Editing Victoria County, Texas (section)

===Through colonial times===
[[Paleo-Indian]] [[hunter-gatherers]], and later [[Tonkawa]], Aranamas, Tamiques, and [[Karankawa]], inhabited the area before the time of European contact. [[Tawakoni]], [[Lipan Apache people|Lipan Apache]], and [[Comanche]] were later inhabitants of modern-day Victoria County.<ref name="Victoria County, Texas">{{cite web|last=Roell|first=Craig H|title=Victoria County, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcv03|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 30, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715060732/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcv03|archive-date=July 15, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1685, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]] established Fort St. Louis.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Harrigan|first=Stephen|title=In Search of La Salle|journal=Texas Monthly|date=January 1979|pages=88–90;138,141–147}}</ref>

In 1689, [[Alonso de Leon]] named the [[Guadalupe River (Texas)|Guadalupe River]] in honor of [[Our Lady of Guadalupe]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bencke|first=Arthur C|title=Rivers of North America|year=2005|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-12-088253-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/riversofnorthame0000unse/page/192 192–194]|author2=Cushing, Colbert E|url=https://archive.org/details/riversofnorthame0000unse/page/192}}</ref>

In 1722, [[Presidio La Bahia|Nuestra Señora de Loreto Presidio]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Heard|first=J Norman|title=Handbook of the American Frontier, Volume I: The Southeastern Woodlands|year=1987|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc|isbn=978-0-8108-1931-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofameric00hear/page/272 272]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofameric00hear}}</ref> and [[Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga]]  became the first Spanish settlement in Victoria County.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walter|first=Tamra Lynn|title=Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga: A Frontier Mission in South Texas|year=2007|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-71478-6|page=12}}</ref>

In 1824, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Jesús Victoria (the future city of [[Victoria, Texas|Victoria]]) was established by [[Martín De León]], who started his colony with 5,000 branded cattle and established the county's claim as the "Cradle of the Texas Cattle Industry." It was the only primarily Mexican colony in Texas.<ref>Craig H. Roell, "DE LEON, MARTIN," Handbook of Texas Online [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde08] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317123520/https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde08|date=March 17, 2017}}, accessed September 11, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref>

In 1835, Victoria's settlers supported the revolution against [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]], but were ostracized by new incoming Americans, many of whom were adventurous soldiers or fortune hunters, who wrongly profiled them as Mexican sympathizers and forced them to flee after the revolution in 1836.<ref>Craig H. Roell, "DE LEON'S COLONY," Handbook of Texas Online [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ued01] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801033604/https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ued01|date=August 1, 2017}}, accessed September 11, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref> Anglo-Americans resettled the area.<ref>{{cite book|last=Room|first=Adrian|title=Placenames Of The World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features and Historic Sites|year=2005|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-7864-2248-7|page=395}}</ref>

In 1836, Victory County was formed by the Republic of Texas. It is named after [[Guadalupe Victoria]], the first [[President of Mexico]].<ref name="Victoria County, Texas"/> About 3000 troops of the Texas Army encamped near Spring Creek, Victoria County, under the command of [[Thomas Jefferson Rusk|Gen. Thomas J. Rusk]], as the main defense against a threatened attack by Mexican General [[José de Urrea]].<ref>{{cite book|last=De La Teja|first=Jesus F|title=Tejano Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas|year=2010|publisher=TAMU Press|isbn=978-1-60344-166-7|page=116}}</ref>

In 1842, Rafael Vásquez and [[Adrián Woll]] led Mexican forces in an invasion into the county.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fowler|first=Will|title=Santa Anna of Mexico|year=2007|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-1120-9|page=226}}</ref>