Houston's Camp West of Brazos

       Sam Houston and his Texian volunteers camped on the Brazos River opposite Jared Groce’s Bernardo plantation from March 30th to April 13th, 1836.  Here Houston organized and trained his army and made preparations for what a week later would be the Battle of San Jacinto.  Called the Camp West of Brazos, the site was a muddy, filthy mess, but served its purpose.  The steamboat Yellow Stone was held at Groce’s Landing until the General was ready to use it to move his men across the river to destiny.  

Over nearly a century a large collection of artifacts from this site has been assembled, first by surface collection and, since 1989, by the use of metal detectors. Most of the known artifacts from this site are lead bullets and fragments from the bullet molding process. Also present are other items believed related to the Texian army, including gunflints, uniform buttons, an 1829 penny, and ceramic sherds. This site is unique in that these artifacts are solely related to the Texian army of 1836. Other sites such as the Alamo and San Jacinto also contain Texian artifacts mixed with those of the Mexican army. The wide variety of sizes of bullets found here confirms historical accounts that indicated that numerous types of firearms were used by this largely volunteer army.

        This story is told as a part of a broader account of the Bernardo plantation, published by James Woodrick on Amazon.com.   

       Click on the following link to read all about the fascinating history of this period in the San Jacinto Campaign, and to see descriptions and images of the artifacts found in the archaeological investigations.

Houston's Camp West of Brazos