Historical Marker
Old Eighteen
Gonzales, Gonzales County · Texas
Erected 1936
The gun the eighteen held had come to Gonzales four years earlier. On January 1, 1831, Green DeWitt wrote to Ramón Músquiz, the political chief at Bexar, asking for a cannon to protect the colonists, and on March 10 James Tumlinson Jr. received a bronze piece for the colony on condition that it be returned on request. Never mounted on a carriage until 1835, it probably sat on a swivel in one of the town's two blockhouses of 1827. That September Ugartechea first sent Corporal Casimiro De León and five soldiers, whom the colonists took prisoner.
What the plaque says
Old Eighteen On this site, September 29, 1835 began the strategy of the 18 Texans who by advising with alcalde Andrew Ponton, held for two days 150 Mexican Dragoons sent to demand the Gonzales cannon, allowing colonists time to mass recruits for the Battle of Gonzales. Captain Albert Martin, Almond Cottle, Jacob C. Darst, Ezekiel Williams, Winslow Turner, Simeon Bateman, Wm. W. Arrington, Joseph D. Clements, Gravis Fulcher, Almaron Dickerson, George W. Davis, Benjamin Fuqua, John Sowell, Valentine Bennet, James B. Hinds, Charles Mason, Thomas R. Miller, Thomas Jackson.
Where it stands
29.48271, -97.44815 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Gonzales Cannon — steps away
- 1834 Homesite of Capt. and Mrs. Almaron Dickinson — 1.1 mi
- Indian Fort, Site of — 1.2 mi
- Gonzales Cannon Burial Site — 1.2 mi