Months after Texas rebels in the city of Gonzales fired the first shots of the Texas Revolution (1835–36), Stephen F. Austin (1793–1836) traveled throughout the American South in search of volunteers to aid the Texan cause against the Mexican government and Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794–1876). As he prepared to leave Nashville, Tennessee, for the neighboring state of Kentucky, Austin wrote a letter to his cousin, Mrs. M. A. Holley, and proclaimed his gratitude for the generosity and enthusiasm aimed at the cause of Texas independence from Mexico.