Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Gonzales County, Texas
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==History== <!-- {{Prose|section|date=December 2013}} --> [[Paleo-Indian]] [[hunter-gatherers]] were here thousands of years ago; the later [[Coahuiltecan]], [[Tonkawa]], and [[Karankawa]] migrated into the area in the 14th century, but lost much of their population by the 18th century due to new [[infection|infectious]] diseases contracted by contact with European explorers. The historic [[Comanche]] and [[Waco tribe]]s later migrated into the area and competed most with [[European Americans|European American]] settlers of the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcg07|title=Gonzales County |first1=Baumgartner |last1=Dorcas Huff |last2=Vollentine |first2=Genevieve B.|date=June 15, 2010|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> Between 1519 and 1685, [[Hernando Cortez]] and [[Alonso Álvarez de Pineda]] claimed Texas for [[Spain]]. Beginning in 1685, [[France]] planted its flag on Texas soil, but departed after only five years,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/6flags.htm|title=A Texas Scrapbook: San Antonio's Military Plaza|website=www.lsjunction.com|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> and Spain regained the territory. [[Mexico]], including Texas, won its independence from Spain in 1821. Citizens of the United States began to settle in Texas and were granted land and Mexican citizenship. In 1825, [[Green DeWitt]]'s petition for a land grant to establish a colony in Texas was approved by the Mexican government. [[Gonzales, Texas|Gonzales]] was established, named for Rafael Gonzales, governor of [[Coahuila y Tejas]]. When [[Jean Louis Berlandier]] visited in 1828, he found settler cabins, a fort-like barricade, crop agriculture, and livestock, as well as nearby villages of Tonkawa and Karankawa. The Coahuila y Tejas government sent a six-pound cannon to Gonzales in 1831 for settlers' protection against Indian raids. In 1835, the colony sent delegates to conventions (1832–1835) to discuss disagreements with Mexico. The Mexican government viewed the conventions as treason, so troops were sent to Gonzales in September 1832 to retrieve the cannon. On October 2, the [[Battle of Gonzales]] became the first shots fired in the [[Texas Revolution]]. The colonists put up armed resistance, with the cannon pointed at the Mexican troops, and above it a banner proclaimed, "[[Come and Take It]]". Commemoration of the event became the annual "Come and Take It Festival".<ref>[http://www.gonzalestexas.com/index.php/calender-of-events Gonzales C of C] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100924075742/http://www.gonzalestexas.com/index.php/calender-of-events |date=September 24, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qvg01|title=GONZALES "COME AND TAKE IT" CANNON|last=RICKS|first=LINDLEY, THOMAS|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> From October 13 – December 9, the [[Siege of Bexar]] became the first major campaign of the Texas Revolution. Gonzales County was established in 1836. :February 23 – Alamo messenger Launcelot Smithers carried to the people of Gonzales, the [[William B. Travis|Colonel William Barret Travis]] letter stating the enemy is in sight and requesting men and provisions. :February 24 – Captain Albert Martin delivered to Smithers in Gonzales the infamous "Victory or Death" Travis letter addressed "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World" stating the direness of the situation. Smithers then took the letter to San Felipe,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hls10|title=SAN FELIPE DE AUSTIN, TX|last=CHRISTOPHER|first=JACKSON, CHARLES|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> site of the provisional Texas government. :February 27 – The [[Gonzales Ranging Company of Mounted Volunteers|Gonzales Alamo relief force of 32 men]], led by Lieutenant [[George C. Kimble]], departed to join the 130 fighters already at the Alamo.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/gonreliefframe.htm|title=Wayback Machine: The DeWitt Colony Alamo Defenders|date=December 2, 1998|website=Internet Archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981202210748/http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/gonreliefframe.htm|archive-date=December 2, 1998|url-status=dead|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> :March 1 – The Gonzales [[Gonzales Ranging Company of Mounted Volunteers|"Immortal 32"]] made their way inside the Alamo. :March 2 – [[Texas Declaration of Independence]] from Mexico established the [[Republic of Texas]]. :March 6 – [[Battle of the Alamo|The Alamo]] fell. :March 13–14 – [[Susanna Dickinson]], the widow of the Alamo defender [[Almaron Dickinson]], arrived in Gonzales with her daughter Angelina and Colonel Travis' slave Joe. Upon hearing the news of the Alamo, [[Sam Houston]] ordered the town of Gonzales torched to the ground, and established his headquarters under an oak tree in the county.