If you’re a native Texan, an adopted Texan, or are just interested in all things Texan, subscribe. You’ll learn things about Texas history that will surprise you and amaze your Texas friends. Chances are, they’ll tip their cowboy hats to you!
The Runaway Scrape was a chaotic episode (in late 1835 and early 1836) during the Texas Revolution. When Santa Anna suspended the Mexican Constitution and declared martial law, Texians rebelled and Santa Anna invaded Texas. The resulting flight of settlers eastward, to escape Santa Anna's relentless pursuit, was one of desperation and life-threatening conditions.
Stories--both funny and serious--from when camels were part of the US Army in early Texas and after camels joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. Plus, a bit about how camels became Texans.
In the first year of the Civil War War, the Confederacy had no navy. This caused President Jefferson Davis to take an unusual strategic step. He licensed private ships (called privateers) to sail the Confederate coastline and capture Union merchant ships and their cargos, distracting the Union's warships from their blockading efforts and disrupting the North's merchant fleet.It was a swashbuckling time of legal piracy, ocean battles, death trials, and a brilliant, life-saving negotiation by Jefferson Davis.Find the historic story here.
Topsy, a 100-year-old camel, and the "Red Ghost are true Texas legends.
Roy Bean was a fugitive from the law. Then he became Judge Roy Bean, "The Law West of the Pecos," and practiced his own unique form of justice with saloon patrons as jurors.
An invention that tamed the West, and it all started with a wandering cow.
From ghost stories and Indians to Civil War fugitives, Texas' Big Thicket's history is about more than lumber and oil.
Belle Starr was almost as famous as Billy The Kid. Listen to find out why!
Big Foot Wallace is Captured by Indians and learns an Indian legend.
How the classic six-shooter came to be.
Fifty-six settlers travel 5000 miles to settle in "New Spain," creating Texas' first municipal government.
Historic! A mystical granite monolith and a Texas-sized lump of salt
Santa Anna fled the battlefield and dressed like a peasant. All to no avail.
While many "witch" or drowse for water, one amazing boy could see it underground.
The Battle of San Jacinto Through the Eyes of a Mexican Combatant
Coffee fueled the Union soldiers. The South's coffee supply was cut off by the blockade. Did caffeine make a difference in battle?
Cotton was the Confederacy's lifeblood. Its sale funded arms, critical supplies and paid for the government, but the union blockade kept it from foreign markets. Matamoros, Mexico became the South's "backdoor." Cotton caravans had to cross the dangerous Texas plains--fraught with bandits, Comanche, lack of water, and other deadly challenges--then, sell the cotton in a market teaming with fraudsters and scalawags . . .
Post Civil War, "cowboying" was a tough, demanding job, one which attracted scores of newly freed blacks. Some were especially notable.
Juneteenth is probably an example of "What you know for sure, that ain't so! "
Long before Texas was Texas, a series of Spanish explorers visited the mysterious land of the High Plains. These expeditions were motivated by the search for wealth promised by tales of rich kingdoms that always seemed to be "just a bit farther," but were never reached.
Held prisoner by the Mexican government, the Texian volunteers of the Mier Expedition were forced to participate in a lottery--ten percent of them to be executed by a firing squad. Who lived and who died was settled by the drawing of a white or black bean. This is a first-hand report from Big Foot Wallace, one of the soldiers who drew a white bean and lived to tell the dramatic story of the black bean death lottery.
PART I: The Mier Expedition and the Black Bean Lottery of Death When the Republic of Texas is plagued by Mexican military raids, a planned reprisal results in the ill-fated Mier Expedition of 1842. After some success, the volunteer soldiers are told to abort, but many continue and end up as prisoners of Mexico. Things do not go well for them. As told by participant Big Foot Wallace.
Was a Texan the first to fly an "airship" nearly forty years before the Wright Brothers?
Stampeding Buffalo over a cliff--to fall to their death--was an effective, but dangerous technique used by early native people to hunt buffalo. The cliff site was called a "buffalo jump."
Answer: A Texas cattle rancher named Maverick who left his mark on Texas, but wouldn't brand his mark on his cattle.
Fire Unites Texas German Communities every Spring for 146 years.
