Hondo Creek | |
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Location | |
Country | United States |
State | Texas |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Texas Hill Country |
• location | Medina County, Texas |
• coordinates | 29°42′58″N99°23′16″W / 29.71611°N 99.38778°W [1] |
• elevation | 577 m (1,893 ft) |
Mouth | Frio River |
• location | Frio County, Texas |
• coordinates | 28°56′37″N99°10′44″W / 28.94361°N 99.17889°W [1] |
• elevation | 182 m (597 ft) |
Battle of the Arroyo Hondo | |||||||
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Part of Woll Expedition | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Republic of Texas | Mexico | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Mathew Caldwell | Adrián Woll | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown |
Hondo Creek is a tributary of the Frio River in Texas that rises in Bandera County northwest of Tarpley and runs approximately 67 miles to its mouth near Pearsall, Texas. The creek crosses through three counties including Bandera, Medina, and Frio.
Hondo ( Spanish for deep) Creek begins in the Texas Hill Country. The initially broken waters of the stream travels through limestone benches and steep slopes until the land flattens near Tarpley. This section of the creek is generally shallow with a bottom of clay loam, which serves as a habitat for Ashe juniper and live oak woods. As it runs south, the creek grows in depth in the surrounding rolling plain, and a mixture of clay with a large concentration of sand is found in its bed. As the tributary approaches its mouth, the environment changes to fertile crop lands with Mesquite trees growing along its bank. [2]
Hondo Creek where it meets Quahi Creek was the site of the Battle of the Arroyo Hondo in 1842. [3] The battle occurred following the third in a series of three invasions by Mexican forces in 1842 to reclaim territory lost during the 1836 Texas Revolution. After the 1200-man Mexican army was defeated in San Antonio by Mathew Caldwell and 200 gathered Texans, the forces of Mexican General Adrián Woll headed west. [4] On September 21, they met up with a few Texas Rangers, who were part of the Texas forces, Under the command of John Coffee Hays, known as "Captain Yak" by the Indians, the Rangers attacked on the banks of the creek, and a battle ensued. Four Rangers were wounded including Samuel Luckie. The Rangers captured a cannon battery but had to abandon it, as the Texas Army did not advance to their position. [5]
Although accounts of the battle vary, the Texans had fared well. Caldwell believed that his men could overtake the Mexican Army. However, the Texas forces were outnumbered, under-provisioned, and facing fierce cannon fire; they lacked a consensus, and the leaders were unable to rally unanimity for an offensive action.
Following the battle, the Texans disbanded and the Mexican forces continued their trek southwestward, back to Mexico. [6] A historical marker can now be found in Medina County where the battle is believed to have taken place. [3]
Also marked along the stream in Medina County, near Tarpley, is the Cow Camp Massacre. This is the site of a January 27, 1866, Native American attack that occurred as three minors (aged 12–19) set up camp along Hondo Creek to recover lost livestock. [7] Eight Lipan Apaches followed one of the boys to the camp. He and another were captured, but one escaped. Of the two captured, one was never seen again and the other's mutilated body was found several days later. [7]
Cow Camp Masacre | |
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Part of Texas-Indian Wars | |
Location | Near Tarpley, Texas |
Date | January 27, 1866 |
Target | Three young men recovering livestock |
Attack type | Massacre |
Deaths | 2 |
Victims | August Rothe, George Miller, Hubert Weynand |
Perpetrators | Lipan Apache |
No. of participants | 8 |
Defender | August Rothe managed to escape |
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the following fish have been caught in the tributary (records in parentheses): [8]
Medina County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 50,748. Its county seat is Hondo. The county is named for the Medina River. The extreme northern part of the county lies within the Edwards Plateau, which elevates into the Texas Hill Country. The Medina Dam, the fourth largest in the nation when completed in 1913, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The irrigation project, creating Medina Lake, was built by 1500 skilled workers who worked in shifts operating 24 hours a day to complete the dam in two years. Medina County is part of the San Antonio, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Bandera County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located in the Hill Country and its county seat is Bandera. Bandera county was settled by German and Polish emigrants in the mid 1800s. Many residents are descendants of those same emigrants.
