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Post by Cole_blooded on Mar 22, 2008 16:47:31 GMT -5
March 22 in Texas History..... Texas Navy schooner seizes mercantile brig; friction with U.S. ensues
On this day in 1836, the sixty-ton armed schooner Liberty, commanded by William S. Brown, seized the brig Durango in Matagorda Bay. The Durango was owned by a New Orleans mercantile house with a longstanding interest in the Texas trade, which makes it unlikely that she was carrying war contraband designed to assist the Mexican army. A more likely explanation for the seizure is that the fledgling Texas Navy simply needed the vessel and her supplies; the Liberty had been the first ship purchased by the republic, only two months before. The Durango incident added to an already hostile attitude within the United States about attacks by both Mexico and Texas on United States vessels, which eventually led to the arrest of the crew of the Invincible after this vessel captured the United States merchant vessel Pocket. The Durango incident was closed officially in 1838, when Texas and the United States entered into a convention of indemnity. The total settlement, which also made provisions for the Pocket claims, was for $11,750 plus accrued interest. .....And so goes the Texas History ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Mar 25, 2008 14:58:01 GMT -5
March 25 in Texas History..... Texas force decimated after black bean lottery On this day in 1843, seventeen Texans were executed at Salado, Tamaulipas, Mexico. As the members of the defeated Mier expedition were being marched from Mier to Mexico City, they attempted a mass escape on February 11. Some 176 were recaptured, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna ordered that one in ten of the prisoners be shot. The victims were chosen by a lottery in which each man drew a bean from an earthen jar containing 176 beans, seventeen of which were black. This event has come to be known as the Black Bean Episode. The bodies were returned to Texas and are buried on Monument Hill at La Grange, Fayette County. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Mar 26, 2008 14:42:53 GMT -5
March 26 in Texas History..... From Sam Houston`s copy of Seguin`s original letter. The copy was made by John William Smith, aka "El Colorado" the last messenger from the Alamo and the first Texan mayor of San Antonio!
Camp Houston March 26th 1837
Capt. Pratt Sir You are ordered to proceed with the detach- ment of this corps under your command to the ranches below and about Bexar and collect and press for the Public service and use of this Regt. all the horses and mules you can find without excepting any, except those belonging to members of this corps. You will give receipts to their owners for all you so press which receipt of yours shall be redeem'd by my own so soon as presented.
Capt. Manchaca accompanies you and is subject to your order altho as he is acquainted with the Country and Language you may find it eligeable [sic] to consult with him on such points as may be necessary to carry into due effect the object of your mission.
You will permit no individual what- ever under your command to separate from the detachment and you will not remain in Bexar more than 24 hours.
Should the Alcalde of Bexar deliver to you Salt, Tobacco, or other articles for the use of this Regt. you will receive and cause them to be convey'd to this camp with your command and all the horses and mules you can obtain with the greatest possible brevity.
Your most obt Servt., Juan N. Seguin Lieut. Col. Command.
The above is a copy of the order in possession of Capt. Pratt in English sign'd by Seguin, Bexar, 28th March, 1837.
Jn. W. Smith Clerk P.C.C.
.....Another chapter in Texas History ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Mar 27, 2008 17:20:40 GMT -5
March 26/27 in Texas History..... Extract from the Diary of Col. Nicolás de la Portilla In a Letter Portilla to Urrea....."I feel much distressed at what has occurred here; a scene enacted in cold blood having passed before my eyes which has filled me with horror. All I can say is, that my duty as a soldier, and what I owe to my country, must be my guaranty...." March 26. At seven in the evening I received orders from General Santa Anna by special messenger, instructing me to execute at once all prisoners taken by force of arms agreeable to the general orders on the subject. (I have the original order in my possession.) I kept the matter secret and no one knew of it except Col. Garay, to whom I communicated the order. At eight o'clock, on the same night, I received a communication from Gen. Urrea by special messenger in which among other things he says, "Treat the prisoners well, especially Fannin. Keep them busy rebuilding the town and erecting a fort. Feed them with the cattle you will receive from Refugio." What a cruel contrast in these opposite instructions! I spent a restless night. March 27. At daybreak, I decided to carry out the orders of the general-in-chief because I considered them superior. I assembled the whole garrison and ordered the prisoners, who were still sleeping, to be awaked. There were 445. (The eighty that had just been taken at Cópano and had, consequently, not borne arms against the government, were set aside.) The prisoners were divided into three groups and each was placed in charge of an adequate guard, the first under Agustin Alcerrica, the second under Capt. Luis Balderas, and the third under Capt. Antonio Ramírez. I gave instructions to these officers to carry out the orders of the supreme government and the general-in-chief. This was immediately done. There was a great contrast in the feelings of the officers and the men. Silence prevailed. Sad at heart I wrote to Gen. Urrea expressing my regret at having been concerned in so painful an affair. I also sent an official account of what I had done, to the general-in-chief. [Portilla to Urrea, Goliad, March 26 1836 and Portilla to Urrea, Goliad, March 27, 1836] .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Mar 30, 2008 16:53:18 GMT -5
