This Day In Texas History - February 20

[joe817]

1807 - James Butler Bonham is born in South Carolina.

1830 - James Bowie, 34, and his friend Isaac Donoho took the oath of allegiance to Mexico. Bowie learned of an 1828 Mexican law that offered citizens grants for eleven leagues of land (4,428.4 acres) for around $200. Bowie urged Mexicans to apply for these grants which he in turn purchased from them and so doing acquired a vast amount of land holdings in Texas.

1871 - Martial law was declared in Walker County. Lawlessness was widespread during Reconstruction, and Republican efforts often seemed to exacerbate the problem. The so-called Walker County Rebellion, which led to the declaration of martial law, followed the murder of a freedman and the attempted trial of four white suspects.

1874 - After considering a challenge from his Democratic opponents, the Texas Senate confirmed the election of Walter Moses Burton. Burton was brought to Texas as a slave from North Carolina in 1850 at the age of twenty-one. He belonged to a Fort Bend planter, Thomas Burke Burton, who taught him how to read and write, skills that served him well in later years. He became involved in politics as early as 1869, when he was elected sheriff and tax collector of Fort Bend County, and served as the president of the Fort Bend County Union League. In 1873 Burton campaigned for and won a seat in the Texas Senate, where he served for seven years. In the Senate he championed the education of blacks. Among the many bills that he helped push through was one that called for the establishment of Prairie View Normal School (now Prairie View A&M University).

1875 - Leander Randon Millican, Baptist missionary, was licensed to preach. He was born at the community of Millican, Texas, in 1853. In 1874, while he was deputy sheriff of Lampasas County, Millican was converted in a Methodist camp meeting. He joined the Baptist Church at Lampasas later that year. He attended Baylor University at Independence during the 1874-75 term. His work was with small, struggling churches on a half-time, quarter-time, or monthly basis in an area from San Angelo west to El Paso and south to Presidio. During his ministering travels on horseback he dreamed of a camp meeting to bring ranchers, cowboys, and churches together for preaching and classes. His dream was realized on July 28, 1915, when he and George W. Truett met with ranchers to begin an annual cowboy camp meeting that became known as Paisano Baptist Encampment. Millican was called "missionary to the mountains," "circuit rider of the plains," "trail-blazing minister," "sky pilot of the plains," and "Brother Lallie." He died in 1938.

1885 - On this date, John Manning caught up to Tom Greene in a stolen wagon and a team of horses heading for California, with Manning's 12 year old daughter gagged and tied to the bottom of the wagon. Greene was 8 days on the trail at the time Manning, the Sherrif, and a Texas Ranger caught up to him. In a short fight, Manning shot and killed Greene, rescuing his daughter.

1895 - Late in the afternoon, a wall of dust hundreds of feet tall, blew across the Texas Panhandle, hurdling the afternoon into immediate darkness. The choking dust left parts of the Panhandle in as much as a foot of dust while stripping other area bare.

1943 - The Women Airforce Pilots flight school opened at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, during World War II.

1971 - A massive blizzard that left 6 to 26 inches of snow hit the Texas Panhandle. The blizzard lasted until February 22. Three people were killed in the storm, which also caused the disappearance of 15,000 cattle in Amarillo. Property losses and damages totaled $3.1 million.

[USA1]

1895 - Late in the afternoon, a wall of dust hundreds of feet tall, blew across the Texas Panhandle, hurdling the afternoon into immediate darkness. The choking dust left parts of the Panhandle in as much as a foot of dust while stripping other area bare.

wow

[ELB]

I am late with this because last night I was too lazy to put may boots back on and walk out to the car to get the book I had just finished. However, I now (Sun 21 Feb) have it in hand, and add the following notes:

From Three Roads to the Alamo, by William C. Davis (a book tracing the lives of Crockett, Bowie, and Travis). At this point, all three are at the Alamo.

But then on February 20 the intensity of the situation mounted. It was a Saturday, and Seguin came to Travis in the evening with a report just received from one of his cousins who had recently been on the Rio Grande. After a hard three-day ride, he reported that Ramirez y Sesma's forces had crossed and were on their way. At a hastily summoned council of war, Travis, Bowie, and other officers discussed the report, as well as another saying Ramirez y Sesma had fifteen hundred men and was making a forced march hoping to take Bexar by surprise. Some of the officers refused to believe it. After all, there had been so many conflicting reports in the past several weeks. Travis and Bowie may have been divided on it themselves, and the council adjourned without taking any decisive step.

The scout's information was surprisingly good. Ramirez y Sesma, at the head of fifteen hundred men of the First Brigade, had crossed several day earlier, and at the very moment of the council was camped just a day's march from the Medina.

As a side note, I had lunch with Juan Seguin yesterday (20 Feb)...

[joe817]

Fascinating ELB! Thanks for sharing, and keep the comments/addendums coming!