Texas Tidbits: 175th Anniversary of Texas Independence!

Republic of Texas, 1836

April 21 is one of the most important dates in Texas History. Period. 175 years ago today, The Republic of Texas was born when General Sam Houston and his men routed the mighty Mexican Army in just eighteen minutes with an attack that caught the Mexicans by surprise, confused and in disarray. Gunfire and shouts of "Remember the Alamo" filled the air as the Texians took revenge on the very Army that had made its way across Texas with little or no resistance, save for the Battle of the Alamo, which afforded much-needed time for the Texian Army to regroup. In less time than it takes to cook frozen french fries in the oven, Texas became an Independent Nation.

The San Jacinto Museum website has a brief summary of the Battle of San Jacinto. It begins "In March of 1836, things were not going well for Sam Houston’s Texas revolutionaries. Having declared independence from the official Mexican government, they were now running from the Mexican army, being run from their homes—and running out of time.
Since January 1836, Texas settlers had been abandoning their homes and the lives they’d created on the Texas frontier. Known as the Runaway Scrape, this retreat began as the Mexican government initiated military reoccupation of the newly settled land. The event was marked by sickness, freezing weather, hunger and panic among the citizenry." The rest of the article about this improbable victory can be read here.

When the smoke cleared after the battle, the Mexican Army had lost 600 men, another 700 surrendered and the "Napoleon of the West", Mexican General Santa Anna was found hiding in the brush near the battlefield dressed as a common foot soldier, Sam Houston had been shot in the ankle and the Republic of Texas had become a reality. Further, Mexico had lost "nearly a million square miles in territory. For the Texans, their victory led to annexation into the United States and the United States' war with Mexico. In the end, the United States would gain not only Texas but also New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. As a result of the Battle of San Jacinto, almost a third of what is now the United States of America changed ownership."

The legacy of the people of Texas in 1836is a state that stands as an example not only to the citizens of the United States, but to people around the world, of what a fierce pride in your land and a dogged determination can do for them, when they stand up to tyranny with the singleminded goal of Freedom as the driving force in overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds against the most vicious of oppressors. Like the great football coach Bum Phillips learned at the foot of his Daddy's buddy Bill, "Texans are forged of a hotter fire." Read the story at the previous link if you aren't a Texan, it'll give you a better understanding of how we feel and why we think and act like we do. It's not a bad idea for Texans to give it another look as well. It's dead solid perfect. You'll thank me later.

Go ahead and have a Texas-size hoot today celebrating this defining moment in history. Have some Mexican food, a tall cold beverage and sing with your chest swollen with pride and a tear in your eye "The Eyes of Texas" (sorry about that, Aggies) Enjoy the fellowship with the folks next to you, your fellow Texans. They are, after all, people forged of a hotter fire.

God Bless Texas!

Texas Tidbits: 175th Anniversary Eve - My Thoughts

The Damndest Lady You Ever Saw

Tomorrow will mark the 175th anniversary of Texas Independence. I wish I could be home to celebrate with all my friends and family, but it ain't gonna happen. Dammit. Maybe I'll be around for the bi-centennial of this occasion that changed Texas and the United States forever. I can, however, say this with certainty, if all Hell breaks loose in this country due to the policies of the Dumbass in Chief and his Socialist Regime bankrupting the National Treasury, I'll be in Texas quick as a hiccup.

Texas is my home, no matter how far away I am from her. I'll celebrate the 175th anniversary of her Freedom in my own way here in New England with my wife and kids. Maybe I'll tell the girls, 4 and 8 years old, what it menas to be free of tyranny and oppression. Maybe I'll show them pictures of the 267,000 square miles of the Damndest Lady You Ever Saw and watch them spellbound by her beauty. I'll tell them about where I was born and some of the places I lived and traveled to from all around the State. There's plenty to teach them so I am sure I won't run out of material. I have a ton of great personal stories to tell them about times I spent with people I still consider family. I don't mean to leave anybody out, so I am gonna make a short list of those who have touched me in a profound way and remain in my thoughts and prayers on a daily basis.

