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The Twin Sisters (Runaway Scrape Box #9) LbNA #33931 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Aug 8, 2007
Location:
City:Hempstead
County:Waller
State:Texas
Boxes:1
Planted by:Tall Texan
Found by: NLW
Last found:Oct 23, 2011
Status:FFFFFFFaaFaaa
Last edited:Aug 8, 2007
Reported Alive and Well on 4/5/08

Things looked grim by March 11, 1836 for Sam Houston and several hundred volunteers gathered at Gonzales. General Santa Ana, the dictator of Mexico, was sweeping across Texas with thousands of soldiers in several columns destroying all resistance in his path. Hundreds had died fighting at the Alamo and hundreds more had been executed at Goliad. Facing a defeat and certain death at the hands of a superior Mexican Army, General Houston chose to retreat east, deeper into the heart of the American Colony in Mexican Texas. Like General Washington at Brooklyn Heights 50 years before, Houston realized that he needed to use geography to buy time to find a better battlefield. Most of the 30,000 colonists who came to the area were fleeing also, leaving behind years of work to build farms and towns, carrying what they could on wagons. This time in Texas History is known as the “Runaway Scrape”. The letterboxes in this series stretch from Gonzales to San Jacinto Battlefield. The stamps tell the story.

This letterbox commemorates the “Twin Sisters,” two 6-pounder cannon sent to the Texan Army as a gift from the citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. They arrived on the steamship Yellowstone, sailing up the swollen Brazos River to Groce’s Plantation, where the Texan Army was training and growing in number from March 31st to April 12th. The “Twins” would play a significant role in the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836.

Directions:
The box is located on Highway 1887, approximately 1.8 miles south of the intersection with highway 3346. In general, the highway runs due south of Hempstead towards Brookshire.

To the Box:
Look for the brown “Historical Marker” sign. The marker is made of grey stone on the west side of the road. Be careful pulling over, the shoulder is steep. The box is a camo-box in the weeds behind the marker. Please re-hide and cover well.