DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker in Coleman County tells it, here's the story of Santa Anna — the mountain, the town, and the Comanche chief who gave them both his name. Now, before you go assuming this is about that other Santa Anna — the Mexican general — let me stop you right there. The mountain and the town were named in honor of a Comanche chief.
A man who was friendly to Texans, and who held power in this region back in the 1840s. Same name, very different man, and a story worth knowing on its own terms. In 1846, this Comanche chief made a journey that would've turned heads anywhere — he traveled to Washington and visited President Polk himself, right in the middle of U.S. negotiations to annex Texas.
Think about what that means. The fate of Texas being hammered out in the halls of power, and a Comanche chief is in the room. Or close enough to it.
He didn't stop there. Santa Anna also signed peace treaties — treaties that allowed the German Emigration Company to settle lands north of the Llano River. And here's the part that sticks: he kept those treaties until his death.
He died of cholera in 1849, and by all accounts, he never broke his word. The peaks that bear his name were no accident of geography. The Comanches used Santa Anna's peaks as signal points — high ground where messages could travel faster than any horse.
And when the early surveyors came, when the travelers and explorers and settlers pushed into this country, they looked up at those same peaks and used them as guide points. The mountain was doing the same work for everyone, in its own way. By 1857, the United States Cavalry had set up Camp Colorado nearby, and they kept lookouts on those heights too.
Then came the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, and the frontier kept lookouts there still — sentries posted up in the pass, watching the military road that ran from San Antonio northeastward all the way to Fort Belknap. That road was a strategic artery, and the mountain was its guardian, protecting Texas from invasion by Indians and Federal troops alike. Then the cattle came.
In the 1870s, thousands of longhorns moved through the gap in that mountain — over the western cattle trail, one of the great rivers of beef flowing out of Texas. By 1879, the place simply called The Gap had itself a store and a post office, set up to supply the drives. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the work at hand.
And then, in 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad arrived. When the railroad built here, the settlers packed up and moved from The Gap to the railroad, and just like that, the present town of Santa Anna was started. That's how it goes — water, then cattle, then iron rails, and a town follows every time.
The mountain still gives, by the way. Quarries up there yield fine sands used in the manufacturing of glass. Same peaks the Comanches signaled from, same heights the cavalry watched from, now giving up something useful and clear.
A chief who kept his word until cholera took him in 1849. His name on a mountain. His name on a town.
Some legacies are carved in stone — and some are carved right into the mountain itself.
What the marker says
Mountain and town named in honor of man in power here in 1840's, a Comanche chief friendly to Texans. Santa Anna in 1846 visited President Polk in Washington during U.S. negotiations to annex Texas. Also signed and kept until his death of cholera in 1849 peace treaties that allowed the German Emigration Company to settle lands north of the Llano River. Comanches used Santa Anna peaks as signal points. Early surveyors, travelers, explorers and settlers took them as guide points. In 1857, nearby United States Cavalry at Camp Colorado kept lookouts here. In the Civil War, 1861-65, frontier kept lookouts here. At foot of mountain, with sentries on heights watching at the pass the military road from San Antonio northeastward to Fort Belknap, a strategic outpost guarding Texas from invasion by Indians and Federal troops. During the 1870's thousands of longhorns went through the gap, over the western cattle trail. In 1879, "The Gap" had a store and post office to supply the cattle drives. When Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe built here in 1886, settlers moved from The Gap to the railroad, starting the present town. Quarries in the mountain yield fine sands for the manufacturing of glass. (1965)