HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Site of the Camp of Stephen F. Austin

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Site of the camp of Stephen F. Austin (October 20-26, 1835) while assembling troops preparatory to the attack on the Mexican garrison at San Antonio * * After his appointment on November 12 as Commissioner to the United States, the Texans, under Colonels Ben Milam and Frank W. Johnson stormed and captured San Antonio, December 10, 1835. Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

In late October 1835, as the Texas Revolution ignited, Stephen F. Austin camped here while gathering volunteers for the campaign against the Mexican garrison at San Antonio. Soon after Austin left to serve as commissioner to the United States, Texan forces under Ben Milam and Frank W. Johnson stormed the town, capturing it on December 10, 1835. This ground marks a pivotal staging point in the fight that would lead toward Texas independence.

Why it matters

The siege of San Antonio was among the opening victories of the Texas Revolution, a conflict that reshaped the map of North America and the future of the American Southwest.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

In the fall of 1835, Texas was a province of Mexico, and tensions between Anglo-American settlers and the Mexican central government had reached a breaking point. Many colonists had come to Texas through empresario grants, and Stephen F. Austin's colony was the most famous of them. As Mexico's government grew more centralized under Antonio López de Santa Anna, friction over self-government, trade, and immigration turned into open conflict.

The first shots were fired at Gonzales in early October 1835, when Texian settlers refused to surrender a small cannon to Mexican troops. Within weeks, volunteers were organizing into an army and turning their attention to San Antonio de Béxar, the most important Mexican military post in Texas.

San Antonio was an old and strategic town, built around the Spanish missions and presidio along the San Antonio River. Whoever held it held a key to the region. That made it the natural target for the new Texian army, and set the stage for the events this marker remembers.

People & events

Stephen F. Austin, already widely seen as the father of Anglo Texas, was chosen to command the volunteer army as it moved on San Antonio. According to the marker, he camped at this site from October 20 to 26, 1835, gathering and organizing troops for an attack on the Mexican garrison. Austin was a colonizer and negotiator far more than a soldier, and leading a loose, independent-minded army of volunteers was no easy task.

In the weeks that followed, the Texians tightened a siege around the town. Fighting broke out nearby, including the well-known Battle of Concepción in late October, but the siege dragged on through November, and many volunteers grew restless. Then Austin's role changed. On November 12 he was appointed a commissioner to the United States, sent to seek money, volunteers, and support for the Texas cause. He left the army behind.

The decisive blow came in December. Under Colonels Ben Milam and Frank W. Johnson, the Texians stormed San Antonio and fought their way through its streets, house by house. Milam, a veteran adventurer and longtime figure in Texas, was killed during the assault and became one of the revolution's early martyrs. On December 10, 1835, the Mexican garrison under General Martín Perfecto de Cos surrendered, and San Antonio was in Texian hands.

Its place in the American story

The capture of San Antonio was one of the opening victories of the Texas Revolution, and it set in motion events that would shape the whole continent. Santa Anna answered by marching north with a large army. In early 1836, the old mission in San Antonio known as the Alamo became the scene of the revolution's most famous battle.

The revolution ended in 1836 with Texas independence, and the Republic of Texas lasted nearly a decade before joining the United States in 1845. That annexation helped bring on the U.S.-Mexican War, which ended with Mexico ceding a vast territory across the Southwest. The road from a campsite like this one leads, step by step, to the modern map of the American West.

This story is complicated, and it deserves to be remembered that way. The revolution involved Anglo settlers, Tejanos who fought on both sides, enslaved people whose futures were tied to its outcome, and a Mexican nation defending its territory. The marker was placed by the State of Texas in 1936, during the centennial of independence, when Texas was eager to commemorate its founding moments. That is part of the history too.

If you visit

This marker stands in the southern part of San Antonio, in the river country where the Spanish colonial missions still stand. It's a quieter corner of history than the crowds at the Alamo, and that makes it a good place to pause and imagine the scene in October 1835: campfires, horses, volunteers arriving in small bands, and a commander trying to turn them into an army.

Look for the 1936 centennial styling. Texas placed many granite markers like this one to mark its hundredth anniversary of independence, and they have become historic objects in their own right.

Pair this stop with the San Antonio Missions and, of course, the Alamo downtown, and you can trace the arc of the revolution in a single day: from the gathering of the army here, through the siege and storming of the town, to the famous battle that followed. For families, it's a vivid way to show that big historic events start in ordinary places, like a campsite by a river.

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

  • · Stephen F. Austin
  • · Ben Milam
  • · Frank W. Johnson

Related events

  • · Siege of San Antonio

Themes & tags

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