.....March 30 in Texas History Congressional Reconstruction ends as Texas readmitted to Union
On this day in 1870, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the act that ended Congressional Reconstruction and readmitted Texas to the Union. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Texas had been in turmoil, first under Presidential Reconstruction and then, beginning in 1867 with the passage of the First Reconstruction Act, under Congressional Reconstruction. The latter required that Texas have a constitutional convention, with delegates elected by all male citizens over the age of twenty-one, regardless of race, color, or "previous condition of servitude." The convention was to write a new state constitution that would provide for universal adult male suffrage. When the constitution had been written and the state had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Congress would consider the case for readmission to the Union. The convention met at Austin in June 1868 and did not adjourn until February 1869. The constitution it produced differed significantly from previous constitutions by authorizing a more centralized and bureaucratized system of government, with greater power in the hands of the governor. In February 1870 the Twelfth Legislature assembled at Austin to adopt the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments and select United States senators in preparation for readmission to the Union. They quickly approved the amendments and selected Morgan C. Hamilton for a six-year term and James W. Flanagan for a four-year term. This completed the requirements set by Congress for readmission. ......And so goes the Texas History ;D
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Post by Cole_blooded on Apr 3, 2008 17:33:11 GMT -5
March 3 in Texas History..... Legendary Texan born in Virginia On this day in 1817, Bigfoot Wallace was born in Lexington, Virginia. He arrived in Texas during the Texas Revolution, fought Gen. Adrián Woll's invading Mexican army near San Antonio in 1842, and then volunteered for the Somervell and Mier expeditions. Some of his most graphic memories were of his experiences in Perote Prison. As soon as he was released, he joined the Texas Rangers under Jack Hays and fought with the rangers in the Mexican War. In the 1850s Captain Wallace commanded a ranger company of his own, fighting border bandits as well as Indians. He spent his later years in Frio County, near a hamlet named Bigfoot. There he was known as a mellow and convivial soul who liked to sit in a roomy rawhide-bottomed chair in the shade of his shanty and tell over the stories of his career. .....And so goes Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Apr 4, 2008 22:02:53 GMT -5
April 4 in Texas History..... Sarah Ann Horn and other settlers captured by Indians On this day in 1836, Sarah Ann Horn was captured by Comanche Indians near the Nueces River. Her family was traveling from the failed Dolores settlement, in Beales's Rio Grande colony, hoping to reach the port of Matamoros. The Comanches killed several men, including John Horn, Sarah's husband. After capture, Sarah was separated from her children. In 1837 American traders ransomed her at a trading rendezvous in New Mexico. She moved in 1838 to Missouri, where writer E. House recorded her account of her captivity, published the following year as A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Horn, and Her Two Children. Sarah Horn died in 1839 from injuries sustained during her captivity. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Apr 8, 2008 14:40:41 GMT -5
April 8 in Texas History..... General Taylor foils Union campaign in Louisiana On this day in 1864, Confederate forces under Richard Taylor defeated a much larger Union force at the battle of Mansfield, Louisiana. Union general Nathaniel Banks had gathered an army of some 17,000 Federal troops to advance up the Red River to Alexandria and Shreveport, hoping to cut off the flow of supplies from Texas and to capture large quantities of cotton. General Taylor, commanding a Confederate force of Texas and Louisiana units, attacked the long, 12,000-man Union column three miles south of Mansfield with an army of 8,800 men. Taylor's force killed or wounded 700 Union soldiers, captured 1,500, and took 20 Union cannons and 200 wagons. About 1,000 Confederates were killed or wounded. It was one of the most humiliating Union defeats of the war. The following day Taylor's army was repulsed when it attacked the Union army at Pleasant Hill. Nevertheless, stung by his defeat on the 8th and convinced that Taylor's army was much larger than it was, Banks gave the order to retire on the night of April 9. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Apr 17, 2008 16:04:29 GMT -5
