John Karner
Mexia, Limestone County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Came to Texas 1835, served in Texas War of Independence at San Jacinto. Erected by the State of Texas, 1962
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Karner came to Texas in 1835, on the eve of its war for independence from Mexico, and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto — the swift, decisive 1836 engagement in which Texan forces secured their revolution. The state of Texas erected this marker to his memory in 1962.
Why it matters
San Jacinto veterans like Karner won the independence that made the Republic of Texas — and, a decade later, its annexation into the United States — possible.
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Related people
- · John Karner
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Alfonso Steel
Mexia, TX
Alfonso Steel fought at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, the decisive clash in which Texian forces under Sam Houston routed the Mexican army in a fight lasting less than twenty minutes and won independence for the Republic of Texas. Wounded in that battle, Steel lived on for decades and became its last surviving veteran, a living link to the founding fight of the Texas Republic. The State of Texas honored him with this marker in 1962.
Town Named for Gen. Jose Antonio Mexia
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Gen. José Antonio Mexía was a Mexican military officer and promoter of Texas colonization who served in his country's legation to the United States and its senate in the early 1830s. Though he first backed Santa Anna, he turned against the general when he seized dictatorial power, fleeing to Texas in 1834 and leading expeditions against him until he was captured and executed by Santa Anna's order in 1839. His son and daughter later settled the family's Limestone County land and donated the site for the town that bears his name in 1871.
Robert B. Longbotham
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Robert B. Longbotham (1797–1883) was born in Sunderland, England, and crossed the Atlantic as a carpenter's apprentice aboard ship. After marrying in Alabama, he came to Texas in 1832, secured a land grant from Mexico, and fought in the 1836 Texas Revolution and in Indian conflicts of 1839. He settled at this place in 1848, and the town bore his name until its post office was renamed Wortham in 1874.
Old Springfield Cemetery
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Set aside as a ten-acre burial ground when Moses Herrin platted Springfield in January 1838, this cemetery served the once-thriving Limestone County seat and the surrounding frontier. Its oldest legible stone dates to 1849, and among those laid to rest are veterans of the Texas War for Independence, the Mexican War, and other conflicts, along with travelers who died far from home — including a New Yorker recorded as slain in 1854 violence over his gold. Long after the railroad bypassed Springfield in 1870 and fire hastened its decline, descendants kept returning to bury their dead beside pioneer forebears.