El Quartel (El Cuartel)

The man who led the counterstroke was an unlikely soldier. Juan Manuel Zambrano, born in San Fernando de Béxar in 1772, was a subdeacon of the church, and in 1807 the commandant general ordered him out of town for licentious behavior, an order later suspended. On the evening of March 1, 1811, ten men met at his home and went into town, winning over the garrison. A twelve-member junta was elected with Zambrano as president, and Casas surrendered at dawn to 400 troops. The junta set aside funds to build a schoolhouse.

What the plaque says

El Quartel (El Cuartel) Built in 1810, on Jan. 22, 1811, Captain Juan Bautista De Las Casas recruited forces here for first overthrow of Spanish rule in Texas by arresting Governor, and other high officials. On March 2, 1811, Juan Zambrano led counter revolutionary force, also recruited here, to overthrow Casas Regime, restore Spanish Rule. Early in 1813, province invaded by Republican Army of the North favoring independence from Spain, only to be reconquered that year. Quartel de San Antonio de Bexar apparently destroyed during Texas Revolution as the defenders chose to make their stand at the Alamo. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• La Villita Historic Arts Village — steps away
  The little village across the river from the presidio, where Cos surrendered San Antonio in 1835, rebuilt by Depression-era youth crews as a working crafts village.
• San Antonio River Walk — steps away
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.
• The Alamo — 0.4 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.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 0.5 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

• John W. Smith — steps away
• St. Philip's College (original site) — steps away
• Don Jose Miguel de Arciniega — steps away
• The Pajalache Acequia (Ditch) — steps away