Tag Archives: Texas History

Today in Texas History – November 16

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From the Annals of the Treaties –  In 1845, the Republic of Texas signed its final Indian treaty. The agreement came at the end of the Tehuacana Creek Councils, which had commenced in the spring of 1843.  Pioneer Jesse Chisholm had worked to convince a number of Indian groups, including the Caddos, Tawakonis, Delawares, Lipan Apaches, and Tonkawas, to meet on the Tehuacana Creek near the Torrey Brothers trading post south of Waco.

The next 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 and Caddos.  The failure to reach an accord with the Comanche caused President Sam Houston to call another council to meet at Tehuacana Creek in April 1844.  The Comanche were yet again missing.  In October 9, 1844, Houstonnegotiated a treaty with a part of the southern Comanche, Kichais, Waco, 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.  The Comanche continued fighting for another 30 years.

Today in Texas History – October 25

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From the Annals of World Series – In 2005, the first World Series game ever to be played in Texas started.  The Houston Astros played the Chicago White Sox at Minute Maid Field losing 7-5 in 14 innings.  The game was also the longest in World Series history lasting 5 hours and 41 minutes and actually ended on October 26.   The long game produced many all-time World Series records.  The teams combined to use 17 pitchers (9 White Sox and 8 Astros), throwing a total of 482 pitches, and walking 21 batters (12 by the WS, 9 by the Stros); 43 players were used (the White Sox used 22 and the Astros used 21), and 30 men were left on base (15 for each team). Scott Podsednik set an all-time record with eight at-bats in the game.

The Series itself was remarkable as the teams had combined for 132 years of championship frustration.  The Astros had not won in their 44 year history and the Pale Hose last championship had been in 1917.  The White Sox would go on to sweep the Astros in 4 games and break their long drought.

Today in Texas History – October 24

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From the Annals of the Builders –  In 1971,Texas Stadium officially opened in Irving with the Cowboys beating the New England Patriots 44-21.

The Cowboys’ original home was the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park in Dallas.  However, by the late 1960’s, owner Clint Murchison, Jr. was concerned about that area of Dallas and believed that Cowboys’ fans should not have to experience any less than pleasant experience on their way to games. CMJ attempted to persuade Dallas to build a new downtown stadium as part of a municipal bond package, but failed to get any traction for the idea.

Murchison was a visionary and planned for a new stadium with sky boxes for elite patrons that would provide a new revenue source that would not have to be shared with other owners.  He also came up with the idea of selling bonds (now called personal seat licenses) as a prerequisite to purchasing season tickets and as a way to finance construction of a new stadium to be located in nearby Irving.

The somewhat pretentiously named Texas Stadium was the first football only stadium built for an NFL team.  NFL teams had long-played in baseball parks or stadiums such as the Cotton Bowl original intended for college football games.  Then came a wave of multi-purpose stadiums such as the Astrodome.  But Texas Stadium with its iconic hole in the roof (really an accident as the stadium was supposed to have a retractable roof) set the mark for NFL teams who now aspired to controlling their own venue.  In the future, local taxpayers would bear the brunt of paying for the billionaires playgrounds.

 

Today in Texas History – October 20

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Louisiana Purchase Map

From the Annals of Manifest Destiny –     In 1803, the United States Senate approved the Louisiana Purchase almost doubling the size of the country.  The enormous acquisition allowed continuation of the western migration that characterized the first 100 years of our nation’s history. 

Today in Texas History – October 19

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From the Annals of the Vandals – In 1889, H.S. Barber carved his name in Devil’s Sinkhole near Rocksprings. The 350 foot deep sinkhole was first encountered by settlers years before, but Barber was the first known person to explore the cave.  The vertical cavern is the largest known single-chamber cavern in Texas. The cave opening is a shaft approximately 50 feet wide with a 140 foot vertical drop into the cavern. The shaft widens to a diameter of over 320 feet and reaches a total depth of over 350 feet. The cave is home  to more than three million Mexican free-tail bats.  It is now part of the Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area and can be visited by making advanced reservations.

Today in Texas History – October 11

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From the Annals of MLB – In 2004, after 43 seasons and losing their previous 7 playoff series, the Houston Astros finally won a postseason series by defeating the Atlanta Braves 12-3 in Game 5.  The so-called “Killer Bees” led the way with Biggio (.400, 4 RBIs, 4 runs), Bagwell (.318, 5 RBIs, 5 Runs), Berkman (.409, 3 RBIs, 5 Runs) and Beltran (.455, 9 RBIs, 4 Home Runs) as the team scored 36 runs in the 5 game series.  Alas, the Astros would go on to lose to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.

Today in Texas History – October 6

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From the Annals of the Freethinkers  –  In 1877, Dr. Levi James Russell was whipped for being an infidel and free thinker.  Originally from Georgia, Russell had mined for gold in California, later graduated from the medical school of Pennsylvania College, returned to gold mining in Colorado and eventually moved to Harrisville in 1868.  There he farmed and practiced medicine while also serving for several years as the chairman of the committee on medical botany of the Texas State Medical Association (now the Texas Medical Association).  He also helped found the Little River Academy and in a move that would lead to his whipping became a charter member and president of the Association of Freethinkers of Bell County a group of agnostics, atheists and non-theists.   As a result, he was expelled from the Masons and Knights of Pythias and ultimately assaulted for being an infidel.   Undeterred, Russell continued his medical practice and his natural-science collection until his death in 1908 at Temple.

Today in Texas History – October 5

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From the Annals of the Undeclared Wars – In 1964, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson first began to come under pressure for his plan to escalate the undeclared war in Vietnam.  Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) began to speak out against preparation for additional troops in Vietnam.  Nelson claimed that Congress did not intend the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to endorse escalation into a full scale war in Vietnam.

The GOTR had been passed on August 7 in response to North Vietnamese patrol boats allegedly firing on U.S. warships in the waters off North Vietnam on August 2 and 4.  Whether there was an attack and if so, whether it was provoked has been much debated, but the incident prompted Congress to pass the GOTR with only two dissenting votes in the Senate.  The GOTR gave Johnson power to “take all necessary measures to repel an armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” Johnson apparently viewed the resolution as giving him a free hand and began a major escalation of the conflict which ultimately cost the U.S. 58,220 lives and achieved nothing.

Today in Texas History – October 4

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From the Annals of the Insurrection –  In 1862,  insurrectionist troops under Confederate command surrendered Galveston to Union forces.   Commander William B. Renshaw led a squadron of eight ships into Galveston harbor to force surrender.  The rebel commander, Brig. Gen. Paul O. Hebert, had removed most of the heavy artillery from the island believing it to be indefensible.  As the squadron approached, the Fort Point garrison fired on the federal ships, return fire dismounted the rebel cannon. Col. Joseph J. Cook, in command on the island, arranged a four-day truce while he evacuated his men to the mainland. The Union ships held the harbor.  Union forces did not contral the town until the arrival of the Forty-second Massachusetts Infantry, led by Col. I. S. Burrell on December 25.  Union control was short-lived as rebel forces recaptured the island and drove off the Union squadron about a week later.