Road to Texas Independence: Come and Take It
Battle of Gonzales the “Lexington” of the Texas Revolution
Battle of Gonzales the “Lexington” of the Texas Revolution
You’ve seen the flag and likely quoted the line but do you know the story? Especially for those of you not familiar with Texas’ history or have forgotten since 8th grade. So let’s set the stage for this event and along the way, dispel a few myths as recent claims have tried to re-write history. And for those not familiar with the events which will cover the next 7 months, we hope to educate and share the story of the beginning of Texas.
We’ll start with a short overview of the events surrounding the Battle of Gonzalas on the 2nd of Oct 1835. We will then follow with more detail of the early history and the events which led to what we know today as:
Come and Take it
The biggest challenge of the early settlers to Texas was the Indians who had been displaced from their lands. The problem became so bad that in 1826, the Comanches burned down the town of Gonzalas. Members of the DeWitt Colony founded by Green DeWitt, which generally surrounds the city now known as Sequin, regularly complained to the Mexican garrison at San Antonio as well as Mexican leadership about the problems caused by the Indians, particularly the raiding Comanches. DeWitt would eventually enter into treaties with the Karankawa and Tonkawa tribes but the Comanches remained a major problem. In 1831, Green DeWitt borrowed two 6 lb cannons from the military garrison at San Antonio since the Mexican Army was unwilling or unable to protect the Texicans.
These cannons were based in the town of Gonzales, the seat of the DeWitt Colony which Is located east of San Antonio and just northwest of present-day IH 10 on the way to Houston. The cannons were used to protect the settlement from bands of roaming Comanche Indians. As tensions between the Mexican government and the Texican settlers worsened in 1835, the Mexicans demanded the cannon be returned. This did not sit well with the settlers since the Mexican soldiers provided them with no assistance in fighting the Indians
On the 29th of September, 100 Mexican Dragoons on horseback were dispatched to retrieve the cannon. The citizens of Gonzales made excuses why they did not return the cannon and 18 residents stood ready on one side of the Guadalupe River. Among those 18 was Almaron Dickenson who would fight and die at the Alamo and whose wife, Susannah Dickenson would be spared after the Battle of the Alamo. Yes, she went with him to the Alamo from their home (which still stands) in Gonzales. While excuses were being made to answer the Mexican Army’s demands, the word went out, and quickly over 140 men of the Texas “militia” arrived in Gonzales from the surrounding counties and communities. It should be noted that the Texicans had secured all the barges and rafts in the area on the East side of the river while the Mexican dragoons were stuck on the West side. On the 1st of Oct, the Texicans voted to fight. Someone had painted on a bedsheet a picture of the cannon with the words “Come and Take It” which have now become synonymous with the Texas Revolution.
A brief fight broke out on the 2nd of October leaving 3-4 Mexican soldiers dead and one Texican with a broken nose sustained falling off his horse which spooked with the gun fire. 2 October 1835 is recognized as the official start of the Texas Revolution. The Mexican soldiers would retreat and in what is considered the 1st official shots of the Texas Revolution, the Texicans declared victory. And the legend of “Come and Take It” began.
Not unlike the canons themselves, the “Battle” of Gonzales was largely a symbolic fight and the canons were in reality just oversized shotguns. While both cannons survived, one was later melted down into a bell which is still part of a church in San Antonio. The other is on display at the small but informative museum in the City of Gonzales. The wheels and caissons had to be rebuilt but one of the cannons still remains.
I highly recommend a day trip to the museum in Gonzales, maybe 45 minutes east of San Antonio not far off I-10. As mentioned, you can also see the Dickenson home and the Runaway Scrape Oak. The Oak is where Gen Sam Houston would camp after the Battle of the Alamo and were he ordered the Runaway scrape tobegan. And teaser, we’ll do a blog on the Runaway Scrape which was actually a brilliant tactical move by Sam Houston though many did not think so at the time. Make sure to leave room for a trip to one of 3 excellent BBQ spots in the immediate vicinity, City Market, Gonzales Food Market or Baker’s BBQ.
Above is the short version of events. To understand why not just the Texicans rebelled but citizens of many other Mexican states took up arms against Santa Anna is important to understand. Recently books and even Kelsy Grammar’s excellent show have mistakenly tried to claim that the Texicans revolted over slavery. Completely false. In fact, as late as 1835, the biggest demand of the Texicans (and plenty of other citizens of Mexico) was the restoration of the Constitution of 1824 to protect the rights of the citizens against the brutal and oppressive dictator, Santa Anna.
