Mexican Hill

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Mexican Hill has to say — and it's a story worth the stop. After the smoke cleared at San Jacinto — after that decisive battle in the Texas War for Independence — Texas had itself a problem. Most of the Mexicans captured in the fight were taken to Galveston.

Seemed simple enough. But then came the complications: not enough provisions, and a real threat of attack hanging over the place. Texas President David G.

Burnet had a decision to make, and he made it. Transfer some of the prisoners. Move them somewhere safer, somewhere they could be fed.

That somewhere was Liberty. In August of 1836, some sixty Mexican prisoners were loaded onto a schooner and transported to Anahuac. Now, waiting for them in Anahuac was a man named William Hardin.

Hardin took charge and led those sixty men on to Liberty — which, if you think about it, is a name that must have felt strange on the tongue for a prisoner of war. William Hardin was a Georgia native, born in 1801, who had come to Liberty by way of Tennessee back in 1825. He wasn't a small figure in this part of Texas.

In the years before the Revolution, he'd served as commissioner of police and alcalde of Liberty. He'd been elected a delegate to the convention of 1833 at San Felipe. He'd served as an election judge in Nacogdoches and as a primary judge in Liberty.

This was a man the young Republic trusted with serious business — and so they trusted him with this. The prisoners stayed on Hardin's property, right near this very site. And that site, over time, came to carry the name it still holds: Mexican Hill.

Among those prisoners were men of considerable rank. General Martin Perfecto de Cos was there. And so was Ten.

Coronel Pedro Delgado — who, as it happens, was a writer. Delgado left behind an account of his time in Liberty, and what he wrote might surprise you. According to Delgado, the Mexicans were treated well.

Given the best care available during their stay. They remained at Mexican Hill until the government of Texas released them on April 25, 1837. William Hardin himself would be gone by 1839.

But the hill on his property outlasted him, outlasted the prisoners, outlasted most everything — still carrying the memory of sixty men who once waited there, between a war that had ended and a world that hadn't yet figured out what to do with them.

What the marker says

Following the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in the Texas War for Independence, most of the Mexicans captured in the battle were taken to Galveston. Problems concerning a lack of provisions and the threat of attack persuaded Texas President David G. Burnet to transfer some of the prisoners to Liberty. In August 1836, some sixty Mexicans were transported by schooner to Anahuac, where they were met by William Hardin, who took them on to Liberty. Georgia native William Hardin (1801-1839) had come to Liberty from Tennessee in 1825. During the years before the Texas Revolution, he served as commissioner of police and alcalde of Liberty. Hardin was elected a delegate to the convention of 1833 at San Felipe and later served as an election judge in Nacogdoches and as a primary judge in Liberty. The Mexican prisoners stayed on Hardin's property near this site, which has come to be called Mexican Hill. Among the men were General Martin Perfecto de Cos and Ten. Coronel Pedro Delgado, who wrote an account of his time in Liberty. According to Delgado, the Mexicans were treated well and given the best care available during their stay, which lasted until the government of Texas released them on April 25, 1837.