San Augustine
San Augustine, San Augustine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
An early eastern gate to Texas, in area claimed in 1600s by both France and Spain. To back her claim, Spain in 1691 chartered from Mexico past this site El Camino Real (The King's Highway) and established nearby in 1717 Mission Dolores de los Aies. Inhabited by Ayish Indians and Spaniards until the late 1790s, when Richard Sims came and was soon followed by John Quinalty, Edmond Quirk and families of Broocks, Cullens, Cartwrights, Hortons, Hustons, Prathers and others. By 1824 the settlement had a water mill to grind corn meal; in 1826, a cotton gin. In the 1827 Battle of Ayish Bayou, Col. Prather and 69 men put down Fredonian uprising over land titles. The town was laid off in 1833 by Thomas McFarland. In 1836 it sent as delegates to sign Declaration of Independence S. W. Blount and E. O. LeGrand; fielded 3 companies to fight in the War for Independence. Its Republic of Texas statesmen included vice-president K. L. Anderson; J. A. Greer, Secretary of the Treasury; Wm. Holman, Congressman; J. Pinckney Henderson, Minister to England and France, and later the first Governor of the state. Oran M. Roberts was 16th governor. Home of the 1965 United States Ambassador to Australia Edward Clark. Many historic sites are marked. (1966)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
San Augustine stood as an eastern gate into Texas in country claimed by both France and Spain, where Spain chartered El Camino Real past this site in 1691 and founded nearby Mission Dolores de los Ais in 1717. Anglo families arrived in the 1790s and after, building a water mill by 1824 and a cotton gin by 1826, and in 1827 townsmen put down the Fredonian uprising at the Battle of Ayish Bayou. The town sent delegates to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence and fielded companies in the War for Independence, later producing governors, cabinet officers, and diplomats of the Republic and state.
Why it matters
Few Texas towns pack so much of the state's arc—Spanish mission frontier, revolutionary independence, and republic statecraft—into a single community.
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Related people
- · J. Pinckney Henderson
- · K. L. Anderson
- · Thomas McFarland
Related events
- · Battle of Ayish Bayou
- · Texas Declaration of Independence
- · Fredonian Rebellion
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sam Houston in San Augustine
San Augustine, TX
Sam Houston made San Augustine his own for three decades, opening a law practice on this site and using 'The Redlands' as a base for business, residence, and refuge. He is said to have recovered here from the Battle of San Jacinto and issued his battle report from the town; after his presidency of the Republic, its voters sent him to the Texas House. His divorce, his marriage to Margaret Lea, and much of his personal drama unfolded amid a community that championed him early.
Site of the Battle of Fredonia
San Augustine, TX
In 1826, colonizer Hayden Edwards defied Mexican expulsion orders, declared the Republic of Fredonia, and raised a flag of "Independence, Liberty and Justice." When settlers along the Ayish Bayou refused to join him, he ordered them banished — and on January 21, 1827, a small force of Anglo settlers and sixty Native American allies seized the Fredonian fort here without firing a shot, capturing 200 men. News of the rout sent Edwards fleeing to the United States, collapsing the rebellion.
San Augustine County Courthouse
San Augustine, TX
When surveyors platted San Augustine in 1834 they set aside this square for public use, though it took twenty years and one of the 23 original counties of the new Republic of Texas before a courthouse rose here. Early judges convened in a hotel and a customs house until the first courthouse of 1854; an 1890 Italianate building followed, and in 1927 the present Classical Revival structure of Texas Lueders stone took its place. Its grounds hold a statue of James Pinckney Henderson, the state's first governor and a San Augustine man.
James Pinckney Henderson
San Augustine, TX
A North Carolina lawyer who arrived in Texas in 1836 leading a company of volunteers, James Pinckney Henderson swiftly became one of the young Republic's leading statesmen, serving as attorney general, secretary of state, and diplomat to Europe. When Texas joined the Union, voters chose him as the state's first governor in 1846. He then led Texas troops as a major general in the Mexican War, earning a formal vote of thanks and a sword from Congress, before a late turn as U.S. senator.