Tag Archives: Texas History

Today in Texas History – February 22

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From the Annals of the Revolution –  In 1836, former Mexican soldier Nepomuceno Navarro joined forces with the Texas Revolution when he enlisted in Juan N. Seguín’s company of Tejanos. Navarro had been a private serving in the Mexican Army at Bexar and later at Fort Tenoxtitlan on the Brazos River.  He left the Army in 1832 and settled in San Antonio.  Seguin’s company served as the rear guard for the main body of Sam Houston’s army. Navarro also served with Seguín at the battle of San Jacinto. For his participation in the Texas Revolution he received land grants and a pension. He was a member of the Texas Veterans Association until his death, in San Antonio in 1877.

Today in Texas History – February 16

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From the Annals of the Explorers  –  In 1599, Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate found Jusepe Guitiérrez at Picurus, New Mexico.  JG was the lone survivor of the ill-fated expedition led by  Francisco Leyva de Bonilla.  Five years earlier, Bonilla had been sent by by Governor Diego de Velasco of Nueva Vizcaya to pursue a group of Native Americans suspected of widespread theft. Bonilla quickly abandoned the pursuit and began to search for the fabled treasure of Quivira.  The group spent about a year on the upper Rio Grande encamped at Bove (San Ildefonso). From there they explored parts of Texas, Oklahoma,  Kansas, Arkansas and Nebraska.  According to Gutiérrez, a Mexican Indian who was with the party, Bonilla was stabbed to death after a quarrel with his lieutenant, Antonio Gutiérrez de Humaña, who then assumed command.    JG and five others deserted and attempted to return to New Mexico.  Only JG made it back, but he was captured by Apache and Vaquero Indians and held for a year.  He finally made his way to Cicuyé and was later found by Oñate at Picuris who recognized his value as a guide and interpreter. When Oñate arrived at Quivira in the summer of 1601, he learned that Humaña and his followers had been killed by hostile Indians on their return journey.

Today in Texas History – February 15

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From the Annals of the People (or at least some of the People) –  In 1876, citizens of Texas (and by that Red means white men and some Hispanics) adopted the Constitution of 1876. The vote was 136,606 in favor with 56,652 against.  The 1876 Constitution was the sixth such document governing Texas since the declaration of  independence from Mexico in  1836.   The 1876 Constitution was primarily a reaction in connection with the reassertion of the Democratic Party (again white men) in the wake of Reconstruction.  It also incorporates some aspects of law from Spanish and Mexican rule, as well as protection for agriculture and debtors.  While calling for equal rights and due process on its face, those guarantees meant little to women and minorities at the time of adoption and for decades afterwards.  The 1876 Constitution has been repeatedly amended, but it remains the governing document of Texas to this day.

 

Today in Texas History – February 14

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From the Annals of Coincidence –  In 1882, the town of Valentine in Jeff Davis County was founded when crews building the Southern Pacific Railway reached the outpost on St. Valentine’s Day.  Valentine is the only incorporated municipality in Jeff Davis County.  The town capitalizes on its name every year with the West Texas Valentine’s Day Celebration hosted by the Big Bend Brewing Company which draws upward of 1000 lovers some years.  The headliner this year will be Tejano legend Little Joe y la Familia.  The U.S. Post Office also does a landmark business cancelling letters and cards.

Photo of Valentine’s Day celebration in Valentine from thefusionmag.com

 

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From the Annals of the Breweries –  In 1896, the Galveston Brewing Company began operations. The GBC operated the first major brewery in Texas with notables such as major shareholder Adolphus Busch raising $400,000 to fund the construction.   Smaller local brewers had of course been operating since the early days of the Republic.  With its sizable German population,  several commercial breweries had been established in Texas’ German and Czech communities.  The impressive Galveston complex included a large ice plant, cold-storage rooms, water wells, railroad access, and a brewery capable of producing 75,000 barrels of beer each year.    GBC featured brands such as High Grade and Seawall Bond.   GBC’s facility somehow survived the infamous 1900 Hurricane practically unscathed.  Prohibition was more of a challenge than the worst the Gulf of Mexico could throw at it,  but the GBC managed to survive for a while by producing  Galvo, a “nonintoxicating cereal beverage” of questionable quality and likely disgusting taste.

