River crossings and army camps, Columbus, Texas, 1836

  Columbus, Texas, was established in 1836, located on the strategic road built from San Antonio to San Felipe by Byrd Lockhart in 1828.   Key events of the campaign for Texas independence from Mexico played out on the Colorado River near Columbus between March and May of 1836.  There were two primary locations where the Colorado River could be easily forded at low water — Atascosito and Dewees’crossing).  Benjamin Beason operated a crossing service called a ‘ferry’ in which some kind of a boat, from canoe to launch to raft to flatboat, could be used to assist crossings.   

Click on the link below to learn about the road network and the several river crossings and army campsites that existed here in early 1836. 

            River crossings and army camps, Columbus, Texas, 1836 

El Volcan, Santa Anna's Cannon at San Jacinto

     Santa Anna brought one bronze 6-caliber cannon to San Jacinto.  It was used extensively in skirmishes with the Texian army on April 20th, and briefly in the main battle on April 21st.  This cannon was one of nine made in Mexico City in 1778.  After the battle it was moved to Galveston Island, and then mounted on the Texas warship Independence.  This ship and its cannons were captured by two Mexican warships in 1838, and spent the next several years in the service of the Mexican Navy.  Its ultimate fate in unknown.

    This cannon is commonly known today as the Golden Standard, but that name was applied by a Texas historian in the early 1900s and was never known by that name before that time.  Its real name, El Volcan (The Volcano) was inscribed on its barrel when it was made in 1778.

El Volcan: Santa Anna's Cannon at San Jacinto

The "1842 Rio Grande" cannon

  One of the cannons in the Alamo collection today is an iron 8-pounder known as the “1842 Rio Grande Gun”.   Found near Zapata in the 1870, this gun was donated to the Alamo in 1919.  Local lore has long held that this gun was used by the Texans in the Battle of Mier in 1842, but that cannot be factual as the Texas expedition commanded by Alexander Somervell did not bring any artillery to the Rio Grande.  This cannon was not used in the Alamo in 1836, nor in the Mier battle of 1842, but still has an interesting story to tell.

Click on the following link to learn more about this cannon.

The "1842 Rio Grande" cannon 

Tangible Evidence of the 1749 Britain Incident

  A group of Acadians, French exiles from Nova Scotia, were making their way to join countrymen in Louisiana in 1749.  Things didn’t go well for them.  Instead of sailing directly to New Orleans, they ended up at a Spanish fort in Texas where they were held against their will for seven months before being allowed to walk overland to their destination.  This remarkable journey is known as the Britain Incident, after the name of the ship on which they sailed.

During their overland walk one of the Acadians, a young orphan girl named Marie Rose LeJeune, lost a piece of family memorabilia that was found more than two centuries later.  Click on the following link to read about the journey and the artifact that Marie Rose lost.

Tangible Evidence of the Britain Incident