This Day In Texas History - July 11

[joe817]

1838 - James Collinsworth fell or jumped off a boat in Galveston Bay and drowned. Collinsworth, born in Tennessee, was a candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Texas, along with Mirabeau B. Lamar and Peter W. Grayson. He was a political ally of Andrew Jackson and Sam Houston, but moved to Texas by 1835. He represented Brazoria at the Convention of 1836 and was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His death, which occurred less than two weeks after the announcement of his candidacy for president, was generally presumed to have been a suicide.

1856 - Camp Sabinal, on the west bank of the Sabinal River one mile west of Sabinal, was established by Capt. Albert G. Brackett on July 12, 1856, to provide protection for commercial traffic and travelers from San Antonio to El Paso. Remnants of structures built by these settlers were still in evidence when the Texas Centennial Commission placed a marker at the site in 1936.

1870 - The Battle of the Little Wichita River, a military engagement between troopers of the Sixth United States Cavalry and about 100 Kiowa Indians led by Kicking Bird, occurred in Archer County on July 12, 1870. Though the exact location of the conflict remains unclear, experts claim that it took place in the northwestern part of the county on the Little Wichita River, about six miles northwest of Archer City and just south of the site of present-day Lake Kickapoo. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qfl01 ]

1874 - In the "Lost Valley Fight" on July 12, in a shallow draw near Jacksboro, Texas, Kiowa chief Lone Wolf, and a war party of fifty men, confronted a force of Texas Rangers of the Frontier Battalion, commanded by Maj. John B. Jones, and killed two, David Bailey and William Glass. The rangers escaped under cover of night. The Red River War, a series of military engagements fought between the United States Army and warriors of the Kiowa, Comanche, Southern Cheyenne, and southern Arapaho Indian tribes continued until June 2, 1875.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdr02 ]

1881 - William Buckley is born at Washington-on-the-Brazos. His son James becomes a senator from New York, and his son William Jr. is famous as a writer, magazine editor and television talk show host.

1903 - Texas Governor Samuel L.T. Lanham offered a $50,000 award to any person who could eradicate the cotton boll weevil. The Democratic governor announced that the Texas State Treasury would endow the reward. Many scientists speculate that the insect entered the United States by crossing the Rio Grande. The invasion of the non-indigenous boll weevil led to the economic degradation in the southern United States, particularly in Texas. Historians and economists have labeled the boll weevil the most destructive pest in North American history and have blamed the beetle for billions of dollars in lost profit since its arrival.

1919 - The Longview Race Riot began. A series of events lead Governor William Hobby to order Texas Rangers and National Guard troops to the area and declare martial law. The governor lifted martial law at noon on July 18. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jcl02 ]

1942 - Pecos Army Air Field, activated on July 11, 1942, while still under construction, first served in the Army Air Forces West Coast Training Center (later the Western Flying Training Command) as a basic pilot school. The field was redesignated an advanced pilot school (twin-engine) on December 29, 1943, and had four auxiliary fields. PAAF was placed on "temporary standby" status on May 1, 1945, and was never again an active military installation. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qcp02 ]

1949 - Governor Beauford H Jester dies of a heart attack in his sleep while on a vacation trip, becoming the first sitting governor of Texas to die while in office. He is succeeded by Alan Shivers.