This Day In Texas History - February 15

[joe817]

1831 - William W. Arrington, early settler and political leader during the Texas Revolution, arrived in Texas on February 15, 1831, when he settled as a bachelor in Green DeWitt's colony. He was one of the "Immortal Eighteen" citizens of Gonzales who, in the battle of Gonzales, refused Gen. Martín Perfecto de Cos's demand that the Anglo colonists surrender their diminutive piece of artillery and defied his soldiers to "Come and Take It!" Arrington was elected to represent Gonzales in the Consultation of 1835 and on November 7 signed the declaration of war against Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna and the Centralist Mexican government. That same day Arrington was appointed one of twelve members of a committee to draw up plans for a provisional government for Texas.

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

1842 - On February 15, 1842, Henri Castro, an empresario of the Republic of Texas, received contracts for two grants of land on which he was to establish 600 families. One grant lay west of San Antonio; the other was along the Rio Grande between Camargo and La Sal del Rey. Castro recruited his colonists in France, particularly in Alsace. On September 1, 1844, he left San Antonio for his land grant beyond the Medina River with his first thirty-five colonists. On September 3 the group reached its destination and began building homes. On September 12 an election was held for two justices of the peace and a constable, and the name Castroville was adopted for the settlement. During the colony's first year 558 headrights were issued, and 485 families and 457 single men were introduced, for a total of 2,134 settlers. The colony suffered from Indian depredations, cholera, and the drought of 1848, but population increased sufficiently for the formation of Medina County in 1848. The present towns of Castroville, D'Hanis, Quihi, and Vandenburg were founded by the colonists.

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.

1861 - Commonly referred to as Edgar's Company, the First Texas Field Battery Light Artillery was organized by Capt. William Edgar in November 1860. The initial battery consisted of forty-nine volunteers primarily from the San Antonio area. The average age of the members was twenty-eight, which was about five years older than other Confederate units in Texas. In February 1861 the battery was called into service by the Texas Committee of Public Safety. Edgar's Company united with Col. Ben McCulloch's troops on February 15, 1861, near the outskirts of San Antonio and awaited orders to confiscate the federal supplies and munitions at the United States Military Headquarters of Texas. The following day the troops marched into the city. Maj. Gen. David E. Twiggs peacefully surrendered the federal buildings and supplies and also ordered the evacuation of all federal garrisons in the state. Following the victory, Edgar's company was assigned to guard the abandoned arsenal. The company quickly earned the nickname "Alamo City Guards."

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 sheriff, 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 Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, the oldest and largest organization of its kind in the United States, was launched at Graham, Texas, on February 15, 1877, under the name Stock-Raisers' Association of North-West Texas. Cattlemen in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and the Indian Territory were invited to join. The call for the initial meeting was made in the fall of 1876 by a few leading cattlemen, among whom were James C. Loving and C. C. Slaughter. The immediate objective was to systematize the "spring work" and to curb cattle rustling. Col. C. L. (Kit) Carter was made chairman of the organizational meeting, which was held at the courthouse in Graham. Such strong measures against cattle thieves were proposed at the original meeting that some present did not take membership for fear of retaliation by the lawless element. The association was incorporated in 1882. That year the system of assessment "per head" of cattle was adopted; it is still in force. In 1883 the inspection system was inaugurated. Inspectors were eventually located along the trails, at shipping points, and at terminal markets. This practice resulted in recovering many cattle that by accident or design got into herds in which they did not belong. By 1893 the distribution of its membership had spread to such an extent that the name was changed to Cattle Raisers Association of Texas. The present name was adopted in 1921, when the organization merged with the only other cattlemen's group remaining in Texas, the Panhandle and Southwestern Stockman's Association, which had been founded in 1880. In 1945 membership stood at 6,000 and represented 3,500,000 cattle.

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.

1886 - The Dallas and Greenville Railway Company was chartered on February 15, 1886, to build a railroad and telegraph line from Greenville to Dallas. Fifty-two miles of track connecting Dallas and Greenville were completed by December 2, 1886. On that date the line was sold to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, and subsequently deeded to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company of Texas on November 18, 1891.

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.

1943 - Lamesa Field, at Lamesa, Dawson County, was established on June 10, 1942, to give elementary and advanced glider training to army aviation cadets. Lt. Walter S. Power, Lt. James V. Mesita, Maj. Walter W. Farmer, and Capt. John B. Keller were commanding officers of the Twenty-eighth Army Air Forces Glider Training Detachment until its deactivation on February 15, 1943.