Texas Tidbits: The First Shot of the Texas Revolution

I mentioned a few days ago, in this article, what a powerful stretch of Texas History we are getting into leading up to the Battle of San Jacinto and Texas' independence from Mexico. Today's post will deal with a stand taken by the citizens of Gonzales against General Santa Ana's Army regarding a cannon in their (Gonzales citizens) possesion. With the challenge of "Come and take it", this would be the first battle in Texas Revolution.

This post will differ from many others due to the fact that we'll get a first hand account of the situation as written in a letter by a man named E. Bailey. Reprinted in its entirety from archives at Texas A&M, here is that letter:

I am requested to give some information reletive to the situation and feelings of the people at Gonzalez and that vicinity {I returned} I left Gonzalez on Wednesday last and the people of that place were then assembled to decide upon what answer to give to a file of mexican soldiers who they expected in one or two days to demand a brass cannon which was in thier possession,When I left there were but three names in favour of giving up the cannon, so that the retaiking of it seemed to be almost {a} unanimous with the people, several individuals there named that they wanted assentance from this colony as they expected in refusing the cannon that mexican troops would be sent immediatey upon them to enforce the order and perhaps commit depredations upon thir property. and if so nothing could save thier {effe}provisions & Stock but assistance from this colony. the Alcalde said to me that he had in possession about $1000. Dolls, and was fearful that the military would also demand that. Several families were talking of moveing and some have actually prepared thier waggons to do so. they wish to move thier familes this side of the Colarado and to return themselves to the defence of this frontier. when I left a number more said they should move thier families as they expected {that the refusing the can} thier refusing to give up the cannon would bring foraging parties of soldiers upon them as they (the military at Bexar were short of provisions.

E. Bailey
Sept 26" 1835

What an insight into the hearts and minds of the people of Gonzales in the face of one of the most powerful armies in the world. They would fight for their freedom even at the cost of death. Back in late Augusta, 2010 when I posted an outstanding column from former NFL Coach Bum Phillips, the courage of the people of Gonzales was what the Coach was talking about when he said Texans were forged of a hotter fire.

Texas Tidbits: The Texas Rangers; One Riot, One Ranger

Texas is known for a million things, but one of the most famous institutions in the state is the Texas Rangers. And I'm not talking about the baseball team. I'm talkin' bad mamma jamma law enforcement here.

Texas Rangers***

The roots of the Rangers go back to the very first American settlers to migrate to then Mexican Texas with Stephen F. Austin in 1823. They have been in nearly continuous service to Texas and its citizens since then. Think about it. That's nearly 200 years. Created as a security force for those early settlers, the Texas Rangers are today one of the most respected law enforcement agencies in the world. They have fought Indians, captured or killed Mexican badidos, tracked down bank robbers and were instrumental in the killing of two of the 20th Century's most notorious outlaws - Bonnie and Clyde. Long time Texas Ranger legend Frank Hamer spearheaded the efoorts the capture or kill the duo on May 23, 1934. Wikipedia picks up the story from there, "Frank Hamer, the longtime Ranger captain, left the Rangers in 1932. In 1934, at the request of Col. Lee Simmons, head of the Texas prison system, Hamer was asked to use his skills to track down Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, whose Barrow gang had engineered a successful breakout of associates imprisoned at Huntsville. Prisoner and Barrow friend Joe Palmer had killed a guard while escaping, and the Barrow gang was responsible for many murders, robberies, and car thefts in Texas alone. Nine law enforcement officers had already died in confrontations with the gang.
After tracking the Barrow gang across nine states, Hamer, in conjunction with officials in Louisiana, learned that Bonnie and Clyde had visited a home in Bienville Parish on May 21, 1934, and that Clyde had designated a rendezvous point in the vicinity with gang member Henry Methvin, in case they were later separated. Methvin, allegedly cooperating with law enforcement, made sure that he was separated from them that evening in Shreveport, and the posse set up an ambush along the route to the rendezvous at Highway 154, between Gibsland and Sailes. Led by former Rangers Hamer and B. M. "Manny" Gault, the posse included Sheriff Henderson Jordan and Deputy Prentiss Oakley of Bienville Parish, Louisiana, and Dallas County Deputies Bob Alcorn and Ted Hinton. They were in place by 9:00 that night, waiting all through the next day, but with no sign of Bonnie and Clyde.
Around 9:00 a.m. on May 23, the posse, concealed in the bushes and almost ready to concede defeat, heard Clyde's stolen Ford V-8 approaching. When he stopped to speak with Henry Methvin's father (planted there with his truck that morning to distract Clyde and force him into the lane closest to the posse), the lawmen opened fire, killing Bonnie and Clyde while shooting a combined total of approximately 130 rounds. The United States Congress awarded Hamer a special citation for trapping and killing the outlaws.^{[citation needed]"}

Two words bad guys hate to hear are Texas and Rangers. They know that an elite team of law enforcement personnel are hot on their trail and their capture or death awaits them. The Rangers have come a long ways since those early days of roving the frontier of 1820s Texas, but their mission has always been to protect the citizens of Texas, no matter the cost. And for nearly two centuries, the Texas Rangers have been kickin' ass and takin' names. Just remember the Texas rangers' unofficial motto, "One riot, One Ranger". Enough said.
  

