Come and Take It RoadyGoat

1835

In October of eighteen thirty-five, Mexican authorities sent a hundred soldiers to Gonzales to retrieve a small bronze cannon they had loaned the colonists four years earlier to fight off Comanche raids. The Texians' answer was a homemade white flag with a picture of the cannon painted in black and four words underneath: Come and Take It. They fired the cannon at the soldiers. Two Mexican soldiers were killed. The lone Texian casualty was a bloody nose — the man was thrown by his horse. Newspapers immediately compared the skirmish to the Battle of Lexington, and Stephen F. Austin declared war two days later. The cannon's ultimate fate is disputed: it may have been buried near Gonzales and later melted down into a church bell. The Texas Revolution had begun.

Los, TX RoadyGoat

Los, Texas, is just a blip on the map to most folks, but it's got stories etched into its dusty roads. We’re out in the heart of ranch country, so it’s no surprise that some of the best rodeo riders in the state cut their teeth here.

7.7 mi away

Scott, TX RoadyGoat

Scott, Texas, owes its name to one of its earliest pioneers, a fellow named John Scott. Back around 1880, when the area was just beginning to blossom into a proper town, his contributions were deemed significant enough to warrant the honor. It’s a simple, straightforward name, really, reflective of the down-to-earth, hardworking folks who built this place. You won’t find any grand pronouncements or flowery language in the naming, just a solid recognition of someone who helped lay the foundation. That spirit of community and connection to the past is still alive and well here. Maybe that's why the unique blend of country blues, tinged with Cajun spice, took root in Scott. Even the legend of Jean Lafitte’s buried treasure, supposedly hidden somewhere nearby, speaks to the history that’s woven into the very fabric of the town. It's a place where the echoes of the past mingle with the Friday night lights of high school football, a place where the triumph of the Saints in the Super Bowl felt like a victory for the entire region. Scott might be a simple name, but it represents a place with a rich and authentic story.

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Gonzales - Come and Take It

1835

First military engagement of the Texas Revolution, October 2, 1835, when Texian settlers refused to return a cannon to Mexican authorities.

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Gonzales Cannon burial site

1835

On this site September 29, 1835 the Gonzales cannon was buried from the 150 Mexican Dragoons sent to Demand it. Two days later it was mounted on ox-cart wheels, loaded with chains and scrap iron, and fired at the Mexican Army, the first shot of the Revolution. This location was known as George W. Davis Peach Orchard.

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The Immortal 32

1836

In Memory of the Immortal 32 Gonzales men and boys who, on March 1, 1836 fought their way into the beleaguered Alamo to die with Colonel William B. Travis for the Liberty of Texas. They were the last and only reinforcements to arrive in answer to the final call of Colonel William B. Travis. Names and ages of the Immortal Thirty-Two: Captain Albert Martin, 30; Isaac G. Baker, 32; John Cane, 34; George W. Cottle, 38; David P. Cummings, 27; Squire Damon, 28; Jacob C. Darst, 48; John Davis, 25; William Dearduff; Charles Despallier, 24; William Fishbaugh; John Flanders, 36; Dolphin Ward Floyd, 29; Galba Fuqua, 16; John E. Garvin, 27; John E. Gaston. 17; James George, 34; Thomas Jackson; Johnny Kellogg, 10; Andrew Kent, 38; George C. Kimball, 26; John E. King, 26; William P. King, 24; Jonathan L. Lindley, 31; Thomas R. Miller, 41; Jessie McCoy; Isaac Millsaps; George Neggan, 28; Wm. E. Summers, 24; George W. Tumlinson, 27; Robert White, 30; Claiborne Wright, 26. Other Gonzales men who fell at the Alamo. Daniel Bourne, 26; George Brown, 35; Jerry C. Day, 20; Almaron Dickerson, 26; Andrew Duvalt, 32; John Harris, 23; Wm. J. Lightfoot, 25; Marcus L. Sewell, 31; Amos Pollard, 33. Survivors of the Alamo Massacre, Mrs. Almaron Dickerson and baby daughter, of Gonzales.

