DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road. June 19, 1817. Right here.
A piece of ground that earned itself a name — El Perdido — and on that day, it earned it the hard way. This was the era of blood and ambition, that stretch from 1810 to 1819 when determined men were doing everything in their power to expel Spain from Texas. Armies were moving, loyalties were shifting, and the roads of this country carried the weight of men who knew they might not come back.
One such army was a Mexican Republican force, moving with purpose — heading straight for La Bahia, meaning to attack it, meaning to take it. Leading that Republican force: Colonel Henry Perry and Major James H. Gordon.
Former United States officers, both of them. Veterans of the Battle of New Orleans back in 1815. These were not green men.
These were men who had seen what war could do and stepped toward it anyway. Forty-two fighters in their column. Forty-two.
Waiting for them — or rather, meeting them right here — were the forces of Colonel Antonio Martinez. The last Spanish governor of Texas. And his numbers?
More than three times what Perry and Gordon had brought to this patch of ground. Now, outnumbered three to one, someone in the Spanish command must have figured a deal was reasonable. They offered safe surrender.
Walk away. Live. Perry and Gordon looked at that offer and said they would die first.
They were not speaking lightly. When the fighting was done, both Colonel Perry and Major Gordon were killed. Along with twenty-four of their men.
Twenty-four out of forty-two. The Battle of El Perdido. A clash in the long, grinding campaign to break Spain's hold on this land.
The men who fell here were deep in the cause before they ever arrived at this spot — and they made sure everyone knew where they stood, right up until the end.
What the marker says
During 1810 - 1819 efforts to expel Spain from Texas, a bloody clash occurred here on June 19, 1817, between the forces of Col. Antonio Martinez, last Spanish governor of Texas, and a Mexican Republican Army of invasion that was on its way to attack and capture La Bahia. Republicans had 42 men under Col. Henry Perry and Maj. James H. Gordon, former U.S. officers, veterans of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. Outnumbered 3-to-1, Perry and Gordon refused offer of safe surrender, saying they would die first. Along with 24 of their men, both were killed. (1967)