This Day In Texas History - February 15

[joe817]

1836 - Erastus (Deaf) Smith carried Travis's letter from the Alamo. [Note: Travis wrote several letters while at the Alamo. In the upcoming days each letter will appear in this thread in its entirety, on the date it was written.]

1844 - The commissioners of both the government of Mexico and the Republic of Texas signed an armistice at Salinas, on the Rio Grande. The government commission was to arrange an armistice between Mexico and Texas. James W. Robinson, a Texan prisoner at Perote Prison, had offered proposals to settle the differences between the two countries, and Santa Anna allowed Robinson to return to Texas and present his case. However, the Mexican government quickly recalled its commissioners upon learning that the Texans were negotiating in Washington for annexation to the United States and that the Texas commissioners had no authority to discuss a permanent peace. On June 19, Woll, on instructions from Mexico City, sent Houston a formal declaration of war, and hostilities resumed.

1856 - A ship carrying 65 camels departed from Tunis, North Africa, for Indianola, TX. The military wanted to test the usefulness of camels in transporting supplies in West Texas.

1871 - Governor Edmund J. Davis ordered Adjutant General James Davidson to Huntsville with orders to declare martial law upon arrival in an attempt to quell the Walker County Rebellion. In 1870 anarchy prevailed across much of Texas despite years of military occupation. The Radical Republican-dominated Twelfth Legislature approved sweeping anticrime measures proposed by Davis. Crucial components, such as the State Police and state militia, brought criticism to Davis. A major challenge to Davis's authority followed the murder of Walker County freedman Sam Jenkins in December 1870. Jenkins had testified against several whites in a case of assault, and his corpse appeared along a road outside Huntsville several days later. A trial ensued, but before the men could be escorted to jail, gunfire broke out in the courtroom. These actions were the cause of Davis' orders and martial law.

1875 - On a trip to Mason from Llano, Adam Brayford spotted the body of young Allen Bolt lying beside the road. When he climbed down from his wagon, Brayford found a note pinned to Allen's back. "Here lies a noted cow thief". Despite the tension due to German Immigrants trying to stop out of control Anglo cattle rustling, and the election of a pro-German sherrif, the rustling continued. But on this date in 1875, the first death of the HooDoo wars was recorded on the road between Llano and Mason. It would take more shootings, hangings, the burning down of the courthouse and the Texas Rangers before the violence ended two years later.

1876 - Citizens of Texas adopted the Constitution of 1876. They ratified it by a vote of 136,606 to 56,652. The document is the sixth constitution by which Texas has been governed since declaring independence from Mexico. Among the longest of U.S. state constitutions, the Constitution of 1876 reflects the earlier influences of Spanish and Mexican rule, the state's predominantly agrarian nature in the late nineteenth century, and a resurgent Democratic party determined to undo many of the measures implemented by Republican administrations during Reconstruction. Despite having been amended more than 230 times, it remains the basic law of Texas today.

1877 - The Stock-Raisers' Association of North-West Texas, later renamed the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association, is formed under a great oak in Graham to systematize the spring work, and fight cattle rustling.

1880 - O. T. Bassett, visiting El Paso on business, wrote in his diary, "Plenty of room here for a big city, which it will be in time after the railroads come." His prediction was right on target, as most authorities agree that the arrival of the railroads in 1881 and 1882 was the single most significant event in El Paso history, transforming a sleepy, dusty little adobe village of several hundred inhabitants into a flourishing frontier community that became the county seat in 1883 and reached a population of more than 10,000 by 1890. By the late 1990s the El Paso metropolitan statistical area was the sixth largest in Texas.

1910 - Lt. Benjamin Foulois brought the army's first airplane to Fort Sam Houston. There he learned to fly with instruction through correspondence with the Wright brothers. He instigated the first experimental flights in United States military aviation and gave the first public demonstration flights.