Hello fellow Texans and friends of Texas. Today is Sunday, March 16, 2014. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Texans took possession of Twin Sisters cannons,< rushed them to Texas troops in time for San Jacinto< On March 16, 1836, William Bryan, an agent of the Republic of Texas in New Orleans, took official possession of the Twin Sisters, cannons provided by the people of Cincinnati and named because they came on the same schooner as twin sisters who were passengers. The guns the Twins finally reached the army on April 11, 1836. A 30-man artillery corps was immediately formed to service the guns, the only artillery with the Texas army, and placed under the command of Lt. Col. James C. Neill. The Twin Sisters saw their first action during a skirmish between the armies of Houston and Santa Anna on April 20. Neill was wounded, and command of the guns passed to George W. Hockley. The next day, April 21, 1836, saw the battle of San Jacinto and the securing of fame for the Twin Sisters. That afternoon near the banks of Buffalo Bayou the Texas army struck at Santa Annas unsuspecting troops. The Twins were probably near the center of the Texans line of battle and 10 yards in advance of the infantry. Their first shots were fired at a distance of 200 yards, and their fire was credited with helping to throw the Mexican force into confusion and significantly aiding the infantry attack. During this battle the Twins fired handfuls of musket balls, broken glass, and horseshoes, as this was the only ammunition the Texans had for the guns. In 1840 the Twins were reported to have been moved, along with other military stores, to Austin, where on April 21, 1841, they were fired in celebration of the fifth anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto. When Sam Houston was inaugurated as president of the republic that year, the twins were fired as Houston kissed the Bible after taking the oath of office. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= First Texas Constitution adopted on March 16, 1836< On March 16, 1836, the Republic of Texas adopted its first Constitution. It was not signed until the following day. Its provisions were a combination of the principles in the federal and state constitutions of the Union, providing for a president, vice-president, and a Congress of two houses, and -- for immediate purposes -- established a government ad interim. The constitution was to be submitted to the popular vote. The form of the temporary government was in accordance with the constitution. Also on the 16th, temporary officers were elected. David G. Burnet was chosen president; Lorenzo de Zavala, vice-president; Samuel P. Carson, secretary of state; Bailey Hardeman, secretary of the treasury; Thomas J. Rusk, secretary of war; Robert Potter, secretary of the navy and David Thomas attorney-general. The oath of office was administered immediately. Among the provisions of the constitution was one introducing the common law as the rule of decision in criminal cases and requiring its introduction, with modifications, in civil proceedings. Another provision introduced the political division of the state into convenient counties with the establishment of well-known common-law offices. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= 15 Texas prisoners executed near Goliad< On March 16, 1836, Capt. Amon B. King and 14 of his men who had been made prisoners by General Urreas cavalry the day before were marched to the slope of the hill on Goliad road about one mile from the Refugio church and executed. Their bones were later buried where they fell by John Hynes, a 12-year old lad of Refugio who had been their friend. James Murphy of Refugio Col. Fannins courier killed near by on March 14, was buried in their common grave. It was the first known major execution of war prisoners. The Amon B. King Marker was dedicated in 2010 in memory of Capt. King and Texan soldiers killed in action or captured and later slain as a result of the fighting at Refugio March 14, 15, 16, 1836. They are listed as Samuel Anderson, William Armstrong, Leslie G.H. Brady, James Henry Callison, John H. Colegrave, Thomas Cook, Fields Davis, Henry H. Eadock, Lewis C. Gibbs, James Henley, Joel F. Heth, Jesse C. Humphries, Harvey H. Kirk, William R. Johnson, Snead Ledbetter, James B. Murphy, George W. Penny, J.B. Rodgers, Antoine Sayle, William N. Simpson, Gavin H. Smith, John C. Stewart, Robert A. Toler, John Ward, Christopher Winters, Samuel Wood. Some 15 men were spared mostly because of skills the Mexican army needed. Juan José Holzinger, a German-Mexican officer, is crediting with saving several including Lewis T. Ayers, Francis Dieterich and Benjamin Odlum. