Charles Cronea
High Island, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(January 14, 1805 - March 4, 1893) Born in Marseilles, France, Charles Cronea came to America on a French frigate as a cabin boy in 1818. Soon after, boarding a ship out of Charleston, South Carolina, Cronea and several companions entered the service of Jean Laffite off Galveston engaged in privateering cruises off the coast of Spanish Mexico. After nearly a year under the command of Capt. James Campbell, he left the ship when it was burned at the mouth of the Mermentau River in Louisiana. Cronea married Amanda Richey in 1830. By 1835 he had settled in the Mexican municipality of Jefferson. The Texas revolution broke out that fall. Cronea joined Capt. David Garner's company of frontier farmers and participated in the Siege of Bexar. Some records say Cronea's company joined with the forces of Sam Houston in 1836, and that during the Battle of San Jacinto, Cronea was guarding prisoners nearby. In 1846 he entered the U. S. Army in the war against Mexico under Gen. Zachary Taylor. Later a farmer in Sabine Pass, Cronea married Mary Louisa Elender in 1845. They moved their family to High Island in 1876. Cronea was awarded 1,280 acres as a surviving soldier of the Texas revolution in 1885. Cronea is buried in this cemetery.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Marseilles in 1805, Charles Cronea shipped to America as a cabin boy at thirteen and soon fell in with the privateers of Jean Laffite, cruising the Gulf off Spanish Mexico. Settling in Texas, he joined the fight for independence at the Siege of Bexar and, by some accounts, guarded prisoners near the Battle of San Jacinto; a decade later he marched under General Zachary Taylor in the war with Mexico. Awarded 1,280 acres as a surviving veteran of the Texas Revolution, the old adventurer farmed near Sabine Pass and finally settled his family at High Island, where he is buried.
Why it matters
Cronea's remarkable life ties together Gulf privateering, Texas independence, and the Mexican-American War in a single immigrant's journey across the tumultuous early history of the region.
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Related people
- · Charles Cronea
- · Jean Laffite
- · Zachary Taylor
- · Sam Houston
Related events
- · Siege of Bexar
- · Battle of San Jacinto
- · Mexican-American War
Themes & tags
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