Cibolo Creek - History

History

Prior to European settlement, Cibolo Creek was referred to as Xoloton by the Coahuiltecan Indians. The Tonkawa called it Bata Coniquiyoqui, as noted by Father Damian Massanet, who referred to the creek as Santa Crecencia in 1691. It is thought that Coahuila Governor Alonso de Leon had one of the earliest encounters with the creek in 1689 while on the first Spanish entrada to explore the French-claimed lands believed to lie beyond the Nueces River. Records suggest a camp was set up on the creek, identified as Arroyo del Leon, coined from the discovery of a dead mountain lion along the banks. Explorer Domingo Terán de los Ríos named the creek San Ygnacio de Loyola in 1691 during an expedition and Domingo Ramón referred to it as San Xavier in 1716. The first known use of the term Cibolo came from Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo who identified the stream as Río Cibolo, or Cibolo River, in 1721. Cibolo is a Spanish and Native American term for American bison (buffalo), which used to inhabit the area. The Native Americans are believed to have used the steeply banked bluffs along the creek as hunting grounds, chasing herds of buffalo into the bed where the creatures would fall to their deaths.

Marqués de Rubí included Cibolo Creek in his 1768 list of potential sites for posts to solidify the Spanish hold on Texas, and a fort called El Fuerte de Santa Cruz del Cíbolo, built along the banks of Cibolo Creek in 1734 to protect livestock from Apache Indian attacks, was resurrected in 1771. However, the fort near Cestohowa was destroyed without a trace in 1782. and eventually the Spanish lost the creek and Texas following the Mexican Revolution. During the Texas Revolution, the creek was the site of two separate skirmishes. First, in October 1835, at the beginning of the war, Captain Ben Milam was dispatched by Stephen F. Austin to survey the unfamiliar territory toward Cibolo Creek. Milam set up camp and soon discovered the tracks of a Mexican force of about a hundred cavalrymen. Austin sent additional scouts, and one group was confronted by about ten advancing Mexican patrols. The group's lieutenant led an offensive against the patrols, and forced the Mexicans to retreat to San Antonio, allowing the Texans to march to Salado Creek. One Austin aide remarked: "this little skirmish...had a happy effect in the army... was regarded as a favorable omen." The second skirmish occurred in April 1836, outside Camp Houston, a post established by Juan Seguín on the creek banks near present day Stockdale. Seguín set the post after being ordered to withdraw from San Antonio, with a regiment that severely lacked resources, including clothing and horses. During an exploration of the creek to find wild horses, Seguín and six men met some hostile Tonkawas. In a brief skirmish, two of the Native Americans were killed, allowing Seguín and his men to return to camp with two additional horses.

Also in 1836 at the time of the Battle of the Alamo, during the Texas Revolution, the creek was the site of the temporary camps of the Alamo relief forces. On February 28, Juan Seguin and his reorganized relief forces, waiting on the Cibolo Creek, encountered Fannin's advance from Goliad led by Francis L. DeSauque and John Chenoweth, while near the Cibolo. On February 29, the relief forces from Gonzales traveling with the Gonzales Company of Mounted Volunteers arrived at the Cibolo and entered the Alamo the next day. On March 7, Gonzales relief force and former Alamo commander, James C. Neill with Edward Burleson gathered 50 men and headed for the Alamo. They reached the Cibolo and were heading for the Alamo but were repulsed by Mexican cavalry.

In the late 1840s and early 1850s, the communities of Selma, Sutherland Springs, Boerne, La Vernia, and Bulverde were established along the creek. Later on, Cibolo Schertz, and Universal City were founded. These settlements dealt with torrential floods that cost many their homes and lives in later years. The destruction was prominently witnessed during the October 1998 Central Texas floods, and four years later during the flood of July 2002. The San Antonio River Authority authorized $114,599 to help clean debris from the creek in 2003, hoping to improve water quality. Above-average levels of bacteria have been found in certain areas of the creek, leading to such initiatives as the Upper Cibolo Watershed Protection plan, which began in 2010. Another plan to create a Cibolo Reservoir near Stockdale aimed to control flooding and provide fresh water met fierce opposition from local citizens concerned about the destruction of historic sites along the creek, and the loss of taxable land.