April 17 in Texas History..... Historic academy building dedicated in New Braunfels On this day in 1856, a stone building was dedicated at the newly established New Braunfels Academy. A twenty-year charter granted in 1858 provided that the school be governed by a board of six trustees, the mayor of New Braunfels, and the Comal county judge. The academy was supported by a city tax and tuition. New Braunfels is said to be the first city in Texas in which the citizens voted unanimously for a school tax. In 1876 the school received support from the Peabody Fund. When the charter was about to expire in 1878, a legislative act to renew it was vetoed by Governor O. M. Roberts, who thought the act establishing the academy was not in harmony with Texas constitution. The original long, one-story building of New Braunfels Academy was razed in 1913 to be replaced by a two-story school building on the same location, at East Mill and Academy streets. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Apr 18, 2008 16:55:49 GMT -5
April 18 in Texas History..... Juan Seguín resigns as mayor of San Antonio On this day in 1842, Juan N. Seguín resigned as mayor of San Antonio. Seguín, a native San Antonian, was born in 1806; his father Erasmo was a prominent public figure who later served as alcalde. Juan fought in the Texas Revolution, escaping death at the Alamo when he was sent out as a courier shortly before the fall of the citadel. Seguín was elected to the Republic of Texas Senate in 1837--the only Mexican Texan to serve in that body--but resigned in 1840 and was then elected mayor of San Antonio. His tenure in that office was controversial; his continuing conflicts with Anglo squatters on city property and his business correspondence with Mexico incriminated him in Gen. Rafael Vásquez's invasion of San Antonio in March 1842. Fearing for his life, Seguín resigned and fled with his family to Mexico. He participated in Adrián Woll's invasion of Texas in September 1842 and fought against the United States in the Mexican War, but returned to Texas after the war. He died in Nuevo Laredo in 1890. The town of Seguin was named in his honor in 1839. .....And so the History goes
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Post by neferetus on Apr 20, 2008 12:37:05 GMT -5
On April 20, a detachment of Texas cavalry reconnoitering the route to Lynch's Ferry captured a flatboat full of provisions, staged for use by Santa Anna's men near the ferry landing. The Texas Army arrived near this spot about 11:00 AM on April 20. They had marched through mud all night from Harrisburg, which the Mexicans had burned. The last part of their route approximated coming north to enter the site on the present Highway 134. The morning of April 20 was cold and gray when Sidney Sherman's 2nd Volunteer Regiment camped. Sherman was born in Massachusetts and was a 31-year-old Lieutenant Colonel in 1836. Sherman's men were at the northern end of a campground that extended south for about 500 yards along the wooded banks of the Buffalo Bayou. Here the Texians had water, cover and concealment among the trees, captured Mexican provisions, and, soon after their arrival, cattle foraged from the widow Peggy McCormick's ranch on which the camp was located. Recognizing the Texians might have to retreat if attacked in force, Houston had barges and rafts his men found along the shore moored near the camp so they could be used for escape across Buffalo Bayou, which was then about 250 yards wide. There were very few tents in the Texians' camp, not even one for General Houston himself. After the events of April 20, the Texians slept on the muddy ground in blanket rolls around 20 or 30 campfires.
A second detachment of Houston's cavalry had been sent to New Washington to reconnoiter Santa Anna's movements. This detachment found the Mexicans had burned the town and were advancing toward Lynch's Ferry. The Mexican Army arrived about noon. Santa Anna had his only artillery piece, a 12 pounder called "The Golden Standard", open fire on the Texians from high ground to the south of the mid-point of the present day reflecting pool. He also sent a company of infantry to fire on the Texians from a position near the northwest corner of the present day reflecting pool. The "Twin Sisters", the Texians' two 6-pounder cannon, loaded with grape shot (small cannon balls that functioned like shotgun pellets) and broken horseshoes, drove the Mexican infantry back, but not before Colonel James C. Neill, the officer in charge of the Texas artillery, was wounded. When the Mexican Army withdrew, it made camp about 3/4 of a mile east-southeast of the Texians' camp.
That afternoon, Colonel Sidney Sherman with a small detachment of cavalry engaged the enemy infantry, almost bringing on a general action. In the clash two Texians were wounded---one of them, Olwyn J. Trask, mortally---and several horses were killed. In this preliminary skirmish Mirabeau B. Lamar, a private from Georgia (later President of the Republic of Texas), so distinguished himself that on the next day he was placed in command of the cavalry.
