Co-Founders of Yorktown: John York_Charles Eckhardt
Yorktown, DeWitt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John York (1800 - 1848) -- Charles Eckhardt (1813 - 1852) Soldiers and builders of Texas. York, born in Kentucky, came to Texas in 1821; was a captain in siege which expelled Mexican Army from Bexar, 1835. Gave site for Yorktown, 1847. Died in an Indian fight won by his men. Eckhardt came from Germany. Fought in war for Independence and Mexican War. His mercantile and freighting interests led to founding of Yorktown on trail he had surveyed from Indianola to New Braunfels. He built the first house in Yorktown, 1848. (1966)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Yorktown owes its founding to two very different frontiersmen. Kentucky-born John York came to Texas in 1821 and served as a captain in the 1835 siege that drove the Mexican army from Bexar, later giving the land for the town before dying in a fight with Indians in 1848. German immigrant Charles Eckhardt, a veteran of the Texas independence struggle and the Mexican War, surveyed a trade route from the coast to New Braunfels, built the town's first house, and made Yorktown a link in his freighting network.
Why it matters
Their partnership captures the mix of Anglo-American and German settlers, soldiering, and overland trade that built the towns of frontier South Texas in the Republic and early statehood years.
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Related people
- · John York
- · Charles Eckhardt
Related events
- · Siege of Bexar
Themes & tags
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