José Enrique de la Peña Totally Explained

Everything about Jos Enrique De La Pe A totally explained

Jose Enrique de la Peña (1807 – 1841 or 1842) was a colonel in the Mexican Army. Under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, de la Peña participated in the Battle of the Alamo. In 1955 a book purporting to be his memoirs of the battle was published. The book claimed that Davy Crockett surrendered during the battle of the Alamo and was later executed. Historians disagree on whether the memoirs are accurate.

Life

De la Peña was born in Jalisco, Mexico in 1807. After training as a mining engineer, he entered the Mexican Navy in 1825 as a cadet first-class. Within two years he was promoted to second lieutenant, and in 1827 he requested an assignment as part of the Mexican Legation to a European country. The assignment wasn't granted. Between July and November 1828 he wrote a series of articles for El Sol. Published under the pseudonym "Lover of the Navy", the articles were highly critical of David Porter, the American-born commander of the Mexican navy. Later that year, de la Peña travelled to Veracruz to report for sea duty. During his journey he met Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the commander of the state of Vera Cruz. He didn't follow the order, later explaining that he was ill. By the end of the year he reported for duty on the corvette Morales.
   When Santa Anna assumed power in 1833 de la Peña requested a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Mexican Army. He was granted a post as captain of a cavalry unit. After unsuccessful attempts to be change his asssignment to France, de la Peña withdrew his request and instead asked to become a part of the Federal Division of the President. He was transferred to the Federal Division in December 1833, but in May 1834 he requested to be assigned to the Mexican Legation in the United States; this request was denied. After the Battle of the Alamo, de la Peña saw no further action.
   In December 1836 de la Peña was in Mexico City, where he testified in the inquiry into the actions of General Vicente Filisola during the army's retreat from Texas. De la Peña joined Urrea in an uprising to overthrow Santa Anna and restore the Constitution of 1824. He was arrested and imprisoned at Guadalajara before being dishonorably discharged in 1839. He died in either 1840 or 1841. This article contained de la Peña's first mention of the execution of Texian survivors at the Alamo, but didn't mention names of any of those executed and didn't claim that de la Peña was an eyewitness. In 1975 the Texas A&M University Press published an English translation of the book, called With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution. The English publication caused a scandal within the United States as it asserted that Davy Crockett didn't die in battle but instead surrendered near the end of the battle of the Alamo. According to the book, Crockett was taken prisoner and tried to talk himself out of trouble before Santa Anna ordered him executed.
   Historians disagree on whether any or all of the book has been faked. Because the original book was self-published, no editor or publisher ever vetted its authenticity. Garza never explained how he gained custody of the documents or where they were stored after de la Peña's death. Some historians, including Bill Groneman, found it suspicious that Garza's compilation was published in 1955, at the height of interest in Davy Crockett and the Alamo caused by Walt Disney's television series about Crockett's life. The original manuscript, consisting of 200 loose pages, was auctioned in 1998 for $387,500. It now resides at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

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