I have to start off with the Randles. For a number of years it was a rare bear of a weekend that I did not spend at the "Randle Compound". They treated me just like another son and I can't express how honored and blessed I was during that time. I loved all of them, but Randy was my brother. I still consider him to be so. He's one of the best men I have ever had the privilege to know. Damned Hootus.  :)

Another real good man I know from Texas is Mark Duggan. Mark and I have been through a lot together and separately abd have always had each other's back. In the truest sense of the word, Mark is my brother. No questions asked. I love my brother.

Having known so many men of good (and dubious) character, the man who stands out amongst all these incredible people is Tommy Thompson. I knew Tommy for almost thirty years before he died three years ago. I'll never have a better friend. Period. I recently learned that on his death bed, he asked for his Brother, Cecil. For the first time, I wasn't there for Tommy. It still gnaws at my heart to know that I was so far out of touch with a man that I loved like he was my blood. That's one thing I'll never be able to make up for and it's killing me inside. But you know what? I know Tommy understood and would forgive me, but even that loving gesture doesn't take away the guilt I feel for failing my Brother when he needed me more than ever. I'll live with that until the day I die. Tommy, I miss you every day, man. It'll be a cold day in hell before I meet a better man and friend.

Those are the things and people of Texas that I'll talk to my little girls about. Things and people that make Texas the extraordinary place that is, 175 years after gaining her Independence. But the again, the men and women of 175 years ago were pretty damn good role models for all Texans of past, present and future generations. They also left with us an indomitable spirit that pervades our culture and our beliefs. A will that will not be destroyed by mortal men nor defeated by any other son of a bitch that has such a foolish notion. Don't mess with Texas is much more than a "keep Texas clean" slogan, it's a way of life for all Texans. A Texan can be called a Redneck, but the offending party will have to go home and tell his Mama he got his ass kicked by a Redneck.

Texas. She and I be mates.

Texas Tidbits: A Letter of Defiance and Anger

Monument to Liberty

You'll recall that yesterday we looked at a time line for the Texas Revolution for the month of March, 1836. During the first week of the month, the Alamo had fallen and Texas had declared its Independence from Mexico. News of both these events were spreading like wildfire through Texas and the United States. Many Americans were getting the news of these events by way of letters from family members in Texas. I found one such letter that is both sad in its announcement that the writer's brother had died at the Alamo and defiant in the fact that the Texas Army would avenge the deaths of of its fellow Texans at the hands of that tyrant General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana.

I am going to reprint the letter in its entirety. It comes to us from thealamo.org.

Benjamin Briggs Goodrich

Little attention has been given to how the news of the Alamo's fall was spread from Texas to the United States. The close family ties and community relationships bound the Texans to their former homes. In this letter, Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, who was a member of the Convention meeting as Washinting-on-the-Brazo, informed his family of death of John C. Goodrich--his brother--on March 6, 1836.¹
                                                    Washington Texas, 15^th March, 1836
Dear Edmund,
    Texas is in mourning, and it becomes my painful duty to inform my relations in Tennessee of the massacre of my poor brother John. He was murdered in the Texas fortress of San Antonio de Bexar (known as the Alamo) on the night of the 6^th of this month, together with one hundred and eighty of our brave countrymen, gallantly defending that place against an invading army of Mexicans, eight thousand strong; not one escaped to tell the dreadful tale. The Alamo had been surrounded for many days by a besieging army of the Mexicans, variously estimated at from 3 to 8 thousand men,² commanded by Genl. Lopez de Santa Anna in person; the fortress, as before stated, was besieged, and it fell and every man was put to the sword. They effected their purpose by a general charge aided by scaling ladders. Upwards of five hundred of the enemy were killed, and as many more mortally or dangerously wounded. Col. Travis, the commander of the fortress, sooner than fall into the hands of the enemy, stabbed himself to the heart and instantly died.
    Seven of our brave men, being all that were left alive, called for quarter and to see Santa Anna, but were instantly shot by the order of that fiendish tyrant. Col. Bowie was murdered, sick in bed.³ Amoung the number of your acquaintances, murdered in the Alamo, were Col. David Crockett, Micajah Autry, formerly of Haysborough, John Hays, son of Andrew Hays of Nashville, and my unfortunate brother, John C. Goodrich: but they died like men, and posterity will do them justice. Santa Anna is now in Texas with an invading army of eight or ten thousand men strong--determined to carry on a war of extermination. We will meet him and teach the unprincipled scoundrel that freemen can never be conquered by the hirling soldierly of a military despot.⁴
   The struggle is great and our difficulties many--but the army of the patriot is doubly served, when his fireside and his liberties are invaded-- We rush to the combat, and our motto is Revenge, Liberty or Death. Approach poor old mother cautiously with this awful news, for I fear her much worn out constitution will not survive the shock. -Publish this information if you think proper--We ask for help and in the name of everything that is sacred to Liberty and Independence.
    So soon as the Convention (of which I am a member) adjourns, I shall proceed forthwith to the army.-- The blood of a Goodrich has already crimsoned the soil of Texas and another victim shall be added to the list or I see Texas free and Independent.-- Give my love to my dear mother, sisters and brothers, and friends generally--
                                                                Benj. Briggs Goodrich
P.S. News has just reached that the enemy are on the march to this place and we know not at what moment we shall be compelled to move our women and children beyond their reach. Their mode of warfare is strictly savage; they fight under a Red Banner,⁵ and we ask nor expect no quarter in the future,--I will advise you from time to time (if alive) and would highly appreciate hearing from you.-- Direct your letters to Cantonment Jessup, pay postage and I will be sure to get them.
                                                        Sincerely your brother
                                                                    & relative
                                                                    Goodrich
[Addressed:]
Free to the U. States, 1836
B. B. Goodrich
Memb. Convention
Mr. Edmund Goodrich
Nashville
Tennessee