William Alexander Anderson "Bigfoot" Wallace was a Texas Ranger who took part in many of the military conflicts of the Republic of Texas and the United States in the 1840s, including the Mexican–American War.
Area code 830 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Texas Hill Country and most of San Antonio's suburbs. It completely surrounds area codes 210 and 726, which serve most of San Antonio itself along with its innermost suburbs.
The Frio River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. The word frío is Spanish for cold, a clear reference to the spring-fed coolness of the river.
Cibolo Creek is a stream in South Central Texas that runs approximately 96 miles (154 km) from its source at Turkey Knob near Boerne, Texas, to its confluence with the San Antonio River in Karnes County. The creek is a tributary of the San Antonio River, at the easternmost part of its watershed.
The Mier expedition was an unsuccessful military operation launched in November 1842 by a Texian militia against Mexican border settlements; it was related to the Somervell expedition. It included a major battle at Ciudad Mier on December 26 and 27, 1842, which the Mexicans won. The Texian attack was launched partly in hopes of financial gain and partly in retaliation for the Dawson Massacre earlier that year, in which thirty-six Texas militia were killed by the Mexican Army. Both conflicts were part of continuing efforts by each side to control the land between the Rio Grande and Nueces River. The Republic of Texas believed that the territory had been ceded to it in the Treaties of Velasco by which it gained independence, but Mexico did not agree. The expedition is best known for the Black Bean Episode, in which the Mexican Army decimated escaped prisoners, selecting for execution one in ten prisoners by drawing beans from a pot.
The Dawson massacre, also called the Dawson expedition, was an incident in which 36 Texian militiamen were killed by Mexican soldiers on September 17, 1842 near San Antonio de Bexar. The event occurred during the Battle of Salado Creek, which ended with a Texian victory. This was among numerous armed conflicts over the area between the Rio Grande and Nueces rivers, which the Republic of Texas tried to control after achieving independence in 1836.
Tarpley is an unincorporated community in Bandera County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 30 in 2000. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Salado Creek is a waterway in San Antonio that runs from northern Bexar County for about 38 miles (61 km) to the San Antonio River near Buena Vista.
The Battle of Rosillo Creek was a conflict between the Republican Army of the North and Spanish Royalist forces which occurred on March 29, 1813 in Coahuila y Tejas. The battle took place during the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition, a filibustering campaign which took place during the Mexican War of Independence.
The Córdova Rebellion, in 1838, was an uprising instigated in and around Nacogdoches, Texas. Alcalde Vicente Córdova and other leaders supported the Texas Revolution as long as it espoused a return to the Constitution of 1824.
The Battle of the Salado was a decisive engagement in 1842 which repulsed the final Mexican invasion of the Republic of Texas. Colonel Mathew Caldwell of the Texas Rangers led just over 200 militia against an army of 1,600 Mexican Army soldiers and Cherokee warriors, and defeated them outside of San Antonio de Bexar along Salado Creek. As a result of this action, French-Mexican commander General Adrián Woll retreated south and back into Mexico.
Matthew Caldwell,, also spelled Mathew Caldwell was a 19th-century Texas settler, military figure, Captain of the Gonzales – Seguin Rangers and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Because of his recruitment ride ahead of the Battle of Gonzales, some call him the Paul Revere of Texas.
James Milford Day was a 19th-century Texas military figure. He was a member of Mathew Caldwell's and Jack Hay's Seguin Rangers and a participant in the Mexican–American War.
Robert Addison Gillespie (1815–1846) was a business man, land speculator, and Captain in the Texas Rangers under John Coffee Hays and Zachary Taylor. Gillespie died in the Battle of Monterrey. Gillespie County, Texas, was named in his honor.
John Henry Moore was an American soldier, farmer and early Texian settler. Moore was one of the Old Three Hundred first land grantees to settle in Mexican Texas and fought in Texas Revolution, most notably leading the rebels during the Battle of Gonzales, the first military engagement of the rebellion.
Seco Creek, is a tributary stream of the Hondo Creek, in Frio County, Texas. Named Rio Seco in 1689 by Captain Alonso De León, governor of Coahuila, when his expedition crossed the creek.