DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker at Beason's Crossing tells it, here's the story as I'm passing it along to you. Benjamin Beason was one of Stephen F. Austin's original 300 colonists — that founding cohort, the ones who came before Texas was Texas in any official sense.
Beason arrived and settled by a Colorado River crossing near here in 1822, and he didn't come to sit still. He and his wife Elizabeth got to work. They built a large home that doubled as an inn.
They established a gristmill, a sawmill, a gin, and a ferry operation right there at the crossing. That's not one enterprise — that's four, plus a place to sleep off the road. The homesteads scattered around the area, along with Beason's residence and all those business operations, added up to a settlement.
People called it Beason's Crossing. Now. You want to talk about being in the wrong place at the right time — or maybe the right place at the absolutely wrong time — let's talk about the early spring of 1836.
Benjamin Beason woke up one morning to find his home, his family, and his entire complex of commercial buildings caught directly between two armies. On the east bank of the Colorado River, camped opposite his crossing, was Sam Houston's army. Coming fast from the west was a Mexican army led by General Juaquin Ramirez Y Sesma.
Right there in the middle: the Beason family and everything they'd built. Houston had chosen this site deliberately. The marker says he picked it for its strategic location at the edge of the most populous part of Texas.
He had fifteen hundred troops in position. And Houston — being Houston — is said to have declared, quote, "on the Colorado I make my stand." On the Colorado I make my stand. Fifteen hundred men behind him.
Sesma closing in from the west. You'd think that was the end of the setup and the beginning of the battle. It was not.
On March 26th, Houston unexpectedly removed his army to the Brazos River. Just like that — gone. And here is where the story turns hard.
Scarcely hours before Sesma's army arrived, a detachment of Houston's own army burned Beason's Crossing to the ground. Everything Benjamin and Elizabeth Beason had built since 1822 — the inn, the mills, the gin, the ferry — gone. Not by the approaching enemy.
By the retreating ally, in the final hours before that army disappeared toward the Brazos. The Colorado stand never happened. But the fire did.
And Beason's Crossing, the settlement, the life's work — it took the consequences either way.
What the marker says
Benjamin Beason, one of Stephen F. Austin's original 300 colonists, settled by a widely used Colorado River crossing near here in 1822. He and his wife Elizabeth proceeded to build a large home (also used as an inn) and establish a gristmill, sawmill, gin, and ferry operation at the crossing. His residence and business operations and a scattering of homesteads in the area formed a settlement known as Beason's Crossing. In the early spring of 1836 Beason found his home, family, and complex of commercial buildings in the perilous position in between Sam Houston's army, camped on the east bank of the Colorado River opposite Beason's Crossing, and a Mexican army led by General Juaquin Ramirez Y Sesma fast approaching from the west. Houston had chosen this site to camp because of its strategic location at the edge of the most populous part of Texas. With his 1500 troops in position, Houston is said to have declared, "on the Colorado I make my stand." Notwithstanding this bold declaration, Houston unexpectedly removed his Army to the Brazos River on March 26th. Beason's crossing was subsequently burned to the ground by a detachment of Houston's army scarcely hours before the arrival of Sesma's army. Sam Houston Bicentennial 1793 - 1993