Herrera, Blas María

Blas María Herrera, courier, soldier, and scout, often called the “Paul Revere” of the Texas Revolution, was born on February 2, 1802, in San Antonio de Béxar. He spent his first years in the Ruiz home on the southwest corner of Military Plaza in San Antonio. He is listed as a sergeant on an 1820 roster of local militia. During the Siege of Bexar in late 1835, Herrera served under the command of Capt. Juan Nepomuceno Seguín and was a member of the assaulting force on December 5–9, 1835. Early in 1836 Seguín sent him to Laredo to keep surveillance on Mexican troop movements and to report any advance on San Antonio. About the middle of February, Herrera brought the information that Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna’s troops were approaching the city. Herrera’s next assignment was to escort and protect José Antonio Navarro and José Francisco Ruiz during their trip to Washington-on-the-Brazos, where they signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. He died on July 9, 1878.

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