free. Fernando De León was released with payment of a bribe. Carbajal was transferred to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, with an intended transfer for imprisonment at San Juan de Ulloa. Plácido Benavides bribed the guards at Matamoros to effect an escape for Carbajal, who afterwards returned to Victoria. The United States government took public credit for release of all prisoners. During the Texas War of Independence many Mexicans were opposed to Santa Anna's regime but refused to take up arms against their own people. Carbajal counted himself among those conscientious objectors. Mexicans who refused to take up arms were suspected as sympathizers, if not active allies, of the Santa Anna regime, and they were treated accordingly. Brigadier General Thomas Jefferson Rusk confiscated the homes of those who wished to remain neutral in the war. In July 1836, Rusk ordered the Carbajal, Benavides and De Leon families of Victoria escorted off their own land. The two families left for New Orleans. Having been stripped of their wealth and everything they owned, they resorted to manual labor to survive in New Orleans. Carbajal renounced his ties to the new Republic of Texas. In 1842, Carbajal's brother-in-law Silvestre De León returned to Victoria, and was murdered. Freedom fighter and guerrilla warfare Federalist wars of Mexico, Republic of the Rio Grande After Santa Anna lost Texas, Anastasio Bustamante returned from exile and in 1837 once again became President of Mexico. The people of Mexico blamed Santa Anna's Centralist regime for the loss of Texas. They saw Bustamante as his puppet and wanted a return to the Federalist form of government. Carbajal and Antonio Canales Rosillo recruited insurgents to resist the Centralist troops, and to try to establish a breakaway republic. During one of the skirmishes, Carbajal was struck by a musket ball and permanently lost the use of his left arm. Mexican–American War The 1845 annexation of Texas by the United States was the opening salvo of the Mexican–American War. Mexico had seen the government of the Republic of Texas as illegitimate and hoped for a return of Texas to Mexico. Complicating the annexation issue was the disputed area of the Nueces Strip. Seeing an opportunity to revive the Federalist cause, Canales Rosillo sent a letter to Zachary Taylor on January 29, 1846, requesting a meeting with either himself or Carbajal, to discuss United States aid in ousting the Centralist government. During a meeting with Carbajal,