Juan Seguín

Juan Nepomuceno Seguín (October 27, 1806 – August 27, 1890) was a 19th-century Texas Senator, mayor, judge, and Justice of the Peace and a prominent participant in the Texas Revolution.

Early life and family
Juan Nepomuceno Seguín was born in San Antonio de Bexar (now San Antonio, Texas, USA) on October 27, 1806. He was the older of two sons of Erasmo Seguín and María Josefa Becerra. Around 1700, a Frenchman named Guillaume Séguin had traveled from Paris, France to Aguascalientes, New Spain (Mexico). Guillaume married a Hispanic woman named Cruz and had four sons.

As the son of a postmaster, Seguín would assist his mother in the business, while his father was off writing the 1824 Constitution of Mexico. In 1825, he married María Gertrudis Flores de Abrego. They had ten children. He was elected an alderman in December 1828 and served on numerous electoral boards before becoming the San Antonio alcalde (mayor) in December 1833. He then served as political chief and mayor of Bexar until 1834, after the previous chief became ill. In 1835, he led a relief force to Monclova, when Federalist Governor Agustín Viesca appealed for help.

Texas Revolution
As a teenager in Mexico, Seguín had a strong interest in politics. When Antonio López de Santa Anna repealed the Mexican Constitution of 1824, he was very critical of his contemporary Mexican leader and joined the Texas Revolution to rid Texas of Santa Anna's rule. In 1835–1836, Seguin recruited and commanded troops for the Texan Army. He was commissioned a captain by Stephen F. Austin in October 1835 and would be tasked with the burden of supplying the Texan troops with food and provisions. Seguín sent out scouting parties to the Missions of San Antonio in search of a suitable base camp for the Texans and participated in the early successful Battle of Concepcion and the 2 month long, Siege of Bexar, that drove the troops of Santa Anna out of Texas.

In January 1836, he was commissioned as a Captain in the regular Texas Upon the return of Santa Anna's army, Juan Seguín entered the Alamo with fifteen recruits to join William B. Travis on February 23, in the battle of the Alamo. Although serving at the Alamo during the thirteen-day siege, he was dispatched as a courier and was not present to participate in the closing battle of the Alamo. Because Seguín spoke Spanish and was familiar with the terrain, he was chosen to carry the Alamo message through the enemy lines, that the Texans "shall never surrender or retreat." Seguín got that message through to the other soldiers, on the Texian side. He then returned with men to reinforce the Alamo, but it had already fallen to Santa Anna's army. Seguín returned with his company to Gonzales, where they joined with Houston in the Runaway Scrape. Seguin was a significant part of the Texan victory at San Jacinto, where he commanded the 9th Company, Second Regiment Texas Volunteers and then pursued remnants of the Mexican Army following the battle.



Life under the Republic of Texas
After Texas became a republic, Seguin was named head of the San Antonio military, commanding a force to defend Texas's western frontier. In 1837, Colonel Seguín directed the burial of the ashes of the slain Alamo defenders. In 1839, Seguín, captain of a Texas force of about fifty-four men, again protected the colonists in the Henry Karnes campaign against the Comanche Indians.

Texas Senator and mayor
Seguín was elected as a Texas Senator from 1837 to 1840 and worked closely with Congressman José Antonio Navarro to introduce and support legislation that would include the best interests of the native citizenry of Texas, who rapidly became the political minority as Americans immigrated to Texas. In 1839, at a town thirty miles east of San Antonio, he was honored by parade and celebration. That newly named town would now bear his own name, Seguin. In 1840, through the urging of Texas President Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar, he resigned his congressional seat in order to join a controversial campaign against the Centralist government in Mexico City. Seguin became mayor of San Antonio in 1841.

Challenges
Texas became flooded by adventurous and land hungry North Americans that were unfamiliar with the native Texans' history and their loyal support of Texas. Seguín's leadership and loyalty would be challenged by these newcomers. Refusing to burn San Antonio to the ground by order of the new head of the Texas military was just the beginning.

In 1842, San Antonio was overrun twice, by Santa Anna's forces. During March 1843, Colonel Seguín and the citizens of San Antonio would seek refuge at Manuel Flores Ranch in the city of Seguin, Texas. A counterattack was planned and even though Seguín had pursued the army of Ráfael Vásquez, chasing them from Texas; he was blamed for the attack.

Seguín resigned from office in April, due to threats on his life. Opposition to his defense of Texas rights, adversities, and false charges that he was aiding the Mexican army, proved too much to bear. He went to Mexico to "seek refuge amongst my enemies," where he was captured, arrested and coerced to enlist in the Mexican army as a staff official. He returned to San Antonio with the opposition army of Adrian Woll in September 1842 and later served under Santa Anna in the Mexican-American War of 1846–1848.

Later life
In February 1848, Seguín requested permission to return to Texas. By year's end, he had returned to Texas, establishing a home adjacent his father Erasmo Seguín's house, and ranching in Floresville, Texas. He was elected to two terms as Justice of the Peace of Bexar County in 1852 and 1854. He became a founding father of the Democratic Party in Bexar county. In 1858, he published his life memoirs. Seguín served as County Judge in Wilson County in 1869. However, business dealings occasionally took him back to Mexico. And around 1883, he settled in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, to be near his son Santiago, who was mayor. He died there on August 27, 1890. His remains were returned to Texas in 1974 and reinterred in his namesake town, Seguin, during ceremonies on July 4, 1976. A large monument, depicting him on horseback waving his saber, now honors his service to Texas, in the downtown Seguin Central Park.

Legacy
In 1838, the town of Seguin was named for him and there he rode on horseback, in a parade, celebrating the event.

Over the years, the attitude to Juan Seguín was mixed. On one hand, he was recognized as the Alamo hero; on the other, he was often labeled as traitor, both by Texans and Mexicans.

In the 1960 film The Alamo (by John Wayne), Joseph Calleia played Juan Seguín, a San Antonio political figure who leads Texas volunteers to help defend the Alamo.

In the second half of the 20th century, interest in Juan Seguin grew. He was portrayed in the TV drama American Playhouse: Seguín (1982), directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño, where he was played by A. Martinez.

In the 2004 film The Alamo (by John Lee Hancock), Juan Seguín was played by Jordi Molla. Playing as a supporting character, his role in the film was important, because the director considered this character as a "moral bellwether of the story".

The first half of the 2012 graphic novel, Los Tejanos and Lost Cause, published by Fantagraphics Books and written by Jack Jackson, is based on the life of Seguin.

In a September 2001 ceremony, Park Road 1836, which connects Battleground Road (formerly Texas State Highway 134) to the San Jacinto Monument Grounds near Houston, was renamed in Seguín's honor and the Interstate 610/Texas State Highway 225 interchange in southeast Houston was bestowed with the name of "Juan N. Seguín Memorial Interchange".

A statue of Juan Seguin sculpted by Armando Hinojosa of Laredo is located in the city of Seguin.

A High school at 7001 Silo Rd. in Arlington, Texas, in the Arlington Independent School District is named in his honor.

An elementary school at 7817 Grand Mission Blvd. in Richmond, Texas, in the Fort Bend Independent School District is named in his honor.