The Gutiérrez-Magee or Magee-Gutiérrez expedition of 1812–13 was an early filibustering expedition against Spanish Texas. The expedition took place against the background of growing unrest in Mexico against Spanish rule. In January 1811 a former militia captain named Juan Bautista de las Casas, inspired by the Diez y Seis revolt in Guanajuato, led an insurrectionist movement against the royalists in San Antonio, seizing Governor Manuel María de Salcedo and his military staff. In March royalists staged a successful countercoup, captured Casas, and executed him (see CASAS REVOLT). In December 1811 an envoy of the rebels, José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara, traveled to Washington, D.C., in the hope of securing United States support for the antiroyalist cause. Conferences with American officials brought only vague promises of aid, but Gutiérrez was led to believe that the United States would not hinder the organization of the expedition against Texas.