It took a brave man to ride uninvited into a Comanche camp in 1847
German warrior fought for six nations, including the Republic of Texas and The Confederacy.
When Big Foot Wallace meets a pack of hungry wolves, the challenge is to out run and outsmart them.
In the mid-1800s, charming German villages prospered near San Antonio, and were protected from the Comanche due to a unique treaty. A New York Yankees penned this account of an enthusiastic visit to New Braunfels, a highlight of his Texas trip
One example--standing on a galloping horse!!
Settlers called on frontier "Rangers" for protection
Blcksmiths get creative and it's humorous!
When "Big Foot" collides with the 'Big Indian" the fight is to the death!
A hard-riding, sharp-shooting doctor of many talents!
Union officers were honored guests in San Antonio during the Civil War.
Pistol-packing, horse-trading, champion-cussing woman.
Sam Houston had three wives and one was a beautiful Cherokee.
Some small Texas towns have prospered and grown during the decades. Others have boomed and then settled into obscurity. Hico in Hamilton County appeared to be in the sad, second category, but determined citizens in Hico are bringing Hico back. Increasingly it is on the list of small towns to visit in Texas and (in my opinion) for good reason. In 1856, a few years prior to the Civil War, the rush to Texas was on. That year, eight families arrived in covered wagons and settled on Honey Creek in the northern corner of Hamilton County. In 1860, John Rankin Alfred and his family, also traveling in covered wagons, rode into Central Texas and joined the Honey Creek settlement. Alfred started a small business selling goods he'd brought by wagon and engaged in the cattle business. When the community petitioned for a post office, Alfred became postmaster and named the now official (but not yet incorporated) town Hico (HY-koh), after his birthplace, Hico, in Calloway County, Kentucky. When the Texas Central Railroad (which was part of the famous Katy Railroad) was built two and a half miles away, like so many Texas towns, the citizens decided that if the community was to prosper, they needed to relocate the town adjacent to the rail line. So they moved. Ten years later, two major fires destroyed downtown's wooden buildings. The town rebuilt with big blocks of limestone. The move to the rail line proved to be a smart one. By 1883, Hico was incorporated and became a major center of Texas trade. Hico's grain market exploded. By the turn of the century, Hico was shipping more grain than any other location on the Texas Central rail line. By 1907, the cotton shipments through Hico were in the tens of thousands of bales. Business was good and downtown Hico boomed with almost one hundred businesses—from hotels and grocery stores to both a broom and a candy factory. An 1895 opera house, a theatre, and tented roller rink offered fun and entertainment. But by 1955, the trading boom—which had been fueled by train transportation—fizzled and the town's business and population declined. A situation aggravated by major interstate construction bypassing the community. But today, more than sixty-five years later, when one might have expected Hico to be a near ghost town, it is a thriving example of a historic small town creating a new history. From 2019 to 2020, the population grew by 12.5% to 1,780 people. Not a big town. but a growing one with lots to offer. Main street is lined with handsome, historic stone buildings from more than 100 years ago—some structures sport old fashioned ads painted on their sides — the billboards of the past. A walk down Main Street is a trip back in time. Except—these old fashioned buildings now house charming inns and restaurants, boutiques, and various shops. The newly restored 1896 Midland Hotel recreates the hospitality of the past in its fourteen guest rooms, while its Chop House restaurant serves up thoroughly up-to-date dishes with a flavor of Texas and the 1896 Saloon has drinks to help you “wet your whistle” as early Texans said. A Texas-history mystery also beckons in downtown Hico. Was a Hico resident named William Henry “Ollie” Roberts, known as Brushy Bill Roberts, none other than the outlaw Billy the Kid? Many believe that he was. Brushy Bill claimed that Pat Garrett, the man who took credit for shooting Billy the Kid, really shot another outlaw named Billy Barlow and that he, Billy the Kid, slipped into the night and vanished, becoming another miscreant GTT—“Gone to Texas.” The full story is an interesting one and there are lots of clues—from scars on Brushy Bill that match scars where it is known Billy the Kid was wounded, plus testimonials from other noted outlaws of the time that Brushy Bill was in fact Billy the Kid. Brushy Bill died in Hico in 1950 before he received the pardon he was hoping for from New Mexico's governor- a pardon promised..
