DRT honors ‘Old 18’ with memorial in Texas Heroes Square

Members of the Gonzales community gathered in Texas Heroes Square for the 60^th annual Gonzales Day Memorial hosted by the Gonzales chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

With the city’s official Come and Take It celebrations canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, events such as this hosted by historical organizations are some of the few opportunities people in the community have been given to celebrate.

County Judge Patrick C. Davis said this was the first year in his memory that Come and Take It has been canceled.

“As we all know, COVID-19 is taking a toll on the United States and our community,” Davis said. “This is the first year in my lifetime that our communities Come and Take It celebration that has been canceled.”

DRT Gonzales chapter President Sandra Mauldin said the organization felt a responsibility to honor the history of Gonzales Day in light of the cancellation of Come and Take It.

“We're so appreciative of all of you coming to join with us and celebrate this even though Come and Take It was canceled,” Mauldin said. “We had no choice in that matter. We felt that it was our responsibility to focus on our history. And we had the opportunity to do that and to continue with our annual memorial service today.”

An oral history of the region’s origins as a Mexican colony before seeking independence was given by local historian Vicki Frenzel, who shared several new things she had learned through recent research about early residents of the area. For example, Frenzel shared that early residents of the Green DeWitt Colony didn’t do much farming, choosing instead to take advantage of other resources to feed themselves. She also said dairy cattle were rare in the area.

“I could not believe this,” Frenzel said. “I had to prove it to myself. They did not have milk cows. I'm not saying there wasn't a single milk cow on the colony. But it was not very common. So my picture of them sitting on the porch churning butter is not realistic. They didn't have dairy products.”

As for the attitude and bravery so commonly described in retellings of the Battle of Gonzales, Frenzel said many colonists had recent memory of the American Revolution, whether they themselves, their fathers or their grandfathers fought in the war. This spirit of revolution, Frenzel said, is what may have given colonists the gumption to stand against Mexican forces.

“And so they had an idea that if a small group of 13 colonies could separate themselves from a much greater entity— England— why couldn't the colonists in Texas separate themselves from Mexico?” Frenzel said. “They didn't know ,but they thought there was an opportunity.”

Frenzel said the Battle of Gonzales is among the most significant in United States history, being the battle which spurred the Texas revolution.

“Freedom wasn't just a dream,” Frenzel said. “This was a necessity to these people. You already know what happened. You know about the first shot, we know about that come and take it flag.”

 “I want you to take away from today that these people are not soldiers. They were ordinary men doing ordinary jobs, living ordinary lives. They had no training. They had no equipment. But these people were willing to put their fears aside. And they were willing to risk not only their lives, but their families and everything they own, so that someday someone could look at you and you can say, ‘I'm from Texas.’”