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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 11, 2008 18:49:43 GMT -5
January 11 in Texas History..... Texas troops captured at Arkansas Post
On this day in 1863, the remnants of the Fourth Brigade of Walker's Texas Division were captured intact at Arkansas Post. The division, organized in Arkansas in October 1862, was the only division in Confederate service composed throughout its existence of troops from a single state. It took its name from Maj. Gen. John George Walker, who took command from its organizer, Brig. Gen. Henry Eustace McCulloch, on January 1, 1863.
During its existence it was commonly called the "Greyhound Division," or "Walker's Greyhounds," in tribute to its special capability to make long, forced marches from one threatened point to another in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Initially, the division was made up of four brigades. The Fourth Brigade, under the command of Col. James Deshler, was detached from the division shortly after its organization and sent to Arkansas Post. Deshler was captured there, then exchanged and promoted to brigadier general in July 1863. He was killed during the battle of Chickamauga later that year. .....And so the Texas History goes ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 12, 2008 18:22:47 GMT -5
January 12 in Texas History Ambitious French colonization scheme fizzles On this day in 1841, a short-lived bill authorizing the formation of a French-Texan immigration company was introduced in the Texas Congress. The Franco-Texian Bill, proposed by two Frenchmen, Jean Pierre Hippolyte Basterrèche and Pierre François de Lassaulx, called for the introduction of 8,000 immigrant families to occupy three million acres of the Republic of Texas. The managing company was to establish twenty forts in twenty years. It was also to develop mines within its territory and pay the republic 15 percent of the gross returns. The bill passed the House, but was never presented to the Senate because the sponsors saw that it could not pass over the expected veto by acting president David G. Burnet. .....And so goes the Texas History ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 13, 2008 17:47:35 GMT -5
January 13 in Texas History..... Future scalp hunter enlists in army On this day in 1847, John Joel Glanton enlisted in Walter P. Lane's company of rangers for service in the Mexican War. The South Carolina native had arrived in Texas in time to serve in the Texas Revolution, and was a member of John Hay's company of Texas Rangers between the wars. He served with distinction in the invasion of Mexico under Zachary Taylor. Always a controversial figure, Glanton's career turned sinister after the Mexican War when he traveled to Chihuahua and became the leader of a band of scalp hunters. The memoirist Sam Chamberlain met and rode with Glanton during this period. Eventually the authorities in Chihuahua accused Glanton and his gang of scalping friendly Indians and Mexicans for bounties, and drove him into Sonora province. There he resumed his activites. He and his gang seized and operated a river ferry controlled by the Yuma Indians. While operating the ferry, they killed Mexican and American passengers alike for their money and goods. Finally, in mid-1850, they schemed to kill a party of Mexican miners who used the ferry, but before they carried out their plot, the Yumas attacked the ferry and killed Glanton and most of his men. Glanton himself was scalped. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 15, 2008 16:59:04 GMT -5
January 15 in Texas History..... Company chartered to build road from Houston to Austin On this day in 1841, the Houston and Austin Turnpike Company was chartered by the Congress of the Republic of Texas to lay out a road from Austin to Houston. Capital stock of $125,000 was to be divided into 625 shares, with the seven directors to own at least five shares each. Tolls were allowed on condition that the toll gates be at least forty miles apart. The work was to start within twelve months and be completed in five years. The road was to start at Houston, cross the Brazos River within five miles of San Felipe de Austin, and continue from the river on the most practical route to Austin. This initial turnpike company was followed by the chartering of some fifty such companies between 1841 and 1905. Early roads often were mere rocky trails or mud streams. Courses were longer and less efficient as they went around hills, large trees, and boulders. The early roads zigzagged, had right-angle turns, and held water. At the beginning of the twentieth century very few roads in the United States had any kind of hard surface. The advent of the automobile in the early 1900s led to a dramatic change in attitude toward highway development in the nation and in Texas. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 16, 2008 21:52:47 GMT -5
