Today marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Surfrider Foundation.
Very worthwhile organization and I urge everyone to support their efforts to protect Our Mother Ocean and our beaches.
I am sorry to sound like a broken record, but this is really important - especially to those who visit the seashore.
PLEASE - Stay Safe!!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/06/22/panama... View MoreI am sorry to sound like a broken record, but this is really important - especially to those who visit the seashore.
PLEASE - Stay Safe!!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/06/22/panama-city-deadliest-beach-rip-current-drownings/74179475007/
Wishing all a Happy and safe summer Solstice.
Juneteenth!
Wishing those who celebrate it a Happy Juneteenth!!!
I was sitting here thinking about the past celebrations I attended at Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas. Yeah, it was primarily for... View MoreJuneteenth!
Wishing those who celebrate it a Happy Juneteenth!!!
I was sitting here thinking about the past celebrations I attended at Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas. Yeah, it was primarily for the music – Lightnin’ Hopkins, Albert Collins (The Ice Man), Muddy Waters, Big Walter (“The Thunderbird”), Joe “Guitar” Hughes, Lavelle White, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Copeland, Etta James, “Gatemouth” Brown, and so many more – and I never really gave a thought about the reason for the celebration.
In talking with the friend who had invited me to the celebration in ’76, he asked me if I knew why we were here. I replied that I thought it was a “summer celebration”. He laughed and proceeded to tell the story about the arrival of Union troops after the civil war and their order that all slaves were now free, something that was not known in Texas for over 2 years. The celebration took on a new meaning for me after that, and I understood the answer to the question of “Why?”
For those who may not know, here’s the story.
The Emancipation Proclamation, or Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued and had been signed by United States President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and effective as of January 1, 1863. This was still during the war and had a part in prolonging the action.
When the Civil War ended on April 9th, 1865, it signaled the activation of the Emancipation Proclamation, and all slaves in the repatriated southern United States were to be set free. However, communications being what they were at the time, many regions were not aware of the Proclamation, and many chose to ignore it.
On June 18th, 1865, a U.S. ship arrived in Galveston, Texas bearing U.S. Army General Gordon Granger and a contingent of U.S. military personnel. General Granger was given command of the District of Texas. On June 19, 1865 in the city of Galveston, one of the first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas Granger's General Order No. 3 which began with:
“The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection therefore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.”
Juneteenth celebrations have been held in Texas since 1866. By the way, Texas was the first state to make Juneteenth a state holiday in 1980.
Photos: Juneteenth flag.
Ashton Villa, Galveston, Texas. It was here, from the balcony porch, that General Granger read General Order No. 3 on June 19th, 1865.
Today, June 18th, in Texas History:
1865 - a U.S. ship arrived in Galveston, Texas bearing U.S. Army General Gordon Granger and a contingent of U.S. military personnel. General Granger was given comm... View MoreToday, June 18th, in Texas History:
1865 - a U.S. ship arrived in Galveston, Texas bearing U.S. Army General Gordon Granger and a contingent of U.S. military personnel. General Granger was given command of the District of Texas.
1971 - Southwest Airlines began service from Dallas's Love Field.
1990 -- Lutheran Church of St. Servatius in Quedlinburg, Germany, sues Texas for return of art treasures.
Elsewhere on June 18th:
1812 - The War of 1812 begins when the United States declares war against Great Britain.
1815 - At the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated by an international army under the Duke of Wellington.
1856 - The Republican Party opens its first national convention in Philadelphia.
1873 - Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote for president.
1942 - The U.S. Navy commissions its first black officer, Harvard University medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.
1972 - Five men are arrested for burglarizing Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
1983 - Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
1994 - Millions of Americans watch former football player O.J. Simpson--facing murder charges--drive his Ford Bronco through Los Angeles, followed by police.
On this date, June 17th, in 1898, the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps was founded.
Happy World Sea Turtle Day!!
Wishing those who celebrate it, Happy Father's Day!!
Also, I know it is a bit early, but to those who celebrate it, Joyous Eid al-Adha!!
Today in Texas History
June 15, 1836 – General Vincente Filisola, leading the defeated and demoralized vast majority of the Mexican army, crosses the Rio Grande back into Mexico and arrives later tha... View MoreToday in Texas History
June 15, 1836 – General Vincente Filisola, leading the defeated and demoralized vast majority of the Mexican army, crosses the Rio Grande back into Mexico and arrives later that day at Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
Over the next 10-12 days, remnants of the Mexican army will cross the Rio Grande at Laredo and wend their way towards Matamoros, although , many will just opt to return home.
General Antonio López de Santa Anna remained a “guest” of the Texans. After having spent the better part of 4 months in Texas, General Santa Anna was sent to Washington D.C. for a meeting with U.S. President Andrew Jackson, and eventually returned home in late 1836. However, his career was far from over. He fought the French in 1838, losing a leg in battle, and led the Mexican army to defeat in the Mexican War. He remained in and out of the Mexican limelight — sometimes in exile — until retiring in 1874 to write his memoirs in Mexico City. He died on June 21, 1876.
