DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for Victoria County is the source of what I'm about to tell you, and friend, this one's got layers going back about as far as a Texas story can reach. Now before there was a Victoria County, before there was a Texas, before there was even a name for most of what you're driving through right now, this land belonged to the Karankawa Indians. That's where we start.
The year is 1534. A man named Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is moving through this region — and not by choice, mind you. He and his companions were making a journey that nobody had ever made before: from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, on foot, through country that did not care one bit whether they made it.
The marker calls him the first white man to travel that distance with companions, and this land right here was part of that passage. Nineteen thirty-four, thirty-five — he was through here. Then comes 1685.
Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle — the French had their eyes on this country, and La Salle and his companions tried to plant a flag. They built Fort St. Louis right on Garcitas Creek.
First French settlement attempted in Texas. Now that sounds like the beginning of something, doesn't it? But here's where the story turns.
The Karankawa Indians devastated the fort. Then in 1689, members of the Alonso De Leon expedition came through and burned what was left. What rose on those remains was something else entirely — the Spaniards constructed Presidio de Nuestra Senora de Loreto de la Bahia Del Espiritu Santo.
And right alongside it, a mission: Mission de Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga. Both of them established in 1722 by Joseph De Azlor, Marquis of Aguayo, and Father Fray Agustin Patron of the Order of Friars Minor. The presidio was meant to protect the mission, and together they anchored Spanish presence in a land that had already seen French ambition crumble.
But nothing stays put in this part of Texas. In 1726, both the presidio and the mission moved to Mission Valley on the Guadalupe River. Then in 1749 they moved again — finally settling at a place called Santa Dorotea, which you know today as Goliad, near the San Antonio River.
Meanwhile, the land itself was being claimed again — this time by settlers. In 1824, an empresario by the name of Martin De Leon brought his colony to this territory. And when it came time to name the seat of that colony, De Leon called it Guadalupe Victoria, in honor of the president of Mexico — a hero of Mexico's own struggle for independence.
Under Mexican governance, this area was organized as a district in 1832 and then as a Municipality in 1835. Then the world shifted again. On March 17, 1836, under the newly declared Republic of Texas, Victoria County was created — with Victoria as the county seat.
Its territory has since been materially reduced as other counties were carved out of it, but the county held its identity. And what identity it built. Through the nineteenth century, the principal industry of the people of this region was cattle raising.
The marker says something worth sitting with for a moment: here, in Victoria County, that industry had its origin in Texas. And as of the time this marker was erected, Victoria County was still the leading cattle county in the state. This marker was erected jointly by the government of the United States and the State of Texas, and it marks the hundredth year of that county's creation — 1836 to 1936.
From Karankawa country, to a French fort burning on Garcitas Creek, to Spanish presidios that couldn't stop moving, to a colony named for a president, to the county that taught Texas how to raise cattle — Victoria County didn't just witness history. It was the place where several versions of this continent's story ran headlong into each other, right here on this ground.
What the marker says
Center front: 1528 Cabeza de Vaca 1685 Cavelier de la Salle Under the Mexican Government Victoria was a district in 1832, a Municipality in 1835. Under the Republic of Texas Victoria County was created March 17, 1836 with Victoria as the county seat. Its territory has since been materially reduced through the creation of other counties. The principal industry of the people of the region during the 19th century was cattle raising. Here that industry had its origin in Texas, and Victoria County continues to the present day to be the leading cattle county of the state. 1836 1936 Erected jointly by the government of the United States and the State of Texas Left Front: Victoria County early home of the Karankawa Indians. Region roamed by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in 1534-1535, the first white man and companions to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Site of the first French settlement in Texas attempted by Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle and companions who built Fort St.Louis on Garcitas Creek in 1685. Devastated by the Karankawa Indians burned by members of the Alonso De Leon expedition in 1689. On its remains the Spaniards constructed Presidio de Nuestra Senora de Loreto de la Bahia Del Espiritu Santo. Right Front: As a protection for the Mission de Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga both established by Joseph De Azlor, Marquis of Aguayo and Father Fray Agustin Patron, O.F.M. in 1722. Both moved to Mission Valley on the Guadalupe River in 1726. Moved finally to Santa Dorotea now Goliad near the San Antonio River in 1749. The area embraced by this county settled by the colony of Martin De Leon, empresario, in 1824 who named the seat of his colony Guadalupe Victoria in honor of the president of Mexico hero of its struggle for Independence