Packsaddle Mountain

UPDATE: In an email statement Nov. 6, a Llano County Sheriff's Office investigator attributed the damage of the monument to a vehicle traveling eastbound on Texas 71 which left the roadway and crashed into marker and through the adjacent fence.

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

The Texas Historic Commission (THC) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will team up to repair a damaged historic monument which commemorates a pivotal battle in the region's settlement by western pioneers, officials announced Nov. 1.

Connie Swinney/The Highlander

Vandals have knocked down the Packsaddle Mountain Fight historical monument, seen here on Friday, Oct. 18, just off Texas 71 adjacent to CR 309 in Llano County. The 1936 Texas Centennial marker commemorates the last battle between area settlers and Indians in the region on Packsaddle Mountain in 1873. Over the years, criminals have removed the bronze center star wreath in 2015 and spray-painted a racist message on the marker in 2017 which had to be restored by a contractor for the Texas Historical Commission.

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) and noted conservator Robert Marshall of R. Alden Marshall & Associates have restored an 80-year-old Llano County historical marker from damage caused by vandals in February.

The 1936 Texas Centennial marker commemorating a battle with American Indians on Packsaddle Mountain in 1873 was transformed Tuesday, May 23, after a full day of restoration work.