Texas Independence Trail Region, Known As the “Cradle of Texas Liberty,” Comprises a 28-County Area Stretching More Than 200 Miles from San Antonio to Galveston
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TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION TEXAS INDEPENDENCE This travel guide is made possible TRAIL through the Texas Historical Commission’s partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation, Office of the Governor — REGION Economic Development and Tourism, Texas Parks and Wildlife and Texas Commission on the Arts. The Texas Historical Commission, the state agency for historic preservation, administers a variety of programs to preserve the archeological, historical and cultural resources of Texas. The Texas Heritage Trails Program The Texas Historical Commission is a leader in implementing and promoting heritage tourism efforts in Texas. The Texas Heritage Trails Program is the agency’s top tourism initiative. ® It’s like a whole other country. For additional copies of this brochure, call 866/276-6219. TPWD P.O. BOX 12276 • AUSTIN, TX 78711-2276 PHONE 512/463-6100 • FAX 512/463-6374 DEADLY BATTLES, HEROIC DEEDS www.thc.state.tx.us AND A HISTORY SHAPED Funding provided through TxDOT’s Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program. BY A DESIRE FOR FREEDOM Copyright © 2004, Texas Historical Commission Printed in Texas. 1/05-450M n the saga of Texas history, no era is more distinctive or accented by epic events than Texas’ struggle for independence and its years as a sovereign republic. During the early 1800s, Spain enacted policies to fend off the encroachment of European rivals into its New World territories west of Louisiana. I As a last-ditch defense of what’s now Texas, the Spanish Crown allowed immigrants from the U.S. to settle between the Trinity and Guadalupe rivers. The first settlers were the Old Three Hundred families who established Stephen F. Austin’s initial colony. Lured by land as cheap as four cents per acre, homesteaders came to Texas, first in a trickle, then a flood. In 1821, sovereignty shifted when Mexico won independence from Spain, but Anglo-American immigrants soon outnumbered Tejanos (Mexican-Texans). Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna seized control of Mexico in 1833 and gripped the country with ironhanded rule. By 1835, the dictator tried to stop immigration to Texas, limit settlers’ weapons, impose high tariffs and abolish slavery — changes resisted by most Texans. The Texas Independence TrailOn March 2, 1836, after more than a year of conclaves, failed negotiations and a few armed conflicts, citizen delegates met at what’s now Washington-on-the-Brazos and declared Texas independent. They adopted a constitution and voted to raise an army under Gen. Sam Houston. TEXAS STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES Gen. Sam Houston THC The San Jacinto Monument towers over the battlefield where Texas forces defeated the Mexican Army. TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Four days later, the Alamo fell to Santa Anna. Two weeks later, 342 Texans surrendered at Goliad and were executed. Women and other noncombatants fled from danger toward the safety of Galveston and the U.S. border at Louisiana, an uneasy episode known as the Runaway Scrape. Near Gonzales, Sam Houston challenged settlers Washington-on-the-Brazos to join the fight, with most recruits coming from sharp- State Historic Site focuses on Texas’ formative shooting Southern families. As he moved eastward, he 1830s–40s period. gathered more troops, whom he ordered to burn whatever the advancing Mexican forces might utilize, including TxDOT whole villages. On a marshy plain at the mouth of the San Jacinto River near present-day Houston, the Texan army encountered Santa Anna’s encampment. The Battle of San Jacinto gave Texans a victory for independence. Today, the Texas Independence Trail Region, known as the “Cradle of Texas Liberty,” comprises a 28-county area stretching more than 200 miles from San Antonio to Galveston. Armed with imagination — and this guide to the Texas Independence Trail Region — relive the era when Texas became its own country. Artifacts and inter- pretation at heritage sites across the region help visitors understand the interwoven lives and events that form this rich historical tapestry. MarchTEXAS INDEPENDENCE 2,DAY Lured to Texas by pennies-per-acre land grants, the hopes of Anglo immigrants were soon dashed by Santa Anna’s oppressive rule. 2 TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION At unforgettable battlefields, you can almost smell the blast of gunpowder. At stately Spanish missions, you can almost hear the footsteps of missionaries and soldiers. At historic towns, large and small, you can feel the pres- ence of pirates and explorers, cowboys and sodbusters, railroad barons and mercantile magnates, Anglo-American and Tejano revolutionists, Southern plantation owners and enslaved Africans — all part of the colorful diversity TxDOT of people who made the region what it is today. As Mexican soldiers laid siege to the Alamo, Texan delegates met March 2, 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos to draft a formal Declaration of Independence. 