Cattle Drive from La Bahia

The general who wanted the cattle was a career soldier from a mountain village near Málaga. Bernardo de Gálvez had been wounded fighting Apaches along the Pecos and Gila and again at Algiers before he became governor of Louisiana in 1777, where he sent arms and money up the Mississippi to the American rebels. His army took Baton Rouge in 1779, Mobile in 1780 and Pensacola in May 1781 after a two-month siege. As viceroy of New Spain he ordered the coastal survey that named Galveston Bay for him, and in 2014 Congress hung his portrait in the Capitol.

What the plaque says

Cattle Drive from La Bahia After Spain joined the American colonists in declaring war on England in 1779, Spanish soldier Bernardo de Galvez traveled to New Orleans to raise an army. Aware of the great number of wild cattle in Texas from his time spent stationed in the region, Galvez asked the Spanish governor of Texas to send cattle to feed his troops. As a result, about 10,000 head of cattle from Texas missions and ranches were assembled at Presidio La Bahia. Between 1779 and 1782, in what is believed to be the first major Texas cattle drive, cattle were herded from La Bahia to Spanish soldiers preparing to fight in the American revolution along the Gulf Coast. (1999)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Aranama College — steps away
• Site of the Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga — steps away
• General Ignacio Zaragoza — 0.7 mi
• John Mason Brewer — 0.7 mi