Committee on Public Safety

The committee was built for a fight it never had to wage. Appointed by the Secession Convention in February 1861 to carry out secession if Unionists resisted, it was chaired by John C. Robertson, and all fifteen members had military experience. It named Ben McCulloch, Henry McCulloch and John S. Ford colonels to raise an army. A subcommittee called on Governor Sam Houston to make sure he would not use his powers against the convention and found him agreeable. Ben McCulloch's 400 horsemen grew to about 1,000 by the time they reached San Antonio.

What the plaque says

Committee on Public Safety Texas and the Civil War Committee on Public Safety Created by Texas Secession Convention, Jan. 1861. A committee of 15 men to prevent public disorder and--in the face of open hostility from Governor Sam Houston--enforce Secession Convention mandates. On Feb. 18, 1861, in what might well have been first battle of the Civil War, minute men under committee orders surrounded the Federal headquarters for the State, in San Antonio, and effected surrender of the alien force. Over $3,000,000 worth of ammunition, guns, army vehicles, military goods and money were seized. Prompt action here postponed hostilities. The captured foe was sent north without bloodshed on Texas soil. This move was followed by occupation of a chain of frontier forts won in the San Antonio action and useful in defense of Confederate Texas. The committee set up 3 military districts, placing troops on frontiers, coast and Mexican border. Texas was the only Confederate state with the problem of defenses on the border of a neutral nation. Numbers of Texas counties also used for at least 2 years Committees on Public Safety, for protection against Indians and to obtain supplies. The seccession Convention and Committee on Public Safety did much to prepare Texas for War. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spanish Governor's Palace — 1.5 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.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 1.6 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.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 1.6 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.
• The Alamo — 1.6 mi
  Mission San Antonio de Valero before it was a fort: a church its builders never finished, a thirteen-day siege in 1836, and the Army gable of 1850-52 that became its emblem.

More markers nearby

• Old San Pedro Springs — steps away
• 9th Cavalry at San Pedro Springs — steps away
• The Woman's Club of San Antonio — 0.3 mi
• Monte Vista Historic District — 0.5 mi