Battle Island
Matagorda County, Matagorda County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Here in 1826, a company of volunteers commanded by Captain Aylett C. Buckner almost exterminated a band of Karankawa Indians who had murdered several families on Lower Caney.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1826, in the early years of Anglo colonization of Texas, a company of settler volunteers led by Captain Aylett C. Buckner attacked a band of Karankawa people here, following the killing of several families on Lower Caney Creek. The clash was one of many violent encounters between arriving colonists and the coastal Karankawa during the colonial settlement of the Texas coast.
Why it matters
The site marks the brutal frontier conflicts that accompanied Anglo settlement of the Texas coast and contributed to the displacement of the Karankawa people.
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Related people
- · Aylett C. Buckner
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Matagorda Cemetery
Matagorda, TX
Founded around 1829 as part of Stephen F. Austin's colony, Matagorda Cemetery is among the oldest burial grounds in Texas, its weathered stones chronicling the hardships of coastal frontier life. Those interred include victims of the 1862 yellow fever epidemic, soldiers of the Texas Revolution and Civil War, Karankawa people, and Samuel Rhoads Fisher, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Selkirk Island
Matagorda County, TX
William Selkirk came to Texas from New York in 1822 as one of Stephen F. Austin's original 'Old Three Hundred' colonists, working as a surveyor, serving in the militia, and joining a party sent to treat with the Waco and Tawakoni peoples. His 1824 land grant near the mouth of the Colorado River — among the first the Mexican government issued to Austin's settlers — became known as Selkirk Island, a stretch once cut into islands by river channels and long famed in legend for pirate treasure buried by one of Jean Lafitte's men.
Matagorda County
Bay City, TX
This corner of the Texas coast was home to the Karankawa people and the landing place of the French explorer La Salle in 1685. Colonists of Stephen F. Austin settled the area between 1822 and 1836, and the municipality of Matagorda organized under Mexican rule in 1834 before becoming Matagorda County in the new Republic of Texas. Erected by the state in 1936 for Texas's centennial, the marker honors early settlers, delegates to the conventions that declared independence, and Mary S. Wightman Helms, remembered as the first woman teacher in Texas.
Battle of Jones Creek
Jones Creek, TX
In 1824, Stephen F. Austin dispatched Captain Randal Jones with a company of 23 men to the lower Brazos amid conflict with the Karankawa people. Jones's scouts located the Karankawa camp near this site, and at dawn the Texans attacked, only to find the Karankawa ready with spears. The clash left about fifteen Karankawa dead and scattered the rest.