DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the site of Pattonia, right here in Nacogdoches County. Now, you're looking at a bend in the Angelina River — peaceful enough today, not much to see. But nearby, once upon a time, there was a riverport community that connected the piney woods of East Texas all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
That community was Pattonia. Also called Patton's Landing, depending on who you asked. It all started with two brothers: Robert S.
Patton and Moses L. Patton. They came to Texas from Georgia in 1835 — and they didn't arrive as strangers to adventure.
Moses served as a courier for General Thomas J. Rusk during the Texas War for Independence. So these were men who already knew the territory, knew the people, and knew how to move through both.
That connection ran deep. The very land where Pattonia would one day stand had been patented to General Rusk himself. And if that weren't enough to tie the families together, Robert's daughter Harriet Ann would later marry Rusk's own son, John Cleveland Rusk.
The Pattons and the Rusks — their stories were wound around each other like river currents. By the 1840s, the Patton brothers had a question on their minds. They were experienced riverboat pilots, and they wanted to know: could the Angelina River actually be navigated for commerce?
It was a real question — a lot of Texas rivers looked promising and then humbled you fast. So they put it to the test. They took a flat-bottomed keelboat — and they named it, fittingly, the Thomas J.
Rusk — and they started working the river. The answer, it turned out, was yes. Their initial efforts were successful.
Encouraged, the Pattons stepped up their ambition and purchased a steamboat called the Angelina. And just like that, they established regular commerce on the river between the new town of Pattonia and the Gulf of Mexico. Cotton went downriver.
Supplies came upstream. Those supplies were unloaded at Pattonia and then sent overland by wagon to Nacogdoches and other locations. For a stretch of time, Pattonia was doing exactly what a port town is supposed to do — movin' goods, connectin' people, keepin' the wheels of commerce turnin'.
But here's the thing about rivers. They don't consult your business plan. Pattonia soon declined.
The Patton brothers turned their attention to other endeavors. Robert passed away in 1857. Moses died in 1883.
And by the 1880s, boats no longer served the port at all. The river itself had turned on the community — banks eroding, water levels dropping, fallen logs clogging the channel, sandbars piling up. Navigation on the Angelina became difficult, then impractical, then pointless.
And to finish the job, dependable rail travel arrived, and that made Pattonia's river commerce not just struggling — it made it obsolete. Today, the marker tells us plainly: nothing remains of this once vital link to river trade in East Texas. Nothing.
That bend in the Angelina River keeps its secrets now — a keelboat named for a general, a steamboat named for a river, and two brothers from Georgia who once made it all run. Gone quiet, every last bit of it.
What the marker says
Nearby was the site of the riverport community of Pattonia (also called Patton's Landing), founded by Robert S. and Moses L. Patton in 1844. Pattonia was situated at a bend in the Angelina River on a tract of land patented to General Thomas J. Rusk. The Patton brothers moved to Texas from Georgia in 1835, with Moses serving as a courier for Rusk during the Texas War for Independence. Robert's daughter Harriet Ann would later marry Gen. Rusk's son, John Cleveland Rusk. By the 1840s, the Patton brothers, experienced riverboat pilots, decided to test the feasibility of navigating the Angelina River, using a flat-bottomed keelboat named the Thomas J. Rusk. Successful in their initial efforts, the Pattons purchased the steamboat Angelina and soon established regular commerce on the river between the new town of Pattonia and the Gulf of Mexico. Boats carried cotton downriver, while supplies were sent upstream to Pattonia, where they were unloaded and sent overland to Nacogdoches and other locations by wagon. Pattonia soon declined, however, and the Patton brothers turned their attention to other endeavors. Robert passed away in 1857 and Moses died in 1883. By the 1880s, boats no longer served the port community. Erosion of the river banks, lowering water levels, obstruction by fallen logs, accumulation of sandbars and other factors contributed to the demise of the port and made navigation on the Angelina River difficult. The emergence of dependable rail travel made Pattonia's river commerce obsolete. Today, nothing remains of this once vital link to river trade in east Texas. (2007)