DUANE
Duane's take
Well, I'm gonna tell you this one the way the official marker tells it — and trust me, the marker itself is almost too good to believe. Near this very spot, on November 26, 1835, something happened that went down in the books as one of the least decisive — and certainly the most unusual — battles of the Texas War for Independence. They call it the Grass Fight.
And once you hear why, you'll understand both halves of that description. Now, for more than a month, Texan forces had been camped near San Antonio de Bexar, cooling their heels and their ambitions, waiting for a crack at the Centralist army dug in inside the city. These weren't a single kind of people, either — the camp was made up of both Anglo- and Mexican-Texans, united in the waiting, united in the wanting.
Then word came through a man worth his weight in legend. Erastus Smith — known to just about everyone as Deaf Smith — was a Texas scout, and he had learned something electric: a Mexican pack train was on its way to Bexar, carrying silver to pay the garrison. Silver.
Enough to keep an army in the field. You can imagine what that news did to a camp full of men who'd been sittin' in the dirt for a month. On November 26, Smith sighted an approaching caravan and alerted the Texas camp.
Colonel James Bowie led about a hundred volunteers toward it, and others followed Colonel Edward Burleson. They converged near the junction of Alazan, Apache, and San Pedro Creeks — right around here — and overtook the pack train. Soldiers from the garrison inside Bexar rode out to aid their comrades, but the Texans forced them to retreat and captured the pack animals.
About fifty Mexican soldiers were killed in that clash. Two Texans were wounded. And then — then — the Texans opened the packs.
No silver. Not a single coin. What they found, stuffed into every one of those carefully guarded bundles, was hay.
Grass. Forage that Mexican troops had cut for their livestock. All that blood, all that fire, all that desperate riding — for a load of hay.
One decisive victory in strategy. One total surprise in the packs. Hence: the Grass Fight.
Least decisive, most unusual. The marker's words, and they earn every syllable. But here's the thing about a story that seems to end in a punchline — it doesn't always end there.
Two weeks after the Grass Fight, Ben Milam led Texan volunteers in the storming of Bexar itself, supported by a contingent under Juan N. Seguin. They expelled the Centralist army from the city.
And that victory set the stage for what came next — the Siege of the Alamo, February 23 through March 6, 1836. So what looked like a footnote, a battlefield joke, a fight over grass — it was part of a chain that led straight to one of the most solemn moments in Texas history. Deaf Smith spotted a caravan near some creek junctions outside San Antonio, and the world that followed was never quite the same.
That's the Grass Fight. Not much silver in it. But plenty of Texas.
What the marker says
Near this site on Nov. 26, 1835, occurred The Grass Fight, one of the least decisive but certainly most unusual battles of the Texas War for Independence. For more than a month, the Texan forces, composed of both Anglo- and Mexican-Texans, had camped near San Antonio de Bexar waiting for an opportunity to engage the army of the Centralist regime stationed in the city. Erastus "Deaf" Smith, a Texas scout, learned that a Mexican pack train carrying silver to pay the garrison would arrive in Bexar. On Nov. 26 Smith sighted an approaching caravan and alerted the Texas camp. Col. James Bowie led about 100 volunteers, while others followed Col. Edward Burleson. Near the junction of Alazan, Apache and San Pedro Creeks, the Texans overtook the pack train. Soldiers from the garrison in Bexar rode to aid their comrades, but the Texans forced them to retreat and captured the pack animals. About 50 Mexican Soldiers were killed in the clash; two Texans were wounded. In the packs the Texans found not silver but hay that Mexican troops had foraged for their livestock. Two weeks later, supported by a contingent under Juan N. Seguin, Ben Milam led Texan volunteers in the storming of Bexar, expelling the Centralist army and setting the stage for the Siege of the Alamo, Feb. 23 - March 6, 1836. (1982)