Fort Tenoxtitlán, constructed in 1830 in what is now northeastern Burleson County, was part of a chain of military garrisons designed to Mexicanize Texas and stanch immigration from the United States pursuant to the Law of April 6, 1830. On June 25, 1830, Lt. Col. José Francisco Ruiz was dispatched from Bexar in command of 100 cavalrymen of the presidial company of Álamo de Parras, with orders from Gen. Manuel de Mier y Terán to establish a fort at the strategic point halfway down the Old San Antonio Road, where the thoroughfare crossed the Brazos River en route to Nacogdoches. Ruiz reached the Brazos on July 13 and established temporary headquarters on the east bank about a half mile below the Old San Antonio Road. On October 17, 1830, the garrison moved to a permanent site on a high bluff on the west bank of the Brazos twelve miles above the San Antonio crossing, opposite the spot where the present Brazos-Robertson county line strikes the river. The small spring-fed creek nearby was subsequently known as Dam Creek, probably because its water was diverted into the settlement. Although Mier y Terán, who envisioned Tenoxtitlán as a future capital of Texas, issued elaborate instructions from Matamoros for the design of the fort, most were eventually disregarded; the fortifications themselves were likely of conventional log construction.
Tenoxticlan is a military post and town established on the right bank of the Brazos, twelve miles above the upper road leading from Bexar to Nacogdoches, fifteen miles below the mouth of San Ardress river, and one hundred miles above San Felipe de Austin. It is very eligibly situated and abundantly supplied with excellent water. It was the intention of government to keep a garrison at this place, for the twofold purpose of protecting the frontier of Austin’s colony from the predatory incursions of Indians, and of facilitating the extension of that colony, northwesterly, up to the Brazos river. The adjacent country for many miles around, is fertile and healthful, and the Brazos in seasons of freshets, is navigable some miles above this port. - Texas by Holley, Mary Austin; Austin, Texas, 1935, pages 120-121