The anger and defiance in this letter are palpable. The eloquence visible and the determination of the people of Texas unmistakable. The defiance, determination and anger of the citizens of Texas would be well served in a few short weeks after the time this letter was written by Mr. Goodrich, with a swift and decisive Victory at San Jacinto. It was men like those who perished at the Alamo and the men who took up their cause at San Jacinto that are proof that Texans are indeed forged of a hotter fire.

Texas Tidbits: The Battleship Texas

You know me and my interest in all things Texas. If it's about Texas, I wanna know about it. I want to spend some time today writing about San Jacinto. No, not the Battle of San Jacinto, the place San Jacinto. There is another history-making icon that is right at home on the Houston Ship Channel at San Jacinto. It stands as a monument to the emerging power of the United States Navy as we entered the 20th Century. I am, of course, talking about the Battleship Texas.

One Helluva Lady

Once the most powerful weapon in the world, the Texas served her country with unparalleled distinction. She was launched from Newport News, Virginia on May 18, 1912 and was commissioned on March 12, 1914. Texas Parks and Wildlife is the caretaker for the Texas and I found this on their website dedicated to the Battleship Texas. From the site: "In 1916, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to mount antiaircraft guns and the first to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers, analog forerunners of today's computers. In 1919, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to launch an aircraft. The TEXAS received the first commercial radar in the US Navy in 1939. New antiaircraft batteries, fire control and communication equipment allowed the ship to remain an aging but powerful unit in the US naval fleet. In 1940, Texas was designated flagship of US Atlantic Fleet. The First Marine Division was founded aboard the TEXAS early in 1941. April 21, 1948 the Texas was decommissioned. The TEXAS holds the distinguished designation of a National Historic Landmark and a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark." (NOTE: April 21 is the anniversary of Sam Houston's victory over Santa Ana in the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle which gave Texas her independence from Mexico.)

I was very young, maybe 10 years old the last time I saw and explored the Texas and I still remember the feeling the history as if she were speaking to me. I went down to the hold (I guess that's what they call it on a battleship) and came upon the brig. The cells were small, cold, damp and isolated and I wonder what a sailor would have to do to be sent to the brig. I also thought of the POWs that might have occupied the cells during the Texas' service in WWI and WWII. It was an eerie feeling. I could almost hear the crew of the ship as they went about their daily duties of fighting a war. Even at 10 years old (or so), I knew a little about the Texas and during my journey all over the ship, I was filled with pride that she was named after my state. Battleship Texas. It had a nice ring to it. Still does. In her prime, the Texas was a helluva lady. And if I do say so myself, she has aged beautifully.