Gonzales Texas, Cradle of Texas Independence
Gonzales is known as the Birth Place of Texas, conceived as a dream in the minds of men like Moses Austin, his son Stephen F. Austin and Green DeWitt. These men shared that dream with others like George W. Davis, men who were willing to risk everything, come to a new land, a vast wilderness, wild and untamed, beyond even their wildest dreams. They came here on foot, others by wagon train, all had the same dream, to settle Texas. These men and their families learned to cope with the wilderness, they had to deal with Indians, Santa Anna and the Texas Revolution. In 1836 Texas won her freedom from Mexico and became a free nation. By 1845 Texas was ready to join the United States and found herself faced with the Civil War. Texas would have to rebuild after the war between the states but the dream had just begun. Cattle and cotton drove the economy and Texas began to blossom. At the turn of the century Gonzales had become home to some of the great cattle barons and the dream had become reality. These men were dreamers but they were willing to risk everything so that you and I could live in Texas as we know it today. Downtown Gonzales looks almost the same as it did at the turn of the century. Many of the buildings and homes built during the pinnacle years are still in use 100 years later.
Daguerreotype
photograph taken around 1860.
George W. Davis saw the Birth of Texas. His letters and memoirs have survived in a family collection for over 160 years. This is a firsthand account of Texas in the 1800's. In 1831 Davis found his way to Gonzales. He carried a letter of recommendation and was able to acquire a league of land from the Mexican Government. He was with the Old Eighteen who denied the Mexican soldiers the cannon. Under orders of the Provisional Government of Texas he organized a company of rangers known as the Gonzales Mounted Volunteer Ranging Company. There were several of these ranging companies formed at this time and they later became known as the Texas Rangers. Two members of his family, a step-son John Gaston and son-in-law Johnny Kellog and twenty five members of the Gonzales Mounted Volunteers rode with the Immortal Thirty Two and died at the Alamo. Davis was appointed sub contractor for the Texas Army at the Post of Bexar, the Alamo. After the Texas Revolution, Davis returned to Gonzales and was appointed by Sam Houston to Post Master at Cuero in Gonzales County. You can find his likeness on the monument at Cost Texas, site of the first shot for Texas Independence.
