HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Battle of Jones Creek

Jones Creek, Brazoria County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Fought by Texan army of 23 men under Capt. Randal Jones (1786-1873), sent out 1824 by Stephen F. Austin to the lower Brazos to fight cannibal Karankawa Indians. Scouts found the camp here. Attack at dawn found Indians ready with spears. Jones' guns got 15 Indians, dispersed the rest. (1965)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

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.

Why it matters

The skirmish marks the violent early friction between Austin's colonists and the Karankawa, part of the long and often tragic displacement of Texas's coastal Native peoples during Anglo-American settlement.

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Related people

  • Β· Randal Jones
  • Β· Stephen F. Austin

Related events

  • Β· Battle of Jones Creek

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Matagorda Cemetery

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Major Reuben R. Brown

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Reuben R. Brown joined the Matamoros Expedition in January 1836 during the Texas War for Independence and rode in the detachment that captured horses from the Mexican general Urrea's forces. Taken prisoner in a counterattack, he endured eleven months of captivity in Mexico before escaping, and in old age lived with his daughter β€” who had married into the family of Moses Austin, whose vision first opened Texas to colonization.

Henry William Munson

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Henry William Munson's life spanned the violent birth of Anglo Texas. He fought at the 1813 Battle of Medina near San Antonio, returned east, then came back as one of Austin's colonists in 1824. He took up arms for Mexico to put down the 1827 Fredonian Rebellion, but turned against Santa Anna's agents at the 1832 Battle of Velasco. He and his wife Ann named one son Mordello, after the Mexican officer who had saved Munson's life at Medina.