p=201}}

==Military career==
[[File:San Antonio 021.jpg|thumb|La Villita, [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]]]]

When the Mexican government moved away from a new local-level [[federalism|federalist]] political ideology to create a [[centralist]] authoritarian government under Santa Anna, Martín Perfecto de Cos became military commander of the Mexican state of [[Coahuila y Tejas]] in 1833. He initially was headquartered in [[Saltillo]]. San Antonio had always governed its own affairs and its citizens, increasingly ethnic Anglo-Americans with closer ties to the emerging United States, resented Cos being given power over them.{{sfn|Ramos|2008|p=139}} As tensions between [[Mexico City]] and [[Mexican Texas]] increased, Cos headed north to put down the rebellion.{{sfn|Ramos|2008|p=144}} 

Cos arrived in Texas by sea at the port of [[Copano, Texas|Copano]] on September 20, 1835, with 500 soldiers<ref name=huson5>Huson (1974), p. 5.</ref> and proceeded to the town of [[Goliad, Texas|Goliad]] on October 1, where he ordered the arrest of rebel leaders and garrisoned his men inside the nearby [[Presidio La Bahía]]. Even before his arrival, a group of Texians had plotted to kidnap Cos at either Copano or Goliad, but a rebellion committee rejected the idea. The [[Texas Revolution]] began in earnest with the [[Battle of Gonzales]] on October 2, and upon learning of the Texian victory, Cos hurried to [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio de Béxar]], leaving with the bulk of his men on October 5. Texians assaulted the Presidio La Bahía at the [[Battle of Goliad]] on October 10, only to learn that Cos had already left.

Once he was in San Antonio, the town and Cos' men were [[Siege of Béxar|besieged]] by the [[Texian Army]] under the leadership of [[Stephen F. Austin]]. After a 56-day siege of the town and the [[Alamo Mission in San Antonio|Alamo Mission]], on December 9, Cos surrendered [[San Antonio de Béxar]] and its weapons to the Texians, then proceeded to retreat back across the [[Rio Grande]]. Cos and his men were allowed to keep their muskets for protection, as well as one four-pound [[cannon]]. Mexican losses during the siege were about 150. On his way south, Cos met up with [[Antonio López de Santa Anna|Santa Anna]]'s forces at [[Laredo, Texas|Laredo]], who were marching north to put down the rebellion.{{sfn|Roell|2013|pp=40–50}}<ref name="TSHA">{{cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fco76|title=Martin Perfecto de Cos|last1=Hazelwood|first1=Claudie|date=12 June 2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|language=en|access-date=20 July 2017}}</ref>

In February 1836, Cos returned to San Antonio with Santa Anna and led a column of 300 soldiers in the [[Battle of the Alamo|siege of the Alamo]]. His men assaulted the northwest corner of the mission on March 6, eventually overrunning the north wall. On April 21, Cos arrived with over 500 reinforcements for Santa Anna shortly before the [[Battle of San Jacinto]].{{sfn|Flores|2002|pp=26–28}}{{sfn|Nofi|1994|p=203}} That afternoon Texian forces led by General Sam Houston decisively defeated Santa Anna's army in a battle which lasted only eighteen minutes. Cos and Santa Anna both escaped during the battle; Santa Anna was captured the next day, on April 22, and Cos was captured on April 24.<ref>General Samuel Houston, Report of HQ, Texian Army, published in Daily National Intelligencer, Jun 11, 1836, Vol. XXIV, Issue 7280, p.2, Washington, DC </ref> General Santa Anna subsequently surrendered his army and eventually all Mexican claims to Texas, ending the Texas Revolution.{{sfn|Fowler|2007|pp=171, 173}}

===Mexican–American War===

Following the Texas Revolution, Martín Perfecto de Cos remained in the Mexican Army and was given command of an army outpost in [[Tuxpan]], where he served during the [[Mexican–American War]] and afterwards, until his death in 1854.{{sfn|Tucker|Arnold|Wiener|2013|p=176}}

==Film depictions==

Among the depictions of Martín Perfecto de Cos on film is that of the Mexico City-born actor [[Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.]], in the 1956 picture ''[[The First Texan]]'', about the rise of [[Sam Houston]] in Texas. In the film, Cos orders the arrest of [[William B. Travis]] and directs his Mexican soldiers to scale the walls of The Alamo.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049211/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_141|title=''The First Texan''|publisher=[[IMDb|Internet Movie Database]]|access-date=February 12, 2014}}</ref>

In the 2004 film ''[[The Alamo (2004 film)|The Alamo]]'', General Martín Perfecto de Cos is portrayed by Francisco Philibert.<ref>{{cite web|title=Francisco Philibert|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/francisco_philibert/|website=www.rottentomatoes.com|access-date=July 21, 2017|language=en}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist|33em}}

==Bibliography==

*{{cite book|last1=Flores|first1=Richard R.|title=Remembering the Alamo: Memory, Modernity, and the Master Symbol|date=2002|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-79647-8|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/2883|via=[[Project MUSE]]|url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book|last1=Fowler|first1=Will|title=Santa Anna of Mexico|date=2007|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-5646-0|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/11806|via=[[Project MUSE]]|url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book|last=Huson|first=Hobart|title=Captain Phillip Dimmitt's Commandancy of Goliad, 1835&ndash;1836: An Episode of the Mexican Federalist War in Texas, Usually Referred to as the Texian Revolution|location=Austin, Texas|publisher=Von Boeckmann-Jones Co.|year=1974}}
*{{cite book|last1=Jackson|first1=Jack|last2=Wheat|first2=John|title=Almonte's Texas: Juan N. Almonte's 1834 Inspection, Secret Report & Role in the 1836 Campaign|date=2005|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|isbn=978-0-87611-207-6|location=Denton, TX|url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth296837/m1/1/}}
*{{cite book|last1=Nofi|first1=Albert A.|title=The Alamo and the Texas War of Independence, September 30, 1835 to April 21, 1836: Heroes, Myths, and History|date=1994|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=New York|isbn=0-306-80563-4|url=https://www.questia.com/library/100958289/the-alamo-and-the-texas-war-of-independence-september|via=|url-access=}}{{dl|date=July 2021}}{{ISBN?}}
*{{cite book|last1=Ramos|first1=Raúl A.|title=Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821–1861|date=2008|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-4696-0465-7|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/21185|via=[[Project MUSE]]|url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book|last1=Roell|first1=Craig H.|title=Matamoros and the Texas Revolution|date=2013|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|isbn=978-0-87611-266-3|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/27309|via=[[Project MUSE]]|url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book|last1=Tucker|first1=Spencer|last2=Arnold|first2=James R.|last3=Wiener|first3=Roberta |title=The Encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War: A Political, Social, and Military History|date=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-853-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZVQcZpic-8C&q=%22martin+perfecto+de+cos%22&pg=PA176}}

{{Battle of the Alamo|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cos, Martin Perfecto De}}
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1854 deaths]]
[[Category:People of Mexican Texas]]
[[Category:Mexican generals]]
[[Category:Mexican Republic combatants of the Texas Revolution]]
[[Category:Mexican military personnel of the Mexican–American War]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Veracruz]]