Old "Red" House
Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On this site stood...Headquarters of Colonel Jose de las Piedras, commander of the Mexican garrison in Nacogdoches, 1827-1839. The property, after the Texas Revolution, of General Thomas J. Rusk. Served as classrooms for the University of Nacogdoches, 1845-1852.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This site once held the "Red House," headquarters of Colonel José de las Piedras, commander of the Mexican garrison at Nacogdoches in the years before the Texas Revolution. After the revolution the property belonged to General Thomas J. Rusk, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and from 1845 to 1852 it served as classrooms for the University of Nacogdoches. Its history spans Mexican rule, the fight for independence, and the schooling of the new republic.
Why it matters
Few spots so compactly hold the transition of Texas from a Mexican military outpost to an independent republic building its own institutions of government and learning.
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Related people
- · José de las Piedras
- · Thomas J. Rusk
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sam Houston's First Home in Texas
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Battle of Nacogdoches
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On August 2, 1832, in one of the opening clashes leading toward Texas independence, Nacogdoches settlers resisted Mexican commander Col. José de las Piedras after he ordered them to surrender their firearms. Forming a "National Militia" under James W. Bullock, the townspeople fought house-to-house, seized the stone fort, and drove Piedras's roughly 300 troops from the square. The Mexicans fled in the night, were captured the next day, and a peace treaty followed on August 6—after which Mexican troops were never again garrisoned in East Texas.
Site of the Home of John S. Roberts
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John S. Roberts, a Virginia native who reached Texas in 1826, threw himself into the fight for Texas independence—fighting at the Battle of Nacogdoches, sitting as a delegate to the 1835 Consultation, helping storm Bexar, and finally signing the Texas Declaration of Independence in March 1836. His home once stood on this Nacogdoches site, marked by the state during the 1936 centennial of Texas independence. He represents the ordinary settlers who became revolutionaries.