In the first part of KSAT’s newest Tejano Moments series, we are focusing on an Alamo Tejano hero by the name of Jose Toribio Losoya.
Born right here in the heart of San Antonio in 1808, Losoya was destined to fight for a free Texas.
He was actually born in the Alamo to Ventura Losoya and Concepcion De Los Angles Charli and baptized at the San Fernando Cathedral on Main Plaza.
“When we think about legends of the Alamo and the merit they should receive and the accolades as heroes, Losoya really stands out”, says Rudi Rodriguez, a local historian and founder of texastejano.com.
“He’s the only Texan that was actually born here,” he said.
The Casa Charli y Losoya was one of the first land grants in San Antonio. The residence was an adobe two-room dwelling in the southwest corner of the Alamo with an adjacent garden and along the southern road to the missions. The Losoya family lived in the Barrio del Valero or the Alamo. The social and cultural life on the early Tejano frontier for Toribio Losoya revolved around the many families of both the town and the neighboring ranching valleys. Attending baptisms, marriages and religious feast days were part of Toribio’s social life.
Rodriguez says it’s an important piece of history because it acknowledges the role both Tejanos and Tejanas played in the Alamo’s history.
“It’s important to the Hispanic community for sure, and here in San Antonio and the rest of Texas because it begins to signify very concretely that Tejanos were here. They were here in the beginning.”
Later on, at age 17, Toribio would join the military, just like his grandfather and father did before him.
Over the next six years, he was trained in horsemanship, cavalry tactics and had become an excellent marksman.
He was also taught how to engage with Apaches and Commanches.
At the start of 1830, he joined the “Companias Volantes Del Alamo”, also known as the Alamo de Parras Company, under the command of Lt. Col. José Francisco Ruiz.
He would help establish a fort along the Brazos River Valley called “Tenoxtitlan” and then return to the Alamo in 1832.
“Ultimately, they’re going to be here on these grounds, on the ramparts in the shrine, in the in the church fighting that Mexican army”, Rodriguez says.
If you would like to visit the new, free, Casa Charli y Losoya exhibit, it is located right across the Alamo next to “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”