Teacher, former mayor launch quest to locate a forgotten piece of history
Searchers reconnected with a long-lost piece of Taylor history last week: a marker commemorating the Battle of Brushy Creek, placed by Taylor High School students in November 1925.
The last-known official mention of the marker was in 1962 in an article in the Taylor Daily Press, the precursor to the Taylor Press.
History buff Don Goerner located the marker after months of searching.
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“In my mind it was probably long gone.”
— Brandt Rydell “As a teacher, I found it gratifying that 100 years ago students took the time to fundraise, plan and install this marker. I decided to hop in my car and see it. The memorial was nowhere to be found,” Goerner said. “This unsuccessful trip spawned a search that has involved archive searches, land-deed investigations, retrieval of 100-year-old newspapers and even drone f lights.”
Goerner heard about the marker’s existence earlier this year from author Vicky Rose, who is also a historian. Rose had some clues to the stone’s location, noting that it was by a bend in the creek between Brown’s Gin, a longvacated community, and Johnson’s Farm, which also no longer exists.
The marker was of particular interest to Goerner, who teaches middle school math in Giddings, because it was spearheaded by teachers and funded by students. A 1925 article in the Taylor Daily Press reports students were asked to each donate a dime to fund the marker.
Four markers were planned throughout Williamson County, but it is currently undetermined whether any of the others were erected or still exist.
According to an account by Karen R. Thompson on the Texas State Historical Association website: “The battle of Brushy Creek, between Texas Ranger and militia units and Comanche Indians, occurred in late February 1839 a few miles from the site of present Taylor. … It was a running affair along Battleground (present Cottonwood) and Boggy creeks and culminated north of Brushy Creek.”
She noted the marker generally could be found on private property 1.4 miles south of Taylor on the west side of Texas 95.
Getting help
Goerner enlisted the help of Taylor native and former Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell in the search. Rydell is the vice president of the Taylor Conservation and Historical Society.
He was able to find the location of Johnson’s Farm and helped Goerner narrow the search.
“He was more optimistic than I was,” Rydell said. “In my mind it was probably long gone. The way the soil moves around here that thing probably toppled, maybe got plowed under, who knows?”
Once he narrowed down the probable site of the marker, Goerner started scanning satellite images. Then he began driving to the area and took more than 600 pictures with a drone.
Because the images captured unimproved land and pasture, he meticulously enlarged each on the computer and scrolled through them looking for a shape that could potentially be a partially buried or knocked over piece of granite.
He thought he found it a couple of times and went out on foot to explore, only to discover the shape was a chunk of concrete and the roof of a shed another time.
Success
On Aug. 19, Goerner found his grail. Looking at the latest batch of photos taken over a new search area, he saw a shape that was undeniably a stillstanding marker. He and Rydell visited the area and discovered the marker about 100 feet off Circle G Ranch Road. It was not only still standing, but the bronze plaque remained attached and legible.
Rydell determined the land was owned by Paty Chaidez and husband Phillip Lopez Jr. He contacted Chaidez and learned she knew of the marker but was unaware of its importance.
“To be honest, we don’t know much about it. We knew it was there. We’ve seen it, we’ve cut around it. It’s a nice little piece on the corner of our property,” Chaidez said.
The marker sits at the edge of land the couple bought in 2009. It is separated from the rest of the property by a tributary Chaidez said is referred to as Battleground Creek. The area is prone to flooding and is difficult to reach by tractor, so aside from occasional mowing the owners don’t do much with that portion of land.
They said they are willing to work with the historical society and the Taylor Independent School District to make the marker a betterknown part of Taylor’s history.
Goerner and Rydell are now exploring ways the monument can be made more accessible.
They hope for a rededication in honor of the marker’s 100year anniversary in November.
“As a teacher, I kind of owed it to those teachers from 100 years ago,” Goerner said of his quest. “They put so much work into it they would expect somebody to try and find this huge thing they did.”