Today in Texas History – February 2

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From the Annals of Thievery –  In 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War and redrawing the international boundary.  Under the terms of the treaty, Mexico lost approximately a third of its national territory including New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.  Mexico also gave up any claim to the former Republic of Texas.   In return, the U.S. paid Mexico a paltry $15,000,000 and assumed responsibility of all claims against Mexico by American citizens.  The MAW was clearly a war of territorial aggression waged against a weaker opponent and justified by questionable claims.  Still many of the major battles were relatively close affairs, but luck was not on the side of the Mexicans.   Mexico should have built a wall.

Today in Texas History – January 17

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From the Annals of the Empresarios –  In 1821, New Spain awarded Moses Austin of Missouri a grant to settle 300 families in Texas.  Although Anglos had previously travelled to and settled in Texas, this agreement began the process of Anglo-American colonization of Texas.   Moses Austin never acted on the grant as he passed away after his initial success in obtaining permission.  The task fell to his son Stephen F. Austin who  was recognized as his successor. The success of the Mexican War for Independence put the grant at risk. But  a special decree issued in April 1823 allowed the younger Austin to begin the colonization that resulted in 300 families settling in Austin’s Colony near San Felipe.

Photo of Moses Austin statue from tshaonline.org

Today in Texas History – January 12

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From the Annals of the Blue Northers –   In 1988, the Schoolhouse Blizzard roared through Texas after blanketing the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The blizzard resulted from the collision of a massive Artic cold front with warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico.   The rapid temperature drop of almost 40 degrees in some places caused high winds and heavy snow.  The speeding storm struck Montana in the early hours of January 12, moved on to the Dakota Territory and reached Nebraska by mid-afternoon.

The storm caused an estimated 235 deaths.  The storm hit during mid-day and had been preceded by a short period of warmer weather. The strong winds and powdery snow caused a white-out on the open plains.  The thousands of people who were caught unawares outside were in immediate danger.   The blizzard’s name came from the fact that most teachers wisely kept children safely in their schoolrooms.

Today in Texas History – Jan 11

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From the Annals of Criminal Justice    In 1954, the landmark appeal styled Hernández v. the State of Texas was brought before the United States Supreme Court.  Hernandez is considered to be the only Mexican-American civil rights case decided by the Court in the post-war era.

Pedro Hernandez, a Mexican-American agricultural worker, was convicted by an all-white jury in Jackson County for the 1950 murder of Joe Espinosa. Hernandez’s pro bono legal team, led by Gustavo C. Garcia,  wanted to use Hernandez’s conviction as a test case to challenge “the systematic exclusion of persons of Mexican origin from all types of jury duty in at least seventy counties in Texas.”  The appeal was based on the established practice of systematically excluding Mexican Americans, a recognized minority in Texas, from service on grand juries and juries.  The evidence showed that although numerous Mexican Americans were citizens and had otherwise qualified for jury duty in Jackson County, during the previous 25 years no Mexican Americans were among the 6,000 persons chosen to serve on juries.  This was a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as juries were restricted by ethnicity.  The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Hernandez, and required he be retried by a jury composed without discrimination against Mexican Americans. The Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment protects persons beyond the racial classes and applies to discrimination based on nationality groups as well.

Photo of Pedro Hernandez with his attorneys Gustavo Garcia and Johnny Herrera.

 

Today in Texas History – January 6

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From the Annals of Conquistadors –  In 1540, the Spanish Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, appointed Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to lead an expedition in search of the Seven Cities of Cíbola also known as the Seven Cities of Gold. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca had described Cibola in his 1536 report after finding his way back to New Spain following his arduous journey from Galveston where he was shipwrecked. The disreputable Marcos de Niza had confirmed Cabeza de Vaca’s report based on his own travels in 1539. Coronado and 1,000 men set out from Culiacán in late April. There was no gold at Cíbola (the Zuñi villages in western New Mexico), but he was led on by stories told by the captive El Turco of great rewards to be found in Quivira, a region on the Great Plains far to the east.  Coronado wandered around the Great Plains for another 2 years finding nothing but poor Indian villages. When he returned to Mexico he was subjected to an official examination of his conduct as leader of the expedition and as governor of Nueva Galicia. He was cleared of charges in connection with the expedition.