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Roy Bean, self-proclaimed law west of the Pecos, died in Langtry< On March 16, 1903, Roy Bean, the self-proclaimed law west of the Pecos, died in Langtry. A saloon keeper and adventurer, Beans claim to fame rested on the often humorous and sometimes-bizarre rulings he meted out as a justice of the peace during the late 19th century. By then, Bean was in his 50s and had already lived a life full of rough adventures. Born in Kentucky during the 1820s, Bean began getting into trouble at an early age. He left home in 1847 with his brother Sam and lived a rogues life in Mexico until he shot a man in a barroom fight and had to flee. He next turned up in San Diego, where he enjoyed playing the dashing caballero. Again he shot a man during a quarrel and was forced to leave town quickly. He fell into the same old habits in Los Angeles, eventually killing a Mexican officer in a duel over a woman. Angry friends of the officer hanged Bean in revenge, but luckily, the rope stretched and Bean managed to stay alive until the woman he had fought for arrived to cut him down. Bearing rope scars on his neck that remained throughout his life, Bean left California to take up a less risky life in New Mexico and Texas. For about 16 years, Bean lived a prosperous and relatively legitimate life as a San Antonio businessman. In 1882, he moved to southwest Texas, where he built his famous saloon, the Jersey Lilly, and founded the town of Langtry. Saloon and town alike were named for the famous English actress, Lillie Langtry. Bean had never met Langtry, but he had developed an abiding affection for the beautiful actress after seeing a drawing of her in an illustrated magazine. For the rest of his life, he avidly followed Langtrys career in theater magazines. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Also on March 16 in Texas: • In 1758, some 2,000 Comanches and allied North Texas Indians descended on Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá, on the San Saba River near the present site of Menard. The mission had been established the previous year to Christianize the eastern Apaches. The attackers killed two priests and six others, then looted and set fire to the log stockade. • In 1883, pioneer Lipscomb County rancher Joe Morgan died of smallpox despite the heroic efforts of two of his cowboys. Morgan and his two small sons came down with smallpox. Edward H. Brainard, who had been working for Morgan for two months, rode 35 miles to Mobeetie for a doctor. Another ranchhand, Frank Biggers, rode 150 miles to Fort Dodge, Kan., trying to find a doctor there in time to save his employers life. Both doctors came, it was too late to save Joe Morgan. Brainard and another cowboy, John Dilly, drove Mrs. Morgan and the two boys to Fort Dodge with the doctor in hopes of saving them. Six-month-old Johnny recovered, but his three-year-old brother died. Mrs. Morgan eventually sold the ranch to Henry W. Cresswell. • In 1899, state health officer W.T. Blunt arrived from Austin to take charge of efforts to control a smallpox epidemic in Laredo that began in early October 1898. By the end of January 1899, more than 100 cases of smallpox and one death had been reported in Laredo. Some residents began to resist. Blunt called for the Texas Rangers to help medical teams carry out house-to-house vaccinations and fumigations. The situation had improved so much that by May 1, 1899, Blunt ordered the quarantine lifted. • In 1909, Robert Fulton (Kina) Battise, principal chief of the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation from 1970 to 1994, was born on the reservation in Polk County. He grew up with five sisters and one brother in a one-room log cabin that had no electricity or running water. He was elected second chief (Mikko Atokla) of his tribe at 26 and served for 58 years. He encouraged development of tourist facilities on the reservation, construction of modern housing through a federally funded housing project, construction of a multipurpose community center, organization of a kindergarten Head Start Program and construction of a medical-services clinic. • In 1939, Carol OBrien Sobieski, television and film writer, was born in Chicago. When she was five when the family moved to the Frying Pan Ranch in the Panhandle. In 1964 she was hired as a scriptwriter for the television series Mr. Novak. She also wrote scripts for The Mod Squad and Peyton Place. • • • • • • Texas History Day-by-Day is compiled by retired newspaper journalist Bob Sonderegger (anglebob61@yahoo). A primary source of information is Handbook of Texas Online. Your comments or additions are welcome.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 15:12:41 +0000
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