Nicholas W. Eastland
Rockne, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born 1804 Came to Texas in 1834 A volunteer soldier in Captain Horton's company, Colonel Fannin's command, in the spring of 1836. He escaped capture in the Battle of Coleto. Died 1891. Erected by the State of Texas 1957
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in 1804, Nicholas W. Eastland came to Texas in 1834 and, in the spring of 1836, joined Captain Horton's company under Colonel James Fannin during the Texas Revolution. When Fannin's command was captured and largely massacred after the Battle of Coleto, Eastland was among the fortunate few who escaped. He lived on until 1891, and the State of Texas raised this memorial to him in 1957.
Why it matters
Eastland's survival ties one man's long life to the Goliad campaign, one of the pivotal and tragic episodes in Texas's fight for independence.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Nicholas W. Eastland came to Texas in 1834, when it was still part of Mexico. Thousands of Americans had settled there in the preceding decade, many through land grants in the colonies Mexico had opened to settlers. Tensions between those settlers and the Mexican government were growing, and within two years they boiled over into the Texas Revolution.
The spring of 1836 was the revolution's most dramatic and darkest season. The Alamo fell in early March. Not long after, a large force of Texian volunteers under Colonel James Fannin, based at Goliad, was caught on open ground while retreating. The Battle of Coleto followed, and Fannin's command surrendered.
What happened next has become one of the best-known tragedies in Texas history. On Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, most of the captured men were executed on orders from Mexican authorities. The killings at Goliad, together with the Alamo, became a rallying cry, and weeks later Texas won its independence at San Jacinto.
People & events
According to the marker, Eastland was born in 1804 and came to Texas in 1834. In the spring of 1836 he volunteered to fight and served in Captain Horton's company within Fannin's command. Horton's company was a mounted unit, and during the retreat from Goliad it was ahead of the main force when Mexican troops caught up with Fannin's column on the prairie.
That position seems to have saved many of them. The marker says simply that Eastland escaped capture at Coleto. Horton's horsemen were separated from Fannin's surrounded square and were unable to break through to it, so many of them got away. They avoided the surrender, and with it the executions that killed most of their comrades a week later.
It is a sobering thought: a matter of where a unit happened to be on one March day decided who lived and who died. Eastland lived until 1891, more than half a century after Coleto. Over that time, Texas went from Mexican province to independent republic, to American state, through the Civil War and into the railroad age.
Its place in the American story
The Goliad campaign was a turning point in the Texas Revolution. The deaths of Fannin's men fueled Texian anger and resolve, and "Remember Goliad!" was shouted alongside "Remember the Alamo!" at San Jacinto. Texas independence in turn led to annexation by the United States, war with Mexico and a huge expansion of American territory.
Eastland's story shows that turning point from one man's point of view. Most accounts of Coleto and Goliad follow the men who died. The survivors carried the memory of those days for decades afterward, and their long lives connected the revolutionary generation to a much later Texas.
The State of Texas put up this memorial in 1957. Markers like it honor individual veterans of the revolution, many of them otherwise little known. They are part of how Texas has remembered its founding: not only through its famous leaders, but through the ordinary volunteers who took part.
If you visit
This is a quiet, personal kind of marker. It does not stand at a battlefield. It honors one man, in the Bastrop County countryside where his life continued after the revolution. Take a moment to think about how much history one lifetime held: from 1804 to 1891, Eastland saw Texas change almost beyond recognition.
The Rockne area is rural, so enjoy the drive through the rolling country of Central Texas. Please be respectful of private property, and if the marker sits in a cemetery or on church grounds, treat the site with care.
If you want the bigger story, this marker pairs well with a longer trip to the revolutionary sites to the south. The Fannin Battleground near Coleto Creek and the historic sites at Goliad let you stand where Eastland's comrades fought and fell, and compare their fate with the escape this marker remembers.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Nicholas W. Eastland
- · James Fannin
Related events
- · Battle of Coleto
Themes & tags
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