Juan Seguín’s (1806–1890) experience in Texas is one that encapsulated the Tejano struggle to establish their identity in a post-independence world. Seguín had served bravely as an officer in the Texas army during the war for independence, taking the mission at San Antonio de Béxar in 1835 and then assisting in its defense in February 1836. After being dispatched to deliver a message to the Sam Houston saying the defenders would “never surrender or retreat,” he would serve as a captain of the cavalry in the Texian Army at the Battle of San Jacinto. After the war, he served as a politician for Texas, and though he would participate in the protection of its frontier from Mexican and Native American incursions, he would later be targeted as a traitor and forced to return to Mexico. Seguín’s experience was a common one for Mexican Americans in Texas following the War for Independence: as the new republic struggled to establish its economy amidst a large rush of immigrants from the United States looking for cheap land, the racial and ethnic tensions led many whites to use allegations of allegiance with Mexico to justify depriving Mexicans of their due process rights.