Burnam's Ferry, the first ferry in present-day Fayette County, was established about 1824 by Jesse Burnam at the crossing of the La Bahia Road, with a related crossing on the Colorado River in Colorado County along the route toward southwest Louisiana. On March 19, 1836, the Army of the Republic of Texas, under General Sam Houston, crossed there during the retreat from Gonzales to San Jacinto, after which the ferry was destroyed by Houston's order to prevent its use by the advancing Mexican Army.