Enjoy these Texas history excerpts from the Texas State Historical Association.
https://www.tshaonline.org/home
11/8/1874: Cavalry column discovers German sisters in Cheyenne camp
On this day in 1874, a cavalry column under Lt. Frank D. Baldwin charged a Cheyenne encampment north of McClellan Creek, about ten miles south of the site of present-day Pampa. The surprised Indians abandoned the village and left most of their property intact. Riding through the deserted camp, Billy Dixon and other army scouts noticed movement in a pile of buffalo hides; they were astonished to find two white captives, Julia and Addie German, both emaciated and near starvation. They and their two older sisters, Catherine and Sophia, had been captured when their family was attacked on September 10, 1874. Catherine and Sophia were subsequently rescued from another band of Cheyennes, and the four German sisters were reunited at Fort Leavenworth.
11/9/1936: Texas Institute of Letters holds first meeting
On this day in 1936, the organizational meeting of the Texas Institute of Letters convened in the lecture room of the Hall of State on the grounds of the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas. The idea for the organization came from William H. Vann, a professor of English at what is now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, in Belton. He and others had been inspired by the celebration of the Texas Centennial to form an organization to promote interest in Texas literature and to recognize literary and cultural achievement. The institute, whose official address varies according to residence of the secretary-treasurer, meets each spring to present awards and transact business. The members are novelists, poets, essayists, historians, journalists, playwrights, and other writers. The requirement for membership has always been quality writing.
11/10/1967: The President’s Ranch Trail is dedicated to LBJ
On this day in 1967, the President’s Ranch Trail was dedicated at Wimberley. The trail is a ninety-mile route through Hays, Blanco, and Gillespie counties. It extends from the LBJ Ranch, located on Ranch Road 1 near Stonewall, to San Marcos. The route touches places important in the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson, including the Lyndon B. Johnson Birthplace, Boyhood Home, and Ranch; the Johnson family cemetery; Lyndon B. Johnson State Historical Park; the Pedernales Electric Cooperative in Johnson City, which was brought into being under Johnson’s influence in the United States Senate; the First Christian Church in Johnson City, to which Johnson belonged; the Hye Post office, where he mailed his first letter; the Albert post office, general store, and school building; and his alma mater, Texas State University, in San Marcos, where his student dwelling is also located.
11/11/1918: World War I ends
On this day in 1918, World War I came to an end. The armistice found the two most prominent Texas units on active service in France. The Ninetieth Division was fighting its way through the Meuse-Argonne, while the Thirty-Sixth Division was resting behind the lines after suffering heavy casualties in the same offensive. A total of 198,000 Texans saw service in the armed forces during the course of the war. Five thousand one hundred and seventy-one Texans, including one nurse, died in the armed services; 4,748 of the dead served in the army. More than a third of the total deaths occurred inside the United States, many of them as a result of the influenza epidemic of 1918. Four Texans were awarded the Medal of Honor. In a trend that would become even more marked during World War II, military camps were established in Texas to train men for service and the state was the main location for pilot training for military aviation.
11/12/1906: William Stallings becomes the first county agricultural agent in Texas
On this day in 1906, the Commercial Club of Tyler, with the cooperation of Seaman A. Knapp of the United States Department of Agriculture, appointed William Stallings agricultural agent of Smith County. He was the first county agricultural agent in Texas and the first in the nation to serve a single county. After serving Smith County for a year, during which he earned $150 a month, Stallings was appointed district agent; the district comprised Smith, Cherokee, and Angelina counties. Through his efforts the cotton and corn yields of the district increased by over 50 percent. In November 1971 the Texas Historical Commission placed a historical marker on the courthouse square in Tyler to commemorate Stallings’s services.
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