Site of the Home of Elizabeth Powell
Beasley, Fort Bend County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built before March 21, 1831, when the land was granted to her. This point marks the most eastern advance of Urrea's army and the most southern advance of Santa Anna, who turned east from here to the Brazos and San Jacinto. Here the Mexican Army encamped after the Battle of San Jacinto
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
By the time Elizabeth Powell received this land grant in 1831, the Texas frontier was filling with Anglo-American colonists under Mexican rule — settlers whose grievances would soon erupt into revolution. Five years later this spot became a hinge point of that war: it marked the farthest eastern reach of General Urrea's column and the southern turn of Santa Anna's army toward the Brazos and San Jacinto. After Sam Houston's decisive victory at San Jacinto in April 1836, the defeated Mexican forces camped near here as they withdrew.
Why it matters
The ground where a colonist's homestead stood became a marker of the campaign that won Texas its independence and reshaped the map of North America.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Elizabeth Powell
- · Santa Anna
- · José de Urrea
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Post West Bernard Station
Hungerford, TX
In the summer of 1837 the young Republic of Texas established Post West Bernard Station as an ordnance depot, stockpiling cannons, rifles, muskets, powder, and shot. Sited on the West Bernard River, it helped shield Houston — then the capital — against the threat of a Mexican invasion. Officers like Lt. H. L. Grush and Capt. Martin K. Snell held the post under harsh conditions until 1838–39, when its arms were transferred to the new Houston Arsenal.
Albert Clinton Horton
Wharton, TX
Albert Clinton Horton came to Texas in 1834, raised volunteers in Alabama for the revolution, and served as a cavalry colonel before helping launch the Republic of Texas — chairing the commission that chose Austin as its capital in 1839. When Texas joined the Union in 1845 he became its first lieutenant governor and served as acting governor while Governor Henderson fought in the Mexican War. A planter and a founder of Baylor University, he lived at "Sycamore Grove" near this site.
Wharton Cemetery
Wharton, TX
When Wharton County was organized in 1846, its seat was laid out on the Mexican land grant of 'Old 300' colonist William Kincheloe, and in 1866 the commissioners formalized a cemetery already in use just blocks from the courthouse. Its oldest marked grave dates to 1843, and among those buried here is Amanda Armstrong Watts, Wharton's first public schoolteacher and its postmistress in 1881. More than 140 veterans of conflicts from the Civil War through Vietnam rest amid the obelisks, cairns, and decorated ironwork that make the grounds a study in cemetery design.
Site of the Home of Randal Jones
Richmond, TX
Randal Jones joined James Long's filibustering expedition into Texas in 1819, served as a militia captain under Stephen F. Austin in 1824, and sat in the 1835 Consultation that set the Texas Revolution in motion. On land granted to him in 1824 he built a house where the famed scout Erastus "Deaf" Smith died in 1837. The state marked the site during the 1936 Texas centennial.