In 1813 royalist Lieutenant Colonel Ignacio Elizondo led 500 cavalrymen in pursuit of retreating Mexican and Anglo-American insurrectionists along this road.
A hacienda owner in Coahuila, Elizondo initially joined Father Miguel Hidalgo's rebellion against Spanish authority, but soon switched to the royalists. In 1811 he helped lead Hidalgo and other republicans into an ambush near Monclova.
In June 1813 Elizondo brought 300 additional royalist soldiers into Texas to oppose the republicans of the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition. Hoisting their green flag of rebellion, a combined force of Mexican patriots and U.S. adventurers had routed royalist units and declared Texas an independent republic.
On June 20, 1813, Elizondo prepared to attack the insurgents on the western edge of San Antonio de Bexar. They surprised him instead at the battle of Alazan and drove him back to the Rio Grande. Returning later that summer as one of royalist General Joaquin de Arredondo's line officers, Elizondo fought at the battle of Medina where, on August 18, 1813, royalists won the largest battle in North America prior to the Civil War.
Occupying Bexar, Arredondo dispatched Elizondo to chase the survivors to the Louisiana border. He captured more than 100 and executed 71. During the return march, an insane royalist officer fatally wounded Elizondo as he relaxed in his tent. He lingered for days, but died near the San Marcos River crossing of the El Camino Real. He was buried somewhere nearby.
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