DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say — and friend, this one's worth pulling over for. Now picture April 19, 1836. You've got the Texas army — General Sam Houston in command — and they need to cross Buffalo Bayou.
No bridge. No ferry. No easy way across.
So what do you do when Texas itself is on the line and the clock is ticking? You take a man's house apart. That house belonged to Isaac Batterson, and out of it they built a raft — right here, three thousand feet north of where you're standin' now.
They laid those planks on the water, loaded up an army, and pushed off across Buffalo Bayou. Two days. That's all the time they had.
Because on April 21, 1836 — just two days after that crossing — the march that began on that makeshift raft of Isaac Batterson's house terminated with the victory at San Jacinto. Two days between a borrowed raft and a battle that changed everything. Sometimes the whole story turns on a single crossing, and somebody's house becomes the vessel that carries history to the other side.
What the marker says
3000 ft. north at this site the Texas army under command of General Sam Houston crossed Buffalo Bayou on April 19, 1836 on a raft built from Isaac Batterson's house and began the march which terminated with the victory at San Jacinto April 21, 1836.