Andrew Ponton
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born in Virginia to William and Isabella (Mooreland) Ponton, Andrew Ponton came to Texas in December 1829 and settled in Green DeWitt's Colony, receiving a land grant near Hallettsville. He became active in area politics, and in 1834 he was named alcalde, or mayor, of the municipality of Gonzales. The following year, after the community began to experience political unrest as a result of differences with the Mexican government, the community formed a Committee on Safety and appointed Ponton as a member. As the local leader, he was actively involved in what became known as the Battle of Gonzales, or the "Come and Take It" incident. His reluctance to turn over a cannon to Mexican forces, while the community gathered reinforcements, led to the incident, considered an opening event in the Texas Revolution. Ponton was also responsible for gathering Gonzales soldiers to answer the call by Col. William B. Travis for help in defending the Alamo. The men, known as the Immortal 32, went to aid Texan forces in San Antonio and lost their lives in the 1836 battle. After the revolution, Ponton served as the county's Chief Justice and was later elected to the Republic of Texas Congress. He wed Mary Berry in 1841 and in 1846 became Chief Justice for newly formed Lavaca County. The couple lived near Hallettsville, where they reared four sons: William, briefly assigned to Whitfield's Legion during the Civil War; Andrew, who served in Terry's Texas Rangers; Thomas, an attorney for many years in Gonzales; and Samuel, who died as a child. Ponton died in 1850 and is though to be buried on a farm north of Hallettsville. A Centennial marker in Gonzales' Masonic Cemetery honors his contributions to the Republic of Texas. (2004)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Andrew Ponton came to Texas in 1829, settled in Green DeWitt's colony, and by 1834 served as alcalde—mayor—of Gonzales. When Mexican forces demanded the town's cannon in 1835, his delay in surrendering it helped spark the "Come and Take It" fight now remembered as the opening battle of the Texas Revolution. He also helped rally the Gonzales men, the "Immortal 32," who answered Travis's call and died at the Alamo, and he later served the Republic of Texas as a legislator and judge.
Why it matters
Ponton stood at the flashpoint of the Texas Revolution, embodying the local self-governance and defiance that turned an Anglo colonist community into the birthplace of a new republic.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Andrew Ponton
- · William B. Travis
- · Mary Berry
Related events
- · Battle of Gonzales
- · Come and Take It
- · Fall of the Alamo
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
King Cemetery
Gonzales, TX
Perched on a hill above King Flats on the Guadalupe River, this burial ground has served the area since the 1830s, when John Gladden King—a member of the DeWitt Colony's governing council—and his wife Parmelia settled the land in 1830. The oldest marked grave belongs to two-day-old William G. Hall, who died in 1838, and seven generations of the King family rest here. Among the graves lie Texas Rangers and veterans of conflicts spanning the War of 1812 through the Korean War.
Ponton Family
Shiner, TX
Virginians William and Isabella Ponton came to Texas in 1829 and received land in DeWitt's Colony, where William became the first recorded settler killed by Comanche in what became Lavaca County; his son Joel later survived an attack with two arrows in his back. The family stood with their neighbors at the Battle of Gonzales, fled in the Runaway Scrape after the Alamo fell, and returned to rebuild after San Jacinto. Across the eras of the Republic, statehood, and the Civil War, the Pontons served as alcaldes, judges, doctors, preachers, and peacemakers.
Gonzales-San Antonio Road
Gonzales County, TX
When Green DeWitt planted his colony on the Guadalupe River in 1825, he ordered a road cut to link his capital at Gonzales with San Antonio, and surveyor Byrd Lockhart opened the eighty-mile route in 1827—its mileage notched into roadside oak trunks. Settlers, traders, and Mexican travelers braved the road despite the danger of raids. A decade later it became a thoroughfare of the Texas Revolution: the 'Immortal 32' marched down it from Gonzales to reinforce the Alamo, and Santa Anna's army followed after the fort fell.
Claiborne West
Seguin, TX
Born in Tennessee in 1803, Claiborne West threw himself into the founding of a new republic: he served as a delegate to the conventions of 1832 and 1835, sat on the provisional government's council, and on March 2, 1836, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. He fought as a soldier and served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas before his death in 1866. Texas erected this Star-and-Wreath grave marker in his honor in 1962.