José Francisco "Francis" Ruiz (ca. January 28, 1783 - January 19, 1840) was a Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 revolutionary

Early life and family

Ruiz was born in San Antonio de Bexar, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

 to Juan Manuel Ruiz and María Manuela de la Peña. Appointed the first schoolmaster of San Antonio in 1803, he designated a house acquired by his father on Military Plaza as the first school. This house was carefully reconstructed in 1943 and moved to the grounds of the Witte Museum where it is still used for educational purposes. In 1805 Ruiz became a city councilman, or regidor, in San Antonio and served various official capacities including city attorney, or procurador.

Career

Ruiz began a long military career in 1811, joining the Bexar Provincial Militia with the rank of lieutenant. He joined the Republican Army at Bexar and took part in failed revolution from Spain in 1813, fighting at the battle of Medina

Battle of Medina

The Battle of Medina was fought approximately 20 miles south of San Antonio de Bexar on August 18, 1813 as part of the Mexican War of Independence against Spanish authority in Mexico...

 on August 18. Forced into exile from Texas until 1822, Ruiz returned after Mexico won its independence from Spain. He was ordered by the Mexican government to make attempts at peace with the hostile Native American tribes of the North, the Comanches and the Lipans. Appointed to the Mounted Militia upon his return, he successfully led a peace treaty delegation of Lipans to Mexico City later in 1822. The next year, Ruiz received a promotion to army captain, unassigned, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, receiving confirmation of his commission in 1825. He was sent to Nacogdoches in December 1826 to help put down the Fredonian Rebellion, receiving command of that detachment in April of the next year.

Ruiz was a member of the Mexican Boundary Commission assigned to explore areas of Texas. This commission left Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 on November 10, 1827, under the command of Manuel de Mier y Terán. Ruiz had returned to Bexar in 1828, where he commanded the famed Alamo de Parras company. In the fall of 1828, Ruiz led the Mier y Teran group of 30 Mexican soldiers and commission members, including naturalist Jean-Louis Berlandier

Jean-Louis Berlandier

Jean-Louis Berlandier was a French naturalist, physician, and anthropologist.Berlandier was born in rural Fort de l'Écluse, near France's border with Switzerland, and trained as a botanist in Geneva...

, on a bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 and buffalo

American Bison

The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

 hunt on open lands northwest of San Antonio with the cooperation of local Comanche leaders Reyuna and El Ronca. From November 19 to December 18, Ruiz and a military party explored the silver mines on the San Saba River. During this time, he wrote his "Report on the Indian Tribes of Texas in 1828", preserved in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. An insight into the trust Ruiz garnered with the Indian tribes of Texas can be found in the Shawnee tribe's reference to him as "a good man no lie and a friend of the Indians". Ruiz retired from the military at the end of 1832.

Texas politician

Ruiz allied himself with the Texas Revolution

Texas Revolution

The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...

 in 1835 and traveled to Washington-on-the-Brazos in late February 1836 as a delegate to the Convention of 1836. There on March 2, 1836, Ruiz signed along with his nephew José Antonio Navarro

José Antonio Navarro

José Antonio Navarro was a Texas statesman, revolutionary, politician, and merchant. The son of Ángel Navarro and Josefa María Ruiz y Pena, he was born into a distinguished noble family at San Antonio de Béxar in New Spain....

 the Texas Declaration of Independence

Texas Declaration of Independence

The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the following day after errors were noted in the...

 - the only native Texans among the fifty-nine men to sign this historic document. During the revolution he was an outspoken supporter of independence, and eloquently wrote to his family "Under no circumstance take sides against the Texans for only God will return the territory of Texas to the Mexican government."

Later life and family

Ruiz's son Francisco Antonio Ruiz

Francisco Antonio Ruiz

Francisco Antonio Ruiz was the alcalde of San Antonio during the Texas Revolution and was responsible for identifying the bodies of those killed at the Battle of the Alamo....

, San Antonio mayor, or alcalde, at the time, was an important eyewitness to the Battle of the Alamo

Battle of the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...

, having been placed under house arrest at his San Antonio home by Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...

 and later forced by the Mexican dictator to identify the bodies of the deceased after the battle.

Ruiz represented the Bexar district as its senator to the First Congress of Republic of Texas. He died and was buried in his beloved San Antonio in 1840.

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