Route of the Texas Army

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to do it justice. Now settle in, because this stretch of Lavaca County road you're rollin' through? It saw somethin'.

March 15, 1836 — and if you think the calendar's just numbers, you haven't been followin' this story. General Sam Houston and his Texas Army came through right here, crossin' Rocky Creek near this very spot. They were retreatin' eastward, movin' away from the town of Gonzales.

Retreatin'. That word hangs in the air a little, doesn't it? An army moving away from something, not toward it.

You might call that a rough chapter. But here's the thing about a rough chapter — it ain't the last one. Five weeks after that crossing, five weeks after boots splashed through Rocky Creek and mud-soaked men wondered what came next, the Texas Army met Santa Anna's Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto.

And on April 21, 1836, they won. Freedom for Texas, right there. So the next time you cross a creek and feel like you're goin' the wrong direction — well, maybe you're just five weeks early.

What the marker says

In Texas Revolution, Gen. Sam Houston and his Texas Army crossed Rocky Creek near this spot, March 15, 1836, retreating eastward from town of Gonzales. Their victory 5 weeks later over Santa Anna's Mexican Army, in Battle of San Jacinto, brought freedom to Texas, April 21. (1969)