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Castañeda Fernández, Francisco Narciso

1835

Francisco Castañeda, Mexican military officer, the son of Juan de Castañeda Quevedo and Josefa Fernández, was born in October 1799 and baptized in the parish church of San Juan Bautista de la Punta de Lampazos (now Lampazos de Naranjo), Nuevo León, on November 1, 1799. His father was an officer in the local compañía volante , and he entered the presidio service as a cadet in the same company in June 1813, following Spanish military practice of allowing the teenage sons of officers to enter the service. In July 1818 he was promoted to alférez (second lieutenant) and transferred to the Second Compañía Volante of Tamaulipas, a detachment of which was stationed in Texas. Breveted to lieutenant in 1821, he joined the Álamo de Parras company , stationed in San Antonio, in November 1823 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1827. Aside from participating in American Indian campaigns, Castañeda played a role in some of the most iconic events of the Texas Revolution . Assigned to retrieve the "Come and Take It" cannon that had been lent to the Anglo-American settlement of Gonzales for Indian defense, Castañeda was the Mexican officer involved in the battle of Gonzales . Under orders not to precipitate a major conflict, Castañeda withdrew to San Antonio after he lost two men during the brief skirmish that has come to be considered the opening clash of the revolution. Castañeda engaged the Texans at least twice during the siege of Bexar and marched to Coahuila with Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos following the Mexican surrender in December. Returning to Texas in February 1836 as part of Antonio López de Santa Anna 's forces, Castañeda, commanding a squad of sharpshooters in the Aldama Battalion, participated in the assault on the Alamo on the morning of March 6 and according to his service record was among the first officers to enter the compound. His was the last Mexican army unit in San Antonio, when he surrendered the town to a Texan force under Juan Seguín in June 1836-thus making Castañeda the Mexican officer involved in both the opening and closing episodes of the Texas Revolution. He returned to Texas at least one more time and served in the Woll invasion of September 1842 ( see MEXICAN INVASIONS OF 1842 ), during which he was seriously wounded at the battle of Salado Creek . Francisco Castañeda continued his military career in Coahuila. Promoted to captain in 1837, he was given command of the presidio company of La Babia (northwest of present-day Melchor Múzquiz, Coahuila). Breveted to lieutenant colonel in June 1842, he was breveted to colonel later that year in recognition of his wounding at Salado. In 1847 he saw action in the battle of Buena Vista (Angostura) during the Mexican War . He became captain of the military colony of San Vicente in 1849, when the Mexican government abandoned the presidio system in favor of colonias militares , or military settlements. Although assigned to the San Vicente crossing in the Big Bend of the Rio Grande southwest of Boquillas, the remote location kept Castañeda's company at La Babia until the government abandoned the experiment in 1853, by which time Castañeda had obtained a promotion to assistant inspector of troops in Coahuila, a position he held until retirement. Francisco Castañeda married María de la Luz Guajardo at Punta de Lampazos in June 1816, having already had a daughter by her, Juana Petra de Jesús, the previous year. No record has been found of other children by Luz, who died in 1839. Ten years later Castañeda married María de Jesús Múzquiz, also widowed, at Melchor Múzquiz, Coahuila. Castañeda died at Hacienda de Fundición del Cedral (Hacienda de San Rafael de El Cedral), southeast of Melchor Múzquiz, on February 7, 1878.

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Darst, Jacob Calloway

1836

Jacob Calloway Darst, Alamo defender, son of David and Rosetta (Holman) Darst, was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on December 22, 1793. David Darst was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and served under Lt. Col. George Rogers Clark during the Illinois Campaign. Four years before Jacob's birth, his maternal grandfather, Henry Holman, who also served under Clark, was killed while on a surveying expedition, possibly by an Indian war party. When Jacob was a young boy, David moved his family to Femme Osage township in what is now St. Charles County, Missouri. The legendary pioneer Daniel Boone was their close neighbor. Jacob was a farmer, and an Indian scout. During the War of 1812 he served as a member of James Callaway's Missouri Mounted Rangers and fought in the Battle of New Orleans. In 1810 Jacob's older brother Abraham "Abram" married Tabita Callaway, the granddaughter of Daniel and Rebecca (Bryan) Boone. In 1813 Jacob married Elizabeth Bryan. She was a second cousin of Rebecca Boone. After Elizabeth's death in 1820, Jacob married Margaret C. Hughes. In 1827 Jacob's brother Abram, with his wife and children, left Missouri for Texas and settled near Columbia in Austin's Colony. Jacob, his wife, and two of his children left by wagon for Texas in 1830. Later that year, between the Brazos and Trinity rivers, Jacob's oxen succumbed to "murrain" (Texas tick fever was suspected). Despite this setback, Jacob captured and trained wild Texas cattle to pull the wagon for the rest of the journey to Gonzales. He arrived in DeWitt's colony on January 10, 1831. Darst registered for twenty-four labores of land on the Guadalupe River above Gonzales and also for one labor on a small creek that empties into the Lavaca. Darst later moved his family to Gonzales. There he purchased several town lots and possibly opened a blacksmith shop. In September 1835 Darst was one of the original " Old Eighteen ," defenders of the Gonzales cannon. Darst also participated in the siege of Béxar and was discharged by Gen. Edward Burleson . After this battle, Darst with his son David delivered loads of ammunition and other supplies to Col. James W. Fannin at Goliad. On February 23, 1836, Darst was mustered into service in the Gonzales Ranging Company of Mounted Volunteers in response to the urgent plea of Lt. Col. William B. Travis at the Alamo. He entered the Alamo with this unit on March 1, 1836, and died in the battle of the Alamo five days later. Following the fall of the Alamo, Darst's family fled Gonzales in the Runaway Scrape . He had five nephews (Abram's sons) in Capt. William H. Patton 's Fourth (Columbia) Company in the Second Regiment of Texas of Volunteers commanded by Col. Sidney Sherman . One of these nephews, Pvt. Edmund Calloway Darst, fought at the battle of San Jacinto .