January 16 in Texas History......2 for the price of one ;D A Prussian lens on South Tejas On this day in 1860, Adolphus Glaevecke, a long-term observer of life on the Texas-Mexico border, gave the governor of Texas an account of events connected with the so-called Cortina Wars. Glaevecke, a native of Rostock, Prussia, had come to Texas with three of his brothers in 1836. Nearly all subsequent historians have used his account of the actions of Juan N. Cortina, whose rebellion against border Anglo-Texans is legendary. ...................................................................................................................... Prussian mapmaker retires from General Land Office On this day in 1899, Karl Wilhelm Pressler (Presler), surveyor and cartographer, retired from the General Land Office in Austin. Pressler was born in Thuringia, Prussia, in 1823 and was educated as a surveyor. Dissatisfied with political and religious conditions, he left Prussia in 1845 as a member of the Adelsverein and landed in Texas in 1846. He moved to Austin and was employed by Jacob De Cordova, who made him the head of surveying expeditions in 1846 and 1847. Pressler checked the details of De Cordova's first map of Texas, issued in 1849. After purchasing a farm in Austin County, Pressler returned to the city of Austin in December 1850 and became a draftsman in the General Land Office. He became principal draftsman in 1858 and chief draftsman in 1865 and, except for short periods of service elsewhere, served until his retirement. Among his noteworthy mapping efforts, Pressler computed the area of the counties in Texas for De Cordova's Texas: Her Resources and Her Public Men (1858), revised and corrected De Cordova's 1856 map of Texas, and in 1858 published his own map of the state. In 1879 Pressler and Langermann issued a map of Texas in three sizes, and in 1889 Pressler prepared a map of Texas that was never published. He is also credited with the preparation of thirty-eight Texas county maps. Pressler died in 1907. ......And so the Texas History goes in 2 chapters this day
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 17, 2008 18:15:08 GMT -5
January 17 in Texas History.....Moses Austin A Connecticut Yankee in Texas On this date in 1821, the government of New Spain granted Moses Austin a permit to settle 300 families in Texas. This momentous agreement began the process of Anglo-American colonization in the future state. The elder Austin died, however, before he could fulfill his part of the contract, and his son Stephen F. Austin was recognized as his successor. Although Mexican independence from Spain cast temporary doubt on the future of the contract, a special decree issued in April 1823 allowed S. F. Austin to begin the colonization that led eventually to the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 19, 2008 0:48:48 GMT -5
January 18 in Texas History..... Texas historian and author born in Cincinnati On this day in 1817, Julia Lee was born to George and Mary Lee of Cincinnati. The Lees moved to Austin in 1840. Julia married George W. Sinks, then chief clerk of the Post Office Department of the Republic of Texas. Mrs. Sinks demonstrated a notable interest in Texas history, collecting various documents and contributing historical notes and columns to newspapers in Dallas and Galveston. She was a charter member and vice president of the Texas State Historical Association upon its formation in 1897 and contributed articles to the first two volumes of the association's journals. Following her death in 1904, her collection of documents relating to Texas history was donated to the University of Texas. Today these documents form part of the Eugene C. Barker Texas collection of the Center for American History. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 19, 2008 18:06:29 GMT -5
January 19 in Texas History..... ;D Waterloo approved as new capital of Texas On this day in 1839, Waterloo (soon to be renamed Austin) was approved as the new capital of the Republic of Texas. In 1836 Columbia (now West Columbia) had become the first capital of an elected government of the republic. It remained capital for three months. The city of Houston was then selected as a temporary capital until 1839. A capital-site commission selected a site near La Grange in 1838 and Congress passed a bill to build the capital there, but President Sam Houston vetoed it. Mirabeau B. Lamar, Houston's successor as president and a proponent of westward expansion, instructed the commission to inspect a site he had visited on the Colorado River. Impressed by its beauty, abundant natural