AS“Come and take it” is a historic slogan, first used in 480 BC in the Battle of Thermopylae as “Molon Labe” by Spartan King Leonidas I as a defiant answer and last stand to the surrender demanded by the Persian Army. Later in 1778 at Fort Morris in the Province of Georgia during the American Revolution, and at the Battle of Gonzales during the Texas Revolution, the slogan was again taken up in a rather interesting form, it was written on a cannon. The Battle of Gonzales is considered the first true battle of the Texas Revolution, which would continue through the legendary Battle of the Alamo and ultimately the Battle of San Jacinto.

How The Battle of Gonzales Began

In early January 1831, Green DeWitt wrote to Ramón Músquiz. DeWitt was the top political official of Bexar.  He requested armament for the defense of the colony of Gonzales.

Musquiz granted the request by DeWitt and delivered a small used cannon.  James Tumlinson, Jr. signed for the canon on March 10, 1831. But there was a stipulation, the canon was to be returned to Mexican authorities upon request.

At the Battle of Gonzales,  the first land battle of the Texas Revolution against Mexico, a small group of Texans successfully resisted the Mexican forces. It seems that Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea wanted the canon back and gave orders to his men to seize the cannon. The Gonzales colonists notified Ugartechea they were keeping the gun and took his soldiers prisoner.

Ugartechea responded by sending 100 troops under Lt. Francisco de Castañeda to make a more serious request for the return of the gun. On September 29, Capt. Robert M. Coleman arrived at Gonzales with a militia company of thirty mounted Indian fighters. Coleman found the canon in a shallow grave.  He had it mounted on the fore-wheels of a cotton wagon.  His men fired the canon twice in the third skirmish of the battle on October 2.

Defiant Texans

As it turned out, a few days prior to the battle, two young women from Gonzales, Caroline Zumwalt, and Eveline DeWitt, prepared a flag for the battle.  Zumwalt and DeWitt’s flag became a symbol of defiance. containing the words that would become famous, “come and take it”.  As a result, the men raised this flag above the canon during that October battle, their symbol of defiance flying for all to see.

Battle of the Alamo

After the organization of the Texian “Army of the People” under Gen. Stephen F. Austin at Gonzales, the cannon was assigned to Capt. James C. Neill’s artillery company, and taken to San Antonio. Bolstered by the find, Neill’s men used it during the Siege of Bexar. They captured Bexar in December 1835 and the cannon remained at the Alamo. Unfortunately, on March 6, 1836, the Mexican Army commandeered the famous canon and twenty other large artillery pieces when they once again, recapture the Alamo.

Let it Ring

The bronze Gonzales cannon was buried with other captured Texan cannons inside the Alamo compound.  Samual Maverick discovered the canon in 1852 and sent it to New York with his widow Mary Maverick, in 1874. In New York, the canon was recast into a bell and now hangs in the belfry of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio.

In honor of those who fought at the Battle of Gonzales, we are proud to present the Gonzales Polo Shirt.

American Revolution Polo Shirt, Read the story of Gonzalez