Caldwell County
Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A part of De Witt's Colony, 1825-1836. A part of Gonzales County to 1848. First settlements were on Plum Creek and the San Marcos River. Created March 6, 1848; organized August 7, 1848. Named in honor of Nathew Caldwell, "Old Paint," 1798-1842, soldier-statesman. Signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, Commander of the Texas Rangers. Lockhart, the county seat.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The land that became Caldwell County began as part of DeWitt's Colony in 1825 and was carved from Gonzales County when the county was created and organized in 1848, with early settlements along Plum Creek and the San Marcos River. It honors Mathew Caldwell — nicknamed 'Old Paint' — a soldier-statesman who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and commanded the Texas Rangers. Lockhart was named the county seat.
Why it matters
It roots a Texas county in the empresario colonies and the Revolution, honoring a signer of the Declaration of Independence who helped win and defend the Republic.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Mathew Caldwell
Related events
- · Texas Declaration of Independence
- · DeWitt's Colony
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Battle of Plum Creek
Lockhart, TX
By 1840 the young Republic of Texas and the Comanche and Kiowa nations were locked in escalating violence, inflamed by President Lamar's aggressive policies and the deadly Council House Fight in San Antonio. In revenge, a large war party swept to the coast and sacked Linnville before turning inland laden with plunder. On August 12, 1840, Texan volunteers under Felix Huston, Edward Burleson, and Mathew Caldwell—joined by Tonkawa allies—intercepted them at Plum Creek in a running fight across the prairie.
Isham Jones Good
Lockhart, TX
Georgia-born Isham Jones Good came to Texas in 1835 as a volunteer for the fight for independence from Mexico, narrowly escaping the 1836 Goliad Massacre that claimed Colonel Fannin's command. He returned to settle the frontier, fought in the 1840 Indian battle of Plum Creek, served as an early postmaster and Caldwell County's first sheriff, and helped organize the county in 1848 before turning to cattle ranching in Hays County.
Thomas Osborn
Red Rock, TX
Thomas Osborn was one of the settlers-turned-soldiers who took up arms in the Texas Revolution of 1835–1836, the uprising that severed Mexican Texas from Mexico. The battles named here trace the war's arc: the early clash at Gonzales and the fight at Velasco, the grinding Siege of Bexar that drove Mexican forces from San Antonio, and the disastrous defeat at Coleto that led to the Goliad massacre. Texas erected the marker in 1962 to honor a veteran of that founding struggle.
John Wheeler Bunton
Kyle, TX
Born in Tennessee, John Wheeler Bunton came to Texas in 1833 and threw himself into the fight for independence, signing the Texas Declaration of Independence, helping draft a constitution, and fighting at the Siege of Bexar and the Battle of San Jacinto. A lawyer and rancher, he served in the first and third congresses of the Republic of Texas before settling in Hays County. In 1932 he was reinterred in the State Cemetery in Austin among the republic's honored dead.