Jacob Darst Alamo Hero Page

Jacob C. Darst
Jacob Darst, a lesser known hero of the Alamo, although he was of the same metal -- was a man of courage and conviction towards the freedom of man. Darst is known to have fought in some of the initial battles of the Texas Revolution. He came to Texas as one of DeWitt's colonists and had a grant of twenty-four labors of land on the Guadalupe River in current Guadalupe County. A nearby creek was named Darst Creek and you can find records today about Darst Creek oil field.

Six months before the Battle of the Alamo, the Mexican Commander in San Antonio ordered his agent Captain Castaneda to conscript the six pounder cannon situated in the plaza at Gonzales, Texas. Darst and 17 men loaded the cannon onto an ox cart and brought it to the East side of the Guadalupe River, and used it in the first skirmish of the Texas Revolution.

When the Battle of the Alamo began, Colonel Travis sent out a number of desperate appeals to the surrounding towns and cities. To the east lay Gonzales, Texas. Two Alamo minutemen called for upon them to answer the appeal. Jacob C. Darst and thirty one men, commanded by Captain Albert Martin, marched the 76 miles to San Antonio, arriving to the Alamo on March 3rd according to the Alamo website. John W. Smith helped them slip through the Mexican lines into the Alamo, where seven others from Gonzales awaited them as well.

After the fall of the Alamo, the homes of Darst and the others from Gonzales were destroyed by fire when Sam Houston's retreating army set a torch to the town. Their families, deep in sorrow at the loss of their loved ones at the Alamo, left along with the Texian Army in the famed "Run Away Scrape" of Texas' history. One hundred years later, on the Centennial of their arrival to the Battle of the Alamo, Gonzales citizens dedicated a beautiful grey granite monument. On it the words: "Erected in grateful recognition of the supreme act of heroism of the thirty-two men from Gonzales who gave their lives in the Alamo in response to the appeal of Travis."