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.
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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
Gonzales, TX
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.
James W. Robinson
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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.
The Immortal 32
Gonzales, TX
On March 1, 1836, thirty-two men and boys from Gonzales slipped through the Mexican lines and into the besieged Alamo — the only reinforcements to answer William B. Travis's final plea for help. They ranged from a sixteen-year-old to a man of forty-eight, and all of them died in the fall of the fortress days later. This memorial names each of the Immortal 32 alongside other Gonzales men lost at the Alamo.
Route of Gen. Sam Houston to San Jacinto
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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.