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Dickinson, Susanna Wilkerson

1835

Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson (also spelled Dickerson), survivor of the Alamo, was born about 1814 in Tennessee, perhaps in Williamson County. Her first name has also been recorded as Susan, Susana, and Suzanna; her maiden name is sometimes given as Wilkinson. On May 24, 1829, she married Almeron Dickinson before a justice of the peace in Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee. The couple remained in the vicinity through the end of 1830. The Dickinsons arrived at Gonzales, Texas, on February 20, 1831, in company with fifty-four other settlers, after a trip by schooner from New Orleans. On May 5 Dickinson received a league of land from Green DeWitt , on the San Marcos River in what became Caldwell County. He received ten more lots in and around Gonzales in 1833 and 1834. The Dickinsons lived on a lot just above the town on the San Marcos River, where Susanna took in at least one boarder. A map of Gonzales in 1836 shows a Dickinson and Kimble hat factory in Gonzales. Susanna's only child, Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson , was born on December 14, 1834. Susanna and her daughter may have joined other families hiding in the timber along the Guadalupe River in early October 1835, when Mexican troops from San Antonio demanded the return of an old cannon lent to Gonzales four years earlier. The resulting skirmish, the battle of Gonzales , was the first fight of the Texas Revolution . Susanna said goodbye to her husband on October 13 as the volunteers left for San Antonio under command of Stephen F. Austin . She remained in Gonzales through November, when newly arriving troops looted her home. She joined Dickinson in San Antonio, probably in December 1835, and lodged in Francisca Castañeda and Ramón Músquiz 's home, where she opened her table to boarders (among them David Crockett ) and did laundry. On February 23, 1836, the family moved into the Alamo. After the battle of the Alamo on March 6, Mexican soldiers found her-some accounts say in the powder magazine, others in the church-and took her and Angelina, along with the other women and children, to Músquiz's home. The women were later interviewed by Santa Anna, who gave each a blanket and two dollars in silver before releasing them. Legend says Susanna displayed her husband's Masonic apron to a Mexican general in a plea for help and that Santa Anna offered to take Angelina to Mexico. Santa Anna sent Susanna and her daughter, accompanied by Juan N. Almonte 's servant Ben, to Sam Houston with a letter of warning dated March 7. On the way, the pair met Joe , William B. Travis 's slave, who had been freed by Santa Anna. The party was discovered by Erastus (Deaf) Smith and Henry Wax Karnes . Smith guided them to Houston in Gonzales, where they arrived after dark about March 12. Susanna Dickinson probably followed the army eastward in company with the other Gonzales women. Illiterate, without family, and only twenty-two years old, she petitioned the government meeting at Columbia in October 1836 for a donation, but the proposed $500 was not awarded. She needed a male protector, and by June 1837 she was cohabiting with John Williams, whom she married about November 27, 1837. He beat her and Angelina, and she petitioned in Harrisburg (later Harris) County for a divorce, which was granted on March 24, 1838-one of the first divorces in the county. By 1839 Almeron Dickinson's heirs had received rights to 2,560 acres for his military service; they sold the land when Angelina reached twenty-one. Subsequent requests to the state legislature in November 1849 were turned down. Susanna tried matrimony three more times before settling into a stable relationship. She wed Francis P. Herring on December 20, 1838, in Houston. Herring, formerly from Georgia, had come to Texas after October 20, 1837. He died on September 15, 1843. On December 15, 1847, Susanna married Pennsylvania drayman Peter Bellows (also known as Bellis or Belles) before an Episcopalian minister. In 1850 the couple had sixteen-year-old Angeli

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Gonzales, Texas

Music in Gonzales

Songs About Gonzales

Artists From Gonzales

Rivers & Roads in Song near Gonzales

History of Gonzales

Come and Take It RoadyGoat

Los, TX RoadyGoat

Scott, TX RoadyGoat

Gonzales - Come and Take It

Gonzales Cannon burial site

The Immortal 32

Castañeda Fernández, Francisco Narciso

Darst, Jacob Calloway

Dickinson, Susanna Wilkerson

Things to Do in Gonzales

Everything Near Gonzales