Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

[neferetus]

Here's a thread dedicated to Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the conquerer of the Alamo. Feel free to post any thoughts, research information, or trivia on El Presidente.

[neferetus]

In answer to Greg's question as to whether Santa Anna's surname should be spelled with one "N", or two, this sample of the general's handwriting and signature should settle the question once and for all.

[Greg C.]

neferetus said:

In answer to Greg's question as to whether Santa Anna's surname should be spelled with one "N", or two, this sample of the general's handwriting and signature should settle the question once and for all.

Thank God I got it right or else my book would be in historical trouble...

[neferetus]

Of course then, some of the Mexicans themselves referred to the General as "Santanna". (Yes, just the same spelling as the guy who wrote the song, BLACK MAGIC WOMAN.) It was an abbreviation of the long form of Santa Anna. Notice how, in his signature, Santa Anna abbreviates it to L. de Sta. Anna? Even today, a man of political, or social stature does not find it necessary to affix his first name to a signature.

[neferetus]

Here's an article from the San Diego Historical Society's website on the Santa Ana Winds:



-The Journal of San Diego History-
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
January 1958, Volume 4, Number 1
Contents of this issue


THE SANTA ANA WINDS
By Bertram B. Moore

In many parts of the world we find that local weather conditions of outstanding characteristics are named after their localities. This is especially true in Spain and Italy.

To make the point clear and bring it close to home, here in San Diego County we experience heavy thunder storms over portions of our mountains and desert areas during July, August, and September. We call these storms Sonoras, because they originate in Sonora.

Under certain atmospheric conditions here in Southern California, we have heavy north and northeasterly winds. They are more frequent during the summer months but may occur at any season of the year. These winds are strong, blustery, and very dry. They seem to originate in the upper atmosphere over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, to gather momentum as they drop down to warm valleys and desert areas, where they rise to higher altitudes as hot air, sucking more wind down after.

A few hours before they hit the valleys of Southern California, high winds are noted in the vicinity of Sandberg, Tehachapi, and the San Gorgonio Mountains. ere they dip down through the canyons north and east of the Santa Ana area, and sweep down valleys to the sea.

In the February 1933 issue of the United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Lt. Comdr. 0. H. Holtman recalled that, in the early days of Spanish exploration, it was the custom to name places and occurrences for the saint on whose day the discovery or event took place. He mentions several blows of hurricane force so named in the logs of early navigators. He then expresses the belief that the first Santa Ana during Spanish times must have been experienced on July 26th, Saint Anne's day, and was named for her. This seems doubtful for two reasons. The first is that the first Santa Ana would not have been an important enough event to rate a name. The second is that early records of the missions and expeditions do not mention these winds by name, although attention was paid to weather conditions.

Several articles on the origin of the name Santa Ana are to be found in the March and April issues of Touring Topics in 1933. One theory offered was that the winds were named after the blustery Mexican general and president, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Another writer thought that the name was derived from an Indian word Santana, meaning big or bad wind. This point of view has gained an increasing support, and has become official in some circles.

Still another held that the name originated from the Spanish word Satana, meaning Satan.

The majority point of view among Southern Californians was, and is, that the winds are named for the locality of the same name.

Terry E. Stephenson wrote an article of some length on the subject in the California Folklore Society Quarterly of February 1943. He had become a resident of the city of Orange in the Santa Ana Valley in 1884, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce in 1906. He was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the Santa Ana Register for many years. He states that, motivated by intermittent controversies, he looked into the matter and settled it to his own satisfaction.

He first discredited the theory that they were named after President Santa Anna, by pointing out that the winds were called Santa Anas in records written before the man was known.

He then said they were not named by an Indian word Santana meaning big or bad wind. To prove his contention he had written Professor Harry Hoifer, an eminent authority on Indian languages of Southern California. Professor Hoifer reported as follows: "A careful search through the available data on Indian languages of Southern California fails to reveal any word even remotely similar to the word Santana, big or bad winds."

Stephenson concluded that most of the evidence indicated that the winds were named for the locality in which the old-timers thought they originated, the Santa Ana Canyon.

Other articles are to be found written by long time residents in the valley, most of whom were positive that the name came from the locality.

There is a letter on file at the Serra Museum written by the late Ann Guern, an authority on old Spanish. In it she states that her mother, Mrs. Alice Woodbury, lived in Santa Ana from childhood. Mrs. Woodbury reported that the members of the old Spanish families in those days (she had friends among the Verdugo, Sanchez, and Figueroa families) always spoke of the Santa Anas as deriving their name from the valley, and the canyon where they were strongest.

She went on to say: "The pronunciation as Santana is colloquial, elision of the unaccented a with the accented."

From the facts quoted, as well as others which space does not permit mentioning, it appears that the name was given to these warm winds by early California settlers because of their supposed point of origin, the Santa Ana Canyon.

[Bromhead24]

Billy Bob referred to him as Santanner

[neferetus]

bromhead24 said:

Billy Bob referred to him as Santanner

Yes, he did. Sort of an Arkansas butchering of the derivitive, "Santanna".

[neferetus]

I sort of like the explanation of the Santa Ana Winds being called "Satana", or "Devil Winds". Seem to be an appropriate description of El Presidente, as well.

[Bromhead24]

I am going to have my wife, er ah ex wife translate whats on the paper.

[neferetus]

bromhead24 said:

I am going to have my wife, er ah ex wife translate whats on the paper.

Oh, it's just the end of the document. Do you want the whole thing? I'll have to search for it again.

[Bromhead24]

neferetus said:

bromhead24 said:

I am going to have my wife, er ah ex wife translate whats on the paper.

Oh, it's just the end of the document. Do you want the whole thing? I'll have to search for it again.

Don't put yourself out.

[neferetus]

In THE MEXICAN SIDE OF THE TEXAN REVOLUTION, translated with notes by Dr. Carlos E. Castaneda (1970, Graphic Ideas Inc.) Page 15, paragraph two, Santa Anna himself explains the commencement of the assault upon the Alamo. (From his 1837 Manifesto to his fellow citizens):

"On the night of the Fifth of March, four colums having been made ready for the assault under command of their respective officers, they moved forward in the best order and with the greatest silence, but the impudent huzzas of one of them awakened the sleeping vigilence of the defenders of the fort and their artillery fire caused such disorder among our columns that it was necessary to make use of the reserves. The Alamo was taken, this victory that was so much and so justly celebrated at the time costing us seventy dead and about three hundred wounded, a loss that was also later judged to be avoidable and charged, after the disaster at San Jacinto, to my incompetence and precipitation. I do not know of a way in which any fortification, defended by artillery, can be carried by assault without the personal losses of the attacking party being greater than those of the enemy, against whose walls and fortifications the brave assailants can present only their bare breasts. It is easy enough from a desk in a peaceful office, to pile up charges against a general out on the field but this cannot prove anything more than the praiseworthy desire of making war less disastrous. But its nature being such, a general has no power over its immutable laws. Let us weep at the tomb of the brave Mexican soldiers who died at the Alamo defending the honour and rights of their country. They won a lasting claim to fame and their country can never forget their heroic names."

[seguin]

Thank God for the "impudent huzzas". Otherwise many of the defenders would have been killed in their sleep without any chance to strike back...