Battle of Gonzales

🏛️The era

By 1835 Texas was part of Mexico, and thousands of Anglo-American settlers had come in through colonization programs. Tensions had been building for years. Disputes over immigration, trade, slavery, local self-government and especially the shift toward a centralized national government under Antonio López de Santa Anna strained relations between colonists and the authorities in Mexico City.

Gonzales was the westernmost Anglo-American settlement in Texas at the time, sitting on the Guadalupe River in the colony founded by empresario Green DeWitt. It was a frontier town, exposed to raids. For that reason the settlement had been given a small cannon for defense against Indians.

In the fall of 1835, that cannon became the center of a confrontation. The marker records that the clash that followed was the first battle of the Texas Revolution. It came to be called the "Lexington of Texas," after the 1775 fight that opened the American Revolution.

👥People & events

Late in September 1835, Col. Domingo de Ugartechea, the Mexican military commander at San Antonio, demanded the cannon back. Gonzales refused. Ugartechea then sent about 150 dragoons, mounted soldiers, to take it. Alcalde Andrew Ponton, the town's chief local official, stalled and sent riders to alert colonists in surrounding settlements that he had refused to give it up.

On September 29 the townspeople buried the cannon in George W. Davis' peach orchard. Meanwhile, volunteers poured in. Between September 30 and October 2, the town's defenders grew from just 18 men to about 160. Under the command of John H. Moore and J. W. E. Wallace, they dug the cannon back up, mounted it on ox-cart wheels and loaded it with chains and scrap iron.

The Texans crossed the Guadalupe and moved toward the Mexican troops camped about four miles upriver. Early on October 2, Texan scouts found the Mexican force, fired and fell back with the dragoons chasing them. A blast from the six-pounder checked the pursuit. When the Texans opened up with their artillery and charged, the Mexican soldiers withdrew toward San Antonio.

The fight itself was small, with few casualties, but its symbolism was enormous. The defenders' defiance came to be summed up in the phrase "Come and Take It," which became one of the most enduring slogans in Texas history.

🇺🇸Its place in the American story

Gonzales opened the conflict that, within months, produced the Republic of Texas. In the weeks after the battle, Texan volunteers marched on San Antonio. The revolution that followed included the siege of the Alamo and ended with the Texan victory at San Jacinto in April 1836. Gonzales itself stayed at the heart of the story: men from the town rode to reinforce the Alamo and died there.

The independent Texas that came out of the revolution later joined the United States in 1845. Annexation helped trigger the U.S.-Mexican War and reshaped the map of North America. A fight over a single small cannon on the Guadalupe sits at the start of that long chain of events.

The nickname "Lexington of Texas" shows how Texans understood their revolt, as an echo of the American Revolution. It also helps explain why the story has stayed so powerful. Historians also point out that the revolution's causes were complex. They included real grievances over self-government as well as colonists' interest in protecting slavery, which Mexico opposed. Remembering Gonzales honestly means holding both the courage of that morning and the full context of the cause.

🧭If you visit

The battle site lies on the west side of the Guadalupe River about four miles above the town of Gonzales. Standing near the river, you can picture volunteers hauling a cannon mounted on ox-cart wheels across the water in the early morning, heading toward an enemy camp.

In town, Gonzales embraces its role as the place where the Texas Revolution began. Look for the "Come and Take It" image, a lone cannon under a star, on flags and monuments around the area. The town's museums and historic sites tell the story of the cannon and of the Gonzales men who later went to the Alamo.

Gonzales makes an excellent stop on a Texas Revolution road trip. From here you can continue to San Antonio and the Alamo, then onward toward San Jacinto near Houston, following the revolution from its first shots to its final battle.