High Society comes to Texas, 1898 In February of 1892, The New York Times published its official list of the creme de la creme of New York Society— 400 individuals, a mix of “Nobs”— old money families such as the Astors and “Swells”—the nouveau riche including the Vanderbilts. It was the Guilded Age in New York and the city's influence helped city directories become popular across the country. In 1890, the Census had revealed that Dallas was the most populous city in Texas with 38,067 residents. It was followed in size by Galveston with 29,084 residents and Houston with a population of 27,557. Texas' largest city caught the attention of Holland Brothers Publishing, a company looking to expand its market in high society lists of major cities. Dallas seemed ripe for its own list of who's who in society and Voila! the Red Book of Dallas, Texas was born. The volume had the distinction of being the first Red Book published in Texas. And of course, the book's cover was red. One can only imagine the buzz this created in the city. To fill the book's 137 pages, in what was still somewhat of a frontier town, Holland Brothers Publishing needed lots of filler content. But let's start with the preface from the publisher. “In presenting the [Red Book] to the public, the publishers feel they have supplied a decided need of an important element of the community. To facilitate the requirements of social life and place persons in direct communication with the representatives of the different phases of the best local society, this directory is intended. It is here also that new residents of this city may find the names of any and all persons whom they may desire to include in their visiting list, and whom they wish to meet in any social way.” The small volume contained a high society list of 3,245 adults and children from Dallas, supplemented by 333 from Oak Cliff. If the household had a designated day for accepting in-person visits (or calls, the proper term), that was noted. Also included were the membership lists of eight local clubs, four for gentlemen and four clubs for ladies. Based on the Red Book, Dallas in the late 1800s appears to be a “clubby” city. The Dallas Club for gentlemen was by far the largest and owned its own building—a handsome four story, brick and stone structure completed in 1888 for $45,000 and located at the corner of Commerce and Poydras Streets. The Dallas Club was central to the activities of business, civic, and professional men of the city: however, ladies were allowed for special receptions and parties for visiting dignitaries. The Idlewild Club was a much smaller men's club — about three dozen members— founded with the purpose of giving four grand balls each season, beginning with a ball during the State Fair of Texas. It's hard to imagine that the wives of these men didn't provide input for the planning of these events, whether they were asked to or not. The Ladies' Shakespeare Club, founded in1855, was for the sole purpose of studying Shakespeare's plays. Membership was limited to 45 members. The thirty-two member Ladies Pierian Chatauqua Club reported its object was mutual improvement of its members, the social aspects were a side issue. Apparently a serious literary group. Not to be outdone, The twenty-one member Quaero Club adopted as its course of study “A new method for the study of English literature, which included reading current literature and a weekly review by critics. Two other ladies' clubs, the Standard Club and CLMA club, also existed to study literature. The Phoenix Club for Jewish gentleman was for the mutual benefit and mental, moral, and social advancement for its members and had sixty-five members. The Social Ethics Club was open to any unmarried gentleman over the age of twenty-one and its purpose was to promote the social, musical...
