Founded in 1830 by John McMullen and James McGloin as the seat of their Irish colony under an empressario contract dated August 17, 1828, San Patricio de Hibernia was named in honor of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. As the frontier outpost of Texas when the revolution began, San Patricio from 1835 to 1845 suffered all the miseries of that conflict with no compensating returns. At and near San Patricio, on February 27, 1836, General Jose Urrea's division of Santa Anna's army surprised and overwhelmed Johnson's Texan party of 35 men; 9 or 10 Texans were killed, 6 or 7 escaped, and 20 were sent to Matamoros as prisoners. After San Jacinto, the town was destroyed and its inhabitants driven away. Among its early settlers and later distinguished citizens were numerous residents connected to the colony, the Texas Revolution, and the public life of Texas.