Site of the First Shot of the Texas Revolution
Gonzales County, Gonzales County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The monument, faced with Texas gray granite, sixteen feet two inches in width, thirteen feet six inches in height, and three feet ten and one-half inches in extreme depth, was designed by Phelps & Dewees, Architects. The great bronze plaque and the decorative figures carved in granite were designed by Waldine Tauch. The Commission allocated $10,000 for the memorial. Near here on October 2, 1835 was fired the first shot of the Texas Revolution of 1835-36 -- the shot heard round the world. At Gonzales the Texans defied the Mexican government and refused their demand for the Gonzales cannon with the "come and take it" challenge until reinforcements arrived from other parts of DeWitt's Colony and from the colonies on the Colorado and Brazos. They then pursued the Mexicans from Gonzales to near this point and fired upon them with this cannon, driving them back to Bexar. This shot started the revolution and was directly responsible for adding more territory to the United States than was acquired by the freeing of the original thirteen colonies from England.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Near this spot on October 2, 1835, Texas colonists answered the Mexican government's demand to surrender their small cannon with a defiant "come and take it." The skirmish at Gonzales — the "first shot" of the Texas Revolution — sent Mexican troops retreating toward Bexar and set the colonies on the road to independence. This granite-and-bronze monument, designed by Waldine Tauch, was raised generations later to mark the ground.
Why it matters
Gonzales is the Lexington of Texas, the flashpoint where a colonial grievance became a revolution that would redraw the map of the American Southwest.
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Related events
- · Battle of Gonzales
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Shot of the Texas Revolution
Gonzales, TX
A mile and a half from here, on October 2, 1835, Texan colonists under Col. John H. Moore fired a small cannon at Mexican troops — the opening shot of the Texas Revolution. The confrontation at Gonzales over that very cannon crystallized the colonists' defiance and launched the fight for Texas independence.
James Hodges, Sr.
Gonzales, TX
James Hodges, Sr. arrived at Gonzales in April 1835 and quickly bought four leagues of land at the forks of the San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers, paying three thousand dollars in silver. That autumn the townspeople elected him a delegate to the Consultation of 1835, the convention that created a provisional government and placed Sam Houston over a new Texas army. He supplied the army in 1836, fled with his family during the Runaway Scrape, and later returned to serve on the county's land commission and raise his family on the rivers.
Gonzales Cannon
Gonzales, TX
Here on September 29, 1835, Mexican troops arrived to reclaim a small cannon the government had lent the colonists of Gonzales for defense against raids. The Texians stalled for two days while reinforcements gathered, then flung back their famous answer — "Come and Take It." The standoff over that little gun helped ignite the Texas Revolution.
Campsite Marking Start of San Jacinto Campaign
Gonzales, TX
In March 1836, as the Texas Revolution reached its most desperate hour, Sam Houston reached Gonzales to muster a second volunteer army. Word arrived here of the fall of the Alamo and of Santa Anna's advance, and Houston ordered the town put to the torch before withdrawing eastward. That long, calculated retreat set the stage for the decisive Texian victory at San Jacinto on April 21.