DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and I'm gonna give it to you straight — with a little room to breathe. About two and a half miles north of where you're sitting right now, on the banks of Cibolo Creek, there once stood a Spanish fort. Full name: El Fuerte de Santa Cruz del Cibolo.
Most folks just called it El Fuerte del Cibolo. Some called it El Cibolo. Whatever you called it, it meant something serious out here on the South Texas plain.
The Spanish built it for a reason. Between San Antonio and La Bahia — the place we now call Goliad — there were many Spanish ranches strung out across open country, and open country needs protecting. So the fort went up, and soldiers moved in.
That first stretch ran from 1734 to 1737. Then it went quiet for a good while. The land around it had its own story.
The stretch between the San Antonio River and Cibolo Creek was called El Rincon, and that ground had been deeded by the King of Spain himself — to missions and to many private individuals. The very site where El Fuerte del Cibolo stood was part of a private ranch called El Rancho de San Bartolo, belonging to a man named Andres Hernandez. Then in 1771, the fort came back to life.
Reactivated. And the following year, 1772, the Spanish government made it official — formally authorizing the establishment of fifteen presidios, stretching from California all the way to Texas. El Fuerte del Cibolo fell right under that authorization, and it stayed an active fort until 1782.
Now here's the part that ought to make you sit up a little straighter in that seat. July 4th, 1776. You know that date.
The whole country knows that date. And on that very day — while delegates in Philadelphia were putting their names to a document that would shake the world — twenty soldiers were stationed right here at El Fuerte del Cibolo. Twenty men, boots on Texas soil, probably not thinking about Philadelphia at all.
But what some of those soldiers did next ties this quiet creek crossing straight into the birth of the United States. Some of them helped move cattle and horses from this area to the Gulf Coast. And on that Gulf Coast, Spanish forces under General Bernardo de Galvez defeated the British during the American Revolution — contributing, the marker says plainly, to the winning of American independence.
So the next time someone tells you the story of American freedom, you might just mention a little fort on the Cibolo, twenty soldiers, and a cattle drive toward the Gulf. History has a way of showing up in places nobody expects to find it.
What the marker says
Near this site (about 2.5 mi. N on Cibolo Creek) stood the 18th-century Spanish fort of El Fuerte de Santa Cruz del Cibolo, usually called El Fuerte del Cibolo or El Cibolo. Built to protect the many Spanish ranches between San Antonio and La Bahia (now Goliad), the fort was occupied first from 1734 to 1737, and again from 1771 to 1782. The land between the San Antonio River and Cibolo Creek, called "El Rincon", was part of an area deeded by the King of Spain to missions and many private individuals. The site of El Fuerte del Cibolo was part of a private ranch called El Rancho de San Bartolo which belonged to Andres Hernandez. In 1772 the Spanish government formally authorized the establishment of fifteen presidios (forts) from California to Texas. El Fuerte del Cibolo, which had been reactivated in 1771, came under that authorization and remained an active fort until 1782. Twenty soldiers were stationed at El Fuerte del Cibolo on July 4, 1776. Some of them helped move cattle and horses from this area to the Gulf Coast, where Spanish forces under Gen. Bernardo de Galvez defeated the British during the American Revolution, thereby contributing to the winning of American independence. INCISE ON REVERSE: Erected by the Cestohowa-Pawelekville Chamber of Commerce in honor of the 500th Anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492