Hello fellow Texans and friends of Texas. Today is Wednesday, March 5, 2014. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Mexican officers questioned Santa Annas plans for< assault considering plight of Texians inside Alamo< On March 5, 1836, Day 12 of the siege of the Alamo, Santa Anna informed his officers of a planned assault on the fortress the following day. This sudden declaration stunned some officers. The enemys walls were crumbling. No Texan relief column had appeared. When the provisions ran out, surrender would remain the rebels only option. There was simply no valid military justification for the costly attack on a stronghold bristling with cannons. But ignoring these reasonable objections, Santa Anna stubbornly insisted on storming the Alamo. Legend holds that at some point on March 5, William Barrett Travis gathered his men and explained that an attack was imminent, and that the Mexican Army would prevail. He supposedly drew a line in the sand and asked those willing to die for the Texian cause to cross and stand alongside him. One man was reputed to have departed. Many historians doubt or disregard the story. At 10 p.m. on March 5, the Mexican artillery ceased their bombardment. As Santa Anna had anticipated, the exhausted Texians soon fell into the first uninterrupted sleep many had gotten since the siege began. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= James L. Allen believed final messenger to leave Alamo< On March 5, 1836, James L. Allen carried personal messages from William Barrett Travis and several of the other men out of the Alamo. He was the last Texian verified to have left the Alamo. Several James Allens contributed to Texas during the revolution. This James L. Allen was born in Kentucky on Jan. 2, 1815. He served at San Jacinto as a scout under Erastus (Deaf) Smith and helped burn bridges behind Mexican lines to cut off their retreat. He became a Texas Ranger and later a leading citizen of Indianola. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Allen was serving as tax assessor-collector of Calhoun County. He refused to take the oath of allegiance when Union soldiers took Indianola. He died at his home near Yoakum on April 25, 1901. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Convention president urged Texas troops to press forward < On March 5, 1836, at Washington-on-the-Brazos, Richard Ellis, president of the Convention of 1836, urged Sam Houston, new commander-in-chief of the armies of the Republic of Texas, and “the Gallant Patriots of this Nation now under arms” to press forward “to victory and glory.” Samuel Maverick, an elected delegate, arrived at the convention on March 5. He left the Alamo on March 2 and told the convention that William Barrett Travis had urged him to convince the convention to send reinforcements. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Also on March 5 in Texas: • In 1823, John Tumlinson, the newly elected alcalde of the Colorado District in Stephen F. Austins first colony, appointed Thomas V. Alley the first Anglo law enforcement officer in the future republic and state of Texas. In a letter to Baron de Bastrop in San Antonio, Tumlinson said he appointed an officer to act in the capacity of constable -- to summon witnesses and bring offenders to justice. • In 1825, James P. Magill, farmer, soldier and public servant, was born in Kentucky. He came to Texas around 1846, and joined state rangers patrolling the Indian frontier. He moved to Burnet County where he served as county clerk for eight years. He served in the state legislature in 1861. In 1869, he bought an 800 acre farm in Williamson County. He died on April 7, 1903, and is buried in Bagdad Cemetery in Leander. • In 1842, Mexican Gen. Ráfael Vásquez, with 700 soldiers, occupied San Antonio. Unable to raise an army in time to resist this invasion, the Texans surrendered and evacuated the town without a fight. Vásquez raised the Mexican flag over the town, and declared Mexican laws in effect. On March 9, the Mexican army abandoned San Antonio and began to withdraw to Mexico. The incident was part of a series of raids and counter-raids in 1842 as Mexico sought to recover Texas and the Texans fought to maintain their independence. • In 1861, the Secession Convention reassembled and declared Texas independent. Delegates took steps to join it to the Confederacy and reorganized the states government. It declared that all current officeholders must swear a loyalty oath to the Confederacy. Sam Houston refused, saying that the actions of the convention were illegal. Convention delegates declared the office of governor vacant and instructed Lt. Gov. Edward Clark to assume duties. • In 1929, Howard George Lacey, rancher and naturalist, died in England. Born in England on April 15, 1856, he immigrated to the United States at age 26 and settled in Kerr County. In 1882, he purchased land on Turtle Creek, seven miles southwest of Kerrville, where he ranched for almost 40 years. He gained wide recognition as a breeder of Angora goats, but his greatest fame came from his interest in natural sciences. His studies, observations, and collections of Hill Country flora and fauna ensured his reputation as an authority on the natural history of the region. • In 1926, a post office was established at McCamey in southwestern Upton County. The town developed almost overnight as a result of the discovery of oil nearby. In September 1925, wildcatter George B. McCamey brought in Baker No. 1. The town grew from a railroad siding established to supply the new field. George Port, land agent for the railroad, named the town. Once a tent city of 10,000, McCamey was incorporated on Dec. 27, 1926. The 1980 census listed a population of 2,436. In 1990 the population was 2,493. It dropped to 1,805 in 2000 and climbed to 1,887 in 2012. • In 1955, Bascom Giles, often referred to as the father of the Veterans Land Bill, was indicted in Austin on a charge of conspiracy to commit theft. He served three years in prison, becoming the first elected state official to enter prison for a crime committed while in office. Roland Kenneth Towery of the Cuero Record won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative reporting in the case. In all, 20 people were indicted in nine counties. Only Giles and two others served prison sentences as a result of the crimes. • • • • • • 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: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 15:29:20 +0000
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