The story of the Republic of Texas begins with Stephen F Austin, known as the Father of Texas, who inherited from his father Moses, the vision of settling the lands of Texas. At the time, Texas was part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas (Tejas is an Indian word for friend). At this time Mexico was governed by the Spanish. The Spanish had established small cities with missions in El Paso and San Antonio but outside of some farms and ranches near the Rio Grande, the land was largely unsettled. These Mexican landowners were referred to as Tejanos and the new Anglo settlers were called Texicans. In Northern Mexico south of the Rio Grande were numerous large cattle ranches which are the key to this part of the story. The main threat to the region was the roaming bands of Commanche Indians who saw the cattle ranches as an easy source of beef. This would create the incentive for the Spanish then the Mexican government to approve the settling of Texas by mostly Americans looking for wealth. Remember that in 1821, land and agriculture drove the economy. Thus, for someone without land, creating wealth was a challenge. Texas offered thousands of square miles of very rich, fertile land.
In August of 1821, Mexico won their independence from Spain. No, this is not the more commercialized Cinco de Mayo, which celebrates the defeat of the French who colonized Mexico after Santa Anna fell through the US Civil War. Mexico would write their Constitution of 1824, patterned closely after the US Constitution. In the years between independence and the approval of the Constitution, the young nation tried to protect the valuable cattle ranches but lacked the treasury to create a large Army. It was during these years that Stephen F Austin worked with both the civic leaders of the Texas area and government officials in Mexico City. It was Moses Austin’s vision to bring colonists from America and Europe to settle land grants of 640 acres each in the farmlands along the Brazos and Colorado Rivers. This was approved by the Mexican govt in Jan of 1824. Moses would die shortly thereafterand Stephen picked up the torch.
Old 300 and my Great Grandfather
Originally there were 297 settlers awarded land. This group is referred to as the Old 300. They would begin arriving in December of 1821 and were the 1st official colonists of Texas. This is one reason why this is so personal to me, one of those men was James Jeffers Ross who helped found the town of Fayetteville near the Colorado River. This was the capital of Fayette County near Columbus and Brenham (home of Blue Bell). Faye County would eventually move the county seat to La Grange of Best Little Whorehouse in Texas fame. James Jeffers Ross was my Great Grandfather 3 times over. There is even a historical marker for Ross Prairie and Ross Creek flows through the county. He had fought with Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans at the end of the War of 1812 commanding a regiment of Creole Indians with the rank of Colonel. The capital of the Austin Colony was established at San Felipe de Austin on the Western bank of the Brazos River. At this point, small steamships could navigate up the cost to the town to expedite trading. (more on San Felipe de Austin in our Runaway Scrape article) James Ross was appointed a Captain in the Texas Militia, which would later morph into the Texas Rangers.
In 1825, another land speculator, Green DeWitt, received permission to settle 400 families in an area generally west of Austin’s Old 300 settlers not far from Sequin and referred to as the DeWitt Colony of old Texas maps. The capital/county seat of this area was Gonzales and the DeWitt Colony covered what is today the counties of Gonzalas, Lavaca, Guadalupe and DeWitt. One of the biggest challenges for Texicans would suffer from was raiding Indians who were not always happy with the loss of their lands. In addition to the Comanches, there were also the Karankawa and Tonkawa Indian tribes. In 1826, the Indians would destroy the town of Gonzales which the settlers began to rebuild. DeWitt would eventually enter into treaties with the latter 2 tribes but the Comanches remained a major problem. In 1831, unable to spare any of his soldiers, the Mexican military lent the settlers of Gonzales a 6 lb cannon.
In 1833 Santa Anna was elected as President of Mexico. In 1834 he would dissolve both the Mexican Congress and the Mexican Constitution of 1824 which stripped all Mexican citizens including the Texicans of much of their rights. Those who supported the Constitution were called Federalists while those who supported Santa Anna and the ending of Congress were called Centrists. Think of them as Fascists. At the core of the Road to Texas Independence were the actions of Santa Anna which stripped away the rights of all Mexican citizens but specifically threatened the land claims of the Texicans.
So not unlike the American Revolution, the Texas Revolution had at its core, a fight for the rights of the individual citizen. Nor was Texas the only state to take up arms, Oaxaca, Zacatecas, and Santa Anna’s home state of Vera Cruz all took up arms against the “Centrist” dictator. Those 3 states saw their rebellions brutally put down by the Sadaam Hussein of his day.
As a historical aside, while most point to Gonzales and the Come and Take It fight as the official start of the Texas Road to Independence, in reality the 1st shots were fired by the Texas Navy ship San Felipe when it fired upon and seized the Mexican armed schooner, Correo de Majica. This would occur the day before though the events were largely lost to history. The Battle of Gonzalas would “go viral” (having a cool flag helps) and the stories were carried throughout the US and Europe.
