SAN ANTONIO – As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence, members of the Sons of the American Revolution in San Antonio are highlighting the often-overlooked role South Texas played in helping the United States win its independence.
Inside Raul Hinojosa’s North Side home, a Spanish silver coin is on display that dates to the 1770s — a tangible link to his family’s history in what was then New Spain.
Hinojosa traces his ancestry to Jose Manuel Hinojosa, whose family established ranches along the Rio Grande generations before Texas became part of the United States.
“We were lucky to get many of our ranches on the Rio Grande,” Hinojosa said. “The big thing about cattle is you need water. By chance, one of my cousins still owns the ranch 300 years later.”
Those ranches played an important role in the Revolutionary War effort, Hinojosa said.
Cattle raised in South Texas were driven to Louisiana to supply Spanish Governor Bernardo de Gálvez’s forces before salted beef eventually reached Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army.
“We herded it...to New Orleans to feed Gálvez,” Hinojosa said. “At some point, they started processing and salting it to get the meat to George Washington. Without that, especially around Valley Forge, they would have starved to death.”
Ron Finch, president of the San Antonio chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, said many people don’t realize families in what is now Texas contributed to the fight for independence.
“We were all New Spain back at the time,” Finch said. “You had individuals who participated in the cattle drives.”
Finch said ranchers supplied cattle while others in New Spain also helped finance the Revolutionary War.
Founded in 1930, the San Antonio chapter has approximately 200 members. Finch said descendants of those who supported American independence are eligible to join, even if their ancestors were not part of the original 13 colonies.
“There are so many avenues,” Finch said. “You didn’t have to be part of the 13 colonies. It could have been from here within New Spain.”
The group is already looking ahead to 2033, when the nation will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War.
“So even though we’re doing the declaration of the 250 this year,” Finch said, “it really just got started.”
Read more recent America250 coverage on KSAT: