Site of the First Shot of the Texas Revolution

Waldine Tauch, who designed the bronze and the carved figures, was born in Schulenburg in 1892. Her family later moved to Brady, where a women's club raised money for her training, and in 1910 she left school two weeks before graduation to study with the sculptor Pompeo Coppini in San Antonio, who raised her as a foster daughter. She spent twelve years in New York before returning to San Antonio in 1935 to compete for the commissions of the Centennial. She won this one, a life-sized bronze relief she called The First Shot Fired for Texas Independence.

What the plaque says

Site of the First Shot of the Texas Revolution The monument, faced with Texas gray granite, sixteen feet two inches in width, thirteen feet six inches in height, and three feet ten and one-half inches in extreme depth, was designed by Phelps & Dewees, Architects. The great bronze plaque and the decorative figures carved in granite were designed by Waldine Tauch. The Commission allocated $10,000 for the memorial. Near here on October 2, 1835 was fired the first shot of the Texas Revolution of 1835-36 -- the shot heard round the world. At Gonzales the Texans defied the Mexican government and refused their demand for the Gonzales cannon with the "come and take it" challenge until reinforcements arrived from other parts of DeWitt's Colony and from the colonies on the Colorado and Brazos. They then pursued the Mexicans from Gonzales to near this point and fired upon them with this cannon, driving them back to Bexar. This shot started the revolution and was directly responsible for adding more territory to the United States than was acquired by the freeing of the original thirteen colonies from England.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• First Shot of the Texas Revolution — steps away
• Site of Cost School — steps away
• James Hodges, Sr. — 4.7 mi
• Community of Wrightsboro — 5.3 mi