Mrs. Mary Austin Holley, a cousin of noted Texan, Stephen F. Austin, was a keen observer of daily life on the Texas frontier, before the Texas Revolution. In letters back home to Connecticut, she reported her astute observations. What follows are comments from three of her letters written in 1831 from Bolivar, Texas. . . . The people of Texas, as yet, have little time for [business]. Everybody is occupied with his domestic arrangements and plans for supplying his immediate wants. It is found to be easier to raise or manufacture such articles as are needed [by] the family or to do without what things may be desired, than to obtain them from abroad, or to employ an individual to scour the country in search of such. . . . People live too far apart to beg or borrow often, and few trouble themselves to send anything to market, though they have much to spare. They had rather give to you of their abundance, if you will send someone to their doors [to get it]. . . . If they want any article of first necessity, coffee for instance, which is much used, they will send some of their chickens, butter and eggs, to a neighboring family, newly arrived, and propose an exchange, as most newcomers bring with them some stores. There is much of this kind of barter, provisions being so much more [plentiful] than money. . . . In no country, with the usual attention to the arts of life, could more luxuries to the table be furnished. At present, vegetables, fruits, butter, eggs, and chicken sell very high in Brazoria; though they are yielded in every season of the year, in a profusion unexampled in any part of the world. The newcomer has to but plant his seeds in the ground, and collect a first supply of livestock to begin with. They need but little or no care afterwords, and the increase is astonishing. He brands his cattle and hogs and lets them run. They require no attention, but to see that they do not stray too far from home and become wild. A field once planted in pumpkins, seldom needs planting again. The scattered seed sow themselves, and the plants are cultivated with the corn. These pumpkins, often as large as a man can lift, have a sweet flavor and are very palatable. A field of them is a curiosity, as they are in such numbers and so large. Sweet potatoes, also are cultivated with almost equal ease, and yield at times, five hundred bushels to the acre. Some of these potatoes weigh from four to seven pounds. Yet they sell at Brazoria at the enormous price of seventy-five cents a bushel. Corn is obtained in the prairie cane-breaks [during] the first year, when there is no time to prepare the land with the plow, by merely making a hole for the seed with a hoe. Cows and horses get their own living. The trees at this moment (17th of December), are loaded with rich clusters of grapes, not very large, but of a delicious flavor. . . . During my stay at Bolivar, we might have had every day, the finest of game, could anyone have been spared to take to the field with his gun. Our neighbor at one hunt, brought in three bears, a Mexican hog, a rabbit and two bee-trees. Our carpenter, without leaving his bench five minutes, killed several wild ducks, the finest I have ever tasted. . . . Housekeepers should bring with them all indispensable articles for household use, together with as much common clothing (other clothing is not wanted) for themselves and their children as they conveniently can. . Ladies, in particular, should remember that in a new country, they can not get things made at any moment, as in an old one, and that they will be sufficiently busy the first two years in arranging such things as they have, without obtaining more. It should also be done as a matter of economy. Where the population increases, beyond the increase of supplies, articles of necessity are dear. If on arrival you find a surplus on hand, it can be readily disposed of to advantage; for trade, by barter, is much practiced, and you buy...
As the story goes . . . Nestled in a small clearing close to the woods and the Leon River, about seven miles northeast of the small settlement of Hamilton in Central Texas was a rustic one-room school house. The Leon River School was a simple square of loosely stacked logs with large spaces left between the logs to allow for ventilation. School was taught in the summer when the children had more free time from tasks on their family homesteads. It was afternoon that day in July of 1867, and a small group of students had settled in for their lessons. Their teacher, Miss Ann Whitney, a heavy-set 32 year-old who had left Massachusetts and travelled to Texas to teach, was instructing the children when a young student, Amanda Powers, yelled that horsemen were approaching the school. At first, teacher Ann Whitney was unconcerned as she had been told a parent and his cowhands would be visiting the school that day to see his daughter who was boarding with another family in order to attend the classes. But Amanda Powers continued to watch the approaching riders between cracks in the logs and was soon convinced the riders were Indians, She pushed her little brother out the schools only window and quickly followed him. Both ran for the bushes along the river and hid. Amanda's departure and the sound of pounding horse hooves told the story—a Comanche attack! Barring the door and gathering the children, Ann Whitney began pushing her students out the small window on the north side of the cabin with instructions to hide in the brush along the river. At the last minute, loose floorboards were pulled up and two students, Louis Manning and John Kuykendall took cover under the school. With blood-curdling cries, the war party began firing arrows into the school, wounding Ann Whitney more than a dozen times. A third student still in the building, Jane Kuykendall, was wounded, but survived because the Indians apparently assumed she was dead. Wounded and dying, Ann Whitney spread her skirts over the floor boards where Tom and Louis were hiding. The Comanche broke the door down, found the two boys cowering under the floor, and dragged them up. Among the dozen or so Comanche raiders was a red-headed white man who asked the two boys if they wanted to join the Indians. Young John Kuykendall said yes, and was taken. Louis Manning said no. He later said he thought he was about to be killed when the leader of the raiders called for the rest to leave. As they were leaving, the red haired Indian saw Olivia Barbee, captured her, pulling her onto his saddle. When he was distracted, she jumped down and escaped into the thick underbrush. By chance, two women out for a ride saw the commotion as the attack began. Seventeen year old Amanda Howard and her sister-in-law Sarah Howard realized they needed to warn others that the Comanche were raiding. They reversed their horses and raced toward the Baggett's cabin about a half a mile away. A few of the Comanche hurried to stop them. In the rush, Sarah was thrown from her horse while jumping an eight rail fence. An Indian captured her horse, but but Sarah was uninjured and able to make it to the Baggett home. Amanda charged ahead of the pursuing Indians, managed to outrun them on the young, spirited colt she was riding, and was able to spread the alarm to other neighboring cabins and alert the citizens of Hamilton. While one group of Comanche had attacked the school, a second group found the Stanaland family traveling nearby. Mr. and Mrs. Stanaland and their two children were killed. Armed men from Hamilton gathered and pursued the marauders. John Kuykendall, who was taken in the raid, was traded back about six months later. His wounded sister Jane recovered from her wound. All of Ann Whitney's students had survived the attack! Teacher Ann Whitney who had died trying to save her students was heralded as a hero...
