This Day In Texas History - September 9
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:18 am
1861 - The Eighth Texas Cavalry, a group of Texas volunteers for the Confederate Army popularly known as Terry's Texas Rangers, was assembled by Benjamin Franklin Terry in August 1861. Each man was required to furnish a shotgun or carbine, a Colt revolver, a Bowie knife, and a saddle, bridle, and blanket. The army would provide the mounts.
The regiment was mustered into Confederate service at Houston on September 9, 1861. With the exception of Hood's Texas Brigade, the Eighth Texas Cavalry was probably the best-known Texas unit to serve in the Civil War. It earned a reputation that ranked it among the most effective mounted regiments in the western theater of operations.
1873 - Marshall Lee Simmons, sheriff, general manager of the prison system of Texas, and clerk of the United States Court for the Eastern District of Texas, was born to D. A. and Kate B. (Swilling) Simmons, at Linden, Texas, on September 9, 1873. In 1912, due to widespread lawlessness in the county, centered in particular in the rail town of Denison, Simmons acceded to the requests of county friends and neighbors that he seek the office of sheriff. He was elected in November 1912.
Three days before taking office in December, he was seriously wounded by an outraged supporter of the outgoing sheriff, and his recovery postponed his assumption of the post for a month. Simmons served two terms as county sheriff and stepped down in 1916, after having "done much to tame Denison" and reduce bootlegging and general lawlessness in the county.
His reputation as a lawman recommended him in 1923 to Governor Pat M. Neff, who appointed him to a three-member commission established to inspect and recommend changes in the state's prison system. On the strength of this report and Simmons's ideas, Governor Daniel J. Moody appointed him to the state prison board in 1927. Simmons later played a major role in assembling the group of lawmen and informants who ambushed the gangsters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker near Gibsland, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934.
He is credited with general reform and improvement of conditions in Texas prisons. Simmons instituted the Texas Prison Rodeo, the state's "fastest and wildest rodeo," at Huntsville in October 1931. {note: if you've never been to a Texas Prison Rodeo, you should try to see one. Very entertaining. I saw one in 1963 and was very impressed}
1874 - Sgt. George K. Kitchen was in Texas with Company H, Sixth United States Cavalry, on the upper Washita River on September 9, 1874, with Lyman's wagon train(The five-day siege of Capt. Wyllys Lyman's wagontrain, sometimes known as the battle of the Upper Washita, was the longest and one of the most publicized engagements of the Red River War.), attempting to reach Gen. Nelson A. Miles's forces on the Washita River, when the company was attacked by a large force of Indians.
They engaged the enemy from September 9 to 14 under very difficult conditions. Kitchen was awarded the Medal of Honor for "gallantry in action." After leaving the army he lived in San Antonio for seventeen years and worked in the United States Post Office there. He died at Kelly Field No. 2 on November 22, 1922, and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, San Antonio.
1874 - On September 9, 1874, a party of 200 Kiowas, including Lone Wolf, Satanta, and Big Tree, attacked Gen. Nelson A. Miles's supply train, some thirty-six wagons escorted by a company of the Fifth Infantry and a detachment of the Sixth Cavalry. For three days the army held off the Indians until, unable to overwhelm the soldiers, the Kiowas drew off and returned home.
1903 - In 1893 the Twenty-third Legislature took the first step toward the establishment of a teachers college at San Marcos by passing a law that the state superintendent of public instruction prescribe a course of study which teachers must complete at North Texas Normal at Denton or at Coronal Institute at San Marcos before they could be eligible to teach in the public schools of Texas.
The citizens of San Marcos donated eleven acres of land on an elevation known as Chautauqua Hill as the site of the college, and in 1901 the Twenty-seventh Legislature appropriated $25,000 for the erection of a building. W. D. Wood, Ed. J. L. Green, and S. V. Daniel were appointed as a local board of trustees. The school opened on September 9, 1903, with Thomas G. Harris as principal, a faculty of seventeen, and an enrollment of 303. In 1918 the school became a full-fledged senior college and after several name changes became Texas State University.
