In Memory of Captain Thomas K. Pearson
San Patricio, San Patricio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In Memory of Captain Thomas K. Pearson, Lieutenant Henry Cooney, Dr. William W. Hoit, Dr. Gustav Bunsen, Joseph Carpenter, Benjamin Dale, William Williams and two or three other Texan volunteers killed in action at and near San Patricio February 27, 1836 who were buried here next day by Rev. Father Thomas K. Malloy and of Sergeant John McGloin, Mathew Byrne, John Fadden, Edward Garner, Dennis McGowan, Patrick Niven, Edward Ryan, sons of San Patricio who perished at Goliad March 27, 1836 and of Sergeant George Pettuck and Andrew M. O'Boyle who were spared at Goliad through the intervention of Colonel Francisco Garay. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This monument names the Texan volunteers cut down at and near San Patricio on February 27, 1836, buried the next day by Father Thomas Malloy, along with local sons of San Patricio who perished in the Goliad massacre that March. Among them were Irish-Catholic colonists of the San Patricio settlement caught up in the violent birth of the Texas Republic. A pair of survivors, spared at Goliad through a Mexican colonel's intervention, are remembered here as well.
Why it matters
It honors the immigrant colonists and volunteers whose deaths in the 1836 campaigns—including the infamous Goliad executions—became rallying cries in the Texas Revolution.
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Related people
- · Thomas K. Pearson
- · Henry Cooney
- · Thomas Malloy
- · Francisco Garay
Related events
- · Battle of San Patricio
- · Goliad Massacre
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Cemetery on the Hill
San Patricio, TX
On a rise above San Patricio lies a burial ground older than the Anglo town, used by Indian peoples and Mexican settlers before empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin planted their Irish colony of San Patricio de Hibernia in 1830. The colonists kept using the old cemetery, and its graves record the turbulence of the Texas Revolution — Lt. Marcelino Garcia, killed at Lipantitlan in 1835, and soldiers who fell in the Battle of San Patricio in 1836. Empresario McGloin himself lies here in an unmarked grave, alongside settlers lost to scarlet fever, duels, and the ordinary attrition of frontier life.
Old Cemetery on the Hill
San Patricio, TX
This hilltop cemetery is believed to have served Native peoples and Mexican settlers long before Anglo colonization reached the area. After Irish empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin founded San Patricio de Hibernia in 1830, the colonists kept burying their dead here, beneath wooden crosses and stones inscribed in Spanish and English. Among those laid to rest are Lt. Marcelino García, killed at the 1835 battle of Lipantitlán, and soldiers who fell at the battle of San Patricio in 1836.
San Patricio de Hibernia
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Founded in 1830 by empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin as the capital of their Irish colony, San Patricio de Hibernia—named for the patron saint of Ireland—stood as a lonely frontier outpost when the Texas Revolution erupted. On February 27, 1836, General José Urrea's division of Santa Anna's army surprised and overwhelmed a small Texan party under Johnson, killing several and marching the survivors to Matamoros as prisoners. After the Texan victory at San Jacinto the town was destroyed and its people scattered, and this 1936 monument names its early settlers, soldiers, and notable descendants.
Old Dougherty House
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Robert Dougherty, a refugee from the Irish famine of the 1840s, built this house on Round Lake in 1876 to open St. Paul's Academy for Boys. Educated in Kentucky and seasoned as a journalist, merchant, and seminary principal in Corpus Christi, he taught an unusually broad curriculum for the era—geography, history, mathematics, Latin, Greek, classical literature, and even Gaelic. His commitment to learning ran so deep that all seven of his children began their working lives as teachers.