This Day In Texas History - July 5
Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:16 pm
1716 - Mission Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas was established near Alto, but abandoned three years later because of the Spanish-French conflict.
1836 - Sam Houston arrived in San Augustine today, from a trip to New Orleans for treatment of injuries incurred at San Jacinto. While in New Orleans he was greeted by cheering crowds. But hearing that the new government of Texas was nearing collapse, Houston left New Orleans after only four weeks of treatment, arriving in San Augustine, Texas on this date in 1836.
1848 - On this date in 1848, three years after Texas joined the union, the United States Congress settled a dispute between Texas and Louisiana, by extending the eastern boundary of Texas from the western bank to the middle of the Sabine River.
1855 - Governor Elisha Pease authorized James Hughes Callahan to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico for the alleged purpose of punishing Apache Indians who raided in Texas and then fled to Mexico. The expedition may have been an attempt by Texas slaveholders to capture runaway slaves who were being permitted to settle in Mexico. Governor Santiago Vidaurri of Nuevo León y Coahuila had rebuffed the slaveholders' emissary and ordered his troops to prepare for invasion. Callahan crossed into Mexico on October 1-2 and encountered a Mexican detachment at the Rio Escondito near Piedras Negras. There were casualties on both sides. Callahan retreated to Piedras Negras, captured the town, and burned it. American forces across the river covered his retreat. Historians have long argued about the real purpose of the operation. In 1876 the Claims Commission settled claims originating from the expedition, awarding 150 Mexican citizens a total of $50,000 in damages.
1873 - Margaret Borland died of "trail fever" or "congestion of the brain" after successfully leading a drive of about 2,500 cattle from Victoria, Texas, to Wichita, Kansas. She was born in Ireland on April 3, 1824. Her family was among the Irish colonists who arrived in Texas in 1829 with John McMullen and James McGloin and settled at San Patricio. Margaret was thrice married and widowed. She had assisted Alexander Borland, her third husband in his cattle business and, after his death, assumed full responsibility for the estate. Though she left the physical labor to her hired hands, she bought and sold livestock. By 1873 she owned a herd of more than 10,000 cattle. She was said to be the only woman to have led a cattle drive. Her body was returned to Texas and buried in Victoria Cemetery.
1956 - Slats Rodgers, the colorful owner of the first pilot's license in Texas, passed away in McAllen. Floyd H. Rodgers was born in Georgia in 1889 and moved to Texas with his family as a boy. As a young man he worked for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, but aviation was his passion. With the help of an engineer friend, Rodgers designed and built a primitive aircraft, reputed to be the first built in Texas, which he flew without instruction in late 1912, a mere nine years after the first manned airplane flight by the Wright brothers. He became a flight instructor for the army in 1916 and worked as a barnstormer and circus stunt pilot after World War I. During prohibition he bought his own plane to ferry bootleg liquor from Mexico to Texas.
1836 - Sam Houston arrived in San Augustine today, from a trip to New Orleans for treatment of injuries incurred at San Jacinto. While in New Orleans he was greeted by cheering crowds. But hearing that the new government of Texas was nearing collapse, Houston left New Orleans after only four weeks of treatment, arriving in San Augustine, Texas on this date in 1836.
1848 - On this date in 1848, three years after Texas joined the union, the United States Congress settled a dispute between Texas and Louisiana, by extending the eastern boundary of Texas from the western bank to the middle of the Sabine River.
1855 - Governor Elisha Pease authorized James Hughes Callahan to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico for the alleged purpose of punishing Apache Indians who raided in Texas and then fled to Mexico. The expedition may have been an attempt by Texas slaveholders to capture runaway slaves who were being permitted to settle in Mexico. Governor Santiago Vidaurri of Nuevo León y Coahuila had rebuffed the slaveholders' emissary and ordered his troops to prepare for invasion. Callahan crossed into Mexico on October 1-2 and encountered a Mexican detachment at the Rio Escondito near Piedras Negras. There were casualties on both sides. Callahan retreated to Piedras Negras, captured the town, and burned it. American forces across the river covered his retreat. Historians have long argued about the real purpose of the operation. In 1876 the Claims Commission settled claims originating from the expedition, awarding 150 Mexican citizens a total of $50,000 in damages.
1873 - Margaret Borland died of "trail fever" or "congestion of the brain" after successfully leading a drive of about 2,500 cattle from Victoria, Texas, to Wichita, Kansas. She was born in Ireland on April 3, 1824. Her family was among the Irish colonists who arrived in Texas in 1829 with John McMullen and James McGloin and settled at San Patricio. Margaret was thrice married and widowed. She had assisted Alexander Borland, her third husband in his cattle business and, after his death, assumed full responsibility for the estate. Though she left the physical labor to her hired hands, she bought and sold livestock. By 1873 she owned a herd of more than 10,000 cattle. She was said to be the only woman to have led a cattle drive. Her body was returned to Texas and buried in Victoria Cemetery.
1956 - Slats Rodgers, the colorful owner of the first pilot's license in Texas, passed away in McAllen. Floyd H. Rodgers was born in Georgia in 1889 and moved to Texas with his family as a boy. As a young man he worked for the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, but aviation was his passion. With the help of an engineer friend, Rodgers designed and built a primitive aircraft, reputed to be the first built in Texas, which he flew without instruction in late 1912, a mere nine years after the first manned airplane flight by the Wright brothers. He became a flight instructor for the army in 1916 and worked as a barnstormer and circus stunt pilot after World War I. During prohibition he bought his own plane to ferry bootleg liquor from Mexico to Texas.
