DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker at Nacogdoches tells it, here's what went down on that August day in 1832. Now settle in, because this one starts with a demand nobody in East Texas was about to honor. Col.
Jose de las Piedras had over three hundred soldiers under his command in Nacogdoches, and he gave the residents an order — surrender all your firearms. That's right. Every last one.
Well. The citizens of Nacogdoches and other East Texas towns had a different idea. They formed what they called the National Militia, put a man named James W.
Bullock in command, and they were not in a surrendering mood. See, this was already a moment of friction — Mexican garrisons had just been driven out at Anahuac and Velasco — and Nacogdoches was about to be next on that list, one way or another. When Piedras refused to support the constitution of 1824, that was the last straw.
The militia marched toward the square. The Mexicans opened fire. And then it got personal — hand to hand, close enough to look a man in the eye.
The militia fought their way into the stone fort and several nearby structures, but Piedras held his headquarters in what folks called the red house, and he wasn't letting go of it easy. That's when a man named Adolphus Sterne changed the geometry of the whole fight. He showed the San Augustine redlanders how to outflank the Mexican position.
Now the night does a lot of work in a story like this. Piedras' men fled under cover of darkness — and they didn't get far. August 3rd, militiamen caught them near Loco Creek.
Then, in a twist that feels almost theatrical, it was the Mexicans themselves who arrested their own leader — at a man named John Durst's home. A peace treaty was signed on August 6th. When the smoke cleared, Piedras had lost forty-seven men.
Four Texans died, among them the alcalde of Nacogdoches himself — Encarnacion Chireno. That's a weight that doesn't lift easy. But here's what the marker wants you to carry away from this stretch of road: because of what happened here on August 2nd, 1832, Mexican troops were never again stationed in East Texas.
That left the settlers free — free to meet, free to talk, free to air their grievances out loud. One battle on a town square, and the whole map of what was coming shifted just a little. That's how a story this size gets started.
What the marker says
(August 2, 1832) One of the opening actions of the Texas War for Independence, this battle occurred soon after settlers drove out the Mexican garrisons at Anahuac and Velasco. In 1832 Col. Jose de las Piedras, in command of over 300 soldiers here, ordered the residents to surrender all firearms. Citizens of Nacogdoches and other East Texas towns resisted by forming the "National Militia," commanded by James W. Bullock. When Piedras refused to support the constitution of 1824, the militia marched toward the Mexicans on the square and the Mexicans opened fire. In hand-to-hand combat, the militia took the stone fort and several nearby structures, but the Mexicans continued to hold Piedras' headquarters in the red house. Adolphus Sterne showed San Augustine "redlanders" how to outflank the Mexicans. Piedras' men fled during the night and were captured August 3 by militiamen near Loco Creek. Fighting ended after the Mexicans arrested their leader at John Durst's home. A peace treaty was signed on August 6. Piedras lost 47 men.Four Texans died, including the alcalde of Nacogdoches, Encarnacion Chireno. Because of this incident, Mexican troops were never again stationed in East Texas, leaving settlers free to meet and air their grievances.