[dropcap]A[/dropcap]rriving in Mexico City on Oct. 15, 1834, attorneys Peter W. Grayson and Spencer H. Jack went right to work to finally end Stephen F. Austin’s nine-month nightmare.

The cause of the confinement was a letter Austin wrote in the heat of the moment the previous October.  Exasperated by the refusal of the central government to grant Texas statehood, the empressario encouraged the San Antonio ayuntamiento or city council to lay the groundwork for the forbidden regime in open ...