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A few days ago, a business man traveling through Brackettville asked me, "I understand that in March of every year, y'all celebrate something called 'Fort Clark Days.' What's that all about?"
Knowing that this was not something that I could adequately explain in a couple of minutes, I got his e-mail address and promised to send him some information.
One of the many beautiful things about Texas is that there is rich history everywhere you look. Fort Clark and Brackettville's history is as colorful as it gets. So I put together some important dates and facts and gave him a list of the kinds of things that we do to celebrate al) that history.
From 1519 to about 1542, Spanish Explorers De Soto and Coronado rambled through Texas, Coming from Jamaica; they landed near present day Galveston, it is not known exactly which of the explorers first discovered Las Moras Springs, but they named it that because of the Mulberry trees.
The Coahuiltecan Indians had been using the spring and creek for a long time before the Lipan and Mescalero Apaches and the Comanche tribes discovered it. They had fought each other for the right to camp and hunt there for hundreds of years.
Then in 1833, an English born physician by the name of John Charles Beales, built a settlement on Las Moras Creek, just 10 miles south of Las Moras Springs. Dr. Beales named the settlement "Delores," after his wife.
In 1836, at the beginning of the Texas Revolt, Santa Anna's army scattered the settlers and their fleeing wagon train was attacked by Indians and they all were massacred.
As we all know, Texas became a Republic in 1836 and then in 1845 became the 28th state...