resources, and central location, the commission purchased 7,735 acres comprising the hamlet of Waterloo and adjacent lands. Because the area's remoteness from population centers and its vulnerability to attacks by Mexican troops and Indians displeased many Texans, including Houston, political opposition made Austin's early years precarious ones. In 1842, during his second term as president, Houston ordered the government to return to the city of Houston, and issued an executive order making Washington-on-the-Brazos capital. The order spawned the Archive War. The Constitution of 1845 provided that Austin be capital until 1850, when a vote was required to choose the permanent capital. The city received majorities in that election and a subsequent election in 1872. ....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 20, 2008 17:19:52 GMT -5
January 20 in Texas History..... Cofounder of Irish colony murdered On this day in 1853, John McMullen, cofounder of the McMullen-McGloin Colony, was murdered by an unidentified assassin in San Antonio. McMullen, born in Ireland in 1785, was a merchant in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, when he was attracted by the 1825 colonization law of Coahuila and Texas and became an empresario. He entered into a partnership with James McGloin, and they received a contract in 1828 which authorized them to settle 200 families on the left bank of the Nueces River. McMullen and McGloin personally accompanied the first group of Irish colonists from New York to Texas in October 1829. The Irish remained about a year at Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mission and then moved to San Patricio. During the Texas Revolution McMullen was a member of the General Council. He was fluent in Spanish and translated for the provisional government; upon the impeachment of Governor Henry Smith he served in January and February 1836 as temporary president of the council. After the revolution he moved from San Patricio to San Antonio, where he served as alderman from 1840 to 1844. In 1844 he sold the majority of his San Patricio holdings to McGloin and became a merchant at San Antonio. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 21, 2008 18:07:30 GMT -5
January 21 in Texas History.... "Know-Nothings" abandon secrecy, meet in Austin
On this day in 1856, the American or Know-Nothing party of Texas met for the first time in open convention in Austin. The party was the political manifestation of the xenophobic, anti-Catholic secret society known as the American Order. In the summer of 1855 Texas Know-Nothing leaders launched a plan to gain political control of the state. Lieutenant Governor David C. Dickson, who had defected from the Democratic party, headed the ticket, though he and his fellow candidates steadfastly denied that they were members of the American Order. During the spirited ensuing campaign Sam Houston issued a public letter endorsing the principles of the American Order. Though incumbent Democratic governor Elisha M. Pease defeated Dickson in the August election, the American party elected Lemuel D. Evans to Congress and about a dozen members to the state legislature. Buoyed by these limited successes, the party held a November rally in Austin at which Houston spoke, and at the January convention elected delegates to the national convention and nominated candidates for several state offices. But the national movement soon split over the issue of slavery, and by 1857 the American party had virtually disappeared in Texas. .....And so goes the Texas History ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 22, 2008 20:29:49 GMT -5
January 22 in Texas History..... First steamboat reaches Houston On this day in 1837, the first steamboat to ascend the Brazos River above Harrisburg brought Augustus C. and John K. Allen and a number of other prominent Texans to the new capital of Houston. The Laura was built in Louisville, Kentucky, for use on the Brazos by Thomas F. McKinney and Samuel M. Williams. After her arrival in Texas in June 1835 she had a notable career. In September 1835 the Laura towed the armed schooner San Felipe to engage and capture the Mexican cruiser Correo, which had been seizing United States vessels calling at Texas ports. In April 1836 the Laura took vice president Lorenzo de Zavala and secretary of the treasury Bailey Hardeman to the site of the battle of San Jacinto; they were the first officials to arrive there from Galveston Island. In May the Laura took Republic of Texas president David G. Burnet, his cabinet, and Antonio López de Santa Anna and his aides from Galveston to Velasco. The vessel remained in government service through September 1836, when McKinney and Williams resumed using her to gather Brazos River cotton. In June 1840 she broke both shafts on a bar in the Brazos River and was towed into port. Her subsequent fate is unknown. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 23, 2008 22:42:56 GMT -5
