From the Annals of Rock and Roll –  In 1959, Charles “Buddy” Holly was killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.  Holly and his new band had performed at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake the night before as part of the “Winter Dance Party” tour. Holly’s band consisting of Waylon Jennings (bass), Tommy Allsup (guitar) and Carl Bunch (drums) was also the backing band for the other acts on the tour which included Richie Valens, J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Dion DiMucci.   The tour had been poorly planned as the distances between venues and the badly equipped tour buses were adversely affecting the performers.  Several band members were suffering from the flu and Bunch was hospitalized due to frostbite. Holly decided to charter a flighte from Clear Lake to Fargo, North Dakota where they would catch up with the tour for its next performance in Moorhead, Minnesota.  Richardson, sick with the flu, swapped places with Waylon Jennings, Allsup lost his place to Ritchie Valens on a coin toss. DiMucci decided not to board the plane because of the $36 fee.

The loss to music was immeasurable.  Holly and Valens were likely headed to even greater stardom.  Holly was an incredible and inventive songwriter and doubtless would have had a considerable influence over popular music for decades.  His catalogue of hits from his short career is nothing short of astonishing.  It truly was the day the music died.

From the Annals of Unjust Wars –  In 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican-American war – the last time the U.S. fought with one of its neighbors. The Treaty was a humiliating defeat for Mexico stripping it of approximately 1/3 of its territory and adding that 525,000 square miles to United States territory.  The new territory comprised California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona as well as parts of Texas, Colorado and Wyoming.  The war had been launched over controversy regarding the border between Texas and Mexico.  The U.S. claimed the Rio Grande while Mexico claimed the Nueces River as the boundary.

The last act of President John Tyler before leaving office in 1845 had been to annex the Republic of Texas. Incoming President James Polk had greater designs on the west.  Polk did attempt to buy land from Mexico, but his emissary John Slidell was stonewalled by the Mexican government.  Rebuffed, Polk sent American troops to the disputed border region in Texas in January of 1846 to provoke the Mexicans into war. When the Mexicans fired on American troops in April of 1846, Polk had the excuse he needed. He declared, “[Mexico] has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil,” and sent the order for war to Congress on May 11.

Polk’s motives were likely mixed.  He had run for President in 1844 on a Democratic platform that supported manifest destiny, but many Northerners believed that Polk was trying to gain land for the slaveholding South.  Others opposed the war on the grounds that it was a war of territorial conquest.  Ulysses S. Grant, who fought in the war with many others who would be come famous in the U.S. Civil War, called the war “one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.”  The newly acquired territory certainly helped lead the U.S. into more controversy over the expansion of slavery as the U.S. slid inexorably into civil war only 13 years later.

From the Annals of the Texas Abolitionists –  In 1844, Republic of Texas president Sam Houston granted an empresario contract to Charles Fenton Mercer.  The grant was notable because the former U.S. Representative from Virginia was considered an abolitionist even though he was probably more accurately characterized as a strong advocate of developing the American West for the white race and colonizing “free people of color” through emigration to Africa.  After resigning from Congress to staunch the drain on his personal finances, he became interested in bringing settlers to North Texas.  Mercer organized the Texas Association and quickly recruited more than 100 families as potential settlers.  But Mercer’s vision never came to fruition.  Texas was turning away from the empresario system and Mercer’s well-known abolitionist sentiments made the colony an issue in the abolition and annexation controversy.  Mercer’s resources were further drained by court disputes over land claims.  Ultimately, Mercer assigned his interest in the contract to other members of the Texas Association in return for a $2,000 annuity.