The settlers at San Antonio were informed on September 2, 1839, that the government could not at present make any force stationary at that place, but that Major Reuben Ross, with his detachment of about seventy, "well mounted and well armed," had been ordered to include that section of the country in his circuit of ranging and to afford what protection he could to its inhabitants. "The President has also written individually," the San Antonians were informed, "to John H. Moore on the Colorado to raise two hundred men to range out your way."[90]

A road was opened between Gonzales and Austin in July 1839, but as late as August 1840, there was none between Gonzales and Bastrop. Captain J. Wiehl, in company with a surveyor named Lindsay, set out from Camp Bell near Austin on October 8, 1840, to lay off a road from Austin to the springs at the headwaters of the San Marcos, as it was planned to establish a regular military post at the latter point, approximately half-way between Austin and San Antonio.[91]  At first, the post on the San Marcos was garrisoned by Captain Wiehl's Company "H" of the First Regiment of Infantry commanded by Colonel William G. Cooke.[92]