Karnes County

The plaque gives Henry Karnes two lines; his service filled barely five years. Born in Tennessee in 1812 and raised in Arkansas by a trapper father, he joined the revolution as a private and fought at Concepción. He rode from Gonzales with Deaf Smith to learn the Alamo's fate and brought Houston's army the first word of its fall. Sent to Matamoros in June 1836 to arrange a prisoner exchange, he was jailed but escaped. An arrow wound at Arroyo Seco in 1839 never fully healed, and yellow fever killed him in San Antonio on August 16, 1840.

What the plaque says

Karnes County --Formed from Bexar County, created February 4, 1854. Organized February 27, 1854. Named in honor of Henry Wax Karnes 1812-1840, Conspicuous for gallantry at the storming of Bexar commanded a company at San Jacinto. Texas Ranger in 1838. County Seat, Helena 1854-1894, Karnes City since.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Panna Maria — 5.0 mi
  The Silesian village on a plateau above the San Antonio River that claims the oldest permanent Polish settlement in America, with a church of 1878 and a ceiling found again in 2000.

More markers nearby

• Karnes City — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Karnes City — 0.2 mi
• Town of Panna Maria — 5.0 mi
• Kenedy — 5.5 mi