Did you know there was a connection between Texas and the American Revolutionary War? I know, Texas belonged to Spain at that point, but the land we now call Texas played a large part in winning the war. This is a story you didn’t study in American history.
There was a young man named Thomas Isaac Cox from the colony of Pennsylvania who on his twentieth birthday in 1753 joined the Spanish Army serving in Texas, which was a Spanish colony from 1690 to 1821. In 1756 his troop w...as escorting an expedition to establish a presidio in Central Texas. The presidio, built by a priest named Don Pedro de Terreros, was located near the confluence of Delucia (Lucy) Creek and Arroyo Cavalto, seven miles northeast of where Lampasas is located today. The Spaniards were attempting to Christianize the Indians, however, the presidio was soon abandoned because of constant Indian attacks. While there, however, Cox had observed hundreds of wild horses in the surrounding hills as well as herds of wild buffalo and cattle.
Following his discharge from the Spanish army, Cox obtained permission from the government to “capture wild horses, carry on trade, and occupy land surrounding the water courses of the Lampasas River, Delucia (Lucy) Creek, and Esquivel (School) Creek.”
While in New Orleans selling horses, he heard of the impending war against the British so he returned to Philadelphia and entered the army as a captain. Because of his experience with the Spanish Army, Cox convinced General Charles Lee, Washington’s second in command, that soldiers on horseback would have an advantage over the British foot soldiers. Cox was given permission to return to Texas to secure horses for the troops. He enlisted five nephews to help. On September 16, 1780, the six men and 18 horses departed for Texas.
Cox led them to the abandoned Terreros presidio. It took 46 days to build a horse trap at Arroyo Cavalto and repairing the walls of the old presidio for the holding pens. They baited the trap with grain and salt. The first night a stallion led 40 mares and colts into the trap. On the 96th day, according to Cox’s journal, they broke camp and headed back to Philadelphia with 330 horses and 68 colts. General Lee was delighted with the Texas Mustangs and bought 304 at $33 per head. Because the trip was so successful, Cox led a second trip immediately and returned with 366 horses and 109 colts.
The Continental Army of the American Revolution rode Texas Mustangs from what is today, Lampasas County, Texas.
The story doesn’t end there. After the war during a third expedition, William Bybee, a nephew, was killed in an Indian attack at the presidio. The arrow penetrated his chest so deeply that they had to break the arrow and remove it through his back. He died at dawn on July 4, 1793, his seventeenth birthday.
In 1803, Cox was again asked to provide horses, this time for the Lewis and Clark expedition. Those horses were again Texas Mustangs from Lampasas County. There were at least five other expeditions by members of the Cox family to Texas to get horses. And finally, in 1846, Pleasant Cox, a nephew, returned to Lucy Creek and homesteaded on the site of Terreros presidio.
On June 7, 2014, the Terreros Presidio Cemetery was dedicated with a historical marker. There are 37 known graves, the earliest being the body of William Bybee – 1793. In this cemetery are burials while under Spanish rule, part of Mexico, Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States of America.
This is your Texas, this is your Lampasas.
(Sources “Williamson County, Texas: Its History and Its People”, biography of Captain Thomas Isaac Cox by Arlee Gowen, “Terreros Presidio” by Harold Harton, “Lampasas County’s Longmeadow Cemetery” by Mike Cox, research by Peggy Smith Wolfe, and Wikipedia.)
