Events at Anahuac Leading to the Texas Revolution

The quarrel started over deeds, not cannon. In January 1831 a state land commissioner, Jose Francisco Madero, came to title settlers on the lower Trinity. Bradburn held that the Law of April 6, 1830 voided the earlier grants, and arrested him. State officials had Madero released, and he issued more than fifty titles anyway. He also organized a town government at the Atascosito crossing named Villa de la Santisima Trinidad de la Libertad, which settlers shortened to Liberty. That was the town where armed colonists gathered in 1832.

What the plaque says

Events at Anahuac Leading to the Texas Revolution In the spring of 1832, Wm. B. Travis, Patrick C. Jack and other American settlers in Texas were unjustly imprisoned by Col. Juan Bradburn, commander of the Mexican garrison at Anahuac. Bradburn's refusal to deliver his prisoners for civil trial caused alarm throughout the American settlements, resulting in the organization of an armed force of citizens for intervention to save their friends from trial by a military court in Mexico. Rallying at Liberty, the Texans on June 10 went to Anahuac to parley with bradburn, who agreed to free the colonists in exchange for Mexican soldiers held by the Texans. When Bradburn refused to keep his word, the texans resolved to fight, and sent to Brazoria for reinforcements of men and cannon, thus precipitating the Battle of Velasco on June 26, 1832. These events were climaxed by the arrival of the Mexican military commander from Nacogdoches, who resolved the conflict by releasing the colonists and placing Bradburn under arrest. Mexican resentment aroused over the events at Anahuac and Velasco was a contributing factor in the development of the Texas Revolution. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 24 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.
• Space Center Houston — 29 mi
  The visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center at Clear Lake, with flown capsules, a shuttle replica riding a 747, and tram tours to Mission Control and a Saturn V.

More markers nearby

• Lone Star Canal — steps away
• Home of Thomas Jefferson Chambers — 0.2 mi
• Chambers County — 0.4 mi
• Black Education in Chambers County — 0.5 mi