1919 - Camp Holland, twelve miles west of Valentine at Viejo Pass in Presidio County, was constructed in 1918 after the Brite Ranch and Neville Ranch raids by Mexican bandits. On September 9, 1919, Troop B of the Second Squadron was assigned to Camp Holland. The buildings of the camp were made of stone and wood and cost over $16,000 to construct.
Although soldiers seldom lived there, Camp Holland had two barracks that could house up to 400 men, four officers' houses, a mess hall, and a guardhouse. The soldiers' everyday needs were met by a bakery, a corral, a blacksmith shop, and a quartermaster store. Since the area afforded a good supply of springwater, the camp had a sewer system and a shower house.
By 1921 the army began phasing out border patrols in Presidio County. Camp Holland was closed and leased to civilians including Texas Rangers and customs and immigration border patrols in January 1922. It was eventually sold at auction to C. O. Finley. The deserted buildings were still standing in the late 1960s.
1921 - The greatest disaster San Antonio has faced in modern times occurred in a twenty-three-hour downpour that struck at 6:00 P.M. on September 9, 1921. A thousand acres of the city were flooded. A three-quarter square-mile area of downtown was covered by two to twelve feet of water. Despite at least 500 rescues, many by soldiers mobilized from nearby United States Army posts, more than fifty persons drowned, many of them in poor neighborhoods along San Pedro and Alazan creeks and their tributaries. It took nearly three years for flood prevention plans to be finalized and for $2.8 million in municipal bonds to be approved so work could start.
1943 - James Marion Logan, Medal of Honor recipient and first recipient of the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, son of C. M. and Maggie Williams Logan, was born at McNeil near Luling in Caldwell County, Texas. In order to supplement his income Logan joined the Texas National Guard in 1936 at the age of fifteen. He enlisted in Company L, Luling Guard, and remained with the unit until he was mustered into Federal service. On November 25, 1940, the Thirty-sixth Infantry was mobilized into the United States Army at Camp Bowie, Texas. Logan served as a rifleman in the 1st Platoon, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division(Texas National Guard), Fifth Army.
On September 9, 1943, Logan, among the first wave of men to land on the beach at Salerno, advanced inland among darkness and enemy fire. After traversing eight hundred yards, he took a position along the bank of a canal. Logan and Company I were besieged by Germans, taking refuge behind a wall two hundred yards ahead where they began a counterattack. "Voluntarily exposing himself to the fire of a machine gun," Logan advanced toward the Germans behind the wall, dodged their fire, and killed three of them as they attempted to escape.
After he ran the two hundred yards of open terrain, Logan reached the wall and killed two machine gunners. He then seized their gun and opened fire on the German retreat which resulted in more casualties. In the meantime he managed to capture a German officer and private who were attempting to escape. Later that morning Logan stormed a sniper's den one hundred fifty yards from his company. Once again taking his life in his hands, he reached the house where the sniper was located and shot off the lock to kill the sniper.
"Logan's exploits proved a constant inspiration to all the men of his company, and aided materially in insuring the success of the beachhead at Salerno." To award Logan for his gallantry, Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch III presented him with the Medal of Honor on June 6, 1944, near Naples, Italy. In addition to the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Purple Heart, Logan received two Bronze Stars for bravery, the Rome Avno, Naples Fogio, the Italian Cross of Valor, and several service medals.
On May 30, 1997, more than three decades after its authorization by the Fifty-eighth Texas Legislature, Technical Sergeant Logan was once again honored for his service in the United States Army and Texas National Guard. Logan was the first recipient of the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor. Logan was honored in a reception in the House chamber of the capitol. The Texas Legislative Medal of Honor was created for those individuals who served in the Texas National Guard and who received the Medal of Honor.
1961 - Texas has had at least nine cases of "falls"-meteorites recovered from a witnessed fireball. On September 9, 1961, at 10:08 P.M., a detonating fireball was witnessed passing northward just east of the Fort Worth-Dallas region. It terminated near Bells, Grayson County. Some ten ounces of a very rare carbonaceous chondrite was retrieved from the meteorite over a six-month period. Only about twenty ounces of this substance had been known previously to fall in the world. This type of meteorite is quite fragile. Only one piece was recovered in a fresh condition; all the others became wet from the torrential rains of Hurricane Carla of that year.
