"Battle" of Adams Hill

Reeve's soldiers belonged to one of the army's long-serving Texas regiments. Formed in 1838, the Eighth Infantry fought in the Second Seminole War, then marched with Zachary Taylor from Corpus Christi to Monterrey and won recognition in eight engagements. After the Mexican War it took chief responsibility for guarding the road between San Antonio and Santa Fe, where long-range skirmishing, fatigue duty and desertion marked the 1850s. Almost all its enlisted men stayed loyal to the Union in 1861, and during the war elements of the old regiment served in the Fifteenth Infantry.

What the plaque says

"Battle" of Adams Hill Near this site, an early armed confrontation of the Civil War ended without bloodshed. On February 16, 1861 in San Antonio, General David E. Twiggs, commander of the U.S. Army Department of Texas, surrendered all federal military property in the state to forces under command of Ben McCulloch. Possession of the San Antonio Arsenal and 20 other installations statewide transferred to Texas forces, who permitted U.S. soldiers to march to the coast and leave Texas as soon as ships could be procured. After the outbreak of hostilities in the South in April, federal troops still in Texas were declared prisoners of war. There was, however, one unit still armed and not in Confederate custody. Marching southeast from Forts Bliss, Davis and Quitman in far west Texas were six companies of the 8th U.S. Infantry, a total of 347 men under the command of Lt. Col. I.V.D. Reeve. Here near San Lucas Spring, Col. Earl Van Dorn, Confederate commander of Texas, stationed 1300 men and six field pieces to meet Reeve. Federal troops took up a defensive position on Adams Hill, a half mile in front. After a six-week march from El Paso, Reeve's numbers were down to 270 men. On May9, Van Dorn sent a demand for surrender, but Reeve refused. Reeve rejected a second flag of truce with the same mandate. Van Dorn succeeded with his third request -- that Federal officers come over, see the Confederate strength and surrender peaceably. The move brought an end to the encounter without the firing of a shot. Reeve's men were made prisoners of war, interned and later exchanged. In February 1863, the last of the 8th U.S. Infantry left Texas in exchange for Confederate prisoners at Baton Rouge after more than 21 months of imprisonment. (2007)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 10 mi
  The adobe and caliche-block home of José Antonio Navarro, a native-born signer of the 1836 declaration, and the last remnant of the Tejano neighborhood called Laredito.
• Spanish Governor's Palace — 10 mi
  The last visible piece of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar: a presidio captain's house with a 1749 keystone, a century as shops and saloons, and a romantic 1930 restoration.
• King William Historic District — 10 mi
  Mission farmland turned German merchants' quarter on the San Antonio River, renamed in World War I, then saved by a neighbor who restored fourteen houses, starting with his own.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 10 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.

More markers nearby

• Moses Lapham — 3.3 mi
• "Kelly No. 2" Flight Line — 5.7 mi
• Hendrick Arnold — 5.8 mi
• Station "X" — 6.0 mi