This Day In Texas History - February 13

[joe817]

1687 - In Texas, French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, crossed the lower branch of Brushy Creek(in Waller County) heading north toward the Trinity River on one of his many forays into the Texas interior in search of the Mississippi River.

1836 - James Bowie and William Travis worked out a compromise (of the division of command at the Alamo garrison) giving Travis command of the regulars, Bowie command of the volunteers, and both men joint authority over garrison orders and correspondence.

1836 - The acting governor and commander-in-chief of the militia of the provisional government of Texas, James W. Robinson, commissioned John Goodloe Warren Pierson, his aide-de-camp for Milam with the rank of colonel. Pierson was ordered to recruit and equip men for military service in the war against Mexico and to report them to the commander at Gonzales. He was "empowered to do all things in the defense of Texas for she must now fight." Pierson informed Robinson that the militia would be ready on March 19 or as soon as arms, ammunition, and provisions were procured. Pierson also provided aid to Robertson's company of rangers at Fort Milam during 1836 and 1837 and the Texas army in 1836 by supplying them with food and other supplies.

1847 - The first known earthquake in Texas occurred in Seguin and New Braunfels

1861 - Robert E. Lee was ordered to return to Washington from Fort Mason to assume command of the Union Army. Instead, Lee resigned his commission and in June of 1862 assumed command of the Confederate Army. Lee served in Texas on several occasions, including during the Mexican War as the Chief of Staff for Gen. Winfield Scott. Lee returned to Texas in 1856 as part of an effort to help protect the western frontier, but left the state in October of 1857 to administer the estate of his father-in-law after his death. Lee returned to San Antonio in 1860 to take command of a regiment.

1926 - A large portion of the estate of William McDonald was left to the University of Texas to build an observatory. It was eventually built in the Davis Mountains and named for McDonald.

1943 - The first class of military aerial navigators arrived at San Marcos Army Air Field. Texas was at the forefront of aviation training during World War II, and some ten thousand navigators were eventually trained in the state. During the Korean War, SMAAF was the largest helicopter training base in the United States. In 1953 the installation was renamed Gary Air Force Base, in honor of 2d Lt. Arthur Edward Gary, the first San Marcos resident killed in World War II. The base was transferred to the army in 1956 and renamed Camp Gary. It was closed in 1963. The site is now used as the Gary Job Corps Center and San Marcos airport.

1977 - The legendary Texas Ranger M. T. (Lone Wolf) Gonzaullas died in Dallas at the age of eighty-five. He was a major in the Mexican army by the age of twenty, then a special agent for the U.S. Treasury Department for five years. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1920 and saw service from the Red River to the Rio Grande and from El Paso to the Sabine during the 1920s and 1930s. Along the Rio Grande, he later became known as El Lobo Solo. After Governor Miriam (Ma) Ferguson fired most of the rangers, including Gonzaullas, the day after she took office in 1933, the legislature created the Texas Department of Public Safety and made the rangers a division of that agency. Four rangers--the so-called "Big Four"--had an enormous impact on this change: Gonzaullas, Frank Hamer, Thomas R. Hickman, and Will Wright. Gonzaullas became the first American of Spanish descent to achieve the rank of captain in the force, and his experiences investigating a series of murders in Texarkana in 1946 became the basis for the motion picture The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1977). He retired from the rangers in 1951 and went to Hollywood as a technical consultant for radio, television, and motion pictures.

2002, Outlaw Country Music singer, and Country Music Hall of Famer, Waylon Jennings died in Chander AZ. He began as a DJ in Lubbock. Buddy Holly helped produce his first recording, but urged Waylon not to switch to Rock and Roll, "No, not rock & roll...you’re country".

[USA1]

2002, Outlaw Country Music singer, and Country Music Hall of Famer, Waylon Jennings died in Chander AZ. He began as a DJ in Lubbock. Buddy Holly helped produce his first recording, but urged Waylon not to switch to Rock and Roll, "No, not rock & roll...you’re country".

Rest in Peace Waylon

[joe817]

We went to see him in concert at the Ft.Worth Convention Center in the winter of 1975. Appearing with him was Willy, Ray Wiley Hubbard, and I think Jerry Jeff. It was at the height of "Texas Music" popularity, and was truly a moving experience.