DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one lucky enough to pass it along. September 11, 1842. San Antonio is sleeping — or trying to — when the sound of booming cannon tears the morning open.
General Adrian Woll has arrived. One man. Thirteen hundred troops.
And Mexico's last invasion of the Republic of Texas is already underway. Now, here's the thing about that morning that ought to make you sit up straight. There just happened to be court in session.
So among the folks jolted awake by that cannon fire were a judge, jurors, and ordinary citizens who'd only come to town to attend to legal business. They hadn't signed up for anything like this. But fifty-six Texians — judge, jurors, citizens, and all — decided they weren't going to hand the city over without a fight.
They fortified the stone home of Samuel A. Maverick, sitting right on the northeast corner of Main Plaza, and they poured gunfire out at Woll's forces as the general entered the city — flags flying, band playing, the whole grand spectacle of a conquering army. Fifty-six men staring down thirteen hundred, from behind stone walls, making Woll earn every step.
But numbers are numbers. Forced to surrender to that overwhelming force, fifty-two Texians were taken prisoner. Samuel Maverick himself.
Judge Anderson Hutchinson. Clerk James L. Trueheart.
Marched away under guard on a journey that would stretch eleven hundred miles — all the way down to Perote Prison in Mexico. Two men slipped away. Mayor John W.
Smith and county clerk Thomas Addicks managed to escape. Small comfort. Because with fifty-two people gone — including the judge, the clerk, and much of the civic fabric of the place — San Antonio was left with no city government, no county government, and very little economic activity for the twenty-three months that followed.
Twenty-three months. Nearly two years of a city holding its breath. Meanwhile, Woll wasn't finished.
He had his eyes on a bigger prize — the capitol of the Republic in Austin. He never got there. On September 17, 1842 — just six days after that cannon woke the city — Mathew Caldwell's volunteers met Woll at the Salado and defeated him.
The invasion stopped right there. But those prisoners kept marching. All the way to Perote Castle.
And there they stayed — until March 24, 1844, when the last surviving prisoners of Woll's invasion were finally freed. They made their way on foot to Vera Cruz. From Vera Cruz, a United States man-of-war carried them to New Orleans.
And from New Orleans, at long last, they traveled safely home. Home. After eleven hundred miles the wrong direction, after stone walls and prison gates, after twenty-three months of a city waiting — they came home.
Some stories end with a battle. This one ends with a walk to the shore and a ship pointing north, and men who'd held a plaza with gunfire finally getting to rest.
What the marker says
Mexico's last invasion of the republic of Texas Alarmed San Antonio on Sept. 11, 1842, when Gen. Adrian Woll and 1300 troops struck the city from the west. Awakened by booming cannon, 56 Texians (including judge, jurors, and citizens in town to attend court) bravely attempted to defend the city. They fortified the stone home of Samuel A. Maverick at northeast corner of Main Plaza, and poured out gunfire as Woll entered with flags flying and band playing. Forced to surrender to overwhelming numbers, 52 Texians--including Maverick, Judge Anderson Hutchinson, and Clerk James L.Trueheart--were marched 1100 mile to Perote Prison in Mexico. Although Mayor John W. Smith and county clerk Thomas Addicks escaped, San Antonio had no city or county government and very little economic activity in the ensuing 23 months. On his way to capture the capitol of the republic in Austin, Woll was defeated at the Salado by Mathew Caldwell's volunteers on Sept. 17, 1842. On March 24, 1844, the last surviving prisoners of Woll's invasion were freed from Perote Castle. They made their way on foot to Vera Cruz, and were taken by a United States man-of-war to New Orleans. From there they finally traveled safely home.