DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and it's one worth hearing. Back in 1825, a man named Green Dewitt established his colony along the Guadalupe River, and he didn't waste much time getting to work. Shortly after setting up shop, he ordered that a road be built — connecting his capital city of Gonzales to San Antonio.
A man named Byrd Lockhart took on the surveying, and by 1827, that road was open for travel. Eighty miles long, running past three watering holes along the way, with mile markers carved right into oak trunks so you'd know where you stood. Simple enough on paper.
Considerably less simple on foot. Because the presence of native groups in the area made traveling that road a dangerous proposition. Settlers and Mexicans used it for travel and trade, but nobody walked those eighty miles without knowing what they were walking into.
Now here's where the road earns its place in history. During the Texas War for Independence, Stephen F. Austin used that road.
William B. Travis used it. Jim Bowie used it.
And then came the Immortal 32 — thirty-two men who marched from Gonzales toward the Alamo. Marched toward it. Knowing what was waiting.
The road that had carried traders and settlers now carried those men into one of the most remembered moments in Texas history. And when it was over, Santa Anna marched his own army along that same road. Same eighty miles.
Same oak trees still holding those carved mile markers. The road didn't choose sides. It just kept going.
What the marker says
Shortly after he established his colony along the Guadalupe River in 1825, Green Dewitt ordered that a road be built between his capital city, Gonzales, and San Antonio. Byrd Lockhart surveyed the road and opened it in 1827. Eighty miles long and running past three watering holes, settlers and Mexicans used it for travel and trade, though the presence of native groups in the area made traveling dangerous. Mile markers were carved into oak trunks along the route. During the Texas War for Independence, Stephen F. Austin, William B. Travis, and Jim Bowie used the road, as did the Immortal 32, who marched from Gonzales to the Alamo. Santa Anna also marched his army along it after the battle of the Alamo.