Seventeen Rangers foiled an uprising

In the spring of 1839, just three years after the Texian victory at San Jacinto secured independence from Mexico, the Republic of Texas remained far from secure.

Mexico had not accepted its defeat and continued efforts to destabilize the fledgling nation, encouraging unrest among Native American tribes along the Texas frontier. One such effort culminated May 22, 1839, in a brief but decisive clash along the San Gabriel River, about 15 miles north of Austin.

In that encounter, a small band of Texas Rangers disrupted what officials later described as a coordinated plot to incite widespread frontier warfare.

A dangerous mission

At the center of the conflict was Manuel Flores, a Mexican agent and trader with ties to tribes in East Texas. Flores had recently traveled to Matamoros, where he allegedly conspired with Mexican officials to arm and encourage tribes, particularly factions aligned with Vicente Córdova, to attack Texan settlements.

According to historical accounts, the strategy called for sustained raids on frontier communities while Mexican forces provided support from the south. Flores carried weapons, gunpowder and correspondence outlining the broader plan.

Earlier in May 1839, Flores’ party was linked to the killing of four surveyors between Seguin and San Antonio. Texas Rangers tracked the group northward.

Captain Mike Adams and Lt. James C. Rice led approximately 20 men in pursuit. By the time they closed in near the San Gabriel River, Rice commanded 17 Rangers in the final engagement.

The clash on the riverbank

Flores and his group, estimated at 20 to 30 men, had shifted their route north through the hills west of Austin, attempting to evade larger Texan forces under Col. Edward Burleson.

The two groups came within sight of one another near a crossing of the San Gabriel River. As Rangers moved to secure their horses, Flores and several of his men charged down a slope and fired. The volley missed.

The Rangers quickly returned fire.

Official reports credit Rice with delivering the fatal shot that struck Flores. Frontier lore later attributed the first shot to Ranger William “Big Foot” Wallace. Regardless of who fired first, Flores was killed in the exchange.

Two additional shots drove the remaining members of the party into retreat.

The encounter was brief but decisive.

Evidence of a larger plot

The Rangers seized significant supplies abandoned in the rout: roughly 300 pounds of powder and lead molded into ammunition, along with more than 100 horses and mules.

More importantly, they captured documents outlining Mexican support for Native resistance efforts.

In a report to Secretary of War Albert Sidney Johnston, Burleson described the engagement and emphasized the importance of the captured correspondence. The documents detailed communications from Córdova and referenced broader plans to arm tribes against Texan settlements.

The intelligence proved critical.

Historian J.W. Wilbarger later wrote that, in retrospect, the skirmish may have ranked second only to San Jacinto in importance to Texas.

“At this late day when we contemplate the destruction of life and property which might have resulted had Flores not been killed and his valuable correspondence captured,” Wilbarger wrote, “we cannot but think that the fight on the San Gabriel River was second in importance to Texas only to the battle of San Jacinto.”

Consequences beyond the skirmish

The captured documents exposed what became known as the Córdova Rebellion, a broader effort to coordinate Native uprisings with Mexican backing.

President Mirabeau B. Lamar cited the evidence as justification for demanding the removal of the Cherokees from Texas, contributing to the Cherokee War later that year.

Though small in scale, the skirmish altered the course of events along the frontier. A coordinated series of attacks across East Texas settlements was potentially prevented by the Rangers’ swift action.

A quiet reminder

Today, near Georgetown and Leander, a Texas historical marker erected in 1936 commemorates the encounter.

The clash along the San Gabriel River lasted only moments. But in those moments, 17 Rangers disrupted a plan that could have reignited widespread conflict in the young republic.