DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and this one's got layers worth slowin' down for. El Quartel. Built in 1810, right there in Bexar County, and before the mortar was barely dry, this place had already become the stage for one of the most dramatic sequences of loyalty and betrayal Texas has ever seen.
On January 22, 1811 — you remember that date — Captain Juan Bautista De Las Casas walked into El Quartel and recruited his forces right here, on these grounds. What happened next was nothing short of historic: the first overthrow of Spanish rule in Texas. De Las Casas arrested the Governor.
Other high officials, too. Just like that, Spanish authority in Texas was toppled. First time ever.
Now you might think that's where the story settles. It does not settle. Not even close.
Because on March 2, 1811 — barely six weeks later — a man named Juan Zambrano led a counter-revolutionary force. And where did Zambrano recruit that force? Right back here.
Same quartel. Same walls that had heard De Las Casas rally his men now echoed with the opposite cause. Zambrano's force moved to overthrow the Casas regime and restore Spanish rule.
Back and forth this place swung, like a gate in a Texas storm. Then, early in 1813, the Republican Army of the North came pouring into the province, favoring independence from Spain — and for a moment, you'd think the winds had finally shifted for good. But that same year, the province was reconquered.
Same year. The Army of the North's moment came and went. And then came the Texas Revolution, and El Quartel — the Quartel de San Antonio de Bexar — apparently was destroyed during that fight.
The defenders, you see, chose to make their stand somewhere else. At the Alamo. A building that witnessed three separate attempts to seize Texas in just a handful of years, and in the end, it didn't survive the revolution that finally made it all matter.
That's El Quartel.
What the marker says
Built in 1810, on Jan. 22, 1811, Captain Juan Bautista De Las Casas recruited forces here for first overthrow of Spanish rule in Texas by arresting Governor, and other high officials. On March 2, 1811, Juan Zambrano led counter revolutionary force, also recruited here, to overthrow Casas Regime, restore Spanish Rule. Early in 1813, province invaded by Republican Army of the North favoring independence from Spain, only to be reconquered that year. Quartel de San Antonio de Bexar apparently destroyed during Texas Revolution as the defenders chose to make their stand at the Alamo.