The regiment was mustered into Confederate service at Houston on September 9, 1861. With the exception of Hood's Texas Brigade, the Eighth Texas Cavalry was probably the best-known Texas unit to serve in the Civil War. It earned a reputation that ranked it among the most effective mounted regiments in the western theater of operations.
1873 - Marshall Lee Simmons, sheriff, general manager of the prison system of Texas, and clerk of the United States Court for the Eastern District of Texas, was born to D. A. and Kate B. (Swilling) Simmons, at Linden, Texas, on September 9, 1873. In 1912, due to widespread lawlessness in the county, centered in particular in the rail town of Denison, Simmons acceded to the requests of county friends and neighbors that he seek the office of sheriff. He was elected in November 1912.
Three days before taking office in December, he was seriously wounded by an outraged supporter of the outgoing sheriff, and his recovery postponed his assumption of the post for a month. Simmons served two terms as county sheriff and stepped down in 1916, after having "done much to tame Denison" and reduce bootlegging and general lawlessness in the county.
His reputation as a lawman recommended him in 1923 to Governor Pat M. Neff, who appointed him to a three-member commission established to inspect and recommend changes in the state's prison system. On the strength of this report and Simmons's ideas, Governor Daniel J. Moody appointed him to the state prison board in 1927. Simmons later played a major role in assembling the group of lawmen and informants who ambushed the gangsters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker near Gibsland, Louisiana, on May 23, 1934.
He is credited with general reform and improvement of conditions in Texas prisons. Simmons instituted the Texas Prison Rodeo, the state's "fastest and wildest rodeo," at Huntsville in October 1931. {note: if you've never been to a Texas Prison Rodeo, you should try to see one. Very entertaining. I saw one in 1963 and was very impressed}
1874 - Sgt. George K. Kitchen was in Texas with Company H, Sixth United States Cavalry, on the upper Washita River on September 9, 1874, with Lyman's wagon train(The five-day siege of Capt. Wyllys Lyman's wagontrain, sometimes known as the battle of the Upper Washita, was the longest and one of the most publicized engagements of the Red River War.), attempting to reach Gen. Nelson A. Miles's forces on the Washita River, when the company was attacked by a large force of Indians.
They engaged the enemy from September 9 to 14 under very difficult conditions. Kitchen was awarded the Medal of Honor for "gallantry in action." After leaving the army he lived in San Antonio for seventeen years and worked in the United States Post Office there. He died at Kelly Field No. 2 on November 22, 1922, and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, San Antonio.
1874 - On September 9, 1874, a party of 200 Kiowas, including Lone Wolf, Satanta, and Big Tree, attacked Gen. Nelson A. Miles's supply train, some thirty-six wagons escorted by a company of the Fifth Infantry and a detachment of the Sixth Cavalry. For three days the army held off the Indians until, unable to overwhelm the soldiers, the Kiowas drew off and returned home.
1903 - In 1893 the Twenty-third Legislature took the first step toward the establishment of a teachers college at San Marcos by passing a law that the state superintendent of public instruction prescribe a course of study which teachers must complete at North Texas Normal at Denton or at Coronal Institute at San Marcos before they could be eligible to teach in the public schools of Texas.
The citizens of San Marcos donated eleven acres of land on an elevation known as Chautauqua Hill as the site of the college, and in 1901 the Twenty-seventh Legislature appropriated $25,000 for the erection of a building. W. D. Wood, Ed. J. L. Green, and S. V. Daniel were appointed as a local board of trustees. The school opened on September 9, 1903, with Thomas G. Harris as principal, a faculty of seventeen, and an enrollment of 303. In 1918 the school became a full-fledged senior college and after several name changes became Texas State University.
1919 - Camp Holland, twelve miles west of Valentine at Viejo Pass in Presidio County, was constructed in 1918 after the Brite Ranch and Neville Ranch raids by Mexican bandits. On September 9, 1919, Troop B of the Second Squadron was assigned to Camp Holland. The buildings of the camp were made of stone and wood and cost over $16,000 to construct.
