Gonzales Fires First Shot: Texas Revolution Begins
Mexican colonel Domingo de Ugartechea sent 100 dragoons to Gonzales to retrieve a small cannon the town had been loaned for defense against Comanche raids. The 18 Texian settlers who faced them on October 2, 1835, flew a homemade flag depicting the cannon with the words 'Come and Take It' stitched beneath. They fired the cannon, loaded with scrap iron, at the Mexican cavalry. The skirmish lasted minutes, killed one Mexican soldier, and accomplished nothing militarily. But the defiance spread like wildfire through the Anglo settlements. Within six weeks, Texian forces had captured San Antonio. Within six months, Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Texas was an independent republic because a town refused to return a borrowed gun.
October 2, 1835
191 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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