Of the multiple banners
that flew over DeWitt Colony territory and those under which DeWitt colonists
served and died, this famous
flag is one which originated solely within and is unique to the DeWitt
Colony and a symbol of contribution
of the region to the Texas Independence movement. The banner
can be said to be the counterpart
in concept and message of resistance as the early "Don't Tread on
Me" flags of the American Revolution.
Some say it was made from the white silk of the wedding dress
of Empresario DeWitt's daughter,
Naomi, and was flown by DeWitt Colonists reinforced by volunteers
from the other settlements at
the confrontation with the Mexican army in October 1835 over the
Gonzales cannon (Battle of Gonzales).
Other reports suggest it was made after the confrontation during
the muster at Gonzales for defense
of Texas and the assault on Bexar.
Eyewitness DeWitt Colonist Creed
Taylor relates in his memoirs (Tall Men with Long Rifles) that
following the Battle of Gonzales
as the army was being prepared in Gonzales to march on Bexar "the
question of a flag came up.
Some of our leaders wanted to march and fight under the Mexican national
colors; others wanted the eagle,
cactus, and snake, eliminated from the flag and in their stead a star.
But
it was soon ascertained that
the boys wanted nothing that bore the slightest resemblance to the flag
of
Mexico. At a meeting of the
officers a committee of five were appointed to select the design for our
flag. This committee was to
report by three o'clock the next day. And this gave the occasion for the
loftiest display of patriotism
on the part of the women of Gonzales. They knew that material for a flag
was scarce. Before ten o'clock
the committee in council was overwhelmed with offers of material of all
shades, textures, and fashions.
A few silk dresses that had doubtless been worn on state occasions
'back in the states' and were
now faded and tattered---but religiously treasured as sacred mementoes
of happier days---were brought
forward and freely offered. One heroic mother whose sons went down
in the Alamo the following March,
brought her only pair of green window curtains. It was finally
decided by the committee that
it was the duty of the Consultation to design and adopt a flag of the new
nation; that any action in regard
thereto would be premature and not binding; but in view of the present
conditions it would be right
and proper for the army to have a banner under which to march during the
present campaign, and that in
keeping with the simplicity that characterized the general make-up of the
army the said emblem be as follows:
a white field without border, in the center a picture of a cannon,
unmounted and without any fixtures
whatever, directly over the cannon a five pointed star. Under the
cannon and near the lower margin
in large letters extending nearly the length of the flag, this inscription:
'COME AND TAKE IT.' The flag
committee's report was received and its recommendations
accepted, and the following
day we had a flag raising, when, for the first time, the Lone Star was
flung
to the breeze........I must
bear witness to the fact that the 'cannon flag' designed and hoisted at
Gonzales
on October 10, 1835, was the
first Lone Star that was ever caressed by a Texas breeze unless the
honor should be given to the
Dawson [Dodson] Company standard......never recognized by the army
as their flag, but a company
standard......our 'Cannon Flag' had been left somewhere on the route from
Gonzales to Salado. The last
I saw of it was when the cannon was abandoned on Sandy Creek. It had
been furled and was resting
against a sapling nearby. It may have been used as a winding sheet for
the
old brass gun or it may have
been employed for baser purposes."
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