This Day In Texas History - April 18

[joe817]

1836 - The Texas army led by Gen. Sam Houston reaches White Oak Bayou in the Heights District of the present city of Houston, and only about eight miles from Harrisburg, now a part of Houston. There he learned that Santa Anna had gone down the west side of the bayou and the San Jacinto River, crossing by a bridge over Vince's Bayou. From two prisoners, captured by Erasmus "Deaf" Smith9the famous Texas spy) and Wax Karnes, Houston first learned that the Mexicans had burned Harrisburg and had gone down the west side of the bayou and of San Jacinto River, and that Santa Anna in person was in command. In his march downstream Santa Anna had been forced to cross the bridge over Vince's Bayou, a tributary of Buffalo Bayou, then out of its banks. He would have to cross the same bridge to return. Mexican General Santa Anna. Set up camp opposite Harrisburg, about 800 yards down river.

1842 - The brig Wharton(a warship of the Navy of the Republic of Texas) brought word to Commodore Moore's squadron off the Yucatán port of Sisal that the Republic of Texas had declared a blockade of the Mexican coast and remained in Mexican waters to help with its enforcement. Returning to her home port of Galveston, the Wharton witnessed the almost total loss of her crew to expiring enlistments and desertions and, in May 1842, sailed to New Orleans for much-needed repairs with only nine sailors.

1842 - Juan N. Seguín resigned as mayor of San Antonio. Seguín, a native San Antonian, was born in 1806; his father Erasmo was a prominent public figure who later served as alcalde. Juan fought in the Texas Revolution, escaping death at the Alamo when he was sent out as a courier shortly before the fall of the citadel. Seguín was elected to the Republic of Texas Senate in 1837--the only Mexican Texan to serve in that body--but resigned in 1840 and was then elected mayor of San Antonio. His tenure in that office was controversial; his continuing conflicts with Anglo squatters on city property and his business correspondence with Mexico incriminated him in Gen. Rafael Vásquez's invasion of San Antonio in March 1842. Fearing for his life, Seguín resigned and fled with his family to Mexico. He participated in Adrián Woll's invasion of Texas in September 1842 and fought against the United States in the Mexican War, but returned to Texas after the war. He died in Nuevo Laredo in 1890. The town of Seguin was named in his honor in 1839.

1847 - Gen. Winfield Scott commanded forces at the Santa Anna battle at Sierra Gorda. The American victors capture Santa Anna's wooden leg.

1865 - One of the last known shipments of Dance revolvers took place; a lot of twenty-five six-shot pistols was sent from Anderson to the Houston Depot of Supplies. Civil War firearms manufactured by J. H. Dance and Company are among the most highly prized antique weapons, valued for their fine craftsmanship as well as their rarity. In April 1862 George Dance wrote Governor F. R. Lubbock requesting an advance of $5,000. He claimed that this sum would enable the Dances to begin firearm production with an output of fifty revolvers a week. Evidently they received some aid, for on July 5, 1862, a letter written by George's cousin Mattie Duff states that "the boys think they will soon get some three or four of their pistols finished." While production may have been at a somewhat slower pace than originally anticipated, by October 2, 1862, the Dances were able to ship a dozen revolvers to the San Antonio Arsenal. The federal occupation of Matagorda Island, located just off the Texas coast near Brazoria County, prompted the belief that the county was about to be invaded. The Confederate government doubtless wanted to consolidate the Dances' skills farther inland and out of harm's way. The Dances relocated to a site three miles north of Anderson in Grimes County, and here the Confederate government built a powder mill and pistol factory. The last know shipment of Dance revolvers came from this factory.

1868 - The Laurel Leaf brand of Los Laureles Ranch in Nueces and Cameron counties was first registered. The Texas Land & Cattle Company later purchased the ranch and the brand.

1897 - S. E. Hayden, a cotton buyer in the small Wise County community of Aurora, released a fictional "news" story describing the crash of a mysterious airship just outside of town. Aurora was founded in the late 1850s and had grown considerably by the mid-1880s. Hayden's story succeeded in causing a sensation because tales of UFOs near Fort Worth were already current. Aurora remained comatose, however. In 1901 postal service was discontinued. The construction of State Highway 114 through the town in 1939 probably saved it from extinction. In the early 1970s Aurora underwent a rebirth as the town became a bedroom community of Fort Worth.

1901 - The Baylor College of Medicine held its first commencement with a graduating class of 15 students.

1904 - Influential artist and critic Harry Peyton Carnohan was born in Milford, Ellis County. Carnohan, who studied under Vivian Aunspaugh and Frank Reaugh, was a member of the Dallas Nine, a group of regionalist artists active in the 1930s and 1940s. He was more open to contemporary European styles than his peers Jerry Bywaters and Alexandre Hogue; his best-known work, West Texas Landscape (1934), was influenced by Surrealism.

1934 - The first washateria (laundromat) in the United States was opened by C. A. Tannahill in Fort Worth.

1954, the dam completing Falcon Reservoir was completed along the Rio Grande river. The lake is one of the largest in Texas holding over 2.7 million ac/ft of water.