First Shot of the Texas Revolution
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One and one-half miles from here the first shot of the Texas Revolution was fired from a small cannon by Texans under the command of Col. John H. Moore, October 2, 1835.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
A mile and a half from here, on October 2, 1835, Texan colonists under Col. John H. Moore fired a small cannon at Mexican troops — the opening shot of the Texas Revolution. The confrontation at Gonzales over that very cannon crystallized the colonists' defiance and launched the fight for Texas independence.
Why it matters
This modest marker points to the birthplace of the Texas Revolution, the spark that would ultimately pull a vast new territory into the American story.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the autumn of 1835, Gonzales was a small frontier town on the Guadalupe River, the western outpost of a colony of American settlers who had come to Mexican Texas over the previous decade. Mexico had invited these colonists in, offering land in exchange for loyalty to the Mexican nation. For years the arrangement held, if uneasily.
By the mid-1830s, though, the national mood in Mexico had shifted. The central government was tightening its grip on the country's far-flung states, and many Texas colonists, used to running their own affairs, saw their freedoms shrinking. Disputes over immigration, trade, slavery, and self-government had been building for years.
All it needed was a spark. Gonzales supplied one, about a mile and a half from where this marker stands, on October 2, 1835.
People & events
The trouble started with a small cannon. Mexican authorities had earlier lent it to the people of Gonzales to defend the settlement. As tensions rose, they sent soldiers to take it back. The colonists refused to hand it over, and volunteers from the surrounding area began riding into town.
Command of the gathering Texans went to Col. John H. Moore. On October 2, 1835, the colonists turned the disputed cannon on the Mexican troops and fired. The marker calls it the first shot of the Texas Revolution. The fighting itself was brief and light, and the Mexican soldiers soon withdrew. But nobody could take the shot back.
The defiance at Gonzales has a famous symbol: a homemade banner showing the cannon over the challenge "Come and Take It." That slogan is still one of the best-known phrases in Texas history, and you'll see it on flags and bumper stickers all over the state today.
Its place in the American story
The skirmish at Gonzales turned years of political grievance into open war. In the months that followed came the siege of the Alamo and, in April 1836, the decisive Texan victory at San Jacinto, which made Texas an independent republic.
That republic did not last long on its own. In 1845 it joined the United States, and that annexation helped set off the U.S.-Mexican War. When the war ended, the United States had gained a huge stretch of the Southwest and the Pacific coast.
So the shot fired near Gonzales echoed much farther than its small cannon could carry. It is one link in the chain of events that redrew the map of North America and gave the United States roughly its continental shape.
If you visit
This is a modest marker with an outsized claim. Stand here, picture the open country of 1835, and remember that the actual firing happened about a mile and a half away. In a sense the marker is pointing you toward the spot as much as it marks one.
Gonzales embraces its role as the place where the revolution began, so expect to find the "Come and Take It" emblem around town. Give yourself time to explore the town's historic sites and its other markers about the revolution.
Gonzales also makes a natural first stop on a Texas Revolution road trip. From here you can follow the story to San Antonio and the Alamo, then east toward San Jacinto, tracing in a few days of driving what took the Texans a few dramatic months.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John H. Moore
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
- · Battle of Gonzales
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of the First Shot of the Texas Revolution
Gonzales County, TX
Near this spot on October 2, 1835, Texas colonists answered the Mexican government's demand to surrender their small cannon with a defiant "come and take it." The skirmish at Gonzales — the "first shot" of the Texas Revolution — sent Mexican troops retreating toward Bexar and set the colonies on the road to independence. This granite-and-bronze monument, designed by Waldine Tauch, was raised generations later to mark the ground.
James Hodges, Sr.
Gonzales, TX
James Hodges, Sr. arrived at Gonzales in April 1835 and quickly bought four leagues of land at the forks of the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers, paying three thousand dollars in silver. That autumn the townspeople elected him a delegate to the Consultation of 1835, the convention that created a provisional government and placed Sam Houston over a new Texas army. He supplied the army in 1836, fled with his family during the Runaway Scrape, and later returned to serve on the county's land commission and raise his family on the rivers.
Gonzales Cannon
Gonzales, TX
Here on September 29, 1835, Mexican troops arrived to reclaim a small cannon the government had lent the colonists of Gonzales for defense against raids. The Texians stalled for two days while reinforcements gathered, then flung back their famous answer — "Come and Take It." The standoff over that little gun helped ignite the Texas Revolution.
Campsite Marking Start of San Jacinto Campaign
Gonzales, TX
In March 1836, as the Texas Revolution reached its most desperate hour, Sam Houston reached Gonzales to muster a second volunteer army. Word arrived here of the fall of the Alamo and of Santa Anna's advance, and Houston ordered the town put to the torch before withdrawing eastward. That long, calculated retreat set the stage for the decisive Texian victory at San Jacinto on April 21.