This Day In Texas History - February 24

[joe817]

1816 - Swante Magnus(Swede) Swenson was born in Jönköping, Sweden. In 1838 he became the first Swedish immigrant to Texas. Thereafter he encouraged many Swedes to immigrate. Swenson founded the SMS Ranches, became one of the largest landholders in the state, and headed extensive mercantile enterprises. He also served two terms as a Travis county commissioner and was the first treasurer of the State Agricultural Society. As an outspoken Unionist, he moved to Mexico during the Civil War, then in 1865 to New York. He and a handful of others became known as the Texas cattle barons.

1821 - Vicente R. Guerrero and Agustín de Iturbide proposed a blueprint for independence called the Plan de Iguala, for the Independence of Mexico from Spain. The plan offered three guarantees— preservation of the Catholic Church's status, the independence of Mexico as a constitutional monarchy, and equality of Spaniards and criollos(person's born in the New World to Spanish-born parents). Although viceregal authorities tried to resist, the plan met with widespread approval both in civilian and military quarters. By the end of July 1821, when Juan O'Donoju arrived to take over the reins of colonial government, the loyalists controlled only Mexico City and Veracruz. Recognizing that all was lost, O'Donoju met with Iturbide at the town of Córdoba, where on August 24, 1821, he signed a treaty granting Mexico independence.

1836 - William Barret Travis, commanding the Texans under attack in the Alamo, wrote his famous letter addressed "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World." (The actual text will follow this post)

1836 - James Bowie, commander of the volunteers and co-commander at the Alamo, takes ill, and relinquishes his share of command at the Alamo to William Travis. Bowie had been ordered to San Antonio to destroy the presidios that might be found useful to the approaching Mexican Army. When he arrived however, he met Colonel William Travis who had his own orders to defend San Antonio at any cost. His illness was diagnosed as pneumonia or typhoid pneumonia but probably was advanced tuberculosis.

1844 - President Sam Houston honorably discharged all officers not required for the minimum maintenance of the mothballed ships, in the Republic of Texas Navy and Republic of Texas Marine Corps.

1885 - The future Commander of the United States forces in the Pacific, Chester A Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg. He would lead the Pacific forces throughout World War II. His boyhood home, the Nimitz hotel, would become the Nimitz Memorial Museum of the Pacific War.

1899 - In Corsicana, J. S. Cullinan and Co opened the first oil refinery west of the Mississippi river. The name was later changed to Magnolia Oil, and still later, Mobil.

1969 - Approximately 100 Texas Rangers, local lawmen, and state police were dispatched to Wiley College, the oldest black college west of the Mississippi River, in response to a series of nonviolent student demonstrations on the Marshall campus. The students were demonstrating over faculty hiring practices, primitive dormitory facilities, and cutbacks in the intercollegiate athletic program. The lawmen undertook a massive search for concealed weapons in the dorms; the search was fruitless, but the school was closed down for several weeks. Wiley College was founded in 1873 and chartered in 1882.

1979 - Swine breeder Russ Braize of Stamford sold a pig for the highest price ever recorded at the time: $42,500. Glacier(the pigs name) held the world record for the most expensive boar of all breeds for 18 years. The pig, a duroc boar, was sold to William and Myron Meinhart of Hudson, Iowa.

1991 - The Second Armored Division(stationed at Fort Hood) entered Iraqi-held Kuwait. In 100 hours allied forces had taken back the emirate.

[joe817]

(Colonel Travis' Letter to the World):

" To The People of Texas and All Americans In The World -- February 24, 1836

Fellow citizens & compatriots --

I am beseiged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna -- I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man -- The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken -- I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls -- I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism, & every thing dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch -- The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country --

VICTORY OR DEATH

William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. Comdt.

P.S. The Lord is on our side -- When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn -- We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves --

Travis "

[pbwalker]

(Colonel Travis' Letter to the World):

" To The People of Texas and All Americans In The World -- February 24, 1836

Fellow citizens & compatriots --

I am beseiged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna -- I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man -- The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken -- I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls -- I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism, & every thing dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch -- The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country --

VICTORY OR DEATH

William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. Comdt.

P.S. The Lord is on our side -- When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn -- We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves --

Travis "

[ELB]

From Three Roads to the Alamo, The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis, by William C. Davis.

Now Travis held the entire command, though he and Bowie may have tried to keep Bowie's incapacitation secret for a time, in order to quiet the volunteers. They would know soon enough, however. Meanwhile the presence of the Mexicans outside would be more than enough to keep them obedient. February 24 dawned warm and cloudy. A strong northerly wind blew cold drizzle in the faces of the men as they left their buildings, though they could feel that the day would only get colder. Early in the morning they saw the Mexicans start putting up another battery near the river, about 350 yards distant, and by the afternoon it, too, opened fire on them. Travis and Crockett and the rest most probably saw Santa Anna himself riding up almost within musket range of the fort as he personally reconnoitered.

On and off through the day and into the afternoon the Mexicans continued their fire, and all Travis could do was sit it out. He put the time to best use by doing what he did so well, composing a stirring call to arms, designed for publication. He addressed it to "The People of Texas & All Americans in the World."

I am besieged by a thousand...[as above]

Travis gave the letter to Albert Martin to take out, then turned his attention to the condition of the fort, pleased to find that so far the Mexican shells and cannonballs had only caused some damage to the outer walls, but nothing serious. That evening he and the rest of the garrison heard a band playing in the Mexican camp, though hardly intended to lull them to sleep, for the foe augmented the music with the firing of several exploding shells toward the fort. Apparently Travis spent a fair bit of time out on the parapet now, despite the enemy shelling, for Seguin saw him there and decided that his commander possessed "a high degree of constitutional bravery."