Although soldiers seldom lived there, Camp Holland had two barracks that could house up to 400 men, four officers' houses, a mess hall, and a guardhouse. The soldiers' everyday needs were met by a bakery, a corral, a blacksmith shop, and a quartermaster store. Since the area afforded a good supply of springwater, the camp had a sewer system and a shower house.
By 1921 the army began phasing out border patrols in Presidio County. Camp Holland was closed and leased to civilians including Texas Rangers and customs and immigration border patrols in January 1922. It was eventually sold at auction to C. O. Finley. The deserted buildings were still standing in the late 1960s.
1921 - The greatest disaster San Antonio has faced in modern times occurred in a twenty-three-hour downpour that struck at 6:00 P.M. on September 9, 1921. A thousand acres of the city were flooded. A three-quarter square-mile area of downtown was covered by two to twelve feet of water. Despite at least 500 rescues, many by soldiers mobilized from nearby United States Army posts, more than fifty persons drowned, many of them in poor neighborhoods along San Pedro and Alazan creeks and their tributaries. It took nearly three years for flood prevention plans to be finalized and for $2.8 million in municipal bonds to be approved so work could start.
1943 - James Marion Logan, Medal of Honor recipient and first recipient of the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor, son of C. M. and Maggie Williams Logan, was born at McNeil near Luling in Caldwell County, Texas. In order to supplement his income Logan joined the Texas National Guard in 1936 at the age of fifteen. He enlisted in Company L, Luling Guard, and remained with the unit until he was mustered into Federal service. On November 25, 1940, the Thirty-sixth Infantry was mobilized into the United States Army at Camp Bowie, Texas. Logan served as a rifleman in the 1st Platoon, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division(Texas National Guard), Fifth Army.
On September 9, 1943, Logan, among the first wave of men to land on the beach at Salerno, advanced inland among darkness and enemy fire. After traversing eight hundred yards, he took a position along the bank of a canal. Logan and Company I were besieged by Germans, taking refuge behind a wall two hundred yards ahead where they began a counterattack. "Voluntarily exposing himself to the fire of a machine gun," Logan advanced toward the Germans behind the wall, dodged their fire, and killed three of them as they attempted to escape.
After he ran the two hundred yards of open terrain, Logan reached the wall and killed two machine gunners. He then seized their gun and opened fire on the German retreat which resulted in more casualties. In the meantime he managed to capture a German officer and private who were attempting to escape. Later that morning Logan stormed a sniper's den one hundred fifty yards from his company. Once again taking his life in his hands, he reached the house where the sniper was located and shot off the lock to kill the sniper.
"Logan's exploits proved a constant inspiration to all the men of his company, and aided materially in insuring the success of the beachhead at Salerno." To award Logan for his gallantry, Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch III presented him with the Medal of Honor on June 6, 1944, near Naples, Italy. In addition to the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Purple Heart, Logan received two Bronze Stars for bravery, the Rome Avno, Naples Fogio, the Italian Cross of Valor, and several service medals.
On May 30, 1997, more than three decades after its authorization by the Fifty-eighth Texas Legislature, Technical Sergeant Logan was once again honored for his service in the United States Army and Texas National Guard. Logan was the first recipient of the Texas Legislative Medal of Honor. Logan was honored in a reception in the House chamber of the capitol. The Texas Legislative Medal of Honor was created for those individuals who served in the Texas National Guard and who received the Medal of Honor.
1961 - Texas has had at least nine cases of "falls"-meteorites recovered from a witnessed fireball. On September 9, 1961, at 10:08 P.M., a detonating fireball was witnessed passing northward just east of the Fort Worth-Dallas region. It terminated near Bells, Grayson County. Some ten ounces of a very rare carbonaceous chondrite was retrieved from the meteorite over a six-month period. Only about twenty ounces of this substance had been known previously to fall in the world. This type of meteorite is quite fragile. Only one piece was recovered in a fresh condition; all the others became wet from the torrential rains of Hurricane Carla of that year.