This Day In Texas History - July 4

[joe817]

1776 - Twenty soldiers were stationed in El Fuerte del Cíbolo on the significant day of July 4, 1776. Some of these helped escort Texas cattle and horses to the Spanish forces of Gen. Bernardo de Gálvez, who defeated the British in Louisiana and Florida, thereby contributing to the winning of the American Revolution. El Fuerte de Santa Cruz del Cíbolo, also called El Fuerte de Santa Cruz, El Fuerte del Zívolo, El Fuerte del Cíbolo, Arroyo del Cíbolo, or simply El Cíbolo, was an eighteenth-century Spanish fort that existed from 1734 to 1737 and again from 1771 to 1782. It was built to protect the many Spanish ranchos that belonged to missions and private individuals between Bexar and La Bahía. The site was at the natural ford on Cibolo Creek halfway between Béxar and La Bahía, a place known by local residents as Carvajal Crossing (where present Farm Road 887 crosses Cibolo Creek in Karnes County).

1845 - On this day in 1845, Texas President Anson Jones called into assembly the convention to consider the joint resolution of the United States Congress proposing the annexation of the Republic of Texas to the United States assembled in Austin. Thomas Jefferson Rusk was elected president of the convention, and James H. Raymond was secretary. By a vote of fifty-five to one, the delegates approved the offer of annexation. Subsequently, the convention prepared the Constitution of 1845 for the new state.

Rusk appointed several committees to examine legislative, executive, judicial, and general provisions of the constitution, as well as a committee of five to prepare convention rules. Of the fifty-seven delegates elected to the convention, eighteen were originally from Tennessee, eight from Virginia, seven from Georgia, six from Kentucky, and five from North Carolina. Considered the most able body of its kind ever to meet in Texas, the convention included men of broad political experience such as Thomas J. Rusk, James Pinckney Henderson, Isaac Van Zandt, Hardin R. Runnels, Abner S. Lipscomb, Nicholas H. Darnell, R. E. B. Baylor, and José Antonio Navarro. The convention adjourned on August 28, 1845.

1846 - George Tyler Wood resigned from the Texas Senate to raise a company of mounted volunteers for the Mexican War. He was colonel of the Second Texas Mounted Volunteers from July 4 to October 1, 1846, when the regiment was dissolved by order of Gen. Zachary Taylor.

1846 - The 28th star, representing Texas, was added to the United States flag.

1846 - S. W. T. Lanham, United States representative and twenty-second governor of the state of Texas, was born.

1846 - The 125 ton Texas Navy schooner Invincible went to assist another Texas naval vessel, Brutus, which was blockaded inside the port of Matagorda by the Mexican cruiser Vencedor del Alamo. After the Invincible approached the Mexican vessel, the Vencedor withdrew without firing a shot. [For more about the Texas Navy: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qjt02 ]

1883 - A dispute between ranch hands at three Pecos area ranches were settled a block south of the Pecos county courthouse in the world's first Rodeo. Residents in town for the annual Fourth of July picnic gathered around. Blue ribbons were readied by cutting pieces from a little girls dress. By the end of the day, Morg Livingston of the NA ranch was declared the best roper. Hands from the Lazy Y and the W ranches also competed.

1897 - On this date in 1897, construction began on the Eastland County courthouse. To commemorate the event, county officials placed selected artifacts from the time into the cornerstone as a time capsule. At the even was William Wood, son of County Clerk Ernest Wood who brought a Texas horned toad which he gave to his father to put in the cornerstone. Thirty-one years later, in 1928, the courthouse was torn down to make way for a newer courthouse. The cornerstone was opened, and the lifeless horned toad was held up from everyone to see. But the horned toad gave a kick, and to the amazement, came back to life. The horned toad was named "Old Rip" after Rip Van Winkle, and became famous. Old Rip was the subject of several cartoons about a frog that survives similar time capsules.

1904 - The first regular passenger train passed through the new railroad town of Kingsville, sparking a civic celebration, as the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway completed construction of its first 142 miles of track from Robstown to Brownsville. The railroad was intended to form one of the sections of a continuous line from Chicago, St. Louis, and Memphis to Baton Rouge, Houston, Brownsville, Tampico, and Mexico City. Henrietta King, owner of the King Ranch, gave 75,000 acres of land in Cameron and Kleberg counties for the railroad right-of-way, 640 acres for the townsite of Kingsville, and forty acres for shops. The townsite was laid out three miles east of the ranch headquarters.

1942 - Hondo Army Airfield is in northwest Hondo off U.S. Highway 90 in Medina County. The air field, commanded by Col. G. B. Dany, began operations on July 4, 1942, began student training on August 10, 1942, and graduated its first class of navigators on November 26 of that year. By that time more than 5,300 military personnel were stationed at the base. The aircraft included B-34s, B-18s, AT-7s, and AT-11s. The school was the largest United States Air Force navigation School in the world at the time.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qch02 ]

1945 - The Second Armored Division was the first American unit to enter Berlin. During World War II the division was recognized for distinguished service and bravery with 9,369 awards, including two medals of honor, twenty-three distinguished service crosses, and 2,302 silver stars, as well as nearly 6,000 purple hearts. In 238 battle days the Second Armored suffered 7,348 casualties, including 1,160 killed in action. The division returned to Camp Hood, Texas, in 1946 to retrain and rebuild.[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qns01 ]

1963 - In West Texas, Fort Davis National Historic Site was established as part of the national park system. The site depicts the fort as it was in the 1880s.

1995 - Luckenbach, Texas, where "Everybody is Somebody," was the site of Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic. The event drew thousands to the "town," which had a population of three. Luckenbach is on Ranch Road 1376, thirteen miles from Fredericksburg in southeastern Gillespie County. It was founded in the 1840s or 1850s and had a population of 492 in 1904, after which the number of residents dwindled. Luckenbach was bought by Hondo Crouch, a former swimming champion, actor, and columnist who styled himself "mayor" and declared Luckenbach "a free…state of mind." Frequent festivals including an annual Mud Dauber's Day, an annual Hug In, a women's chili cook-off, and picnics like Willie's bring thousands to the pastoral setting.

2003 - In Los Angeles, R&B superstar, Barry White, the "Man with the Golden Voice" passed away. Born in Galveston, Barry and his Love Unlimited Orchestra went on to record dozens of R&B hits including "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" and "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up."