From the Annals of the Republic –  In 1848, Sam Houston dedicated the Monument Hill cemetery just south of La Grange on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River. Those to be buried there had died in the Dawson Massacre and other conflicts between the Republic of Texas and Mexico in the years after independence.  On September 18, 1842, Capt. Nicholas Dawson and his fifty-eight volunteers fought a losing battle against 500 irregular Mexican cavalrymen and their two cannons. The Texans were slaughtered. A few escaped, and fifteen were carted off to Perote Prison.  Nine survivors from the brutal imprisonment were eventually released. The dead were later transferred to Monument Hill.

Photo from Texas Parks & Wildlife.