Placido Olivarri

Olivarri was a scout worth a price on his head. His skill guiding the Texan army was such that Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos offered a large bounty for his capture, dead or alive. When Mexican sympathizers in San Antonio tried to seize him, he hid on Bowen's Island in the San Antonio River and escaped. His family traced its San Antonio roots to José Olivarri, a Basque among the city's first settlers. After the war he managed wagon trains, had fourteen children with his second wife, Micaela, and belonged to the Sociedad Mutualista Mexicana.

What the plaque says

Placido Olivarri A guide to the Texas Army 1835. Born in San Antonio, February, 1815. Died September 8, 1894. His wife Micaela J. Olivarri. Born June 10, 1844. Died May 5, 1917. Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 1.0 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.
• King William Historic District — 1.1 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.
• Spanish Governor's Palace — 1.2 mi
  The last visible piece of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar: a presidio captain's house with a 1749 keystone, a century as shops and saloons, and a romantic 1930 restoration.
• San Fernando Cathedral — 1.2 mi
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.

More markers nearby

• Col. Jose Francisco Ruiz — steps away
• Capt. Jose Antonio Menchaca — steps away
• Alejo de la Encarnacion Perez — steps away
• Jose Antonio Navarro — steps away