Mike Muckleroy
Frelsburg, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Sept. 27, 1808 - July 28, 1896) Pioneer, farmer, soldier, and county official Mike Muckleroy was born in Franklin County, Tennessee, and came to Texas in 1840. An early and long-time resident of Colorado County, he came to be affectionately known throughout the area as "Uncle Mike." Two years after his arrival in Texas and six years after Texas had won its Independence from Mexico, Muckleroy joined the campaign to expel General Adrian Woll from San Antonio. Woll, a French mercenary, was an officer in the Mexican Army who in 1842 led 1,000 troops to take San Antonio. The Texans soon forced their retreat into Mexico. Muckleroy returned to Colorado County, where he received a Republic of Texas land grant. He farmed the land and built a home near this site. His house, a two-story log structure with a watch tower to guard against Indian raids,was saved from demolition in the 1970s and moved to Henkel Square in Round Top (18 mi NW). From 1846 to 1852 and again from 1876 to 1878, Muckleroy served as a county commissioner. Mike Muckleroy sold his property in 1895 and moved to Terrell in Northeast Texas, where he lived with family members until his death. He is buried in the Muckleroy graveyard near his old homesite.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Tennessee-born Mike Muckleroy came to Texas in 1840 and, just two years later, joined the campaign that drove the Mexican general Adrian Woll's thousand troops out of San Antonio and back across the border. Settling in Colorado County on a Republic of Texas land grant, he farmed and built a two-story log house topped with a watchtower to guard against Indian raids. Beloved as "Uncle Mike," he served terms as county commissioner before his death in 1896 at nearly eighty-eight.
Why it matters
Muckleroy's long life spans the whole arc of frontier Texas — from armed clashes over the border and defense against Native raids to the settling into farms and county government that followed.
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Related people
- · Mike Muckleroy
- · Adrian Woll
Related events
- · Woll's invasion of San Antonio (1842)
Themes & tags
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