January 23 in Texas History..... Domingo Terán de los Ríos appointed first governor of Texas On this day in 1691, the Conde de Gálvez appointed Domingo Terán de los Ríos the first governor of the Spanish province of Coahuila and Texas. Most historians consider the appointment the beginning of Texas as a political entity. Terán's instructions, prepared by a Junta de Hacienda acting under suggestions by Damián Massanet, were to establish seven missions among the Tejas Indians; to investigate rumors of foreign settlements on the coast; and to keep records of geography, natives, and products. Terán's army crossed the Rio Grande in May and explored East Texas as far as Caddo settlements on the Red River until December. By March 1692 Terán had returned to Matagorda Bay, where Juan Enríquez Barroto gave him instructions from the viceroy to explore the lower reaches of the Mississippi River. Bad weather caused Terán to abandon the project and return to Veracruz in April. Terán's mission proved to be a complete failure. He succeeded in founding no new missions, and the expedition added little new information about the region. After his return, Terán compiled a lengthy report, defending his actions and detailing the dismal situation in East Texas. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 24, 2008 17:37:06 GMT -5
January 24 in Texas History..... Famous former slave dies at the hands of Indians On this date in 1871, Britton Johnson was killed by a band of Kiowas who attacked his wagontrain. He had become legendary in the previous decade for pursuing Indians who kidnapped his wife and children. After his adventures on the Llano Estacado, Johnson worked as a teamster hauling goods between Weatherford and Fort Griffin. The evidence of spent cartridges suggests that he defended himself fiercely before dying. He and his men were buried in a common grave beside the road. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 25, 2008 18:23:56 GMT -5
January 25 in Texas History + 2..... ;D Lone Star heraldry
On this day in 1839, the Republic of Texas Congress adopted the Texas coat of arms -- a white star of five points on an azure ground encircled by olive and live oak branches. The national seal bore these arms encircled by the words Republic of Texas. In 1845 the designation was altered from Republic to State.
Isleño leader dies
On this day in 1779, Vicente Álvarez Travieso, leader of the isleño settlers of San Antonio, died. Álvarez Travieso was born on the island of Tenerife in 1705. When Spanish royal authorities, hoping to reduce the expense of a purely military settlement, decided on a plan to transfer a number of Canary Islanders to Texas, Álvarez Travieso joined them. When they arrived at their new home, San Fernando de Béxar (now San Antonio), in 1731, the isleños established the first regularly organized municipal government in Texas and elected Álvarez Travieso alguacil mayor (chief constable) for life. He soon became a leading spokesman for the colonists and something of a problem for the colonial administration. When the islanders were refused permission to travel to Saltillo for medical attention, Álvarez Travieso launched a series of lawsuits on behalf of his disgruntled companions. In the 1770s the Álvarez Travieso clan became known for their vigorous pursuit of unbranded stray cattle, many of which had wandered away from neighboring mission pastures. To stop such "excesses" Governor Vicencio de Ripperdá conducted two rustling trials against the ranchers of the San Antonio River valley. Álvarez Travieso died just after these proceedings. .....And so the Texas History goes ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 26, 2008 18:46:17 GMT -5
January 26 in Texas History..... Murphy earns Medal of Honor
On this day in 1945, Audie Murphy, the most-decorated soldier in United States history, earned the Medal of Honor by single-handedly repelling a German attack. The Texas native enlisted in the United States Army in June 1942. During World War II he received thirty-three awards, citations, and decorations. After the war he starred in numerous movies, wrote country-and-western songs, and pursued other business interests. Murphy was killed in an airplane crash in 1971 and was buried near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. ......And so goes the Texas History ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 27, 2008 17:22:13 GMT -5
