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Colonial AmericaEarly Republic

Bexar County under Nine Governments

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

The administrative government of Bexar County, besides being the oldest in Texas, is distinguished by having served under nine governments. The community served under Spanish rule from May, 1718, until January, 1811, when it was taken over by the revolutionary "Casas regime". Only five weeks later, the "counter-revoluationary Junta of Bexar" overthrew the Casas government and eventually restored Spanish rule. In April, 1812, however, the "Republican Army of the North" deposed the provincial Spanish government and declared independence from Spain. Five months later the Spanish regained control, holding Texas until 1821. The fifth regime, "First Imperial Government of Mexico" was created when Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. The emperor relinquished control to army leaders within two years, however, and the "Republic of Mexico" was established. Texas gained independence from Mexico in 1836, thereby establishing Bexar's seventh government, the "Republic of Texas". In 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state of the United States and remained in the Union until 1861, when the southern states seceeded to from the Confederacy. Following the Civil War, U.S. rule returned to Bexar County in 1865. (1967)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Founded under Spanish rule in 1718, Bexar County holds the distinction of having been governed by nine successive regimes—the oldest county government in Texas. Between 1811 and 1813 alone it whipsawed through revolutionary juntas, a short-lived declaration of independence, and restored Spanish control before Mexico won independence in 1821. Imperial and republican Mexico, the Republic of Texas, U.S. statehood, the Confederacy, and finally restored U.S. rule in 1865 each in turn claimed San Antonio.

Why it matters

Few places in North America have flown so many flags, making Bexar County a living record of the contested sovereignty that shaped the Southwest.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

When Spanish colonists, soldiers and missionaries settled on the San Antonio River in 1718, Texas was the far northeastern edge of New Spain. It was a buffer zone, meant to hold the line against French Louisiana and to anchor a chain of missions and presidios across a vast, thinly settled land. San Antonio grew into the most important Spanish community in the province, and the local government that formed around it became the oldest in what is now Texas.

For almost a century that government answered to the Spanish crown. Then the early 1800s brought upheaval across the Spanish empire. Napoleon's invasion of Spain shook royal authority, and independence movements spread through Mexico. Texas, remote and lightly defended, became a place where revolutionaries, royalists and adventurers from the United States all tested their ambitions.

The nineteenth century kept the pressure on. Mexican independence, the Texas Revolution, annexation to the United States and the Civil War each redrew the map. Through all of it, the same county government kept working: recording deeds, settling disputes, holding the community together while the flags overhead kept changing.

People & events

The first break came in January 1811, when a retired militia captain named Juan Bautista de las Casas led a revolt that arrested the Spanish governor and claimed San Antonio for the cause of Mexican independence. His regime was short-lived. Within weeks, local loyalists organized a counter-revolutionary junta, toppled him, and set Spanish rule back on its feet.

The calm didn't last. A force calling itself the Republican Army of the North, made up of Mexican revolutionaries and volunteers from the United States, swept into Texas, deposed the provincial government and declared independence from Spain. Spain struck back within months and held Texas until Mexico finally won its independence in 1821. The royalist reconquest was harsh, and San Antonio's population suffered badly in those years.

Independent Mexico began as an empire under Agustín de Iturbide, but the empire collapsed in less than two years and gave way to a republic. That republic invited American settlers into Texas, and tensions between them and the central government led to the revolution of 1835 and 1836, whose most famous chapter, the siege of the Alamo, unfolded in San Antonio itself. Independence brought the Republic of Texas, then statehood in 1845, then secession and the Confederacy in 1861, and finally the return of U.S. authority when the Civil War ended in 1865.

Its place in the American story

School textbooks often talk about the 'six flags over Texas.' Bexar County's count of nine is a useful reminder that the real story was messier than six neat chapters. Between 1811 and the early 1820s, power in San Antonio changed hands again and again through revolt, counter-revolt and reconquest, often within months.

That churn is a small version of a much bigger story: how the American Southwest was contested among Spain, Mexico, Texas and the United States, and how the ordinary residents of places like San Antonio lived through every handoff. Many families who stayed put found themselves citizens of one country after another without ever moving.

It also shows how durable local institutions can be. Empires rose and fell, but the business of a county went on. The people who kept records and settled local affairs through all nine governments carried a thread of continuity that national histories easily miss.

If you visit

You'll find this marker in the heart of San Antonio, a city where those nine governments still feel close. Spanish colonial missions, the Alamo, and streets laid out in the Spanish era are all within easy reach of downtown.

As you walk the old center, try spotting the layers: Spanish place names, Mexican-era traditions, Texas Republic history, and the Victorian and modern city built on top. San Antonio is one of the best places in the country to see how a community absorbs each new regime without losing what came before.

This stop fits naturally into a day exploring the San Antonio Missions and the Alamo, or a longer Texas road trip tracing the state's colonial and revolutionary story. Bring a sense of the timeline with you and the rest of the city's history falls into place.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

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Related events

  • · Casas Revolt
  • · Mexican War of Independence
  • · Texas Revolution
  • · American Civil War

Themes & tags

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