In the previous podcast, I talked about how the Texas State Capitol Building in Austin was financed by raising funds through the sale of 3,050,000 acres of vacant land in the Panhandle of Texas. The land purchase was conducted by a Chicago firm, which created the Capitol Syndicate purchased the land in 1882. An immediate decision was made to use the land for cattle ranching until they could see an opportunity to break it into parcels for sale. This podcast looks at the famous ranch that grew out of that decision—The legendary XIT Ranch. To fund the new ranch's development, one of the Capitol Syndicate's major investors, John V. Farwell traveled to England, set up The Capitol Freehold Land and Investment Company of London and sold bonds to wealthy British investors. The funding resulted in the successful creation of the XIT Ranch. The ranch was huge, stretching more than 220 miles north-to-south along the New Mexico border and measuring from 20 to 30 miles east-to-west. A common belief is that the name XIT stands for “Ten in Texas,” referring to the 10 counties it covers, As you might guess, the ranch chose as its brand the letters XIT. The land, rich with grass, was fenced and in July of 1885, stocked with 2,500 longhorn cattle. According to a 1929 book —The XIT Ranch and the Early Days of the Llano Estacado—by historian J. Evetts Haley, the XIT brand was conceived by the Texas trail driver, Abner Blocker, who drove the original herd of cattle from Fort Concho to the XIT. Blocker also branded the first XIT cow. According to Haley, ‘She was not an animal of high pedigree, but a Longhorn from South Texas. Her color, gauntness, and perversity were historic.'” To run the mammoth ranch, Farwell hired Colonel Burton Harvey “Barbecue” Campbell of Wichita, Kansas as general manager. Campbell's “Barbecue” nickname came from a cattle brand he used at his ranch along the Kansas-Oklahoma border—on land rented from the Cherokee—A bar with the letters B and Q below it. Now, if you think of Texas cowhands as rough and rowdy, ranch manager Campbell had other ideas for the XIT. He published a booklet with a list of twenty-two rules aimed at creating well-behaved cowpunchers. And there were a lot of cow punchers. One hundred and fifty cowboys rode 1000 horses and branded 35,000 new cows during one year on the ranch. Here are a several random examples of Campbell's expectations for well-behaved cowhands: • Six-shooters or other small firearms will not be permitted to be carried on the ranch. • Card playing or gambling of any kind is strictly prohibited on this ranch. • All persons having the care or use of animals belonging to the ranch will be required to handle them carefully and treat them kindly. • Horses are furnished for the care of cattle and for other useful purposes, and they must not be used to run wild horses, or buffalo, or antelope, nor to run races. • Beeves will not be permitted to be killed unless the force is large enough to consume the meat before it becomes unfit for use, or other provision be made to salt and preserve it. By 1888, “Barbeque” Campbell had been fired over rustling allegations and replaced by Albert Boyce, who was active in management on the ranch for eighteen years and published his own list of ranch rules. At its peak, the ranch handled 150,000 head of cattle secured by 6,000 miles of fencing. By 1901, the last of the bonds sold to English investors were maturing and the ranch began selling off parcels of land. The last of the cattle were sold in 1912 and the remaining parcels of land were put up for sale. The XIT Ranch faded into legend. However . . .Today, the legendary XIT Ranch is back. Drew Knowles, the great grandson of investor John V, Farwell and Knowles' wife, Abby, have brought the XIT Ranch back to life...
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