Near Site of the Signing of Turtle Bayou Resolutions

The Turtle Bayou Resolutions are best read as a Mexican document. The settlers dressed their attack on a Centralist commander as support for Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, whose Federalist revolt against the Bustamante government was then winning. Four resolutions condemned violations of the Constitution of 1824 and urged all Texans to join Santa Anna's side. They worked. When Colonel Jose Antonio Mexia reached Brazoria that July with 400 troops, the Texans handed him a statement that included the resolutions, and he went home satisfied. The only surviving copy carries no signatures.

What the plaque says

Near Site of the Signing of Turtle Bayou Resolutions Drafted and signed at Turtle Bayou on June 13, 1832, this first formal protest of Texas colonists against Mexican tyranny formed an early step in events that led eventually to the Texas Revolution of 1836. The settlers were protesting recent restrictive laws of Mexico designed to limit immigration and trade between the United States and Texas, passed because Mexico feared losing Texas to the U.S. In particular, citizens of anahuac were enraged by unreasonable acts of Col. Juan davis Bradburn, a local agent of the Mexican government. Alarm spread after Bradburn unjustly imprisoned several Texans, one of whom was the later Alamo hero, William B. Travis. Fighting broke out on June 9 and 12, 1832, between citizens and Bradburn's militia. Following this, the Texans met at Turtle Bayou to plan future action. Here they drew up resolutions censuring violations of Mexico's constitution by President Bustamante, encouraging resistance to his regime, and inviting all Texans to uphold the cause of civil liberty. Signers of the document, most of whom later served with valor in the 1836 Revolution and in the Texas republic, were John Austin, W. H. Jack, Hugh B. Johnson, Luke Lesassier, Wylie Martin, and R. M. Williamson. (1968)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 26 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 — 33 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

• Wallisville Cemetery — 4.4 mi
• Black Education in Chambers County — 4.6 mi
• Chambers County — 4.7 mi
• Events at Anahuac Leading to the Texas Revolution — 4.8 mi