DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture the summer of 1841. The Republic of Texas is young, ambitious, and a little bit hungry — hungry for trade, hungry for territory, hungry to push its legal boundaries out west toward New Mexico.
And it's President Mirabeau B. Lamar himself who sends the expedition to make it happen. The 1841 Texan Santa Fe Expedition, they called it, and on paper it sounded like exactly the kind of bold stroke a young republic makes when it's feeling its oats.
In practice, well — that's where the story gets interesting. On July the sixth, 1841, this expedition rolled up to the Bosque River, right near where you're sitting or driving this very moment. And the Bosque did not exactly roll out a welcome mat.
Those banks were steep — the marker says so plain as day — and crossing with great difficulty is the kind of polite language that probably papers over a whole lot of cursing and wheel-pulling and mule-coaxing that afternoon. But they made it across. They pressed on.
Through Indian attacks. Through a dwindling of food and supplies that would have turned most sensible folks around. And finally, finally, in September, they reached New Mexico.
Only to be captured by Mexican troops. Every last one of them, marched — not escorted, not accompanied — marched to prison in Mexico City. President Lamar sent them out to expand a republic.
They ended up in chains in a foreign capital. The Bosque River crossing was just one hard day in a string of hard days. But it happened right here.
And the marker makes sure nobody forgets it.
What the marker says
Sent by Republic of Texas president Mirabeau B. Lamar to establish trade and expand Texas' legal boundaries, the members of the 1841 Texan Santa Fe Expedition met with a number of hardships endeavoring to carry out their mission. On July 6, 1841, the expedition crossed the Bosque River near this site with great difficulty due to the steep river banks. Finally reaching New Mexico in September after enduring Indian attacks and a lack of food and supplies, the travelers were captured by Mexican troops and marched to prison in Mexico City. (1992)