Oct 2, 2017
“Come and Take It” — the Battle of Gonzales
The “Come and Take It” cannon has become a familiar symbol for Texans and non-Texans alike — it can be found throughout the state on flags, t-shirts, license plates, and more. The icon’s clean, uncomplicated design presents a straightforward message — Texans were, and are, ready and willing to stand up for themselves — that obscures the more complicated history of the cannon itself and the conflict it inspired.
The bronze Spanish six-pound cannon that ignited the skirmish known as the Battle of Gonzales and, by extension, the Texas Revolution, was originally requested by empresario Green DeWitt on January 1, 1831, to defend the citizens of Gonzales from American Indian attacks.[1] The cannon was a critical investment in frontier defense for the revitalized town, which had been abandoned five years earlier due to a pair of raids. It arrived at San Antonio, to be forwarded on to Gonzales, on March 10, 1831.[2]
Over four years later, amid rising tensions between the centralist Mexican government and Texian colonists, Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea dispatched Corporal Casimiro de León and five soldiers to reclaim the artillery piece as part of a wider policy of disarming Texians. The cannon was then unmounted and in storage.[3] The residents of Gonzales, with the recent sacking of Zacatecas and other centralist military activity in mind,[4] refused the order and buried the cannon. In response to this defiance, Urgartechea ordered Lieutenant Francisco de Castañeda and one hundred additional soldiers to make a more forceful demand for the surrender of the weapon. Mindful of the sensitive nature of the relationship between the Texians and the government, however, the ultimatum was to be made peaceably and “without compromising the honor of Mexican arms.”[5]
Castañeda and his men arrived at Gonzales on September 29, 1835, and made camp on the west bank of the Guadalupe River, expecting an audience with the town’s alcalde (mayor). Instead, they were greeted and refused entry by a group of armed colonists who became known as the Old Eighteen.[6] Desiring to cross the river, Castañeda moved his men north onto land owned by Ezekiel Williams, one of the Old Eighteen. Meanwhile, as many as 140 Texian volunteers assembled on the town’s side of the river, and the cannon was unearthed and mounted on the wheels of a cotton wagon.[7] The Texians crossed the river under cover of darkness on October 1 and launched an attack on the Mexican forces on the morning of October 2, causing Castañeda to order a partial retreat.
John Henry Moore, commanding the Texian forces, met with Castañeda on neutral ground and explained the attack: the colonists were fighting to keep the cannon and to defend Mexico’s Constitution of 1824, which they accused President Antonio López de Santa Anna and the centralist congress of violating. Frustrated and angry, Castañeda replied that he had only been sent to request the cannon, not to seize it by force, that he had no desire to fight the colonists, and that he himself was a federalist, opposed to Santa Anna’s politics. Moore brazenly invited the Mexican troops to join the Texians’ cause, but Castañeda declined. As a soldier, he was obliged to follow orders, and his current orders required that the cannon be returned to the Mexican government. At that, the commanders parted ways.[8]
Moore returned to the Texian camp where a white banner flew over the contested cannon, bearing its image and the words “Come and Take It.” The fateful first shot of the Texas Revolution was fired from the cannon toward the Mexican troops by J.C. Neill. Rifle fire and an infantry charge accompanied the initial volley, but, heeding his orders and the desire to avoid hostilities, Castañeda withdrew his troops and left the area, resulting in only minimal casualties on the Mexican side. The Texians emerged unscathed, save one man who fell from his horse and suffered a bloody nose.[9]
What ultimately became of the Gonzales cannon is unknown. It was likely brought to the Alamo in San Antonio under the command of J.C. Neill, but after the Texians’ defeat, there is no definitive history to trace.[10] The lasting effect of the cannon, the battle it inspired, and the iconography of the “Come and Take It” flag is much more tangible. It represented Texian resolve as well as a line crossed, after which the relationship between the Texian colonists and the Mexican government could never be the same, and it set the stage for the battles that won Texas its independence.
[1] Handbook of Texas Online, Edward A. Lukes, “Dewitt, Green,” accessed September 11, 2017, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde55. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Modified on July 11, 2016. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[2] Handbook of Texas Online, Thomas Ricks Lindley, “Gonzales Come and Take It Cannon,” accessed September 11, 2017, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qvg01. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on July 11, 2016. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[3] James V. Woodrick, Cannons of the Texas Revolution, San Bernardino, CA: James V. Woodrick, 2016, p. 13.
[4] Handbook of Texas Online, Craig H. Roell, “Goliad Campaign of 1835,” accessed September 11, 2017, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdg01. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[5] Stephen L. Hardin, Texan Iliad — A Military History of the Texas Revolution, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994, p. 12.
[6] Handbook of Texas Online, Stephen L. Hardin, “Old Eighteen,” accessed September 11, 2017, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pfo01. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on July 24, 2014. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[7] Woodrick, pp. 13–14.
[8] Hardin, pp. 6–13.
[9] Ibid., pp. 10 and 13.
[10] If in fact, the Gonzales cannon made it to the Alamo, it would have likely been commandeered or destroyed by the Mexican forces after the battle. Others argue that the Gonzales cannon was buried on the way to the Alamo and recovered during a flood in 1936. See: Thomas Ricks Lindley, “Gonzales Come and Take It Cannon” (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qvg01), and Sons of DeWitt Colony, “Fate of the Gonzales Cannon” (http://www.sonsofdewittcolony.org/gonzalescannon.htm).
