1849 - The MEXICAN-UNITED STATES BOUNDARY COMMISSION met formally for the first time with the Mexican commission headed by Gen. Pedro García Conde, and the American commission headed by John B. Weller. Article five of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo set the boundary between Mexico and the United States and provided for the establishment of a Mexican-United States Boundary Commission to survey and mark that boundary.
The commission's survey of the Texas portion of the Rio Grande did not produce any major territorial disputes, although the Mexicans were unhappy about a change in the Rio Grande river bed as a result of an 1850 flood. Both sides were eager to survey river channel changes that were beneficial to them, and it was this sort of occurrence that caused the Chamizal Dispute.
[ for an interesting read:https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ncm04 ]
1849 - Isaac W. Johnson, an early ranger and Republic of Texas congressman, held a meeting at Goliad to organize a ranger company to guard the frontier from Goliad to the Rio Grande. Governor George T. Wood notified the adjutant general that Johnson had recruited fifty men for six months' service.
1861 - the Order of the Sons of Hermann in the State of Texas was founded in San Antonio. It was the largest fraternal insurance benefit society headquartered in Texas, with a membership of 80,000 in 161 lodges in 1994. In 1920 the first mixed lodge for both men and women was established in San Antonio. In that year the Order of the Sons of Hermann in Texas, which by then was financially stronger and had more members than all of the lodges in the rest of the United States combined, broke away from the national order. Originally all of the members were of German extraction, but by 1965 only about half were, and by 1994 membership was open to all ethnic groups.
1870 - Capt. Curwen B. McClellan, commander of the Sixth Cavalry, assembled a force of fifty-five troopers, two officers, a surgeon, and a civilian scout at Fort Richardson (now Jacksboro) to pursue a raiding party of between 100-250 Kiowa Indians led by Kicking Bird, that attacked and robbed a mail stage at Rock Station, near the site of present Jermyn, Jack County. The pursuit and ensuing battle became known as The Battle of the Little Wichita River. Solon D. Neal and 12 others were awarded the Medal of Honor for "Gallantry in Action" in this engagement.
[For a very interesting read: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qfl01 ]
1878 - John Hunter Herndon, formerly the wealthiest man in Texas, died in Boerne. Herndon was born in Kentucky in 1813 and came to Texas in 1838. After serving as engrossing clerk of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas he moved to Richmond in Fort Bend County, where he was admitted to the bar. In 1839 he married Barbara Makall Wilkinson Calvit, the only daughter of Alexander Calvit and heir to the Calvit sugar plantation in Brazoria County. The plantation, near the site of present Clute, was noted for its Arabian horses and cattle herds, which were later sold to Abel Head (Shanghai) Pierce. The 1850 census indicates that he owned real estate valued at $100,000, the largest holding in Fort Bend County; by 1860 he had acquired $1,605,000 in real property, $106,050 in personal property, and forty slaves and was thus the wealthiest man in the state. The Civil War and Reconstruction destroyed most of his fortune.
1893 - Kearie Lee Berry is born in Denton County. He becomes a great athlete at the University of Texas and a hero of the Bataan Death March of World War II. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbe62 ]
1901 - The Southern Pacific Terminal Company was incorporated on July 6, 1901, to build tracks in Galveston to serve the docks of the Southern Pacific steamers and other industries in the city. The road was operated by its own organization from July 9, 1901, through August 31, 1906; leased to and operated by the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railway Company from September 1, 1906, through February 28, 1927; leased to and operated by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company from March 1, 1927, through October 31, 1961; and leased and operated by the Southern Pacific Company from November 1, 1961, through August 31, 1962, at which time it was merged into the Southern Pacific company.
1918 - The Ninetieth Division, known as the "Tough 'Ombres," "Texas' Own," or the "Alamo" division, left the United States between June 13 and July 6, 1918, set up headquarters at Aignay-le-Duc, France, and saw action in the Villers-en-Haye and Puvenelle sectors of Lorraine and in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne operations. Total casualties suffered were 310 officers and 9,400 enlisted men. After the armistice in November 1918, the division moved into Germany for occupation duty. It was sent home for demobilization in May 1919.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qnn02 ]
1921 - Texas Student Publications, Inc was chartered to publish the University of Texas' student newspaper, The Daily Texan.
Fifty years later, on July 6, 1951, the charter expired, and the Daily Texan officially became the property of the University of Texas at Austin.
1923 – The Dr Pepper Company was officially incorporated. This soft drink was first created in the pharmacy of Morrison’s Old Corner Drug in Waco, Texas in 1885. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/did01 ]
1933 - The town of Tomball was incorporated. In 1935, town residents were given 90 years of free water and natural gas in exchange for oil drilling rights. [free gas & water for 90 years? Is that still in practice?]
1944 - Eleven years before Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of a Montgomery Alabama bus in the segregated south, none other than Lieutenant Jackie Robinson risked a court martial making a similar stand at Fort Hood on this date in 1944. At the time Jackie Robinson boarded the army bus at Camp Hood to take him to a hospital 30 miles away, integration was the official policy of the US Army. Under the new Army policy, Robinson could set anywhere he wished on the bus, and did just that for his trip to the hospital. When Robinson left the hospital where his ankle needed attention, however, he was picked up in a jeep and brought back to the post.
Robinson was charged with several violations related to the incident, but his commanding officer refused to sign the court martial orders. Robinson was hastily transferred to another unit where that commander had no such hesitation, and Robinson was court martialed. After only 4 hours, Robinson was fully acquitted Upon leaving the army later in 1944, Jackie Robinson joined the Negro League of baseball, and the following season became the first man to break baseball's long standing "color barrier". Had he not been acquitted, Robinson would never have been allowed into professional baseball, because the political climate of post World War II, would simply not allow a man regardless of color to play professional sports, if he had been dishonorably discharged during the war.
1946 - Future President George Walker Bush was in born in New Haven, Conn., to Barbara Pierce Bush and future President George Herbert Walker Bush. [Happy Birthday George W.!]
1974 - On this date in 1974, the Dallas World Trade Center Opened.
1989 - The U.S. Army destroyed its last Pershing 1-A missiles at an ammunition plant in Karnack, TX. The dismantling was under the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
1998 - The King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers died at his California Ranch in Apple Valley, California. In the 1930s Roy moved to Hollywood, and began a singing career that led him to the Sons of the Pioneers. Together in the 1940s, the group appeared in several movies, one in which Roy met his future wife Dale Evans (born in Uvalde in 1912). In 1947, the two got married and launched an entertainment empire with movies, a mega-hit television show, recordings, and personal appearances. Along with their horses Trigger and Buttercup, their German Shepherd, Bullet, their side kick Pat Brady and his jeep Nellybelle, The Roy Rogers Show became a classic with kids. Each of the 100 episodes had Roy saving the day, singing a song, and with he and Dale Evans singing "Happy Trails to You". Well, Roy, ... til we meet again.
