Undergraduate Fellows 2015 Staff Ride

May 06, 2015

Texas has produced four centuries of potential sites that the Clements Center takes advantage of in order to train Undergraduate Fellows from the perspective of Native American, Spanish, French, Texan, and American decision-makers. Participants not only research the backgrounds to conflicts and crises, but they take on the role of the historical leaders, make their own decisions, and then offer challenges to each other on how scenarios played out. Staff Rides include two phases: a classroom study phase, and a field study and integration phase.

The inaugural Undergraduate Fellows staff ride was a field study of the Texian campaign to expel the Mexican garrison at San Antonio de Bexar in October-December of 1835. The campaign made Texas an independent nation and set the stage for the heroic Texian stands at the Alamo and San Jacinto the following year. Undergraduate Fellows discussed strategies, operations, tactics, the effects of terrain, and the Texan heritage of warfare. The students’ classroom portion took place during February and March at UT-Austin. It placed particular emphasis on how political norms and societal ideals informed the opponents’ strategies. Students discussed and gave presentations on the Spanish legacy of warfare, the Mexican War of Independence, the 1824 Federal Constitution, and the causes of the Texas Revolt.

Students then traveled to San Antonio for a field exercise on 11 April. Director of Undergraduate Fellows Steele Brand guided the tour of all the key locations in the 1835 campaign. Participants examined the specific operations and tactics of the commanders, with students taking the roles of key individuals and commanders such as Edward Burleson, William Travis, Juan Seguín, Martín Perfecto de Cos and Domingo Ugartechea. Students defended their characters’ motives and decisions and then provided a commentary on how their character provided insights for contemporary statecraft and strategy. The field study explored General Austin’s approach to the city, the Mexican defenses in town and in the Alamo, the Texian headquarters north and south of town, and the battlefields at Concepcion Mission and the Texas Grass Fight. The climax of the tour included a step-by-step account of the 5-9 December Texian assault on the two plazas in the modern city’s downtown. Students walked through the urban battlefield building-by-building and explored how the grit and trauma of the final 5 days defined the Texan spirit and illustrated the timeless principles of war.