Rafael Manchola

Rafael Antonio Manchola (died about 1833) was a politician and military officer in Mexican Texas. He twice served as commandant of Presidio La Bahía. He served two terms in the legislature of the state of Coahuila y Tejas. At his behest, the community which had grown outside the fort was renamed Goliad and elevated in status to a villa. During his legislative service, Manchola also negotiated official boundaries for the colony of his father-in-law, Martín De León, and had a commissioner appointed to grant official titles to the settlers in that colony. After returning home, Manchola became the alcade of Goliad and initiated a resolution–then considered illegal– supporting the Constitution of 1824 and Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He briefly attended the Convention of 1832 and volunteered to accompany William H. Wharton in journeying to Mexico City to request separate statehood for Texas. The mission was postponed, and Manchola died of cholera in late 1832 or early 1833.

Rafael Manchola descended from an aristocratic Spanish family. He married María de Jesús de León, fourth daughter of empresario Martín De León. Manchola and his wife had one daughter.

Manchola was a Mexican military officer stationed at Presidio La Bahía in Mexican Texas. He served as the commandant of the presidio from 1826–7 and then in 1831. Manchola owned a large ranch, and his cattle brand was one of the first registered in the Goliad and Victoria area.

Manchola was very supportive of his father-in-law's colony and became involved in several disputes that de Leon had with fellow empresario Green DeWitt. The Mexican government had made an error when granting DeWitt lands on which to establish a colony and included part of the land that had already been assigned to de Leon and his settlers. The land disputes may have contributed to a warning that Manchola gave to the Mexican military commander for Texas:

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