COL. Ignacio Elizondo's 1813 Campaign -- Gutierrez-Magee Expedition, Hays Co. TX
N 29° 51.529 W 097° 53.936
14R E 606348 N 3303649
This local historical marker tells of Spanish Royalist Col. Ignacio Elizondo's bloody 1813 military campaign to put down The Gutierrez-Magee Expedition. Elizondo died at the hand of an insane comrade near here, along the El Camino Real
Waymark Code: WMXPF7
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/08/2018
Views: 1
The Old Bastrop Highway in this part of Hays County is the modern successor that follows the path of El Camino Real, the famous Spanish Royal Road. This sign tells what happened after the Battle of Medina and the destruction of Trinidad and the massacre of the settlers who remained there, murdered by Elizondo and his troops as a warning to other Mexican Republic sympathizers who might be creeping around Texas dreaming of revolution and freedom from Spanish rule.
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The sign reads as follows:
"COL. IGNACIO ELIZONDO’S 1813 CAMPAIGN
In 1813 royalist Lieutenant Colonel Ignacio Elizondo led 500 cavalrymen in pursuit of retreating Mexican and Anglo-American insurrectionists along this road.
A hacienda owner in Coahuila, Elizondo initially joined Father Miguel Hidalgo’s rebellion against Spanish authority, but soon switched to the royalists. In 1811 he helped lead Hidalgo and other Republicans into an ambush near Monclova.
In June 1813 Elizondo brought 300 additional royalist soldiers into Texas to oppose the republicans of the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition. Hoisting their green flag of rebellion, a combined force of Mexican patriots and US adventurers had routed royalist units and declared Texas an independent republic.
On June 20, 1813 Elizondo prepared to attack the insurgents on the western edge of San Antonio de Bexar. They surprised him instead of the battle of Azalan, and drove him back to the Rio Grande. Returning later that summer as one of royalist General Joaquin de Arredondo’s line officers, Elizondo fought at the battle of Medina where, on August 18, 1813, royalists won the largest battle in North America prior to the Civil War.
Occupying Bexar, Arredondo dispatched Elizondo to chase the survivors to the Louisiana border. He captured more than 100 and executed 71. During the return march, and insane royalist officer fatally wounded Elizondo as he relaxed in his tent. He lingered for days, but died near the San Marcos River crossing of El Camino Real. He was buried somewhere nearby."