Site of the Camp of the Texas Army
Moulton, Lavaca County, Texas
Marker Inscription
March 15, 1836 under the command of General Sam Houston while retreating from Gonzales to the Brazos River. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the anxious spring of 1836, as Santa Anna's army advanced after the fall of the Alamo, General Sam Houston led the small Texian army eastward in a strategic retreat that settlers called the Runaway Scrape. This site marks one of the camps along that march from Gonzales toward the Brazos, part of the maneuvering that would culminate weeks later in the decisive victory at San Jacinto.
Why it matters
The retreat commemorated here preserved the fragile Texian army long enough to win independence, a pivotal moment in the expansion of the United States toward the Southwest.
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Related people
- · Sam Houston
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
- · Runaway Scrape
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Moulton Cemetery
Moulton, TX
The earliest documented grave in this Lavaca County cemetery is that of a teenage girl who died in 1857, though local memory holds that older burials predate her. Early settlers deeded the land, and those laid to rest here span the full sweep of Texas history: pioneers and former slaves, a heartbreaking number of children, and victims of the diseases and epidemics that swept the 19th-century countryside. Its veterans served in conflicts from the Texas Revolution and Civil War through both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam.
Isaac D. Hamilton
Moulton, TX
Isaac D. Hamilton came from Alabama to Texas in January 1836, joining Captain Jack Shackelford's Red Rover Company under Colonel James Fannin just as the Texas Revolution reached its bloodiest hour. Fannin's command was captured and, in March 1836, executed in the Goliad Massacre—yet Hamilton was among the few who miraculously escaped the slaughter and lived to tell of it.
Jacob Castleman
Flatonia, TX
Jacob Castleman fought in the War for Texas Independence and stood among the veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive 1836 clash that won Texas its freedom from Mexico. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1962 to honor his service. Markers like this preserve the memory of the ordinary soldiers whose fight created the Republic of Texas.
Ponton Family
Shiner, TX
Virginians William and Isabella Ponton came to Texas in 1829 and received land in DeWitt's Colony, where William became the first recorded settler killed by Comanche in what became Lavaca County; his son Joel later survived an attack with two arrows in his back. The family stood with their neighbors at the Battle of Gonzales, fled in the Runaway Scrape after the Alamo fell, and returned to rebuild after San Jacinto. Across the eras of the Republic, statehood, and the Civil War, the Pontons served as alcaldes, judges, doctors, preachers, and peacemakers.