This is a timeline of the Republic of Texas, spanning the time from the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, up to the transfer of power to the State of Texas on February 19, 1846.
1836 Texas declares independence
March 2 – The Texas Declaration of Independence is signed by 58 delegates at an assembly at Washington-on-the-Brazos and the Republic of Texas is declared. David G. Burnet is elected ad interim president by the delegates. Texians with Dr. James Grant are defeated at the Battle of Agua Dulce. March 3 – James B. Bonham slips back into the Alamo under cover of darkness to deliver the grim news that Col. James Fannin's relief column from Goliad will not be coming. Col. William B. Travis sends out his final courier, John William Smith, with letters to the convention presidency detailing their absolute resolve. March 4 – The Constitutional Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos officially appoints Sam Houston as Commander-in-Chief of all regular, volunteer, and militia forces in the field. At San Antonio De Bèxar, General Santa Anna holds a council of war, overriding his generals' advice to wait for heavy siege guns and planning an immediate infantry assault. March 5 - The 12-day artillery bombardment of the Alamo suddenly ceases in the evening. Taking advantage of the quiet, the exhausted Texan garrison falls into a deep sleep. Santa Anna coordinates four massive assault columns to move into position under cover of darkness. March 6 – Battle of the Alamo: At 5:00 AM, Mexican infantry columns launch a pre-dawn surprise attack. By 6:30 AM, after a fierce breach of the north wall, the perimeter collapses. All Texan and Tejano combatants, including William B. Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett are killed. Civilian survivors are spared to spread word of the defeat. March 11 – Sam Houston arrives in Gonzales to take direct command of the gathering volunteers (roughly 374 raw recruits). Civilian scouts bring the first rumors of the Alamo's destruction, sparking the immediate panic of the Runaway Scrape. March 12 – Houston dispatches orders to Fannin at Goliad, commanding him to blow up the fortress of Presidio La Bahía, fall back to Victoria, and help form a unified defensive line. The Battle of Refugio begins: Texian troops commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Ward and Amon B. King are attacked by General Urrea. After several hours of fighting, the Texians retreat. March 13 - Susanna Dickinson arrives in Gonzales, confirming the total destruction of the Alamo garrison. Houston orders an immediate retreat eastward and instructs his men to burn Gonzales to the ground to deny shelter to the Mexican army, initiating the Runaway Scrape. March 15 - Sent by Fannin to rescue families at the Refugio Mission, Captain Amon B. King and Colonel William Ward's detachments are split and cut off by General José de Urrea’s rapidly advancing cavalry wing. King and Ward's troops are captured by the Mexicans. Houston’s retreating army reaches the Navidad River. March 16 - Under Santa Anna's sweeping decree classifying all armed foreigners as pirates, Captain King and 14 of his men are executed outside the Refugio mission. March 17 - At Washington-on-the-Brazos, the delegates hastily draft, finalize, and adopt the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. David G. Burnet is selected as ad interim President. Hearing of the advancing Mexican army, the government flees eastward toward Harrisburg. March 19 – Battle of Coleto: Fannin finally evacuates Goliad late in the morning. By 3:00 PM, Urrea's cavalry catches and surrounds Fannin’s 300 men in an open prairie depression short of Coleto Creek. The Texans form a hollow square and fight off repeated charges until nightfall. March 20 – Out of water, low on ammunition, and facing freshly reinforced Mexican artillery, Fannin signs articles of capitulation (surrender). Believing they are surrendering as honorable prisoners of war, the Texans are marched back to Goliad and imprisoned. March 21 – Houston’s retreating army arrives at the Brazos River at San Felipe de Austin, a critical crossing point, while panicked civilian populations clog roads heading toward the United States border. The Battle of Copano is also fought. March 27 – Goliad Massacre: Palm Sunday. Under explicit, written counter-orders from Santa Anna overriding Urrea's requests for clemency, Captain Carolino Huerta and Colonel Garay marches Fannin and roughly 342 Texan prisoners out of Presidio La Bahía in three columns. They are systematically shot down by firing squads. Fannin and the wounded are executed inside the fort shortly after. Houston and his army camp near San Felipe de Austin. March 28 - Houston moves his army upriver to Jared Groce's plantation. He uses this secure location to break his retreat, establish a camp hospital, and begin intensive military drill and organization for the raw volunteer infantry units.
