From the Annals of LBJ –  In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Robert C. Weaver as  head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Weaver became the first African- American cabinet member in U.S. history.  Johnson’s move was an attempt to improve troubled race relations and eliminate urban blight.  At the time many major inner-city urban areas were blighted and populated largely by African Americans.

Weaver had broad experience in social and economic issues concerning urban African Americans.  He had previously served in FDR’s administration as an advisor to the Secretary of the Interior and a special assistant with the Housing Authority.  Later as a member of the National Defense Advisory Commission he worked to mobilize black workers to support the war effort.  He was also a  rent commissioner for the New York and head of the Housing and Home Finance Agency under JFK.  At HUD, Weaver expanded affordable housing programs and worked to pass the Fair Housing Act, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, family status or national origin in the sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of housing services or facilities.

From the Annals of Francophobia –  In 1841, The Texas House passed the Franco-Texian bill which authorized the formation of a French-based immigration company. The bill was proposed by Jean Pierre Hippolyte Basterrèche and Pierre François de Lassaulx, two Frenchmen who sought a massive immigration of French citizens to Texas.  The bill called for the introduction of 8,000 immigrant families to occupy three million acres of the Republic of Texas. In addition, the managing company was to establish twenty forts in twenty years and develop mines in its territory. The bill was never presented to the Senate because of a threatened veto by acting president David G. Burnet.

Photo of the French Legation in Austin from http://www.frenchlegationmuseum.org

From the Annals of It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time – In 1836, David Crockett wrote his last surviving letter.  Despite his nationwide fame, he had lost his bid for a fourth term as a Tennessee representative to the U. S. Congress and determined to make a new start in Texas. In the letter, called Texas “the garden spot of the world,” with the “best land and the best prospects for health I ever saw.”  Crockett had come to Texas to revive his political career and noted that he fully expected to take part in writing a constitution for Texas. “I am in hopes of making a fortune yet for my self and my family, bad as my prospect has been.” All indications are that Crockett, who probably was among the most famous Americans of his day, was surprised to be trapped in the Alamo facing almost certain death.  There has been tremendous controversy over whether Crockett died during the battle or surrendered with a handful of others only to be executed by order of Santa Anna.  It is clear that Santa Anna knew that Crockett was in the Alamo and was pleased at the prospect of capturing such a famous person.

From the Annals of the Confederacy – Late in the Civil War in 1865, the Kickapoo Tribe defeated a force of about 160 Confederates and 325 state militiamen at the Battle of Dove Creek.  The site of the skirmish is about twenty miles southwest of present San Angelo.   Leading up to the battle, a reconnaissance party located an abandoned Indian campsite and decided to pursue the band. The pursuit was comprised of a militia force under Captain S. S. Totten and a separate Confederate regular army contingent led by Captain Henry Fossett.  Despite clear indications that they were pursuing a main band of the Kickapoos and not a warring party, the  pursuit continued in difficult winter conditions.  The troops even killed a Kickapoo man and woman that approached them waving a white flag after the soldiers and militiamen had rendezvoused near the Kickapoo camp on Dove Creek.  The combined forces, however, lacked a unified command and much in the way of tactical planning.  The quickly formed plan had the militia wading Dove Creek to  launch a direct attack from the north, while the Confederates would attempt to capture the Kickapoo horses to prevent a retreat.   The well-armed Kickapoos had a superior heavily-wooded position and easily dealt with the militiamen as they entered the dense thicket where the Indians were camped. The Confederate movement to seize the horses met with initial success but then fell apart during a counterattack, was splintered into three groups, and caught in a heavy crossfire. The defeated Texans lost as many as 50 men including many during a brutal retreat in a winter blizzard that finished off most of the wounded.  The Kickapoos who had been aligned with the Confederacy but were moving to Mexico as the war wound down were outraged over the attack and probably lost about 15 men.  They continued to move on to the Mexican border for refuge.