This Day In Texas History - January 23

[joe817]

1691 - The Conde de Gálvez appointed Domingo Terán de los Ríos the first governor of the Spanish province of Coahuila and Texas. Most historians consider the appointment the beginning of Texas as a political entity. Terán's instructions, prepared by a Junta de Hacienda acting under suggestions by Damián Massanet, were to establish seven missions among the Tejas Indians; to investigate rumors of foreign settlements on the coast; and to keep records of geography, natives, and products. Terán's army crossed the Rio Grande in May and explored East Texas as far as Caddo settlements on the Red River until December. By March 1692 Terán had returned to Matagorda Bay, where Juan Enríquez Barroto gave him instructions from the viceroy to explore the lower reaches of the Mississippi River.

1762 - The mission of San Lorenzo de la Santa Cruz was established at El Cañón, about halfway between San Sabá and San Juan Bautista. After the destruction of Santa Cruz de San Sabá in 1758, the only Spanish settlement in the area was the military outpost of San Luis de las Amarillas.

1832 - Jim Bowie, with the financial backing of his in-laws, sets out on a second attempt to locate the lost Los Almagres silver mine. His earlier attempt in November ended in an Indian attack. On this second trip, he carried the title "Colonel" of the citizen rangers, a group charged with repelling Indian incursion into the settled territories. Other trips into Indian territory would follow, under the auspices of hunting down Indian raiding parties.

1839 - New settlers to Texas are attacked and defeated by local Indians near Marlin.

1863 - Confederate soldiers hanged Martin Hart in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This attorney from Hunt County had served in the Texas legislature, where he spoke out against secession. After secession, he resigned his government post and organized the Greenville Guards, pledging the company's services "in defense of Texas" against invasion. Under color of a Confederate commission, however, he spied against the Confederacy. In Arkansas he led a series of rear-guard actions against Confederate forces, and is alleged to have murdered at least two prominent secessionists. He was captured on January 18, 1863, by Confederate forces.

1875 - Mollie Armstrong was born in Bell County, Texas. She became the first female optometrist in the state, and the second in the United States.

1933 - In a 1 1/2 mile area near Conroe, the Texas Rangers are called in to turn back curiosity seekers when water wells in the area start spewing natural Gas, and area Gas wells start gushing artesian water.