January 27 in Texas History..... San Jacinto fife player advertises his services as a music teacher On this day in 1838, Frederick Lemsk? advertised in the Telegraph and Texas Register offering his services as a music teacher and teacher of German and French. Lemsk?, born in Europe, came to Texas in 1836 and enlisted in the Texas army. He was a musician in the army until December 1836 and is said to have played "Come to the Bower" on the fife at the battle of San Jacinto. In 1841 Lemsk? was a charter member of the German Union of Texas, and in 1842 he was recorded as the employer of thirty men digging the Brazos and San Luis Canal in Brazoria County. Lemsk? and a partner named Franke drowned while transporting corn on a flat barge in Galveston Bay when a "hard norther" blew in and capsized the barge. According to the probate records in Brazoria County, "1 octave flute" and "1 keyed flute" were included in the inventory of his property. They were sold for $2.25 at auction in June 1844. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 28, 2008 17:56:23 GMT -5
January 28 in Texas History..... Italian hero of San Jacinto arrives in Texas On this day in 1836, Prospero Bernardi arrived in Texas aboard the schooner Pennsylvania as a member of Capt. Amasa Turner's volunteer company, raised in New Orleans. Bernardi was born in Italy in 1794 and was a notary by trade. He enlisted in the Texas army on February 13, 1836, and distinguished himself in the battle of San Jacinto. He remained in the army until January or February 1837, when he was medically discharged from John Smith's company at Galveston because of a spinal injury sustained during combat. Bernardi received a bounty grant and a first-class headright grant for his military service, but both were assigned to other parties. Bernardi's whereabouts by 1838 were unclear. In February of that year two former fellow soldiers testified that they understood he was deceased. A bust of the Italian soldier stands in front of the Hall of State, Fair Park, Dallas, to commemorate his participation in the battle of San Jacinto. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by neferetus on Jan 28, 2008 23:22:55 GMT -5
Regarding Frederick Lemsk, the San Jacinto fifer, he was of Czech origin. (From the country known then as Bohemia.)
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 29, 2008 21:29:49 GMT -5
January 29 in Texas History..... Rangers ambush Apaches at Hueco Tanks On this day in 1881, a company of Texas Rangers ambushed a group of fugitive Guadalupe Apaches at Hueco Tanks, thirty miles east of El Paso. Hueco, Spanish for "hollow," refers to the hollows in the rocks that collect rainwater, which has long been one of the chief attractions in this arid land; around 1860 the tanks were capable of holding a year's supply of water. Until about 1910 they furnished virtually the only water between the Pecos River and El Paso, and thus were a popular camping spot for Mescalero and Lipan Apache, Kiowa, Tigua, and various other Indians. An estimated 5,000 pictographs and a few petroglyphs are scattered in more than fifty sites throughout what is now Hueco Tanks State Historic Site. ......And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Jan 31, 2008 1:02:31 GMT -5
January 30 in Texas History..... Englishman and future critic arrives in Texas
On this day in 1840, British lawyer and writer Nicholas Maillard arrived in Texas. He settled in Richmond, where he acquired a reputation as a mixer of excellent drinks and became coeditor of the Richmond Telescope. In May and June 1840 he made several trips to Houston and one to Austin, but by mid-August had returned to London, where he immediately began writing letters to the press and to British officials condemning Texas. In 1842 he published a book, The History of the Republic of Texas, from the Discovery of the Country to the Present Time and the Cause of Her Separation from the Republic of Mexico, in which he claimed that the Texans were "a people whose existence as an independent nation is owing, first, to their own base treason, and secondly, to a political juggle of Andrew Jackson." Texas, he continued, was "filled with habitual liars, drunkards, blasphemers, and slanderers; sanguinary gamesters and cold-blooded assassins; with idleness and sluggish indolence (two vices for which the Texans are already proverbial); with pride, engendered by ignorance and supported by fraud." He warned against the recognition of Texas by Great Britain and against British emigration to the wretched, sickly place. Though biased, the book nevertheless contained an excellent account of the Indians. Ashbel Smith, chargé d'affaires to Great Britain, stated that the book failed to "produce the slightest effect" upon the British recognition of Texas independence, which was accomplished on June 28, 1842. .....And so goes the Texas History ;D
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