Medina County, Texas History of Medina County, Texas By Henry Briscoe Source: “Branches and Acorns” SWTGS Quarterly Vol. II, n. 4 – June 1987 It is a great pleasure to be here today among people with common interests. I notice Burney Driscoll and Connie Rihn are present today, and both know as much or more of Medina County’s history as I do. I will start by saying that there are some limitations to what I am going to say. One of these is that I cannot cover 14,000 years in thirty minutes. The information I will detail has been gleaned from books, yet another limitation are the contradictions in accounts by historians. I would like to start with what was here in Medina County before 1534. The reason I use that cutoff date is that before 1534, to my knowledge, there were no Europeans in Medina County. The reason I say 1534 is that in 1528 Cabeza de Vaca was shipwrecked on the Gulf Coast of Texas, and he, with three other people, ultimately survived after numerous encounters with Indians. After five or six years, they made their way westward, and there is a strong possibility that they went through Medina County, although some historians refute this. If he did, that was the first exposure the Coahuiltecan Indians had to a European man. From 1534 to 1689, as far as I know, I know of no European type who came through this area we call Medina County. During this period of 155 years, then, no much changed. In 1685, La Salle was also shipwrecked on the Texas Coast, and the Frenchman wanted to set up a fort. The Spanish in Mexico City were concerned about his desire so they sent Ponce de Leon to establish contact with the French. From what I have seen of de Leon’s travels through this area, it is apparent he came through what we call Medina County. He did significant fighting all the way through here. In the process, his most important contribution was naming the rivers and streams. Somehow, these names got mixed up later, and the Hondo is really not the Hondo but is the Frio, and the Frio is something else, and on and on. There were other expeditions that came through this area; there were no roads or trails that I know of in 1689. However, the Teran Expedition came through Medina County in 1691 through the southeast part of the county, through what is present day Devine. Good records were kept during this expedition. Indians and the wild animals controlled the area then. In 1703, the Spaniards built San Juan Bautists Mission about twenty-five miles down from Eagle Pass on the other side of the Rio Grande. From there, the Spanish launched other expeditions in this area, the most significant of which was in 1716, when Domingo Ramon laid out what they called future roads, and one of these roads went through the southwest part of Medina County in what later became part of the McMullen Land Grant. Henry Castro obtained part of this land when he came to Medina County in the 1840’s. Two years after Domingo Ramon established roads, San Antonio was established. From 1689 to 1725, things began to happen as far as Coahuiltecan Indians were concerned. Other Indian tribes began to move to Texas because of the Anglos’ coming westward, and they were pushing the Delawares, Kickapoos, and Cherokees generally toward Texas because of its warmth and abundance of food. At the same time the Comanches started moving down from the Wyoming area, and they subsequently pushed the Lipan Apaches ahead of them. By the year of 1725, the Lipan Apaches were about 250 miles northwest of Austin. Because the Indians who came into Texas were much more fierce than the Coahuiltecans, by 1828, when the next Teran Expedition came through this area, there were hardly any of the Coahuiltecans left. So far as I know, the first European type person to settle in Medina County was Bigfoot Wallace, and he came here in about 1842 and settled about where Castroville is now. One reason he may have settled is that Jack Hays and the Texas Rangers chased General Adrian Woll in 1842 out of San Antonio. Woll may have thought Castroville was a good place to live. General Westfall also lived here a few years, and when the Alsatians came in 1844, he moved on down to Pecan Creek, about ten miles from here. So these would be the first European settlers who came into Medina County. Medina County was established in 1848, so it’s been in business now for about 139 years, and it was established out of Bexar County. Looking at the map I brought with me, you need to know that these red dots represent altercations the Anglos had with the Indians. In 1846, five people were killed at Quihi. Over at San Geronimo Creek there were four people killed. This map also shows the important roads. The Fort Ewell Road was established in 1716. It went down to Fort Ewell, about 20 miles down the Nueces to Cotulla. Fort Ewell Road is now known as Bigfoot Road, and it is still open. The Upper Presidio Road was formed in 1807 when the Spanish had five or six hundred men here to fight the Indians. It was a short route to the San Juan Bautista Mission from San Antonio. The Lower Presidio Road went through Atascosa County to Fort Ewell. It was in operation in the mid-1700s. It was used until they had more control of the Indians and could open up the Upper Presidio Road in 1807. In the 1880s the railroad was coming west from San Antonio. Originally, plans called for it to go through Castroville and on to Del Rio. A little technical problem ensued, however, and if you look outside here, you will see that there was quite a hill to climb from Castroville coming this way. As a result, the railroad officials wanted about $100,000 from the town of Castroville to run it through. A hundred thousand dollars, even today, is a lot of money; citizens of Castroville and outlying areas decided to let the railroad go elsewhere. As a result, the railroad is south of Castroville and crosses Highway 90 at Dunlay. But Castroville, Quihi, and D’Hanis were formed before the railroads anyway. Castroville was established in 1844 when Texas was a Republic. Towns that established along the railroad were Lytle Station in the southeastern part of the county, Devine, and Hondo City to the west. There are other small communities within Medina County. These are the Haby Settlement and MICO, an acronym for Medina Irrigation Company. To back up a little bit, as far as any major battles that were fought in Medina County, there was only one battle, and it was not major. This battle was in 1842 when General Woll came through and took San Antonio. In going eastward, he was met by Captain Jack Hays and the Texas Rangers. The latter drove Woll back westward. Out here close to New Fountain, they got into somewhat of a minor skirmish. Hays and the Rangers prevailed. Nightfall came, and the 1300 men under Woll left, and that was the end of that battle and that war. The one fort in Medina County was Fort Lincoln, about two or three miles north of D’Hanis. Established in 1849, the fort at times had up to 150 people there. The soldiers gave protection to the 100 or so settlers who had very difficult and harrowing experiences with the Indians. Not always did the civilians and soldiers get along. In a letter published in Journey Through Texas, one citizen in D’Hanis wrote to the commander in San Antonio, and this civilian wrote, “Would you please do something about your soldiers? We do not know if it is better to have the soldiers or the Indians, because they are stealing our horses and killing our people… It may be best that you take them back, and we will fight the Indians.” All in all, it was probably a plus for D’Hanis that the soldiers were there. There were a number of persons involved in the history of Medina County. Captain Jack Hays and his Texas Rangers did a great deal for Medina County. They camped often on the Medina and down on the Seco in the western part of the county. Had it not been for them, the Alsatians and the settlers would have had a very, very difficult time. Other personalities important in this county’s history include Bigfoot Wallace, Daniel Boone Moore, Seco Smith, Pleasant McAnelly, Tom Sullivan, Lon Moore, Tom Galbreath, Captain John Lytle, Old Castro, and Flacco.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 09:40:31 +0000