1812 - Nicholas Zink was born in Bavaria. In 1844, he led German immigrants to Texas, where he founded the townsite for New Braunfels, originally called Zinkenburg.
1829 - The Mexican government issued a decree officially changing the name La Bahía to Villa de Goliad. The community played a key role in the Texas Revolution and became the site of the signing of the first declaration of independence for Texas.
1836 - Byrd Lockhart was named with Mathew Caldwell and William A. Mathews to raise volunteers in Gonzales and Milam for a ranging company of volunteers known as the Gonzales Ranging Company of Mounted Volunteers. He died in 1839, and the town of Lockhart is named in his honor.
1836 - With a commission from Houston to return to the United States to recruit more troops, Peyton Sterling Wyat left Refugio on furlough.
1837 - Felix Huston challenged Albert Sidney Johnston(commanding general of the Texas army) to a duel because Huston considered Johnston's appointment an attempt "to ruin my reputation and inflict a stigma on my character." They met the following day on the Lavaca River. After three exchanges of fire Johnston was seriously wounded by a ball passing through his hips. Although he lingered near death for several days and recovered only after months of suffering, Johnston never resented Huston's challenge or his wound, since he considered their meeting "a public duty" and believed that he could never have commanded the respect of the army if he had "shown the least hesitation in meeting General Huston's challenge."
1840 - Union Academy, one of Texas's earliest educational institutions, was incorporated by the Fourth Congress of the Republic of Texas. The academy's aim was to provide education for youth, regardless of political or religious affiliation. This private school, the fifth educational institution chartered by the Republic of Texas, exemplified the interest of the Texan government in education as well as its dependence on private efforts to promote that objective. It was owned by a stock company and located three miles from Washington-on-the-Brazos.
1841 - The Republic of Texas passed a law authorizing the president to enter into an empresario contract with William S. Peters of Pennsylvania and his associates. The contract required Peters to bring 200 colonists to North Texas every three years. Peters and his investors soon gave up, and in 1844 the Texas Emigration and Land Company was founded to take over the colony. The installation in 1845 of the officious Henry O. Hedgcoxe as the company's agent in residence inflamed the colonists and precipitated the Hedgcoxe War, in which the agent was driven from the colony. A settlement was eventually reached, and the deadline for colonists to file their claims was extended to May 7, 1853. But it took nearly ten legislative enactments over nearly twenty years to bring final settlement of the land titles. The colony that helped settle North Texas brought little if any profit to the investors and much disgruntlement to the settlers.
1874 - In a letter dated this date, Charles Mason wrote to Col. Frank W Johnson details of the battle of Gonzales fought October 2, 1835. In the letter, Mason wrote in vivid detail about the men, movements, and conditions of the battle considered to be the Lexington-Concord, that is, the first battle of the Texas Revolution. Much of the details in the letter were taken from notes Mason recorded immediately following the battle, making this letter one the most detailed accounts of the opening battle of the Texas Revolution. The battle started when about 160 Mexican soldiers were sent to retrieve a cannon loaned to the Texas settlers as defense against the Indians. Instead of returning the cannon, the answer the Mexicans soldiers received was a cannon shot full of scrap iron. One Mexican Soldier was killed. The Battle flag at Gonzales depicting a cannon with the words "come and take it" beneath. This "Come and Take It" flag came to be the symbol of Texans standing strong against Mexican oppression.
1887 - Brewster County, the largest county in Texas, was chartered. It comprises 6,169 square miles of largely rough and mountainous terrain.
1890 - Fletcher Stockdale, acting governor for 34 days in the aftermath of the Civil War, dies in Cuero.
1907 - The Stephenville North and South Texas Railway Company was chartered to construct a railroad from Stephenville to Hamilton. The capital was $250,000, and the original business office was located at Stephenville.
1912 - Future professional golf legend Byron Nelson was born on on the family farm in Texas. He began caddying at the age of 10 at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth. In 1945, Byron Nelson won 11 straight tournaments and 18 overall &# a record that even Tiger Woods has not come close to matching.
1918 - The oil well No. 1 Chaney began producing in Breckenridge, TX. This event started a boom that swelled the population from 800 to 30,000 in a short period of time.
1968 - Marine sergeant Alfredo Gonzalez died near Thua Thein, Vietnam, after action that earned him the Medal of Honor. The missile destroyer USS Alfredo Gonzalez, named for him, is the first United States military ship named for a Hispanic.