After he was captured, General Antonio López de Santa Anna spent 4 months in Texas before being sent to Washington D.C. for a meeting with U.S. President Andrew Jackson, and eventually returned home in late 1836. However, his career was far from over. He fought the French in 1838, losing a leg in battle, and led the Mexican army to defeat in the Mexican War. In 1874, Santa Anna took advantage of a general amnesty issued by President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and returned to Mexico, by then crippled and almost blind from cataracts. He died at his home in Mexico City on 21 June 1876 at age 82. Santa Anna was buried with full military honors in a glass coffin in Panteón del Tepeyac Cemetery. He remained in and out of the Mexican limelight — sometimes in exile — until retiring to write his memoirs in Mexico City. He died on June 21, 1876.
This is it. I have no more entries to convey. For more information, here is a list of sources I used.
In no particular order:
Texas A&M
Earlytexashistory(.)com
Wikipedia
Historical Commission of Harris County
Texas State Historical Association
The Goliad County Genealogical Society
Texas Bob
Bullock Museum
Andrews(.)edu
Sons of DeWitt Colony Texas
Sanjacinto-museum(.)org
Britannica(.)com
Tejano Volunteer Company page on Facebook
Thanks for going on this journey with me. May yours be as successful as those souls who lived this tale of perseverance.
Today in Texas History
June 13, 1836 – The remnants of the Mexican army that had been camped at San Patricio are still headed southwest toward Laredo-Nueva Laredo, while General Vincente Filisola and... View MoreToday in Texas History
June 13, 1836 – The remnants of the Mexican army that had been camped at San Patricio are still headed southwest toward Laredo-Nueva Laredo, while General Vincente Filisola and another portion of the Mexican army are steadily working their way south toward Brownsville-Matamoros.
Today in Texas History
June 12, 1836 - Mexican army camps at Rancho Chiltipiquin near San Patricio, where many had fought in the Battle of San Patricio on Feb 27, 1836. Extreme heat from the summer s... View MoreToday in Texas History
June 12, 1836 - Mexican army camps at Rancho Chiltipiquin near San Patricio, where many had fought in the Battle of San Patricio on Feb 27, 1836. Extreme heat from the summer season, mosquitoes, and low food supplies causes much illness among the Mexican troops and on June 12th, 1836, forces the army to move on homeward.
Today in Texas History
June 7, 1842 - On this day, the Republic of Texas granted three million acres between the Llano and Colorado rivers to Henry Fisher, Burchard Miller, and Joseph Baker. The Fish... View MoreToday in Texas History
June 7, 1842 - On this day, the Republic of Texas granted three million acres between the Llano and Colorado rivers to Henry Fisher, Burchard Miller, and Joseph Baker. The Fisher-Miller Grant, as the tract is called, was one of many colonization projects in early Texas that largely fizzled. The land was to be settled by one thousand families of German, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestry. When Fisher and Miller failed to colonize the grant within the allotted time, the Congress of the republic extended the deadline. Fisher got President Houston to appoint him consul to Bremen in 1843, and the next year he sold part of his interest to the Adelsverein, a German colonization society. In December 1845 both Fisher and Miller sold their remaining rights in the grant to the Germans. The Adelsverein managed to plant only a few colonists on the grant, however; only the settlement of Castell survived. Other colonists moved to Fredericksburg or New Braunfels and sold their Fisher-Miller lots.
Texas State Historical Association
Today in Texas History
June 04, 1836 - Elements of the Mexican army still occupying the Alamo finally and formally surrender to Colonel Juan Seguin, military chief of San Antonio.
Today in Texas History
June 03, 1836 - Horse Marines splash into action.
On this day in 1836, a mounted ranger company in the service of the Texas revolutionary army captured a Mexican ship. The ra... View MoreToday in Texas History
June 03, 1836 - Horse Marines splash into action.
On this day in 1836, a mounted ranger company in the service of the Texas revolutionary army captured a Mexican ship. The rangers, under the command of Maj. Isaac Watts Burton, had been dispatched by Gen. Thomas J. Rusk to watch a stretch of the Gulf Coast south of San Antonio Bay. When they heard of a suspicious vessel in Copano Bay, the rangers hid on the shore and sent up distress signals. The ship responded first by hoisting American and Texan signals, which were ignored. Only when the ship raised Mexican signals did the rangers respond. Thus tricked into thinking the supposedly distressed soldiers were Mexican, the captain came ashore and was captured. With him as hostage, sixteen rangers rowed out, boarded the Watchman, and seized its cargo of provisions for the Mexican army. Burton and his men employed this decoying tactic twice more on June 17, when they captured the Mexican ships Comanche and Fanny Butler. For these unlikely captures at sea, the mounted rangers were dubbed "Horse Marines."
Today in Texas History
May 31, 1836 - Elements of the Mexican army arrive on the west bank of the Nueces River near Corpus Christi on their return home.
Today in Texas History
May 28, 1836 - Lead elements of the vanquished Mexican army arrive in San Patricio on their way home.
2 drownings in 2 days on Galveston Island. :(
From the Galveston Beach Patrol: Because of the "extremely rough" conditions and strong rip currents, adults who are good swimmers should not go beyond t... View More2 drownings in 2 days on Galveston Island. :(
From the Galveston Beach Patrol: Because of the "extremely rough" conditions and strong rip currents, adults who are good swimmers should not go beyond their waist and children and poor or non-swimmers should not enter the water, Davis said.
Be observant. Head on a swivel. Watch out for everyone in your group, ESPECIALLY the young and old.
PLEASE DO NOT BE A STATISTIC!!
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