Category Archives: Texas History

Today in Texas History – May 11

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From the Annals of Bass Fishing –  In 1964, construction began to create what would become the largest reservoir in Texas.  The building of the Toledo Bend Dam on the Sabine River eighty miles north of Beaumont would ultimately create the Toledo Bend Reservoir. The reservoir takes in parts of four Texas Counties (Newton, Sabine, Panola, and Shelby) and two Louisiana Parishes (Sabine and De Soto). The lake is the largest in the South, and the fifth largest by surface area in the United States  The dam was built Texas and Louisiana, without any assistance from the federal government.  When completed in 1969, the Toledo Bend Reservoir provides water for municipal, industrial, agricultural, and recreational purposes, as well as hydroelectric power and flood control for the lower Sabine.  The lake is most famous for its bass fishing opportunities and hosts numerous tournaments.

Today in Texas History – May 8

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Palo Alto nebel.jpg

From the Annals of the Border Wars –  In 1846, U.S. forces under the command of Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated a Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto near present day Brownsville.  The battle was the first major engagement of the Mexican-American War but was fought prior to the actual declaration of war against Mexico. The movement towards war had begun when the U.S. annexed the Republic of Texas as a new state in 1845.  Mexico had refused to recognize Texas as an independent country and disputed the Rio Grande as an international boundary instead claiming sovereignty up to the Nueces.  After the Texas annexation and in a move to deliberately provoke the war, President James K. Polk ordered Taylor to defend the Rio Grande border. Taylor positioned his forces along the Rio Grande. Mexican General Mariano Arista viewed this as a hostile invasion of Mexican territory, and on April 25, 1846, he took his soldiers across the river and attacked. Polk having achieved the conflict that he desperately sought asked Congress to declare war which they did on May 13. But the real fighting had already started. In the weeks following the initial skirmish along the Rio Grande, Taylor engaged the Mexicans at the battle of Palo Alto on May 8, and the next day at Resaca de la Palma.  Taylor, nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready” by his soldiers, emerged from the war a national hero ultimately becoming President in1848.  He proved to be an unskilled politician who accomplished little before dying in office in 1850.

Today in Texas History – May 6

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From the Annals of the Civil War –  Color Sergeant Leopold Karpeles won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at the battle of the Wilderness on this date in 1864. Karpeles was a Jewish native of Prague who emigrated to Texas in 1849.  He worked as a merchant in Galveston.  However, his opposition to slavery and secession led him to leave Texas for Massachusetts in 1861 where he enlisted in the Forty-sixth Massachusetts Infantry.  He mustered out in 1863 and in 1864 joined the Fifty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry.  His incredible bravery at the Wilderness was rewarded with the highest military honor. At several crucial stages of the battle, Karpeles exposed himself to enemy fire by climbing up on stumps and rallying the regiment around its colors to repel an enemy advance. Of the 548 men his regiment, 262 were lost in the battle – casualty figures that are hard to fathom in this day and era.  He was later badly wounded in the Battle of North Anna, and spent the next year recovering in military hospitals.  He was discharged in May 1865 after the war ended.  In 1870 he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Wilderness.

Today in Texas History

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From the Annals of the Hail from Hell –  In 1995, a surprise and deadly hail storm struck Fort Worth  and Dallas.  The super-cell thunderstorm was characterized as the worst recorded hail storm to hit the U.S. in the 20th Century.  The storm hit on a warm Friday afternoon that had attracted many thousands to various outdoor venues and in particular the Fort Worth Mayfest.   The sudden storm caught many in the open when tennis-ball-sized hail began to fall.  Victims suffered broken bones, deep lacerations and bruises from the hail stones. The hail also caused considerable property damage in western Fort Worth.  It even disrupted air traffic throughout the country because of delays at DFW.  Seventeen people died in the storm – but none from hail.  Rather, flash flooding caused the fatalities with most of the victims being drowned after attempting to cross flooded areas in their cars.  Two people were killed when a water filled roof collapsed.  At the time, it was considered to be the costliest hail storm in U.S. history.

Today in Texas History – May 1

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From the Annals of Public Art – in 1948, the Mustangs sculpture on the University of Texas campus was dedicated. The sculptor was Alexander P. Proctor.  Proctor was contacted by J. Frank Dobie for his fried oilman Ralph Ogden who wanted to give a sculpted group of mustangs to UT.  Proctor made a 15″ high clay model of small compact group of six mustangs.  He later added a colt and the model was approved.  He worked on the sculpture throughout much of 1939 while living on part of the King Ranch where a herd of wild mustangs still roamed.  Proctor finished the plaster cast, but it sat in the Gorham Bronze foundry waiting material for casting which was delayed because of WWII.  It was presented to UT when finished.  Proctor was present for the dedication. Unfortunately, Ogden had died but his wife presented the statue in his honor.

Today in Texas History – April 30

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From the Annals of the Troubadours –  In 1933, Willie Nelson was born in Abbott.  Nelson was raised by his grandparents, wrote his first song at age 7 and joined his first band at 10.  He took the long road to success with stops in Canada, Colorado, Missouri and Nashville before settling down back in Texas in 1972.  He is frequently credited with having helped launch the progressive country era that made Austin a music landmark.

