This Day In Texas History - January 22

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1811 - Capt. Juan Bautista de las Casas, who wanted Mexican Independence from Spain, arrested Manuel María de Salcedo and temporarily replaced him as Governor of Texas.

1829 - Sam Houston marries 18 year old Eliza Allen, daughter of Colonel John Allen at his plantation near Galatin, Tennessee. By April, they will separate.

1836 - Francis W. Thornton, who commanded a contingent of regular army troops, relieved Peyton Sterling Wyatt at Goliad. Wyatt was then ordered to Refugio to await further orders.

1837 - The first steamboat to ascend the Brazos River above Harrisburg brought Augustus C. and John K. Allen and a number of other prominent Texans to the new capital of Houston. After her arrival in Texas in June 1835 she had a notable career. In September 1835 the Laura towed the armed schooner San Felipe to engage and capture the Mexican cruiser Correo, which had been seizing United States vessels calling at Texas ports. In April 1836 the Laura took vice president Lorenzo de Zavala and secretary of the treasury Bailey Hardeman to the site of the battle of San Jacinto; they were the first officials to arrive there from Galveston Island.

1847 - A mounted troop including well-armed Germans, Mexicans, and several American surveyors set out from Fredericksburg to survey land for the Fisher-Miller land grant awarded by the state of Texas. The Fisher-Miller land grant comprised lands between the Llano and Colorado rivers and constituted the hunting grounds of the Comanche Indians. . James Pinckney Henderson, the governor of Texas, had sent a messenger to warn the expedition of the consequences of entering Indian territory; however, contacts with the Indians had already been made. This land was to be used for the settlements of the immigrants who arrived in Texas under the auspices of the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants. Numerous encounters were made with the Comanches and a series of negotiations transpired. The final session took place on March 1 and 2, 1847, at the lower San Saba, about twenty-five miles from the Colorado River. The treaty was made between the head chiefs Buffalo Hump, Santa Anna, and others, and Meusebach(who was in charge of the German immigrants)-called by the Comanches El Sol Colorado, because of his red flowing beard. It was ratified in Fredericksburg two months later. The treaty allowed Meusebach's settlers to go unharmed into Indian territory and the Indians to go to the white settlements; promised mutual reports on wrongdoing; and provided for survey of lands in the San Saba area with a payment of at least $1,000 to the Indians. The treaty opened more than 3 million acres of land to settlement.

1883 - The Fifty Cent Act was repealed. The act, advocated by Governor O. M. Roberts and passed in July 1879, provided for the selling of Texas land for fifty cents an acre, with one-half of the proceeds to be used to pay down the public debt and the other half to establish a permanent school fund. The act opened to settlement about fifty-two Texas counties, in which the state sold 3,201,283 acres for $1,600,641.55. The Fifty Cent Act was repealed as a public necessity due to fraudulent land speculation.

1891 - Woodford Haywood Mabry became adjutant general of Texas under Governor James S. Hogg. Mabry was born in Jefferson, Texas, on September 3, 1856. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Mabry resigned his office to become a colonel in the First Texas Infantry. He died in Havana, Cuba, in January 1899.

1906 - Author Robert E. Howard is born in Peaster, Texas. His works include, Conan the Cimmerian, and a number of Texas-based characters and stories, such as the larger-than-life Breckenridge Elkins.

1948 - Future Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, George Forman is born in Marshall. George Forman might better be known for his George Forman Grill.

1973 - Former President of the United States, Lyndon Baynes Johnson died suddenly of a heart attack at his ranch near Stonewall.

1973 - Texas native George Foreman knocks out Joe Frazier to win the world heavyweight title.

2001 - Acting on a tip, authorities captured four of the "Texas 7" in Woodland Park, CO, at a convenience store. A fifth convict killed himself inside a motor home.