April 11 - The Twin Sisters, two six-pounder cannons donated by the citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, arrive at Houston's camp at Groce's Plantation, giving the Texans their first functional artillery. April 12 - Houston's army begins crossing the swollen Brazos River using the commandeered steamboat Yellow Stone, a logistically complex operation completed over two days. April 14 - Santa Anna accelerates his advance, personally leading a vanguard of roughly 700 men to San Felipe, then turning southeast toward Harrisburg in an attempt to capture the fleeing Texas ad interim government. April 16 - The Texian Army reaches a critical crossroads at New Kentucky. Rather than continuing northeast toward the safety of the U.S. border (which many men feared Houston intended), Houston turns his column southeast toward Harrisburg to pursue Santa Anna. April 18 - Houston's army arrives opposite the smoking ruins of Harrisburg, which Santa Anna had burned. Texan scouts under Deaf Smith capture a Mexican courier carrying detailed mail bags, revealing Santa Anna’s exact location, isolation from his main army, and military strength. April 19 - Houston leaves his baggage train and sick guarded by a small detachment and marches his remaining 900 men across Buffalo Bayou, moving through the night toward the San Jacinto River ferry. April 20 - The Texian army sets up a concealed camp in an oak grove along Buffalo Bayou. In the afternoon, Santa Anna’s vanguard arrives on the plain of San Jacinto. A brief, sharp skirmish erupts between Texan cavalry and Mexican infantry, but both sides withdraw to their lines for the night. April 21 – Battle of San Jacinto: 9:00 AM: General Martín Perfecto de Cos arrives with roughly 540 reinforcements for Santa Anna, but his men are exhausted from a forced march. Santa Anna fails to post adequate sentries and allows his camp to take an afternoon siesta. 3:30 PM: Houston forms his battle line in total silence, hidden by the terrain. 4:30 PM: The Texans launch a surprise assault across the open prairie, yelling "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" The main battle lasts a mere 18 minutes. The Mexican camp is completely routed; over 600 Mexican soldiers are killed, and hundreds are captured. Houston is severely wounded in the ankle. Santa Anna escapes during the battle. April 22 - Texan search parties capture Santa Anna hiding in the marsh wearing a private's uniform. He is brought before the wounded Sam Houston and surrenders, ordering his remaining generals to halt hostilities and withdraw. April 26 - General Vicente Filisola assumes command of the remaining Mexican forces in Texas (over 4,000 men) and begins organizing an orderly retreat south, honoring Santa Anna's orders due to supply failures and mud. May 14 – Ad Interim President David G. Burnet and the captured Santa Anna sign the Treaties of Velasco (one public, one secret). The public treaty ends hostilities and orders all Mexican troops south of the Rio Grande; the secret treaty promises Santa Anna's safe release in exchange for his lobbying for Mexican recognition of Texas independence with the Rio Grande as the border. June 15: Filisola’s retreating army crosses the international boundary at the Nueces River, completely evacuating Anglo-settled Texas. September 5 - Texas holds its first general election. Voters overwhelmingly ratify the Constitution, vote heavily in favor of future annexation by the United States, and elect war hero Sam Houston as the first constitutional President of the Republic. October 3 - The 1st Congress of the Republic of Texas assembles at Columbia. October 22 - Sam Houston is formally inaugurated as President in the temporary capital of Columbia, Texas. December 27 - Stephen F. Austin, serving as Secretary of State, dies of severe pneumonia at the age of 43. Sam Houston officially proclaims him the "Father of Texas."
1837 January 1 - President Sam Houston issues an executive order officially organizing the First Regiment of Infantry and assigning officers to various frontier posts to replace departing volunteers. January 7 - The Texas Senate confirms the appointments of multiple customs collectors for the newly established revenue districts along the Gulf Coast. January 14 - Judge Benjamin C. Franklin opens the first session of the Republic's newly established judicial district court in Brazoria, marking the formal introduction of statutory common law courts in Texas. January 27 - The Texas garrison at San Antonio de Béxar sends an urgent courier to the War Department requesting winter coats, blankets, and horses, noting that freezing weather and local foraging have exhausted their immediate supplies. February 5 - A large delegation of Tonkawa scouts arrives at the Texas military outpost on the Navasota River to renew their military alliance against the Comanche. February 12 - Armed with authorization from the Boundary Act, Texas surveyor columns begin mapping the public lands directly east of the Nueces River to prepare for land bounty certificates issued to veterans. February 20 - The British commercial bark Milton arrives off Galveston Island, testing the Republic's new maritime tariff regulations and delivery systems. February 28 - General Felix Huston, commanding the remaining volunteer army at Victoria, issues an unapproved public address calling for an aggressive, immediate naval and land expedition against the Mexican port of Matamoros. March 1 - Frustrated by Felix Huston’s insubordination, President Houston appoints Albert Sidney Johnston to take supreme command of the army. When Johnston arrives at the camp, Huston challenges him to a duel. Johnston is severely wounded in the hip, leaving Huston in temporary command of the volatile volunteer units. March 3 - On his final full day in office, U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the formal congressional resolution recognizing the Republic of Texas as an independent nation. He appoints Alcée Louis la Branche as the first American Chargé d’Affaires to Texas. March 11 - News of the official United States recognition reaches the temporary capital at Columbia, sparking widespread public celebrations and cannon salutes. March 20 - The Texas Navy schooner Brutus arrives at Galveston after a coastal patrol, reporting that Mexican brigatines-of-war are maintaining a loose blockade near the mouth of the Mississippi River to intercept Texas-bound supply ships. April 3 - Texas Secretary of the Treasury Henry Smith issues a formal warning that the government has completely exhausted its hard-currency reserves and recommends printing the first run of interest-bearing promissory notes (known as "Star Money") to pay civil servants. April 12 - The ad interim government's records, archives, and furniture are loaded onto wagons in Columbia and shipped down the Brazos River, beginning their transit to the new capital city of Houston.