This Day In Texas History - July 19

[joe817]

1714 - Louis Juchereau de St. Denis arrived at San Juan Bautista Presidio. The French governor of Louisiana had dispatched St. Denis, and a company of men from Mobile in 1713 to assist Francisco Hidalgo in re-establishing missions in East Texas. The commandant at San Juan Bautista, Diego Ramón, placed St. Denis under house arrest while awaiting instructions on what to do with a foreigner bearing goods banned by Spanish mercantile restrictions. So mild was St. Denis's confinement that he ended up engaged to the commandant's beautiful granddaughter, Manuela Sánchez, whom he married in early 1716. He subsequently participated in the founding of six missions and a presidio in East Texas.

1824 - The name Old Three Hundred is sometimes used to refer to the settlers who received land grants in Stephen F. Austin's first colony. In January 1821 Austin's father, Moses Austin, had received a permit from the Spanish to settle 300 families in Texas, but he died in Missouri a short time later before he could realize his plans. Stephen F. Austin took his father's place and traveled to San Antonio, where he met with the Spanish governor Antonio María Martínez, who acknowledged him as his father's successor. Austin quickly found willing colonists, and by the end of the summer of 1824 most of the Old Three Hundred were in Texas. On this day(July 19,1824), 24 Land Grants were issued to members of the Austin's Old Three Hundred Colony.
Note: for a fascinating read into early Texas colonization: [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/umo01 ]

1843 - President Sam Houston relieved Commodore Edwin Moore of command of the Texas Navy. Moore had clashed with Houston over the navy's activities in support of Mexican rebels in the Yucatán. Houston proclaimed the navy to be pirates and requested any friendly country to capture the navy's ships and return them to Galveston. Before this could happen, Moore returned voluntarily to Galveston, whereupon Houston dishonorably discharged him without so much as a court-martial. Moore appealed to the Congress of the Republic of Texas and finally got a fair trial in August 1844, in which he was found not guilty. In November 1843 the entire fleet was put up for auction, though the people of Galveston, incensed at the thought of selling the navy, prevented the submission of bids. Nevertheless, Moore's July cruise marked the end of the operative career of the Texas Navy.

1862 - The Eighth Texas Infantry battalion of the Confederate States Army was organized by Alfred Marmaduke Hobby in Refugio County. It consisted of three companies under captains Robert E. Jones, William E. McCampbell, and P. H. Breeden. A fourth company under Edwin E. Hobby was added on June 20, 1862, and a fifth, under José M. Peñaloza, completed the battalion. The battalion trained at Camp Charles Russell near Banquete until July 19, 1862, when it was ordered to defend Corpus Christi as a part of the Twenty-ninth Brigade. As a battalion, the force prevented a federal invasion at Corpus Christi in August 1862 and in September captured J. W. Kittridge of the federal fleet. In 1863, after organization of the regiment, the Eighth guarded Fort Esperanza on Matagorda Island, kept a battery on Mustang Island, and in May drove Union troops off St. Joseph's Island.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qke03 ]

1876 - The Texas and Pacific Railway finally completed its line into Fort Worth. The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was the only railroad in Texas, and one of the few in the United States, to operate under a federal charter. Construction of the line had stalled just sixteen miles to the east, at Eagle Ford. Eager to reach Fort Worth before the Texas legislature could revoke its charter and withhold its land subsidy, the T&P hired Welshman Morgan Jones to complete the line before the legislature adjourned. Work continued day and night, while a little more than a mile a day of track was laid. A holiday spirit filled the town when Jones's line finally reached Fort Worth on time. The success made the Welshman a local hero and marked the beginning of a new era of growth for Fort Worth.[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqt08 ]

1878 - Sam Bass and his gang were scouting out banks in Round Rock planning a robbery for the following day. Texas Rangers tipped off that Sam Bass was in town, were waiting in town, but were caught off guard by Bass and his men. In the shootout that followed, one of Bass's gang was killed, one escaped, and Bass himself was fatally wounded. He would die of his injuries two days later. . He died at the age of twenty-seven.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbaab ]

1957 - On this date in 1957, construction was completed on the dam creating Lake Arlington.

1981 - "Roy Orbison Day" was celebrated in Odessa, TX.