Red has seen Willie play at least a dozen times at venues ranging from his golf course outside of Austin to an Austin City Limits taping.  One of the more memorable times was at the old Bull Creek Lodge on 2222 (now the County Line on the Lake) in 1976.  Willie came out on stage with a cowboy hat and seemingly brand new short hair cut (never explained) which was among the last times the Red Headed Stranger performed without his trademark bandana and flowing locks.  Red and a buddy were out in the parking lot during a break, when we noticed a very short man with an extremely good looking woman talking heatedly to the door man.  We just thought it was someone else trying to get in for free.  Finally, the woman just shouted, “He’s with me” and the door man let them in.  Fifteen minutes later the short man was up on stage and Willie was introducing his good friend Johnny Paycheck.

Photo by Jerry Nelson Young from imgbuddy.com

Today in Texas History – April 29

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From the Annals of the Spanish Sea –  In 1554, three Spanish treasure ships ran aground during near present-day Port Mansfield. The San Esteban, the Espíritu Santo, the Santa María de Yciar, and the San Andrés had set out from Veracruz on April 9.  But a powerful storm in the Gulf of Mexico doomed most of the fleet.  The San Andrés somehow survived.  Incredibly many Spanish sailors were unable to swim and more than half of the crew of the three ships drowned before reaching the beach on Padre Island.  The survivors organized two efforts to return to Mexico.  One small group sailed in a small boat to report back and organize a relief expedition. A larger group of survivors started an overland journey to Mexico in the mistaken belief that it would be a short trip.  Local natives, however, attacked the survivors and only one Spaniard, Fray Marcos de Mena, reached Pánuco.  A salvage expedition arrived at the site of the wrecks within two months, but only recovered about half of the 1,000,000 ducats lost in the Gulf.

The remains of the three ships lay undisturbed until 1967 when a General Land Office employee discovered that a private salvage company was excavating the shipwreck site.  This set off a decades long legal battle over the right to recover artifacts in Texas coastal waters with Texas ultimately securing the exclusive rights over such wrecks.  The find was  considered a major discovery and at the time was believed to be the earliest Spanish material ever recovered from American waters.  Artifacts recovered from the wreck included a small solid-gold crucifix, one gold bar, several silver discs, cannons, crossbows, and three astrolabes.

Photo of recovered artifact from  nautarch.tamu.edu

Today in Texas History – April 28

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From the Annals of Gunboat Diplomacy –  In 1965, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson  ordered an invasion of the Dominican Republic.  LBJ sent approximately 22,000 troops in a purported effort to prevent a “communist dictatorship.” Johnson’s action resulted in massive protests in Latin America and further criticism of LBJ as a war monger in the United States.

The events leading up to the U.S. incursion began with the assassination of long-time strong man Rafael Trujillo.  Trujillo was a brutal dictator but  that mattered little because of his strong anticommunist stance.  The U.S. supported him despite horrific human rights abuses.  After his death, a reformist government led by Pres. Juan Bosch won elections in 1962.  He was quickly deposed in 1963 by the corrupt and venal Dominican military. This set off a struggle for power pitting various military and political factions against each other.  Ultimately forces supporting Bosch began attacks against the military dictatorship.  LBJ and others, in the full throes of cold-war thinking, feared another Cuba in the Caribbean and decided to invade.  They were quickly able to end the fighting and install a right-wing civilian puppet for the military.

LBJ’s stated rationale for the action (the fear of the a new communist dictatorship) was never solidly proven. He provided American reporters with lists of suspected communists; but even a quick review of the list revealed almost no real communists at work. Some of the people were deceased and many others were clearly not communists – but were merely persons legitimately opposed to the right-wing dictatorship favored by the U.S.

Photo from www.loeildelaphotographie.com

Today in Texas History – April 27

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From the Annals of the Baseball Legends –  In 1983, Nolan Ryan recorded strikeout number 3509 while pitching for the Houston Astros in a game against the Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium.  Ryan, nicknamed the Ryan Express, broke Walter Johnson’s career strikeout record which had stood for 55 years since 1927.   ”I don’t get too excited about anything,” Ryan said after pitching the Astros to a 4-2 victory and striking out 5 batters. ”I was more relieved than anything else. Now I can sit back and relax and get more satisfaction out of it.” Ryan broke the record by striking out Brad Mills, a pinch-hitter, looking on a 1-2 curveball in the eighth inning.

Today in Texas History – April 23

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From the Annals of Bravery in the Face of the Racists –  In 1931, O. P. DeWalt, president of the Houston NAACP, was assassinated. DeWalt was a real estate and school principal who had graduated from Prairie View College.   He later opened the Lincoln Theater, the first exclusively black theater in Houston. His bravery in confronting the Ku Klux Klan was noted as he fought against their growing influence.  He also sought to end the Democratic Party’s “whites only” primary system and pushed for the establishment of a branch of the National Urban League in Houston.

Most believe that DeWalt was killed for his strong opposition to the Klan. According to Hazel Haynesworth Young, however, the event that spelled doom for DeWalt was when he had the nerve to bring the 1929 King Vidor epic Hallelujah to town. Vidor intended the film to portray blacks far more sympathetically and realistically than ever before.   According to Young, “He brought it in defiance of the white people who were supposed to see pictures first . . . And they had somebody kill Mr. O.P. DeWalt.”  Shamefully, no one was ever prosecuted for his murder.