Fort Waul

The fort stands on Waldrip Hill at the north edge of Gonzales, chosen because it lay between Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Victoria where the Guadalupe and San Marcos rivers meet. Its plan called for walls eight feet high and twelve feet thick at the base, a ditch around the whole, a square cannon bastion at each corner and an underground blockhouse at the center. Work stopped by November 1864. Blockhouse stones went into the Gonzales College dormitory, and the name Fort Waul came in the late 1870s. Its outer walls are still visible.

What the plaque says

Fort Waul Named for Confederate General Thomas N. Waul, Fort Waul was built to defend inland Texas from possible Federal advances up the Guadalupe River from the Gulf of Mexico, as well as to provide protection for military supply trains. Construction of the earthen fortification was overseen by Col. Albert Miller Lea, Confederate army engineer. Begun in late 1863, the fort was partly built by slave labor and measured approximately 250 by 750 feet. Surviving records do not indicate whether the fort was ever actually completed. (1988)

Where it stands

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