Part 5

Part 5, Note 1

Texas Monument, December 2, 1851, December 10, 1851, December 24, 1851, February 11, 1852, March 17, 1852, June 30, 1852, January 25, 1854; William Bluford Dewees, Letters from an Early Settler of Texas (1852. Waco: Texian Press, 1968), pp. 306, 311-312; Hans Peter Nielsen Gammel, comp., The Laws of Texas 1822-1897 (Austin: The Gammel Book Company, 1898), vol. 4, pp. 97-101. The stage line through Columbus also ran through Eagle Lake, which at the time meant not the lake itself or the city which would soon be established beside the lake, but the post office manned by George Washington Thatcher, which was established on June 19, 1849 and remained in service until June 29, 1854 (see Record of Appointment of Postmasters 1832-September 30, 1971, National Archives Microfilm Publication M841, Roll 122).
In May 2002, the Colorado County Historical Commission unveiled a historical marker declaring that stagecoach service to Columbus began in 1847. The source material for the marker was a section called "Stage Lines" printed in the historical commission’s own two-volume county history (see Colorado County Chronicles (Austin: Nortex Press, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 68-71). The assertion on the marker that stage service to Columbus began in 1847 is based on two sentences from the first paragraph in that section: "The first account of actual stage service to San Antonio was February 22, 1847, when Brown and Tarbox were the proprietors of the Texas U. S. Mail Line of Stages between Houston and San Antonio. This line of stages passed through Columbus, between Houston and San Antonio" (see p. 68). Though these statements do not specifically state that stagecoach service to Columbus began in 1847, the implication is clear. The statements were based on information provided on page 5 of Robert H. Thonhoff’s San Antonio Stage Lines 1847-1881 (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1971). Thonhoff’s text is very similar to that which later appeared in the Chronicles: "The first account of actual stage service to San Antonio is in an advertisement placed on February 22, 1847, with the Houston Democratic Telegraph and Texas Register. A well-preserved advertisement in the August 2, 1847, issue shows that Brown and Tarbox were the proprietors of the Texas U. S. Mail Line of Stages between Houston and San Antonio . . ." Thonhoff does not mention Columbus, and with good reason. A check of the source material, very conveniently reproduced in a pictorial section following page 10 of his monograph, reveals that the stage did not pass through Columbus.