Qualla: Battle of Velasco https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Velasco https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco Battle of Velasco: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco/ They called it the 'Boston Harbor of Texas,' and the comparison was not idle flattery. Three years before the Alamo, four years before San Jacinto, a group of Texian settlers loaded borrowed cannon onto a schooner called the Brazoria and sailed downriver to pick a fight with a Mexican fort. The date was June 25, 1832. The place was Velasco, a sand-flat settlement where the Brazos River empties into the Gulf of Mexico -- today the small beach town of Surfside Beach. What happened over the next two days was the first genuine military clash between Mexico and its increasingly restless Anglo colonists, a dress rehearsal for revolution that ended with a Mexican surrender, a bullet-riddled ship, and a seaman killed below decks in the one place he was supposed to be safe.

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/h/h/battle-of-velasco-wp/9vhh-battle-of-velasco-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Velasco: A Fort Built of Sand and Shells https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco/ The trouble began with customs duties. After Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, it opened Texas to Anglo immigration through empresario contracts. But by 1830, alarmed at the growing number of English-speaking settlers, the Mexican government reversed course -- restricti...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/h/h/battle-of-velasco-wp/9vhh-battle-of-velasco-a-fort-built-of-sand-and-shells.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Velasco: Travis, Bradburn, and a Vote for War https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco/ The fuse was lit at Anahuac, on Galveston Bay. There, the deeply unpopular garrison commander Juan Davis Bradburn -- a former American citizen serving Mexico -- arrested William Barret Travis on charges of insurrection, a conviction that would mean execution. Travis's business pa...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/h/h/battle-of-velasco-wp/9vhh-battle-of-velasco-travis-bradburn-and-a-vote-for-war.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Velasco: Midnight on the Sand https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco/ The cannon were loaded onto the schooner Brazoria, and roughly 40 men boarded for the trip downstream while the rest marched overland. Only three volunteers knew how to sail, so a professional seaman from the Brazoria's crew agreed to help navigate on the condition that he would ...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/h/h/battle-of-velasco-wp/9vhh-battle-of-velasco-midnight-on-the-sand.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Velasco: Rain, Surrender, and a Seaman's Bad Luck https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco/ Thirty minutes after sunrise on June 26, a downpour drenched both sides. The Texians pulled back and sent for reinforcements from Brazoria. But Ugartechea's garrison was nearly out of ammunition and no reinforcements were coming. He surrendered. The Texians rejected the first ter...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/h/h/battle-of-velasco-wp/9vhh-battle-of-velasco-rain-surrender-and-a-seamans-bad-luck.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Velasco: First Blood of a Revolution https://qualla.com/battle-of-velasco/ The Battle of Velasco occupies a peculiar place in Texas history. It was fought not in the name of independence but under the banner of Mexican federalism -- the Texians claimed to support Santa Anna's revolt against the centralist government. The Turtle Bayou Resolutions that pr...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/h/h/battle-of-velasco-wp/9vhh-battle-of-velasco-first-blood-of-a-revolution.mp3 0:06 6 full