DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to give it the telling it deserves. Now, most folks driving through Galena Park today wouldn't give this stretch of Harris County a second glance. But pull over a minute, because the ground right here has got a story that reaches all the way to the founding of Texas itself.
It starts with a man named Isaac Batterson, who bought this land in 1835. The land had originally been part of the Ezekiel Thomas Estate, and Batterson made it his own — started a settlement here, named it Clinton, after his former home in New York. Quiet enough beginnings.
But then came April 1836, and nothing about that spring was quiet. General Sam Houston needed to move his army across Buffalo Bayou, and Buffalo Bayou was not cooperating. Rain-swollen, the marker says, and you can picture it — a river that had decided it did not want to be crossed.
Houston needed rafts. Houston needed them now. And Houston, being Houston, looked down at the flooring of the Batterson house and made a decision that Isaac Batterson probably did not get a vote on.
On April 19, 1836, that flooring was appropriated — planks pulled right up — to build the rafts that ferried his army across. Now here's the detail that tends to stick with people: 248 soldiers, most of them ill, remained behind at the Batterson place. They didn't make the crossing.
They stayed right here on this ground while history moved on without them. Two days later, on the other side of that bayou, Houston's army won the Battle of San Jacinto. The War for Texas Independence, settled in a fight, and the floor of one man's house helped get them there.
The settlement Batterson started is Galena Park now, the name Clinton long since changed. But the marker remembers — the flooring, the ferry, the army that crossed, and the 248 who waited to find out if Texas had won.
What the marker says
Famed for its part in winning the War for Texas Independence, the flooring of this house was, on April 19, 1836, appropriated by General Sam Houston to build rafts to ferry his army across rain-swollen Buffalo Bayou. Although 248 soldiers, most of whom were ill, remained at the Batterson place, Houston's army was victorious in the Battle of San Jacinto two days later. This land, originally part of the Ezekiel Thomas Estate, was purchased in 1835 by Batterson. The settlement he started (now Galena Park) he named "Clinton" for his former home in New York.