***Photo from legendsofamerica.com***

Ronald Reagan, A Great American

The Greatest President of  My Lifetime

I couldn't let the day pass without mentioning the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Wilson Reagan. President Reagan would have 100 years old today. Ronald Reagan was a man who came along when his country was in desperate need of a leader after the travesty that was the Carter Presidency. Ronald Reagan believed in the exceptionalism of the American people and he reminded us of that on a near daily basis. Because of this great man's optimism, the United States once again became a proud country. When the bad guys, like Russia, felt like they could jack with the US, Reagan was quick to remind them that we would kick their ass if it was necessary to the plot. "If you can't make them see the light, then make them feel the heat". Our adversaries around the world knew that Reagan meant business and the President's resolve was never questioned by those who would do us harm.

I was lucky enough to see the President make a speech at a layover in Roswell, New Mexico in 1982 (I think). There were hundreds of ordinary Americans on hand to hear what an extraordinary man had to say to us on that day. He did not disappoint. He told us how lucky we were to live in the greatest country in history, and then he reminded us that it was men and women just like us who made this country the envy of the world. Ronald Reagan had a knack of motivating ordinary citizens to do extraordinary things.

I could go on and link to all kinds of sources that would back up what I am saying here, but it's not really needed when talking about Ronald Reagan. We knew him and he knew us. He was us and we were him. I will link to one speech that clearly shows that Ronald Reagan was a man ahead of his times. If you can listen to this incredible oratory and not feel proud of this country, then I'll buy you a bus ticket to Canada or Mexico. 

"A Time for Choosing".  Download it and save it. You'll thank me later.

God bless Ronald Reagan and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Best of Three States Plus One

This was first posted on August 20, 2010. And it's still damn funny. 

Toby 

A couple of days ago I wrote about impending doom a much overdue visit from my Mother-in-Law. As it turns out, there is a God!!!!, she had to postpone her trip by the Grace of The Almighty  due to car trouble. This turn of events caused  me to do cartwheels my wife great sadness and despair. I thought I was safe from all that is evil and wrong with the world. I.Was.Wrong. My weekend of sloth and gluttony has turned into The Weekend From Hell. I know you married guys are wondering, "How could a nice weekend of sloth and gluttony turn into a weekend from hell, when your Mother-in-Law is 200 miles away having car trouble and can't come to torture and degrade you visit?" Let me 'splain. Although I'm happier than a stoned fat kid at a McDonald's all you can eat buffet saddened my M-I-L can't make it, a fate worse than paying alimony to an ex-wife that married a plastic surgeon has befallen me. I.Have.To.Go.Back.To.School.Shopping.! But wait! There's more! I am (or should be) committed... to attend a baby shower! Don't get me wrong, as a father of four (ages 3-31, God help me), I love kids, I really do (especially with a little salt and mustard....rimshot). But, less than a month before my 54th birthday, I thought my days of going to baby showers were over! At least until my own daughters had babies. But my wife threatened me with unspeakable acts of violence asked me nicely to go, so I said OK. Upon further review, I never thought I'd miss my Mother-in-Law, but I do. Go figure. Anyway...posting will be sporadic, at best, today for the previously mentioned reasons. Rummage through the archives because there's lots mof stuff in there and I'm sure you'll find something that'll make you say to yourself, "That's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back". But it's Friday, what a better way to kill time at work than to read some worthless drivel potential Pulitzer Prize-winning social commentary? Here are a few of my popular posts from the recent past:

•  Texas Tidbits : Fort Worth - Ah Luv Yew
• Plus One :Tennessee - The Volunteer State 
• Maine Minutiae : Fat Guy Convention, Sardine Drop, Bingo & Ed McMahon
• Colorado Chronicles : Colorado Springs

Aggies, School and Robin Hood - A Lineup You Won't Find Anywhere Else on the Internet!