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/177-Sam-Houston-Oak.htm|title=Sam Houston Oak, Texas historic tree near Gonzales.|website=www.texasescapes.com|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>[http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5177004503 Texas Historical Markers, Sam Houston Oak] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928144339/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5177004503 |date=September 28, 2011 }}</ref> In 1838, Gonzales men founded the town of [[Seguin, Texas|Walnut Springs]] (later Seguin) in the northwest section of the county. Two years later, Gonzales men joined the [[Battle of Plum Creek]] against [[Buffalo Hump]] and his Comanches. Gonzales College was founded in 1850 by slave-owning planters, and was the first institution in Texas to confer bachelor of arts degrees on women. The ''Gonzales Inquirer'' begins publication in 1853.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gonzalesinquirer.com/|title=The Gonzales Inquirer|website=www.gonzalesinquirer.com|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> By 1860, the county's population had grown to 8,059, including 3,168 slaves. County citizens voted 802–80 in favor of [[Texas in the American Civil War|secession]] from the Union in 1861. On February 1, Texas [[Ordinance of Secession|seceded]] from the Union. On March 2, Texas joined the [[Confederate States of America]]. The [[Sutton–Taylor feud]] of 1866–1876, which involved outlaw [[John Wesley Hardin]], was reportedly the bloodiest and longest in Texas' history. Hardin's men were known to have stayed in the community of [[Pilgrim, Texas|Pilgrim]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jcs03|title=SUTTON-TAYLOR FEUD|last=L.|first=SONNICHSEN, C.|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-suttontaylor.html|title=The Sutton-Taylor Feud of DeWitt County, Texas – Legends of America|website=www.legendsofamerica.com|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> On March 30, 1870, the [[United States Congress]] readmitted Texas into the Union. The [[Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway]] was built through the eastern and northern part of the county in 1874; three years later, the [[Texas and New Orleans Railway]] came to the county. In 1881, the Gonzales Branch Railroad was chartered.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqg14|title=GONZALES BRANCH RAILROAD|last=BECK|first=YOUNG, NANCY|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> In 1885, the [[San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway]] was built through the county. John Wesley Hardin is released from prison in 1894, and returned to Gonzales, where he passed the bar examination and started practicing law. In 1898, 23 county men served, with two casualties, during the [[Spanish–American War]]. Three served with the [[Rough Riders]]. During [[World War I]], 1,106 men from the county served. for [[World War II]], about 3,000 men from Gonzales County served, with 79 casualties.<!-- notable? The Southern Pacific line bypassed the community of Rancho in 1905. --> In 1935, Governor [[James V. Allred]] dedicated a monument in the community of [[Cost, Texas|Cost]], commemorating the first shot of the Texas Revolution. The sculptor was [[Waldine A. Tauch]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsSouth/Cost-Texas.htm|title=Cost, Texas; First Shot of the Texas Revolution Monument.|website=www.texasescapes.com|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fta36|title=TAUCH, WALDINE AMANDA|last=KENDALL|first=CURLEE|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> Palmetto State Park opened to the public in 1936.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/palmetto/|title=Palmetto State Park — Texas Parks & Wildlife Department|website=www.tpwd.state.tx.us|language=en|access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> The Gonzales Warm Springs Foundation opened for the treatment of polio in 1939.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://texashighways.com/eat/item/6097-gonzales-warm-springs-foundation|title=Gonzales Warm Springs Foundation - Texas Highways|access-date=July 24, 2018|language=en-gb}}</ref>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Gonzales County, Texas
(section)
Add topic