This statue of Stephen F. Austin sits along Texas Highway 288 near Angleton, TX. The statue stands 76 ft tall. Austin is 66ft tall, and he stands on a 10ft base. This statue is 1 foot shorter than the Sam Houston statue near Huntsville, TX.
In reality, Austin was slightly shorter than Houston. However, that is not why this statue is shorter than the Sam Houston statue. By a gentlemen’s agreement made when Sam Houston was put on his base, no statue of any Texas hero can be taller than Sam Houston.
Austin and his 300 hundred were the first successful settlers from the United States to make it in Texas. A previous attempt ended in failure. “Austin’s 300” were 300 families who were given the ability to settle in Texas due to an empresarial grant originally given to Moses Austin, Stephen F’s father. Moses caught pneumonia shortly before the expedition to Texas was set to begin, and he then decided that his son should take over. Stephen F was very reluctant to do do at first, but he was ultimately persuaded by a letter from his mother that she wrote two days before Moses died.
Stephen F. Austin was born in the area of Wytheville, VA. He first moved to Missouri, and then to Arkansas before beginning his Texas expedition. He and his 300 at first attempted to maintain good relations with the Mexican government, but tensions began to flare when Austin introduced slavery in Texas. The Mexican government was in strong opposition to the institution of slavery, and let Austin know this in no uncertain terms.
As tensions between Mexicans and settlers grew, Emperor Santa Anna had Austin arrested in 1834. No charges were filed, because no court would take jurisdiction. Austin was eventually released after spending time in several different prisons.
When the Texas War of Independence began, Austin took control of forces during the siege of Béxar in late 1835. The revolution officially began in Gonzales, TX in October of 1835. It ended after the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, after the army commanded by Sam Houston defeated and captured Santa Anna.
Texas was now a free country. The constitution created on March 2, 1836 was enacted, and Texas was now able to self-govern. In the first Presidential race, Sam Houston narrowly defeated Stephen F. Austin. Houston appointed Austin as his Secretary of State, but Austin would not serve for long. He died of pneumonia in what is now West Columbia, TX.
Stephen F. Austin’s last words before his death were, “ The independence of Texas is recognized! Don't you see it in the papers?”
Sam Houston, after hearing of Austin’s death, was quoted as saying, “ The Father of Texas is no more; the first pioneer of the wilderness has departed.”
Houston and Austin were political rivals. They had a cordial relationship, but they never were what you would call friends. They tolerated each other when it came to business, expressed the usual amount of decorum during political events and ceremonies, and then each went their separate ways.
During the revolution, Austin often questioned Houston’s military tactics, and was very critical of Houston when he retreated after the siege of the Alamo and the Goliad massacre. All doubts were erased when Austin was informed that Houston had won the Battle of San Jacinto, and also had taken Santa Anna as his prisoner.
Austin was first buried in Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Brazoria County. In 1910, he was re-interred and moved to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, the capital city that was named in his honor.
He was not married, and he had no children. His sister, Emily Austin Perry was his sole heir.
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