DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks know about San Jacinto — April 21, 1836, the day the Mexican army met its defeat in the Texas War for Independence. But the story didn't end on that battlefield.
Not by a long shot. See, there was a second act, and it played out right down here in Goliad County. General Vicente Filasola was the Second in Command of the Mexican armies in Texas, and when the news of San Jacinto reached him, he did what any commander in that situation would do — he moved.
He fled from the area of that defeat, his aim fixed on getting himself and his army back to Mexico. He passed through Goliad, kept moving, figured he had open road ahead of him. He figured wrong.
About twelve miles southwest of here, at a place called Mujerero Creek, the Texan army caught up with him. Not with cannons. Not with cavalry charging hard.
With couriers. Colonel Ben Fort Smith and Captain Henry Teal rode him down and brought the whole procession to a halt. And right there at Mujerero Creek, on May 26, 1836 — more than a month after San Jacinto — the ratification of peace was signed.
General Filasola put his name to it. So did General Eugene Tolsa and Colonel Augustine Amat on the Mexican side. Colonel Smith and Captain Teal signed for Texas.
Five signatures. One creek. And just like that, the war was officially, formally, and finally done.
Sometimes history gets made on the battlefield — and sometimes it gets made when somebody rides hard enough to catch a retreating army before it disappears across the border.
What the marker says
Gen. Vicente Filasola, Second in Command of Mexican armies in Texas War for Independence, fled from area of his nation's defeat at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Filasola's aim was to go back to Mexico with his army. After he had passed through Goliad, he was overtaken at Mujerero Creek (12 mi. SW) by Texan army couriers, Col. Ben Fort Smith and Capt. Henry Teal. Signing the ratification of peace at Mujerero, May 26, 1836, were Gen. Filasola, Gen. Eugene Tolsa, Col. Augustine Amat, Col. Smith, and Capt. Teal. (1970) Sponsored by Mr. and Ms. W. M. Neyland and heirs, W. E. and Mary Fitzgerald Neyland.