General Wool and the Chihuahua Road

Born in Newburgh, New York, in 1784, Wool had run a store in Troy and won national notice at Queenston and Plattsburg in the War of 1812, then served twenty-five years as an army inspector general. Before marching he sent Texas cavalry to arrest Col. William S. Harney for an unauthorized invasion of Mexico, then freed him to lead the advance. His men crossed the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass on a pontoon bridge laid by Capt. Robert E. Lee, and at Buena Vista in February 1847 Wool chose the field.

What the plaque says

GENERAL WOOL AND THE CHIHUAHUA ROAD In 1846, General John Ellis Wool amassed an army of 3,400 troops in San Antonio to invade Chihuahua, Mexico. Departing from Camp Crockett crossing the Medina River and passing through Castroville and Quihi, Wool's plans changed after receiving orders to support general Zachary Taylor's forces in Saltillo, Mexico. General Wool's original path to Chihuahua mirrored Mexican General Adrian Woll's 1842 retreat to Mexico. Most of this route became the Chihuahua Road. Commercial trade in Castroville increased due to the town's central location along the route, and it remained a major thoroughfare for westward travel because of its plentiful water for horses and mules. (2014)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Landmark Inn State Historic Site — 0.3 mi
  A store and stage stop at the Medina River ford in Henri Castro's Alsatian town, with a mill race under the ground and rooms you can still rent for the night.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 23 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.
• Mission Concepción — 23 mi
  A stone church dedicated in 1755 that has never fallen into ruin, its convento ceilings still painted, and the ground where the Texas Revolution's fight for San Antonio began.
• King William Historic District — 23 mi
  Mission farmland turned German merchants' quarter on the San Antonio River, renamed in World War I, then saved by a neighbor who restored fourteen houses, starting with his own.

More markers nearby

• Alsatians of Texas — steps away
• St. Louis Day — steps away
• Moye — steps away
• First County Courthouse — steps away