Cemetery Square
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This block of the Inner Town was designated in 1825 as a cemetery. Traditionally the burial ground for Nicholas Peck, a soldier of San Jacinto; Daniel Davis, a soldier in mier expedition, and his wife, Elizabeth; along with other early-day residents.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Set aside in 1825 as part of the original town plan of Gonzales, this block became the resting place of some of the community's earliest residents. Among them lie Nicholas Peck, who fought at San Jacinto, and Daniel Davis, a veteran of the ill-fated Mier Expedition, alongside his wife Elizabeth. The square gathers the founders and soldiers of a town that stood at the center of Texas's fight for independence.
Why it matters
It preserves the graves of ordinary Texians who took part in the revolutionary struggle, binding a frontier town's origins to the birth of the Texas Republic.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Gonzales is one of the oldest Anglo-American settlements in Texas. It was founded in 1825 as the capital of Green DeWitt's colony, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Mexico was then inviting settlers from the United States to farm and defend its thinly populated northern frontier. The town was laid out with care, divided into an "Inner Town" of blocks and public squares surrounded by larger outer lots. Setting aside a block for the dead was part of that original plan.
Within ten years, tensions between the colonists and the Mexican government boiled over. In October 1835 the first shots of the Texas Revolution were fired near Gonzales, when settlers refused to hand over a small cannon and dared Mexican troops to "come and take it." The next spring, men from Gonzales rode to reinforce the Alamo, and the town itself was burned as Texian forces retreated east.
Independence was won at San Jacinto in April 1836, but the new Republic of Texas faced years of border conflict with Mexico. One of the most disastrous episodes was the Mier Expedition of 1842. A band of Texians crossed into Mexico, were defeated and captured, and endured a harsh imprisonment that became a bitter chapter in the Republic's memory.
People & events
According to tradition, this square holds the graves of men and women who lived through Texas's most turbulent years. Among them is Nicholas Peck, remembered as a soldier of San Jacinto. San Jacinto was the short, decisive battle in which Sam Houston's army defeated Santa Anna's forces and secured Texas independence.
Nearby, tradition says, lies Daniel Davis, who served in the Mier Expedition, together with his wife, Elizabeth. The men of Mier suffered a long ordeal after their capture, and their story was retold for generations as a tale of hardship and endurance. Elizabeth's presence reminds us that frontier families carried those burdens together. Wars were fought by men in the field, and they were also endured by the women who kept homes and farms running while husbands were away, or who never learned whether they would return.
The marker also notes "other early-day residents," people whose names may be lost but who helped build a town that was founded, burned and rebuilt within its first generation. The marker describes these burials as traditional, which is an honest reminder that records from early Texas can be incomplete. Individual graves in old burial grounds are not always documented.
Its place in the American story
The Texas Revolution and the short-lived Republic that followed shaped the whole nation. Texas's annexation by the United States in 1845 led directly to the U.S.–Mexican War and a vast redrawing of the American map. The soldiers buried in places like this square were part of the chain of events that brought the Southwest into the United States.
Cemetery Square also shows how the history of those years is usually remembered. The famous names get monuments, but the revolution was fought by farmers and townspeople from colonies like DeWitt's. Their resting places are often simple and sometimes unmarked, and they preserve the human scale of events that later became legend.
This square was planned from the town's first year as a place for the dead. That makes it an early example of a Texas town honoring the people who made it, a civic habit that continues today in the state's many historical markers.
If you visit
Gonzales is a rewarding stop for anyone interested in the Texas Revolution, and Cemetery Square fits naturally into a walk through the old town. Try to picture the original town plan, with its grid of blocks and public squares, and notice how this one was set aside for a solemn purpose from the very start.
Walk quietly and respectfully. It's an old burial ground, and some graves may be faint or unmarked. Traditions about who lies where can't always be confirmed, so treat what you see as a doorway into the past rather than a complete roster.
Gonzales proudly calls itself the town where the revolution began, and it has other historic sites connected to the "Come and Take It" story. Plan enough time to explore them. Together they make a satisfying day on a Texas history road trip.
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 people
- · Nicholas Peck
- · Daniel Davis
- · Elizabeth Davis
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
- · Mier Expedition
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jail Square
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First mapped in 1825 as Market Square, this Gonzales public square had become known as Jail Square by 1836. That year, as Santa Anna's army advanced, Gonzales was burned by order of General Sam Houston to keep its buildings and supplies from falling into enemy hands—part of the desperate retreat known as the Runaway Scrape. Gonzales, already famed as the site of the war's opening 'Come and Take It' clash, thus sacrificed itself in the campaign for independence.
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Indiana-born James W. Robinson came to Texas in 1833 and was elected the Republic's first lieutenant governor in 1835, briefly serving as governor before shouldering a musket as a private at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. He later settled in Gonzales, sat as a district judge, and served on the state Supreme Court. The office he first held became the second-highest in Texas, wielding broad power over the Senate and legislation.
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In March 1836, reeling from news that the Alamo had fallen and facing an advancing Mexican army, Sam Houston assembled the core of his Texan force at Gonzales. On March 13 he ordered the town burned to deny it to the enemy and began the long eastward retreat later called the Runaway Scrape. Six weeks later, on April 21, that army won independence at the Battle of San Jacinto.