I am going to be pretty busy today with Issy and her Girl Scout stuff and working to get my old computer up and running again. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but I am gonna give it hell. The cool thing about that is that I don't have a monitor for it so I am gonna hook it up to the HDTV that Heather and I have in our bedroom upstairs. It's not a big TV, just 32", but it should be fun to use as a monitor. Now if Heather will only let me get Major League Baseball package on the computer. :)
I'll leave you with some the posts that caught your attention a while back and a I think they deserve a second look. And awaaaaaayyyyyyyyy we go!

• We Were All Aggies for a Day - This is the story of a decades old Aggie tradition that went terribly wrong on a November day in 1999, claiming twelve young lives full of promise and making a century old football rivalry a footnote (deservedly so) to the horror that had changed a University and twelve families forever.
• Toby Goes to School - I got some terrific reactions to this story about me being a guest reader at my 8 year old's second grade class. I had a great time doing it and it lead to a two part story. The link with the title in in it (Toby Goes to School) is the first part of this epic tome. Part 2 can be found here. I think you'll like it.  :)
• A Modern Day Robin Hood - The idiot in this post  is actually named Robin Hood. Unlike his namesake of hundreds of years ago, this guy ain't even a good thief. Check it out and have a laugh on me.

I may pop in later to let you know how things are going, but I really do have a lot to do to the old computer. I am going to install a new-ish Linux Distro, security software and maybe partition the hard drive and put Windows 7 Ultimate on it. I enjoy doing stuff like this. I always end up learning something new, which is a bonus for diving in head first into playing with computers. Oh, yeah....I may convert the old machine into a server, which would be a first for me. Wish me luck! And from all of us here at the Toby Dome, we wish you a great weekend!

Texas Tidbits: Hill Country Immigrants, A to Zink

I love the Hill Country of Texas. That comes as no surprise to regular readers of this blog. Take a trip through the blog archives and you'll see what I mean. Today, I return to the Hill Country by way of the written word. This time I actually have a specific reason for doing so other than fishing. I return to learn about my people - German immigrants to whom I may be related. Seriously.

A man whose name I'd never heard until a few minutes ago, had as much to do with settling Central Texas as anyone in the state's history. His name is Nicholas Zink. It was in 1844 that Herr Zink, a Bavarian native, was selected to head an effort to colonize the area around Austin with immigrants from Germany. In late 1844 when Zink and the new colonists arrived at the land grant designated for them, he quickly learned that the grant was smack dab in the middle of Comanche territory. He persuaded Prince Carl, who was the main man behind the grant, to relocate the new Texans to another place. The Prince agreed and Zink settled the area which became New Braunfels. Soon thereafter, Zink was put in charge of more than half the German immigrants headed for New Braunfels. After 1847, he built houses throughout the area and would in 1868 acquire the land they were built on, donating much of it to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad. Nicholas Zink married three times, but sadly fathered no children. Thus, his legacy to Texas are the German American communities in the Hill Country. While few people, myself included, have ever heard of Nicholas Zink, he left a giant footprint on Texas and its German immigrants. I am cautiously optimistic that Herr Zink brought some my ancestors to Texas during his lifetime. At the very least, I have a clue as to where I can begin looking for some of my forebears. And that starting point begins with Nicholas Zink.

Excuse me while I head over to Ancestry.com. Herr Zink beckons.

Texas Tidbits: The Mexican-American War

Texas in 1836

We are getting to a very interesting period in Texas History over the next couple of months and I am really looking forward to posting about it. To be sure, some it I will have posted about before, but the events we'll be covering were of such historical importance to Texas and Texans, that they bear repeating, lest we forget. And with God's help, forget we won't.

One of the Wars that involved Texas specifically is one we really don't hear or read much about, but it was a significant event for Texas the new US State and for the United States as well. The end of this war brought about a realization of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny of the Polk administration in the 1840's. The idea of Manifest Destiny was to expand the United States from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the Pacific. The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hildalgo in 1848 ending the Mexican-American War made that dream a certainty.

A little background; the Mexican government was still pissed about losing the Texas Revolution and the land that went with it. You gotta remember that in 1836 when Texas won its Independence from Mexico, it was a HUGE hunk of real estate covering present-day Texas and parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. So, the Mexican Army attacked some US troops in Texas and war on Mexico was soon declared by the United States. Long story short, the US won the War and as we know, to the victor belong the spoils. The spoils in this instance were the rest of the land west of pre-American Texas all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Manifest Destiny had been realized and the soon-to-be Western United States was born. That's the short version of the story of the Mexican-American War 1846-1848.

Texas History that awaits us includes the stories of Goliad, the Alamo and San Jacinto amongst others. We'll also look at the men and women of the Texas Revolution who fought and sacrificed so much so that they could live as a free people. I. Am. Stoked.