The Woll Invasion

The general who took San Antonio was a Frenchman. Adrián Woll was born near Paris in 1795, served in Napoleon's imperial guard, and after the Bourbon restoration sailed for America carrying letters to Gen. Winfield Scott, who pointed him toward Mexico's revolution. He joined Mina's expedition in 1816. In the 1838-39 Pastry War he tried to resign rather than fight France. Mexico hailed his 1842 raid as a success, promoting him to major general and awarding him its Cross of Honor, and in 1842 he claimed he had tried to stop the execution of Fannin's men in 1836.

What the plaque says

The Woll Invasion Mexico's last invasion of the republic of Texas Alarmed San Antonio on Sept. 11, 1842, when Gen. Adrian Woll and 1300 troops struck the city from the west. Awakened by booming cannon, 56 Texians (including judge, jurors, and citizens in town to attend court) bravely attempted to defend the city. They fortified the stone home of Samuel A. Maverick at northeast corner of Main Plaza, and poured out gunfire as Woll entered with flags flying and band playing. Forced to surrender to overwhelming numbers, 52 Texians--including Maverick, Judge Anderson Hutchinson, and Clerk James L.Trueheart--were marched 1100 mile to Perote Prison in Mexico. Although Mayor John W. Smith and county clerk Thomas Addicks escaped, San Antonio had no city or county government and very little economic activity in the ensuing 23 months. On his way to capture the capitol of the republic in Austin, Woll was defeated at the Salado by Mathew Caldwell's volunteers on Sept. 17, 1842. On March 24, 1844, the last surviving prisoners of Woll's invasion were freed from Perote Castle. They made their way on foot to Vera Cruz, and were taken by a United States man-of-war to New Orleans. From there they finally traveled safely home. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Fernando Cathedral — steps away
  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.
• Spanish Governor's Palace — steps away
  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.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 0.2 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.
• San Antonio River Walk — 0.4 mi
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.

More markers nearby

• Surrender of Federal Forces by General David E. Twiggs — steps away
• T. C. Frost and the Frost Bank — steps away
• T. C. Frost Wool Warehouse — steps away
• Zero Milestone, Old Spanish Trail — steps away