1836 Texas living history reenactors spark their cannon in mock battle to recall Col. James W. Fannin’s March 1836 defeat near Goliad. TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 3 TEXAS INDEPENDENCE TIMELINE TEXAS INDEPENDENCE TIMELINE 1685–1700 1701–1800 1801–33 1834–35 1685 Explorer Robert Cavelier, 1718–31 Spain concentrates its 1803 U.S. purchases Louisiana 1834 Gen. Antonio López de Santa Sieur de La Salle establishes power in Texas at San Antonio. from France. Anna creates Mexican dictatorship French colony near Lavaca Bay. 1749–54 Presidio and 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty clarifies and repeals 1824 Constitution. Stephen F. Austin jailed in Mexico 1690 Spain builds outposts missions built at Goliad to guard boundaries for Spanish lands City on charges of sedition. in East Texas to block French Texas coastal plains. in North America. trespass. 1812–19 American filibustering Oct. 2, 1835 First shots of Texas expeditions support separation Revolution fired at Gonzales. from Mexico. Oct. 16, 1835 San Felipe 1821 Mexico wins independence delegates resolve against Santa from Spain. Anna, vote for provisional Mexican state government and order 1821 Stephen F. Austin begins Sam Houston to raise an army. colonization of region around lower Brazos and Colorado rivers. Late 1835 General rebellion: Texans take Presidio La Bahía at 1824 Mexico adopts federalist Goliad and lay siege to San constitution; Texas and neighbor Antonio; U.S. volunteers begin Coahuila joined as a single state; arriving for the Texas fight. Anglo immigration increases. Robert Cavelier, 1831–32 New tax and Sieur de La Salle immigration laws cause clashes at Anahuac, Velasco and Nacogdoches. Oct. 1832 Texas delegates at San Felipe convention call for immigration reforms and separate statehood. April 1833 Delegates to convention at San Felipe pressed their appeals for government reforms. TEXAS STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES Juan Seguin, a prominent political and military figure of the Texas Revolution and Republic of Texas. # Goliad’s restored Presidio La Bahía features historical exhibits and scheduled living history programs that reflect its 250-year history. 4 TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION TEXAS MAIN STREET CITIES TEXAS MAIN STREET CITIES Visitors can stroll the sidewalks and peruse shops in all of the region’s 13 Texas Main Street Cities. 1836–40 1841–45 Partnering with the Texas Historical Commission, these communities work to revitalize their historic Feb. 24, 1836 Siege of the March 1842 Centralist rebels Alamo begins. try to reinstate Mexican law over commercial areas, which are often the heart of Texas. the towns. # March 2, 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence Sept. 1842 Mexican Gen. Adrian I bay city presented at Washington-on-the- Woll captures San Antonio; Brazos. Texan volunteers engaged at the I brenham Battle of Salado Creek. March 6, 1836 The Alamo falls; I eagle lake Runaway Scrape begins. Nov.–Dec. 1842 Texans try to elgin avenge Mexican invasion with I March 19–20, 1836 Mexican punitive expedition that evolved I floresville army surrounds Col. James W. into the ill-fated Mier Expedition. Fannin’s troops at Battle of Coleto. I freeport On March 27 the prisoners are 1843–45 U.S. Congress debates executed. the Texas annexation question. I goliad U.S. President John Tyler calls I gonzales TxDOT April 21, 1836 Texan surprise for statehood. attack at San Jacinto defeats Santa I la grange Anna’s army. Dec. 29, 1845 U.S. President Watermelon Thump, Luling James K. Polk signs annexation I luling May 14, 1836 Texas Republic agreement to allow Texas into the period begins with peace treaties Union as the 28th state. # I san antonio- signed at Velasco. midtown on blanco Oct. 22, 1836 Sam Houston I san antonio-southtown sworn in as president of the Republic of Texas at Columbia. I seguin January 1839 Waterloo (Austin) chosen as new Texas capital. The Lone Star and a mockingbird, the state bird of Texas # The Alamo, San Antonio Trade Days, downtown Seguin Background photo: Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 5 THE TEXAS INDEPENDENCE TRAIL REGION The Texas Independence Trail Region Lake L. B. J. Lake Marble Falls B N 35 ra a W 79 z v e o a s 183 s s t o S t a 79 R a 281 81 i n T v R r 77 e i i r v J a n Lake Travis Lake e 45 i r c i t 6 y Austin Somerville n S a Independence t R 71 Elgin Lake o n i Lake R J v 4 Washington i a e 290 r Austin W. E. Long 6 ve c 50 105 r i 390 59 n 290 Color 3 t ado 1155 o Burton Brenham R 290 Lake i 71 305 290 Chappell Hill ng C v Bastrop Bastrop 290 Sp ri re e 1 7 e r 77 k Liberty 129 237 B Hempstead Lake 183 P1 r 1371 a Prairie View 9 20 z Houston 14 71 o 45 8 s B R Round 1456