This Day In Texas History - February 5
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:22 pm
1836 - James Fannin and his contingent together with 200 men which comprised the 4 companies of the Georgia Batallion, marched the companies he had with him at Copano to the Texan camp at Refugio as a step toward the proposed Matamoros campaign.
1842 - William Henry Daingerfield, legislator, diplomat, and early San Antonio mayor, resigned his Senate seat of the Sixth Congress to become secretary of the treasury.
1844 -The Texas Congress established a five-man commission to oversee the construction of the Central National Road. The road was to begin on the bank of the Trinity River in Dallas County and run to the south bank of the Red River in the northwest corner of Red River County, opposite the mouth of the Kiamachi River. The proposed terminus was the head of navigation on the Red River. To the north and east the Central National Road connected with the military road to Fort Gibson and old roads joining the Jonesborough area to settlements in Arkansas. At its southern terminus it connected with the road opened in 1840 between Austin and Preston Bend on the Red River, in effect making an international highway between St. Louis and San Antonio. The international role that Congress may have visualized for the road was never fulfilled, however, because the general westward population shift voided its centrality and necessitated other roads.
1848 - Myra Maybelle Shirley was born in Carthage, Missouri. When their town was burned by the Union Army in 1964, her family moved to Scyene, Texas near Dallas. A Confederate sympathizer, she befriended many of the outlaws which prospered following the Civil War, including the Youngers and Jesse James. She became known as Belle Starr. Known as the "Bandit Queen", Belle Starr continue skirting the law and making enemies until February 3, 1889, when an unknown assailant shot and killed her.
1852 - Burnet County was formed by the Fourth Texas Legislature, from parts of Travis, Williamson, and Bell counties. It was named for David G. Burnet, president of the provisional government of the Republic of Texas.
1868 - A band of about fifteen Comanche Indians raided the home of John S. and Matilda Jane (Jones) Friend near the confluence of Sandy and Legion creeks, about fifteen miles south of Llano in Llano County. Eight related women and children had gathered at the Friend home in the absence of their menfolk. In addition to Matilda Friend, the group included Rebecca (Stripling or Stribling) Johnson and infant, Samantha (Johnson) Johnson and infant, Miss Amanda Townsend (who was about eighteen), and two children, Malinda Ann Caudle and Lee Temple Friend, both about eight years old. In resisting the raid, Mrs. Friend was stabbed, shot with arrows, badly cut across her hand, scalped, and left for dead as the marauders robbed the dwelling and rode off with the seven remaining members of the group as captives. Within a few miles of the Friend home, the two young wives, their infants, and Amanda Townsend were mutilated and killed by the Indians; the two children were held as captives. Malinda was recovered in about six months and returned to her parents. This became known as The Legion Valley Massacre.
1884 - The Mill Iron ranch grew to a total of 162,736 acres and encompassed portions of Hall, Childress, Motley, and Cottle counties in the Texas Panhandle.William Edgar Hughes, John N. Simpson, and John W. Buster, the owners, reorganized and incorporated their ranching enterprise on this day, as the Continental Land and Cattle Company, with their main office in St. Louis. Two years later the company absorbed the holdings of Hughes and Simpson in the Hashknife Ranch and moved its cattle to the Mill Iron range. During its heyday the Mill Iron branded between 10,000 and 12,000 calves annually; in 1890, 25,000 calves were reported. In 1896 the Mill Iron bought out the adjoining 152,320-acre Rocking Chair Ranch, thus extending its holdings into Collingsworth and Wheeler counties.
1955 - Martin Lalor Crimmins, noted herpetologist, army officer, and military historian, died in San Antonio. Born in New York, he attended Georgetown College and the University of Virginia Medical School but joined Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders in San Antonio just before graduation. Though his military service took him across Europe and Asia, he retired to San Antonio in 1926. One of Crimmins's most noteworthy accomplishments was his pioneer work in snakebite treatment. He inoculated himself with serum until he became immune and then gave blood transfusions to snakebite victims.
1842 - William Henry Daingerfield, legislator, diplomat, and early San Antonio mayor, resigned his Senate seat of the Sixth Congress to become secretary of the treasury.
1844 -The Texas Congress established a five-man commission to oversee the construction of the Central National Road. The road was to begin on the bank of the Trinity River in Dallas County and run to the south bank of the Red River in the northwest corner of Red River County, opposite the mouth of the Kiamachi River. The proposed terminus was the head of navigation on the Red River. To the north and east the Central National Road connected with the military road to Fort Gibson and old roads joining the Jonesborough area to settlements in Arkansas. At its southern terminus it connected with the road opened in 1840 between Austin and Preston Bend on the Red River, in effect making an international highway between St. Louis and San Antonio. The international role that Congress may have visualized for the road was never fulfilled, however, because the general westward population shift voided its centrality and necessitated other roads.
1848 - Myra Maybelle Shirley was born in Carthage, Missouri. When their town was burned by the Union Army in 1964, her family moved to Scyene, Texas near Dallas. A Confederate sympathizer, she befriended many of the outlaws which prospered following the Civil War, including the Youngers and Jesse James. She became known as Belle Starr. Known as the "Bandit Queen", Belle Starr continue skirting the law and making enemies until February 3, 1889, when an unknown assailant shot and killed her.
1852 - Burnet County was formed by the Fourth Texas Legislature, from parts of Travis, Williamson, and Bell counties. It was named for David G. Burnet, president of the provisional government of the Republic of Texas.
1868 - A band of about fifteen Comanche Indians raided the home of John S. and Matilda Jane (Jones) Friend near the confluence of Sandy and Legion creeks, about fifteen miles south of Llano in Llano County. Eight related women and children had gathered at the Friend home in the absence of their menfolk. In addition to Matilda Friend, the group included Rebecca (Stripling or Stribling) Johnson and infant, Samantha (Johnson) Johnson and infant, Miss Amanda Townsend (who was about eighteen), and two children, Malinda Ann Caudle and Lee Temple Friend, both about eight years old. In resisting the raid, Mrs. Friend was stabbed, shot with arrows, badly cut across her hand, scalped, and left for dead as the marauders robbed the dwelling and rode off with the seven remaining members of the group as captives. Within a few miles of the Friend home, the two young wives, their infants, and Amanda Townsend were mutilated and killed by the Indians; the two children were held as captives. Malinda was recovered in about six months and returned to her parents. This became known as The Legion Valley Massacre.
1884 - The Mill Iron ranch grew to a total of 162,736 acres and encompassed portions of Hall, Childress, Motley, and Cottle counties in the Texas Panhandle.William Edgar Hughes, John N. Simpson, and John W. Buster, the owners, reorganized and incorporated their ranching enterprise on this day, as the Continental Land and Cattle Company, with their main office in St. Louis. Two years later the company absorbed the holdings of Hughes and Simpson in the Hashknife Ranch and moved its cattle to the Mill Iron range. During its heyday the Mill Iron branded between 10,000 and 12,000 calves annually; in 1890, 25,000 calves were reported. In 1896 the Mill Iron bought out the adjoining 152,320-acre Rocking Chair Ranch, thus extending its holdings into Collingsworth and Wheeler counties.
1955 - Martin Lalor Crimmins, noted herpetologist, army officer, and military historian, died in San Antonio. Born in New York, he attended Georgetown College and the University of Virginia Medical School but joined Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders in San Antonio just before graduation. Though his military service took him across Europe and Asia, he retired to San Antonio in 1926. One of Crimmins's most noteworthy accomplishments was his pioneer work in snakebite treatment. He inoculated himself with serum until he became immune and then gave blood transfusions to snakebite victims.