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Post by Cole_blooded on Apr 23, 2008 0:05:25 GMT -5
April 22 in Texas History..... Spanish explorer finds defunct French fort On this day in 1689, Spanish explorer Alonso De León discovered the ruins of a French settlement, Fort St. Louis, on the Texas coast. The fort had been established by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in the summer of 1685. In February 1685 La Salle, seeking the mouth of the Mississippi River, had landed 280 colonists, including 100 soldiers, at the mouth of Matagorda Bay in Spanish-claimed territory. The explorer made a temporary camp on Matagorda Island while he sought a more secure location farther up the bay. In April he chose a site on an eminence overlooking the "Riviére aux Boeufs." Though disease devastated his men, La Salle saw the building well under way by autumn, when he set out to explore the surrounding country. In January 1687 he departed on his last journey, leaving at the fort scarcely more than twenty men, women, and children in the charge of the Sieur de Barbier. In late 1688 or early 1689 the Karankawa Indians gained entry to the fort under guise of friendship and murdered all the occupants but five children. Meanwhile, news that the French had founded a settlement on the northern Gulf Coast had agitated New Spain in the mid-1680s. As a result, De León led four expeditions between 1686 and 1689 seeking to find and destroy the French installation. The fourth expedition left Coahuila on March 27, 1689, with a force of 114 men, and found the deserted settlement on April 22. .....And so goes the Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Nov 20, 2009 19:00:07 GMT -5
November 20 in Texas History..... Secretary of State recommends republic grant copyrights
On this day in 1837, Robert A. Irion, secretary of state for the Republic of Texas, recommended in his annual report to the Congress that the republic grant copyrights. This was not the first discussion of copyrights in the Republic of Texas. On March 15, 1836, the delegates to the Convention of 1836 voted to add to the Constitution Article II, Section 3, authorizing patents and copyrights, but provided for a three-year delay before implementation. In 1838 Congress made an attempt to pass a special law authorizing copyright of a map for five years, but this failed to pass. Finally, on January 28, 1839, President Mirabeau B. Lamar approved an act that provided "patent" rights, running for fourteen years, on "composition of matter, liberal arts, sciences or literature, books, maps or charts," to citizens and those who had filed intentions of becoming citizens, upon payment of a thirty-dollar fee. Only three copyrights were issued, and of the copyrighted works only one was published, George William Bonnell's Topographical Description of Texas, to Which Is Added an Account of the Indian Tribes (Austin: Clark, Wing, and Brown, 1840). The imprint of this small volume is unique in that it states the copyright was secured in the Republic of Texas. Inasmuch as two of the three works registered in the republic were never published and the third was registered in the United States as well as in Texas, when Texas was admitted into the Union, there was no necessity for Texas copyrights to be incorporated into the United States copyright system, and no action was taken. .....Another chapter in Texas History
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Post by Greg C. on Nov 21, 2009 0:14:13 GMT -5
Sure did miss this thread, Ted.
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Post by Cole_blooded on Nov 21, 2009 16:10:34 GMT -5
I hear you! ;D
November 21 in Texas History.....
Robertson party sets out from Tennessee to explore Leftwich grant
On this day in 1825, thirty-two men under Dr. Felix Robertson set out from Nashville, Tennessee, to explore Robert Leftwich's grant in Texas. Leftwich, a Virginia-born empresario, was a member of the Texas Association, a group of Nashville investors who sought to obtain a colonization grant from Mexico, but had obtained a contract in his own name. Leftwich transferred the contract to the Texas Association in August 1825 on condition that the territory should thereafter be referred to as Leftwich's Grant. Ill health prevented Leftwich from accompanying the Robertson expedition to Texas. The party explored the country along the Brazos, Little, Leon, Lampasas, Salado, and San Gabriel rivers before returning to Tennessee in April 1826. In the spring of 1830, Sterling C. Robertson, who had been part of the expedition, and his partner Alexander Thomson Jr. began recruiting families to come to Texas, but were prevented by the Law of April 6, 1830, from settling them on Leftwich's Grant. Instead, they settled in Stephen F. Austin's colony. In 1831 Austin and Samuel May Williams filed for the land originally granted to Leftwich, though three years later the governor cancelled the Austin and Williams contract and awarded a new contract to Sterling C. Robertson as empresario. Afterward, the area was called Robertson's colony.
.....Another chapter in Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Nov 22, 2009 15:05:43 GMT -5
November 22 in Texas History..... President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas On this day in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. After breakfast in Fort Worth he flew to Dallas and, with his wife and Governor and Mrs. John Connally, began a motorcade trip in an open car toward downtown Dallas. As the car passed through Dealy Plaza several shots rang out. Both Kennedy and Connally were hit. Kennedy died at 1:00 PM in Parkland Hospital. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States at 2:38 PM. .....Another chapter in Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Nov 23, 2009 22:49:26 GMT -5
November 23 in Texas History.....
