Art Martínez de Vara's Tejano Patriot: The Revolutionary Life of José
Francisco Ruiz, 1783-1840 is the first full-length biography of this
important figure in Texas history. Best known as one of two Texas-born
signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, Ruiz's significance
extends far beyond that single event. Born in San Antonio de Béxar to an
upwardly mobile family, Ruiz underwent a dramatic transformation from a
conservative royalist to one of the staunchest liberals of his era
during the war for Mexican independence
Steeped in the Spanish American liberal tradition, his revolutionary
activity included participating in three uprisings, suppressing two
others, and enduring extreme personal sacrifice for the liberal
republican cause. He was widely respected as an intermediary between
Tejanos and American Indians, especially the Comanches. As a diplomat,
he negotiated nearly a dozen peace treaties for Spain, Mexico, and the
Republic of Texas, and he traveled to the imperial court of Mexico as an
agent of the Comanches to secure peace on the northern frontier. When
Anglo settlers came by the thousands to Texas after 1820, he continued
to be a cultural intermediary, forging a friendship with Stephen F.
Austin, but he always put the interests of Béxar and his fellow Tejanos
first.
Ruiz had a notable career as a military leader, diplomat, revolutionary,
educator, attorney, arms dealer, author, ethnographer, politician,
Indian agent, Texas ranger, city attorney, and Texas senator. He was a
central figure in the saga that shaped Texas from a remote borderland on
New Spain's northern frontier to an independent republic.
