Most people think of Fredonia as the fictitious country of the Marx Brothers film, Duck Soup, but Fredonia was actually a country...sort of. In 1826, a hot-tempered Virginian 'colonist' named Haden Edwards created an alliance with a local Cherokee tribe and led a short-lived rebellion against Mexican rule in East Texas that resulted in his proclamation of the Republic of Fredonia, which existed for just over a month. In this episode, we explore the circumstances surrounding Edwards' rebellion, the colony he created, and the aftermath of Fredonia's collapse.
Texas by Terán: The Diary Kept by General Manuel de Mier y Terán on His 1828 Inspection of Texas, Ed. Jack Jackson, Trans. John Wheat, UT Austin, (2000).
Joe E. Ericson and Carolyn R. Ericson, Personalities on the East Texas Frontier: Brief Narratives of Their Lives and Times, Ericson Books, (1998).
John Wesley Strunc, "'Independence, Liberty, and Justice': The Birth, Life, and Death of Haden Edwards' Fredonian Rebellion", MA thesis, The University of Texas at Arlington, (2009).
David J. Weber, The Mexican Frontier, 1821-1846, University of New Mexico Press, (1982).
Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)