Self-styled Baron de Bastrop born in Dutch Guiana
On this day in 1759, Philip Hendrik Nering Bögel, one of the most important and colorful figures in the history of the colonization of Texas, was born in Dutch Guiana. Bögel moved to Holland with his parents in 1764, and in 1779 enlisted in the cavalry of Holland and Upper Issel. He claimed to have left the Netherlands in 1793 due to the French invasion of Holland, but actually left to avoid trial on charges of embezzlement of tax funds. Bögel decamped to Spanish Louisiana, where he adopted the title Baron de Bastrop and represented himself as a Dutch nobleman. After Louisiana was sold to the United States in 1803, Bastrop moved to Spanish Texas and was permitted to establish a colony between Bexar and the Trinity River. In 1806 he settled in San Antonio, where he had a freighting business and gained influence with the inhabitants and officials. In 1820, Bastrop convinced Governor Antonio María Martínez to approve Moses Austin's project to establish an Anglo-American colony in Texas. Bastrop also served as intermediary with the Mexican government for Stephen F. Austin. Beginning in 1824, Bastrop served in the state legislature of Coahuila and Texas. He died in 1827 and was buried in Saltillo. Though his pretensions to nobility were not universally accepted at face value even in his own lifetime, he earned respect as a diplomat and legislator.
.....Another chaprwe in Texas History
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Post by Greg C. on Nov 23, 2009 22:53:13 GMT -5
November 22 in Texas History..... President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas On this day in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. After breakfast in Fort Worth he flew to Dallas and, with his wife and Governor and Mrs. John Connally, began a motorcade trip in an open car toward downtown Dallas. As the car passed through Dealy Plaza several shots rang out. Both Kennedy and Connally were hit. Kennedy died at 1:00 PM in Parkland Hospital. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States at 2:38 PM. .....Another chapter in Texas History Ah I forgot all about that! I always watch JFK every year on the anniversary.
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Post by Cole_blooded on Nov 26, 2009 0:49:02 GMT -5
November 25 in Texas History.....
First Texas Navy created
On this day in 1835, the first Texas Navy was established when the General Council authorized the purchase of four schooners and granted letters of marque and reprisal to privateers until the ships were armed. Established to protect the supply line to New Orleans, the navy included the 60-ton Liberty, the 125-ton Independence, the 125-ton Brutus, and the 125-ton Invincible. All four ships were lost by mid-1837, and the Texas Navy virtually ceased to exist until March 1839, when the first ship of the second navy was commissioned. A cruise ending in July 1843 marked the end of the operative career of the Texas Navy, as a truce with Mexico came that summer and the United States undertook to protect Texas until annexation. In June 1846 the ships of the Texas Navy were transferred to the United States Navy. The officers of the Texas Navy desired to be included in the transfer, but seniority-minded United States naval officers opposed the proposal. In 1857 the claims of the surviving Texas Navy officers were settled, and the Texas Navy was no more.
.....Another chapter in Texas History
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Post by Cole_blooded on Dec 2, 2009 23:44:38 GMT -5
December 2 in Texas History..... Lucy Pickens's face appears on Confederate $100 bills
On this day in 1862, the Confederate government issued $100 notes bearing a portrait of the renowned Southern beauty Lucy Pickens. Lucy Holcombe was born in 1832 in Tennessee. Between 1848 and 1850 the Holcombes moved to Wyalucing plantation in Marshall, Texas. Lucy became highly acclaimed throughout the South for her "classic features, titian hair, pansy eyes, and graceful figure." In the summer of 1856 she met Francis Wilkinson Pickens, twice a widower and twenty-seven years her senior. Her acceptance of his marriage proposal, it is said, hinged on his acceptance of a diplomatic post abroad. President James Buchanan appointed him ambassador to Russia, and Pickens and Lucy were wed in 1858 at Wyalucing. Lucy was a favorite at the Russian court, but Pickens resigned his diplomatic post in the fall of 1860 in anticipation of the outbreak of the Civil War. Upon his return home he was elected governor of South Carolina. By selling the jewels that had been given her in Russia, Lucy helped outfit the Confederate Army unit that bore her name, the Lucy Holcombe Legion. Her portrait was also used on the one-dollar Confederate notes issued on June 2, 1862. She died in 1899. .....Another chapter in Texas History
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