Tag Archives: Republic of Texas

Today in Texas History – November 16

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From the Annals of the Republic –  In 1845, the Republic of Texas concluded its last Indian treaty.  The agreement was the culmination of the Tehuacana Creek Councils, which began in the spring of 1843.  Jesse Chisholm has worked to convince a number of Indian groups, including the Caddos, Tawakonis, Delawares, Lipan Apaches, and Tonkawas, to meet on Tehuacana Creek near the Torrey Brothers trading post south of present Waco. A second council met at Fort Bird on the Trinity River in the fall of 1843.  These councils resulted in a peace treaty between the Republic and the Wacos, Caddos, and others.  However, the Comanches were not represented.  President Sam Houston called another council meeting at Tehuacana in April 1844. The Comanches were yet again absent, but by October 9, 1844, Houston had negotiated a treaty with a part of the southern Comanches, Kichais, Wacos, Caddos, Anadarkos, Hainais, Delawares, Shawnees, Cherokees, Lipan Apaches, and Tawakonis. At the November 1845 council the Wacos, Tawakonis, Kichais, and Wichitas agreed to the treaty of October 9, 1844.

Today in Texas History – November 6

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From the Annals of the DRT – In 1891, the organizational meeting of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas was held in the Houston home of Mary Jane Briscoe.

 Mary S. M. Jones, widow of Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, was selected to serve as president. The rather awkward first name chosen for the new association was the Daughters of Female Descendants of the Heroes of ’36. The group quickly changed its name to the Daughters of the Lone Star Republic, then Daughters of the Republic of Texas at the first annual meeting in April 1892. The stated objectives of the association are to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the people who achieved and maintained the independence of Texas, to encourage historical research into the earliest records of Texas, especially those relating to the revolutionary and republic periods and to promote Texas Honor Days.  However, membership is limited to descendants of ancestors who “rendered loyal service for Texas” prior to February 19, 1846, the date the Republic ceased to exist and Texas became part of the U.S.  The DRT was most famous for its custody of the Alamo – but it has now been displaced by the state of Texas.

Photo of DRT members in 1932 at Laguna Gloria, home of notable member Clara Driscoll from KayKeys.

Ted Cruz for President – of the Republic of Texas

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has clearly demonstrated that he is the Alpha Dog of Texas politics.  All other pretenders be warned.  As Cruz continues to rack up Texas endorsements and haul in huge bags of money from the swells, it is now evident that Ted Cruz and the Ted Cruz Experience will be guiding the ship of state in Texas for the foreseeable future.  If the Texas GOP’s dream of an independent Texas standing tall as a shining beacon of radical (and generally unpopular if you actually dig into the issues) Cruz-style conservatism is every realized, then the one man to lead us there is none other than your Junior Senator from Canada (errr Texas) Ted Cruz.

Stand aside John Cornyn – keep looking all distinguished and silvery – but stand aside and let a better man lead us into the abyss.

Be quiet Dan Patrick – okay, that’s an impossible request, but at least recognize that you are on the second string and aren’t playing until garbage time.

Move over Greg Abbott – but keep doing whatever it is that you are doing, which frankly appears to be nothing much at all.

Watch out George P. Bush – wherever you are.

Stay where you are Kevin Brady – no one knows who you are anyway.

Go home Jerry Patterson – a voice of moderation will have no place in the new glorious Republic.

Keep your head down Ken Paxton – even Cruz might want you in jail.

Today in Texas History – October 22

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rom the Annals of the Republic – In 1836, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected President of the Republic of Texas.  Among the most pressing issues facing the new President were relations with the Native Americans who still dominated much of the claimed national territory. Houston’s years living with the Cherokees and actually becoming a Cherokee citizen gave him a different perspective than most.  During his first term, Houston held conferences with tribal leaders in an attempt to address past grievances and establish new trust. He appointed agents to deal with the tribes and to run government trading houses.  Houston attempted to limit further settlement by pulling back surveyors and military companies from the frontier.  He did recognize that Anglos needed some protection.  He created a force of 280 mounted riflemen to enforce the trade laws and deal fairly with both sides, removing white trespassers and arresting Indian raiders.  But there was to be no peace between whites and Indians. Many Texans refused to wait for Houston’s policy to work and demanded that the Indians be removed from Texas and violence inevitably resulted – instigated by both sides.  By the end of Houston’s term in 1838, a change in policy was inevitable.

Today in Texas History – August 6

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From the Annals of Anglo-American Relations – In 1842, Charles Elliot arrived in Galveston as the newly appointed British charge d’affaires to the Republic of Texas.  Elliot, a British knight and retired naval officer, was a veteran of the Colonial Service previously serving in Guiana and China. In 1842 he was reassigned to hardly desirable duties in the Republic of Texas.  But Elliot made the best of the situation.  While in  Texas he worked for the abolition of slavery, free trade and peace with Mexico. He was friends with Sam Houston and Anson Jones, and worked with the British ambassador to Mexico for an armistice between Texas and Mexico in 1843. He was instrumental in negotiating the release of prisoners from the ill-fated Mier expedition. He opposed Texas annexation by the United States.  When Texans voted for annexation he was recalled.