DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's got the story, and here's how I tell it — so settle in. Galveston Island. For centuries, that thin strip of Gulf coast was a crossroads — Indians, privateers, Spanish and French explorers, all of them passing through, all of them leaving something behind.
But there came a moment when Galveston wasn't just a stop along the way. For a stretch of time, it was the capital of the Republic of Texas itself. Now here's how that came to pass.
Santa Anna was making his 1836 invasion, pressing hard into Texas, and the hastily organized interim cabinet of President David G. Burnet had no intention of waiting around to greet him. On March 17, they evacuated Washington-on-the-Brazos.
Moved to Harrisburg. Then, in April, they moved again — this time to Galveston Island, where the Gulf at your back offers a certain comfort when an army is bearing down from the north. And there that government remained, holding on, until word came of the Texas victory at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.
One battle. One day. And the need to keep running was over.
But Galveston's role in the Republic didn't end with San Jacinto. Not by a long stretch. From January 1836 all the way until U.S. annexation in 1846, Galveston served as the naval base for the fleet charged with protecting Texas shipping and keeping the Mexican Navy from finding a back door into Texas by way of the sea.
That is a serious assignment for a young republic that barely had a navy to speak of. And the navy proved it. By September 1837, all four ships of the Texas Navy had been lost.
Four ships. Gone. The whole fleet, just — gone.
The Republic of Texas, sitting on the Gulf of Mexico, left without so much as a warship to its name. Not until April 1840 did the navy get reorganized, this time under President M. B.
Lamar. A former U.S. Naval officer named Edwin W.
Moore was made commodore. And things were looking up — until they weren't. Moore found himself in a bitter controversy with President Sam Houston.
Now, the marker doesn't spell out what words were exchanged or how hot the fire burned, but whatever happened between those two men, Houston's response was decisive: he ordered the Navy to be sold. Just like that. Sold.
And that is where Galveston reminded everyone what it was made of. When the sale came, the people of that city — incensed, the marker says, and I believe every syllable of that word — used forceful means to prevent bidding. They weren't going to stand there and watch their navy get auctioned off to the highest stranger.
So the bidding didn't happen. In the end, it didn't matter. When annexation came and Texas joined the United States, all the ships were transferred to the United States Navy anyway.
But there's something to hold onto in that moment at the auction — a crowd of Galveston citizens, furious and unbowed, standing between their ships and a gavel. For centuries a crossroads, and for one wild decade, something more: a capital, a naval base, and a town that, when pushed, pushed back.
What the marker says
Galveston Island, for centuries a crossroads for Indians, privateers, Spanish and French explorers, for a time was capital of the Republic of Texas. This was during the Texas War for Independence, when Santa Anna was making his 1836 invasion. On March 17, the hastily organized and interim cabinet of President David G. Burnet evacuated Washington-on-the-Brazos, moving to Harrisburg, and then in April to Galveston. Here it remained until after the Texas victory at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. From January 1836 until U. S. annexation in 1846, Galveston was the naval base for the fleet which protected shipping and sought to prevent Mexican invasion of Texas by way of the sea. By September 1837 the 4 ships of the Texas Navy had all been lost. Not until April 1840 was the navy reorganized under President M. B. Lamar. A former U. S. Naval officer, Edwin W. Moore, was made commodore. Afterward, when Moore became involved in a bitter controversy with President Sam Houston, Houston ordered the Navy to be sold. At the sale, the incensed people of Galveston used forceful means to prevent bidding. The ships at annexation were all transferred to the United States Navy.