Cuellar, Jesús

Jesús (Comanche) Cuellar, member of the Texas cavalry during the revolution, bore the name Comanche from having been a Comanche captive. In 1833 he was an alferez in the Mexican army in Tamaulipas. He was a guide for Domingo de Ugartechea in November 1835 and was ranked as a lieutenant under Martín Perfecto de Cos at the siege of Béxar in December 1835, when he deserted the Mexican forces, reported to Edward Burleson the weakness of Béxar’s defenses, and offered himself as a guide for the Texans into San Antonio. Opposed to Antonio López de Santa Anna because of an injury Santa Anna had inflicted on his brother, Cuellar joined Dr. James Grant for the proposed Matamoros expedition of 1835–36, but got only as far as Goliad, where he joined the troops of James Walker Fannin, Jr. Cuellar devised a scheme for the defeat and capture of José de Urrea’s army and led Urrea’s men into a pass where he expected Fannin to trap them, but Urrea retreated to San Patricio before Fannin could attack. Cuellar was later sent to Refugio to give warning to William Ward and from Refugio went to join the Texas army. The General Council designated Cuellar a captain. He died at Goliad in 1841.