John Henry Moore
La Grange, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Noted Indian fighter; commander of the Texians at the Battle of Gonzales, October 2, 1835. Born in Tennessee August 13, 1800; died December 2,1880. His wife Eliza Moore, born April 23, 1809 died February 25, 1877. (Moore Family Cemetery, 8 mi. N La Grange)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Henry Moore, a Tennessee-born settler remembered on the frontier as an Indian fighter, commanded the Texian volunteers at the Battle of Gonzales on October 2, 1835 — the clash often called the opening shot of the Texas Revolution. He and his wife Eliza lie in the family cemetery north of La Grange.
Why it matters
Gonzales lit the fuse of the Texas Revolution, and the men who led that first stand became founding figures of the Republic that followed.
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Related people
- · John Henry Moore
- · Eliza Moore
Related events
- · Battle of Gonzales
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of a Twin Blockhouse
La Grange, TX
Built around 1828 as a fortified place of defense, this twin blockhouse—known as Moore's Fort—took its name from frontiersman John Henry Moore, a noted Indian fighter who commanded the Texans at the Battle of Gonzales in October 1835. The city of La Grange itself was established on Moore's land in 1831.
Henry Prentice Redfield
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Henry Prentice Redfield came to Texas as a boy and, at sixteen, took up arms for its independence—fighting at Gonzales, the Siege of Bexar and San Jacinto in the revolution of 1835-36. He went on to fight in frontier conflicts with Native peoples, was wounded at Plum Creek in 1840, and later rode with the 1st Texas Cavalry in the U.S.-Mexican War at Resaca de la Palma and Monterrey. He lived until 1900, a veteran of nearly every early Texas war.
Asa Hill of Rutersville
Rutersville, TX
Asa Hill came to Texas in 1835 and served the young republic in 1836, riding ahead of the enemy to warn settlers in the army's path. In 1842 he and two sons joined the ill-fated Mier Expedition into Mexico, where Hill drew a white bean in Santa Anna's deadly lottery and escaped execution, though he languished in prison until 1843; his youngest son, John C.C., was famously adopted by Santa Anna himself. Hill settled at Rutersville, enrolling eight children in its pioneering college before his death in 1844.
James Seaton Lester
La Grange, TX
James Seaton Lester served as a delegate to the 1835 Consultation, the assembly that set Texas on the road to revolution, and fought at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto. He went on to serve in four congresses of the Republic of Texas. The state honored him with this marker in 1962.