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A New History of Old Texas — Arts
A New History of Old Texas

Explore the history of early Texas as you’ve never heard it before. The most recent season (“Lipan Apocalypse”) unveils the legacy of the Lipan Apaches on modern Texas. Season 6 recounts the outsized impact of José Francisco Ruíz on the state’s history. Season 5 traces the roots of Texans’ unique psychology – their “Texanity” – to the technological innovations that shaped its people. Season 4 relates the largely unknown story of the Republic of the Rio Grande. Season 3 tells the remarkable tale of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his journey across the North American continent. Season 2 covers the Battle of Medina, the largest, bloodiest battle in Texas history…and the narrowing search for the battlefield itself! And Season 1 traces the identity of modern-day Texas to the first 160 years or so of San Antonio’s history. — As seen and heard on Texas Standard, KSAT12, Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio Express-News, the San Antonio Report, the Austin Chronicle, and more! —

Copyright: © 2024 A New History of Old Texas

Latest Episodes:

The Kingdom of Zapata Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

Episode 8 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
Antonio Zapata - the "mulato" son of a domestic servant and a cowboy - establishes himself as the kingmaker over Northeastern Mexico. And led by San Antonian José María Carvajal, the Rio Grande Federalists call on some old allies in the fight against Centralism - the Texians.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Zapata Unleashed Jan 05, 2022

Show notes

Episode 7 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
In one of the most remarkable campaigns in Mexican military history, Antonio Zapata and a small band of Rio Grande vaqueros and Carrizo Indians immobilize three Centralist armies and launch a punitive expedition against a Comanche war party, establishing the Rio Grande Federalists as the de facto government of the region.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Order and Disorder on the New Border Dec 29, 2021

Show notes

Episode 6 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
Antonio Zapata comes over to the side of the Federalist insurgents... and turns their war of words into a real threat to Centralist rule over Northeastern Mexico.
Photo: Illustration of Antonio Zapata by Matt Tumlinson
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Federalist Revolts Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

Episode 5 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
After the failed "Texas campaign" of 1836, the Mexican centralist army falls back onto the Rio Grande villas. Through a series of requisitions, taxes and just outright theft, they manage to impoverish the region and bankrupt Antonio Zapata. Yet, Zapata doesn't join the first Rio Grande revolt against centralist rule in 1838, led by Antonio Canales. Not yet anyway.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Constitution of 1824 Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

Episode 4 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
Antonio Zapata emerges as one of the most promising young leaders of newly independent Revilla – soon–to–be renamed Guerrero – just as Mexico elects its first president under the famed Constitution of 1824. By the second election in 1828, however, Mexico is in turmoil.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Mexican Independence Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Episode 3 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
As Antonio Zapata grows into manhood, his unique talents become clear to all around him. Mexico wins its independence...but very little changes for the residents of the Rio Grande.
Photo: Ejército_Trigarante, Wikipedia.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Young Zapata Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Episode 2 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
Young Antonio Zapata is born in Revilla, Nuevo Santander, the son of a domestic servant and a cow hand. The same town from which our old friend, José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara (go listen to our "Finding Medina" series) was just getting his start as a revolutionary.
Photo: Plains Warrior in Blue, Friedrich Richard Petri, artist, circa 1850 Texas Memorial Museum, Austin, accession #2197. Courtesy Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, Laredo, TX.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

Las Villas del Norte Dec 08, 2021

Show notes

Episode 1 of Brandon Seale's podcast on the Republic of the Rio Grande.
In the 1750's, Carrizo Indians living in the lower Rio Grande Valley greeted two new groups of settlers: the Lipan Apaches and the Spanish. For the next two generations, the freedoms - and terrors - of the region continued to attract a hardy array of new settlers, including a surprisingly large percentage of "mulatos," Afro-Mexicans who found refuge on the distant Rio Grande frontier.
Photo: The red sandstone church in Old Revilla, Public Domain.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Republic of the Rio Grande Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

From 1838 to 1840, the people of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas fought against the Mexican central government for their independence. They fought under the battlefield leadership of one of the most remarkable men in Texas history and – as best I can tell – the only Afro-Tejano to have a Texas county named after him: Antonio Zapata. For the better part of a year, Zapata reigned supreme as the military leader of the region and as the avatar of his people. With his army of Rio Grande vaqueros, Carrizo Indians, and Anglo-Texian volunteers, he held as many as three Mexican centralist armies at bay, and won the respect of his enemies and the love of his men.
In following Antonio Zapata’s fight for Federalism, we also get a sort of second run at the war of Texas independence. It serves as a sort of control case to help us understand what it was that Tejanos – like Juan Seguin, who will actually later joined the Rio Grande independence movement –meant when they signed on to fight and die for their “independence.” In this light, Tejano independence comes to look like something very different than the classic, Anglo-American notion of independence as a “fresh start.” In fact, I’ll argue that it starts to look like something much more recognizably Texan. It’s looks like a fight for autonomy within a tradition, rather than independence from tradition.
Join us for Season 4 of A New History of Old Texas: The Republic of the Rio Grande.
Selected Bibliography
Anna, Timothy E. Forging Mexico: 1821-1835 (1998).
Casa Blanca Articles of Convention
De la Garza, Lorenzo. Dos Hermanos Heroes (1939).
Gallegos, Juan José. “Last Drop of My Blood: Col. Antonio Zapata: A Life and Times on México’s Río Grande Frontier, 1797-1840.”
Lack, Paul D. Searching for the Republic of the Rio Grande (2022).
Lott, Virgil N. and Mercurio Martinez. The Kingdom of Zapata (1953).
Nance, Joseph. After San Jacinto: The Texas Mexican Frontier, 1836-1841 (1970).
Plan del Rancho de Puntiagudo. University of St. Andrews.
Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. La Supuesta República del Río Grande (1995).

www.BrandonSeale.com

The Gospel According to Cabeza de Vaca Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

Episode 25 of Brandon Seale's podcast on Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca.
What the legacy of the four old Narváez expeditionaries in the New World amounted to. How their legacy back in the Old World may have been more meaningful. How Cabeza de Vaca saw his legacy. And how we might think of it as well.
Pages: f63v-67r in Zamora (1542) Edition as published by Adorno and Pautz (1999).
Cover art: "La Relación Cover," by unknown, Wikipedia, Public Domain.
Selected Bibliography
Adorno, Rolena and Patrick Charles Pautz. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (1999)
Boyd Carolyn. Rock Art of the Lower Pecos (2013)
Krieger, Alex. We Came Naked and Barefoot (2002)
Reséndez, Andrés. A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca (2007)
Stockdale, James Bond. “Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus’s Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior” (1993)
“Through the Eyes of the Explorer: Cabeza de Vaca on the South Texas Plains.” TexasBeyondHistory.Net (viewed July 6, 2020)
Wittliff Collections (Texas State University) exhibition on Cabeza de Vaca (including a digitized copy of an original 1555 edition of La Relación)

www.BrandonSeale.com

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