José Francisco Ruiz

Career

José Francisco Ruiz began his career in 1803 as San Antonio’s first schoolmaster, using a house on Military Plaza that his father had bought. That building was carefully rebuilt in 1943 and relocated to the Witte Museum grounds, where it still serves educational purposes. In 1805, Ruiz joined the San Antonio City Council and later served as city attorney, or procurador. His military service started in Spain in 1813, and he fought at the battle of Medina on August 18.

Military

Exiled from Texas until 1822, he returned after Mexico gained independence from Spain. The Mexican government ordered him to seek peace with the Comanche and Lipan Apache tribes. After joining the mounted militia, he led a Lipan Apache peace delegation to Mexico City in 1822. The following year, he was promoted to army captain, unassigned, with the rank of lieutenant colonel; his commission was confirmed in 1825.

In December 1826, he was sent to Nacogdoches to help suppress the Fredonian Rebellion, and he took command of that detachment in April 1827. Ruiz served on the Boundary Commission, which explored parts of Texas after the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819. The commission left Mexico City on November 10, 1827, under General Manuel de Mier y Terán. He returned to Bexar in 1828, where he commanded the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras, which established Fort Tenoxtitlán in 1830.

In the fall of 1828, Ruiz led a group of 30 Mexican soldiers and commission members, including naturalist Jean-Louis Berlandier, on a bear and buffalo hunt northwest of San Antonio, with the cooperation of Comanche leaders Reyuna and El Ronca. From November 19 to December 18, he and a military party explored silver mines on the San Saba River. During this time, he wrote his Report on the Indian Tribes of Texas in 1828, now preserved in Yale University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The Shawnee tribe called him “a good man no lie and a friend of the Indians,” reflecting the trust he earned with Texas tribes. Ruiz retired from the military at the end of 1832.

Did You Know?

• Ruiz's son Francisco Antonio Ruiz was mayor of San Antonio at the time of the Battle of the Alamo and was forced by Santa Anna to identify the bodies of the deceased.