Enjoy these Texas history excerpts from the Texas State Historical Association.
4/23/1936: Rock and roll legend born in Vernon
On this day in 1936, rock and roll singer Roy Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas. He grew up in Wink, and while attending Wink High School he formed a country music group called the Wink Westerners. Later, while attending North Texas State College, he transformed the Wink Westerners into his first rock and roll band, the Teen Kings. The group played throughout West Texas and recorded “Ooby Dooby,” which brought him to the attention of the Sun record label in Memphis. Orbison rerecorded “Ooby Dooby” for Sun, and in 1956 it became his first chart hit. In 1959 Orbison joined the small Monument label in Nashville, for which he recorded a string of international hit records, including “Only the Lonely” (1960), “Blue Angel” (1960), “Running Scared” (1961), “Blue Bayou” (1963), “It’s Over” (1964), and “Oh, Pretty Woman” (1964). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and died the following year.
4/25/1838: U.S. recognizes Republic of Texas claims to disputed territory
On this day in 1838, the United States and the Republic of Texas signed the Convention of Limits, which recognized Texas claims to disputed territory in Red River County (the present Bowie, Red River, Franklin, Titus, Morris, and Cass counties). The agreement also set the west bank of the Sabine River as the eastern boundary of Texas. However, tension continued between the two countries regarding Indian depredations along the republic’s northern border. U.S. chargé d’affaires Alcée La Branche protested Texas army crossings of the border in pursuit of Indians. In the twentieth century the exact location of the Texas-Louisiana border became the subject of a dispute between the two states.
4/29/1554: Spanish treasure ships wrecked on Padre Island
On this day in 1554, three Spanish ships were wrecked by a storm off Padre Island near present-day Port Mansfield. The San Esteban, the Espíritu Santo, the Santa María de Yciar, and the San Andrés had set out from Mexico on April 9, bound for Spain. Only the San Andrés escaped the storm. Approximately 300 people were on the three wrecked vessels; of them, perhaps one-half to two-thirds drowned before reaching the beach. A small contingent, probably including Francisco del Huerto, departed for Mexico in a little boat to organize a relief expedition. The second and larger group of survivors undertook what they thought would be a short journey back to Mexico by land. They ran afoul of the local Indians, and only one survivor, Fray Marcos de Mena, reached Pánuco. A Spanish salvage expedition arrived at the site of the wrecks within two months and managed to recover less than half of the 1,000,000 ducats the ships were carrying. After that, the remains of the three ships lay undiscovered until the late 1960s. Artifacts recovered from the San Esteban are now in the Corpus Christi Museum.
4/29/1856: Camels arrive for trial service in Texas
On this day in 1856, a shipload of camels arrived at the Texas port of Indianola. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis had urged Congress to bring the animals from North Africa to help the army in its Indian operations. Major H. C. Wayne sailed to North Africa in the naval storeship Supply in May 1855 and returned with the first thirty-three camels in April 1856. On June 4 Wayne set off with his caravan for the frontier posts. The expedition stopped for a time at Victoria, where the animals were clipped and Mrs. Mary A. Shirkey made camel-hair socks for the president of the United States. At Camp Verde experiments were conducted to test the camels’ utility in chasing Indians and transporting supplies. Although more camels were imported, ultimately the experiment failed. Handlers found the animals smelly, obnoxious, and hard to control. Escaped camels roamed the desert for years and got into the folklore of the region.
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