Old Three Hundred
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| Old Three Hundred | |
|---|---|
| Name | Colonists of Stephen F. Austin |
| Settlement type | Colonial settlement |
| Caption | Early 19th-century map of Austin's colony |
| Country | Mexico |
| State | Coahuila y Tejas |
| Founded | 1821–1824 |
| Founder | Stephen F. Austin |
| Population | ~300 families (c. 1824) |
Old Three Hundred The Old Three Hundred refers to the original settlers in the colony established under Stephen F. Austin in Coahuila y Tejas of Mexico during the 1820s. The colonists arrived under an empresario contract following the Mexican War of Independence and the collapse of New Spain, settling along the Brazos River and Colorado River and forming the nucleus of Anglo-American settlement in Texas Revolution–era Texas. Their migration intersected with policies from Agustín de Iturbide, Antonio López de Santa Anna, and laws enacted by the Constituent Congress of Mexico.
Background and Colonization Context
Austin’s colonization came after the end of Spanish Empire control in the Americas and the signing of colonization policies by the Mexican Congress. Following agreements like the Plan of Iguala and the short reign of Agustín de Iturbide, Mexico sought to populate northern territories threatened by incursions from Comanche and Apache groups and by interests from the United States of America. Austin, who had apprenticed under his father Moses Austin and corresponded with officials in Monterrey, Nuevo León and Saltillo, negotiated with state authorities in San Antonio de Béxar and Saltillo to receive an empresario grant under the Coahuila y Tejas State Legislature. The colonization scheme paralleled other grants issued to Green DeWitt, Lorenzo de Zavala, and Haden Edwards.
Granting of Land and Empresario System
The land grant awarded to Stephen F. Austin formalized in the wake of Mexican independence and the passing of the Colonization Law of 1824 and related measures overseen by the Constituent Congress of Mexico. Austin’s contract authorized settlement within a specified terrestrial league and sitio pattern along rivers like the Brazos River and Colorado River, subject to conditions enforced by officials in Saltillo and San Antonio. The empresario system echoed Spanish precedents such as Moses Austin’s petitioning and mirrored rival contracts held by Martin De León and Green DeWitt. Colonists were issued titles and land measures, negotiated with land offices in Monterrey and regulated by statutes influenced by the Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824.
Composition and Settlement of the Old Three Hundred
The colony comprised roughly three hundred families drawn from diverse origins including settlers from Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Indiana, as well as immigrants who had earlier crossed through New Orleans and Natchez, Mississippi. Prominent settlers included families like the Burleson family, DeCordova family, and settlers with ties to men such as James F. Perry and Thomas J. Chambers. They established early towns and landings such as San Felipe de Austin, which became the colony’s administrative and social center, connecting to river transport networks and to nearby Nacogdoches and Bexar. Many colonists held allegiance to Anglo-American legal traditions and to figures like William B. Travis and Sam Houston later in life.
Daily Life, Economy, and Agriculture
Settlers developed plantations and smaller farms producing cotton, corn, sugarcane, and livestock, integrating into markets linked to New Orleans and inland trading points such as Natchitoches and Monroe, Louisiana. The colony’s economy relied on enslaved labor introduced from locations including Virginia and Kentucky, and commercial ties to merchants in Galveston Island and Brazoria. Building practices, mill construction, and river transport paralleled techniques from Kentucky and frontier settlements in Tennessee, while religious life included adherents connected to communities in St. Louis and Nashville. Legal disputes over land titles and slaveholding occasionally reached provincial officials in Saltillo and the Coahuila y Tejas legislature.
Relations with Indigenous Peoples and Mexican Authorities
Austin’s colonists navigated complex relations with Indigenous nations such as the Karankawa, Coahuiltecans, Kichai, and the Comanche, engaging in both trade and violent conflict, and relying on militias and negotiated truces. Interaction with Mexican authorities involved negotiation with provincial officials in San Antonio de Béxar and dealings with central figures like Antonio López de Santa Anna as national politics radicalized. Tensions over issues including slavery in Mexico—affected by debates in the Mexican Congress—and Mexican colonization law ultimately contributed to frictions culminating in the Texas Revolution. Austin himself served as intermediary to Mexican capitals, traveling between Saltillo, Monterrey, and Mexico City.
Legacy and Historical Significance
The settlers formed the demographic and political core that influenced leaders such as Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, William B. Travis, and James Fannin during the era of the Texas Revolution and the subsequent creation of the Republic of Texas. Their settlement patterns shaped later county boundaries around Brazoria County, Austin County, and Washington County and influenced municipal development in towns like San Felipe de Austin and Brazoria. Scholarship by historians in institutions like the University of Texas at Austin and collections at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas continue to study their records, which illuminate debates over colonization, property, and ethnicity in the transnational borderlands between Mexico and the United States of America.