Juan Davis Bradburn

The colonists met a commandant, not the man who had spent five years fighting for Mexico's independence. In 1816 Bradburn was at Perry's Point with the filibuster Henry Perry, and in 1817 he joined the Mina expedition. In 1820 he went over to Agustin de Iturbide and apparently carried messages between Iturbide and the insurgent Vicente Guerrero, which helped produce the Plan de Iguala. He married an heiress whose family owned the House of Tiles in Mexico City. After Texas he retired near Matamoros and died there in 1842.

What the plaque says

Juan Davis Bradburn Adventurer from Kentucky who first came to Texas in 1817 with an expedition seeking to expel Spain from North America. Bradburn served in the Army of the Republic of Mexico in the 1820s, and in 1830 was sent to establish a military post at the mouth of the Trinity. He imposed on colonists by refusing to pay for supplies and labor used in building Fort Anahuac, and in 1831 arrested Mexican commissioner sent to issue land titles, thereby alarming settlers, who feared to lose their homes and improvements. His troops were convicts whom he could not control, and after civilians began to curb soldiers' outrages, he arrested several men, including Patrick C. Jack and William B. Travis, who were held 50 days awaiting a military trial. Approached by William H. Jack and others, Bradburn agreed to release the civilians in return for soldiers held by the colonists. After he received his men, he refused to keep his promise. In fighting that ensued, several lives were lost. When fellow officers deposed him, Bradburn escaped from Anahuac on July 13, 1832, pursued so closely that at the Sabine he lost his horse and swam the river. In Texas War for Independence (1836), he returned in rear guard of Santa Anna's army -- again to be a loser. (1973)

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 — 28 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

• William Barret Travis — steps away
• Robert McAlpin Williamson — steps away
• Fort Anahuac — steps away
• On this Site First Known as Perry's Point — steps away