Texas State Historical Association - My Texas

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Come and Take It

Madeline and I are two adventurous types. Together we look like Mutt and Jeff, she being Mutt, I being Jeff. Both middle-aged. Both grandmothers. But we love to go on our weekend adventures to discover the wonderful history of Texas.

It was the weekend of "Come and Take It Days" in Gonzales in October 2004. It was raining cats and dogs, but Madeline and I were hell-bent on making it from Selma over to Gonzales to enjoy all the festivities. We drove through the back roads over to IH-10, avoiding water on the road and talking about recent news stories of near-drownings. We arrived in Gonzales just as the skies broke, but decided it was worth getting wet and trudged our way through the flowing streets from the parked car two blocks over to the courthouse. We arrived upstairs in the courtroom just in time for a presentation by the Gonzales Historical Commission. Members of the commission were acting the parts of Green DeWitt, Mrs. Jacob Darst, and others. We sat there with about 100 other individuals in absolute quiet, totally enraptured with the history of DeWitt's Colony they were relaying. How did that lady inherit her 9,000 acres back then? Her two husbands died of food poisoning, you say? And Mrs. Darst cries while recalling memories of her husband and the Alamo. Oh, this is good stuff. We have to go back and tell everyone about this wonderful thing they are doing here in Gonzales.

After the performance, Madeline and I make our way past all the vendors on our way back to the car. Trudging through mud and trying to stay dry under our umbrellas. What do you think, Madeline? The last time we came to Gonzales we missed the Braches House. Want to try again today? I understand the house is open for tours. This is the house where Sam Houston spent the night under the old oak tree before heading out the next day to San Jacinto. Where the German Charles Braches had his plantation and stage stop. That alone has to be worth the drive out there. It's only ten miles. Madeline says she's game and off we go again through wind and rain to the Braches House. We turn off the highway onto County Road 361 and drive down the curvy, dirt road up past the main gate and by Sam Houston's tree. Three ladies dressed in period garb are sitting in their rockers on the front porch as we drive up. Turns out one of the ladies is the owner and has been trying for years to get the old house restored. We stay there almost an hour listening to the history of the house and the Braches' family and their connection to the novel True Women by Janice Woods Windle and its subsequent TV show.

I tell them about the stage line I have been researching--the Harrison and McCulloch line that ran from Austin to Port Lavaca and back up through Victoria and Gonzales on the way to New Braunfels in the late 1840s and early 1850s. And how their stage most likely stopped at the Braches House since their former partner, Dr. Caleb S. Brown, had also been a business partner to Charles Braches. Madeline and I make our departure. About a quarter of a mile from the house lies the old family cemetery. What do you say, Madeline? Are you up to the trek? Sure. So off we go again, this time on foot. We did fine until we hit that big mud puddle blocking the path. Madeline and I both lost our shoes. We go down to the cemetery and read the wording on the markers. Husband, wife, and children. Friend who served in the Texas Revolution and the Runaway Scrape.

We make our way back to the car, not totally drenched but not as dry as we were when we started. We pass cars coming in as we are leaving and head back down the little dirt road. As we round the bend, there is water rapidly running over the road and getting deeper. We decide we won't cross it and back the car around to the house just as another car is leaving the gate. We call to the gentleman that the road has water on it and he comes back with "It's fine. I just came through there." I retort that he can "go first," which he does. Of course, he makes it across with no trouble while Madeline and I get stuck in the water. He very chivalrously takes off and leaves us behind. Madeline and I exit the car after it dies from me trying to drive through the water too fast and I can't get it restarted. I tell Madeline not to panic and we open the doors. As we get out, the water hits me about shin deep, but it's nearly to Madeline's waist what with her being "Mutt." We make our way through the water and up the hill to the main road.

Our story has a happy ending, though, as a fireman/paramedic from Edna, Texas, came driving by and gave us a ride back into Gonzales to get my car towed. The trip ends up costing me $400 to fix my car, but I asked Madeline and she said she'd go back with me anytime.

Jean Heide
San Antonio, Texas
Published: November 14, 2005