DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. March 13, 1836. Right here in Gonzales, Sam Houston got word that would hollow out a man's chest — the Alamo had fallen.
And if that wasn't enough to reckon with, a massive Mexican army was bearing down on him. What Houston had to work with was barely the nucleus of a Texan army. Not an army.
The nucleus of one. Now here's where you see what kind of commander Sam Houston was. He didn't freeze.
He issued orders — and those orders were to burn this very town. Gonzales itself. Burn it, so the Mexicans couldn't use it.
Then he turned his ragged band of men east and marched. March 13th, he left behind smoke and cinders where a town had stood, with a massive enemy army pressing at his back and something that barely qualified as a fighting force walking alongside him. And then — April 21, 1836 — San Jacinto.
Victory. From the ashes of Gonzales to the victory at San Jacinto, that is the route this marker remembers. Some roads look impossible right up until the moment they aren't.
What the marker says
Stricken with news of the fall of the Alamo and threatened by a massive Mexican army, Sam Houston gathered the nucleus of a Texan army here, issued orders to burn this town (to hinder the Mexicans) and marched east, March 13, 1836. He won Victory at San Jacinto, April 21.