DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its due. August 18, 1813. Right here, near the Medina River.
Two armies came together, and when it was over, the course of Texas history had been written in blood. On one side stood the Republican Army of the North — Anglo-Americans, Mexicans, and Indians, all fighting under the command of Jose Alvarez de Toledo. A coalition, a cause, a gamble.
They were pushing for something enormous: freedom from Spanish rule. Not just for Texas. For Mexico too.
On the other side came General Jose Joaquin Arredondo, commanding an army of Spanish royalists. And Arredondo did not come to negotiate. The marker doesn't dress it up, so neither will I.
What happened here was a defeat — and not a quiet one. The royalists won with what the inscription calls terrific slaughter. That phrase is doing real work.
This was not a close-run thing. This was not a valiant near-miss. The Republican Army of the North was destroyed.
And with it, the attempt to free Texas and Mexico from Spanish rule came to an end. One battle. One day.
August 18, 1813. The dream of a free Texas died right here on this ground, and it would be years before anyone dared dream it again. Some places carry the weight of what didn't happen just as much as what did.
This is one of them.
What the marker says
The Battle of the Medina was fought here on August 18, 1813 by an army of Spanish royalists commanded by General Jose Joaquin Arredondo which defeated with terrific slaughter the Republican Army of the North composed of Anglo-Americans, Mexicans and Indians commanded by Jose Alvarez de Toledo. Thus ended an attempt to free Texas and Mexico from Spanish rule. Erected by the State of Texas 1936