Sarah Seely Dewitt
Gonzales, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Who with her daughter Evaline made the first battle flag of Texas used by the colonists in the Battle of Gonzales, October 2, 1835. Born in Virginia, 1789 came to Texas in 1826 with her husband Green De Witt, empresario, and their five children.Died November 28, 1854, and is buried here on Sarah Seely League. Green De Witt born in Kentucky February 12, 1787. Died in Monclova, Mexico May 18, 1835 while on business there.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Sarah Seely DeWitt came to Texas in 1826 with her husband Green DeWitt, the empresario who colonized the Gonzales area, and their five children. When Mexican troops demanded the colonists' cannon in 1835, Sarah and her daughter Evaline sewed the defiant "Come and Take It" banner flown at the Battle of Gonzales — the first battle flag of the Texas Revolution. She is buried on the DeWitt land that bears her name.
Why it matters
A flag stitched by two women became the opening symbol of the Texas Revolution, a reminder that the fight for independence drew on the whole household, not just the men who bore arms.
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Related people
- · Sarah Seely DeWitt
- · Green DeWitt
- · Evaline DeWitt
Related events
- · Battle of Gonzales
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Santa Anna Mound
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Despite its name, this rise — once the DeWitt Mound and now a family cemetery — marks a moment in the Texas Revolution, not an ancient site. Here Mexican troops camped from September 29 to October 1, 1835, waiting for the Gonzales colonists to hand over their small cannon. When the Texans refused, the soldiers withdrew toward Béxar; the colonists overtook them, and on October 2 the Battle of Gonzales opened the revolution in Texan victory.
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Andrew Ponton came to Texas in 1829, settled in Green DeWitt's colony, and by 1834 served as alcalde—mayor—of Gonzales. When Mexican forces demanded the town's cannon in 1835, his delay in surrendering it helped spark the "Come and Take It" fight now remembered as the opening battle of the Texas Revolution. He also helped rally the Gonzales men, the "Immortal 32," who answered Travis's call and died at the Alamo, and he later served the Republic of Texas as a legislator and judge.
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This marker remembers Andrew Zumwalt, born in 1817 and a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, the 1836 clash that won Texas its independence from Mexico. He lived on into 1886, part of the generation of young men who fought for the republic and then helped settle it.
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Perched on a hill above King Flats on the Guadalupe River, this burial ground has served the area since the 1830s, when John Gladden King—a member of the DeWitt Colony's governing council—and his wife Parmelia settled the land in 1830. The oldest marked grave belongs to two-day-old William G. Hall, who died in 1838, and seven generations of the King family rest here. Among the graves lie Texas Rangers and veterans of conflicts spanning the War of 1812 through the Korean War.