Texas history from the Texas State Historical Association
10/28/1835: Battle of Concepción ignites siege of Bexar
On this day in 1835, Texans and Mexicans skirmished near San Antonio at the battle of Concepción, the opening engagement in the siege of Bexar. Some ninety Texans under the command of James Bowie and James W. Fannin, Jr., defeated a force of 275 Mexican soldiers and two cannons. Mexican losses included fourteen killed and thirty-nine wounded, some of whom died later. Texas losses included one killed and one wounded.
10/29/1853: State legislature receives proposal for Indian reservation
On this day in 1854, a petition for a permanent reservation for the Alabama Indians, signed by tribal leaders, was presented to the Texas legislature. This petition was approved, and the state of Texas purchased land in Polk County for a reservation the same year. The reservation was expanded in 1928, when the federal government purchased an additional 3,071 acres adjoining the original 1,110-acre plot. The deed for this additional land was issued to the Alabama and Coushatta tribes, and the name “Alabama-Coushatta” has been used since 1928 as the official title of the enlarged reservation.
10/31/1893: Gulf Coast promoter and inventor dies
On this day in 1893, George Ware Fulton, founder of the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company, died. Fulton, born in Philadelphia in 1810, first came to Texas in 1837 and served in the Army of the Republic. In 1840 he married Harriet G. Smith, the daughter of friend and politician Henry Smith. Fulton acquired Smith’s land after his death, and between that property and additional grants and purchases owned some 25,000 acres in the Aransas Bay area on the Texas Gulf Coast. He founded the town of Fulton and helped organize the Coleman, Mathis, Fulton Cattle Company in 1871 (which became the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company in 1879). Fulton was a skilled engineer, surveyor, inventor, and businessman and received a patent for shipping beef under artificial cooling. His mansion, built in Fulton, featured indoor plumbing and ventilation and food preservation systems—advanced marvels for that day. Fulton promoted the development of the area and laid out the towns of Sinton, Gregory, and Portland. He was also a strong advocate for the construction of a deepwater port on the Texas Coast.
11/1/1939: Burnet County powers up
On this day in 1939, the first section of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s many miles of transmission lines was energized at Bertram in Burnet County, and the first of several thousand rural Hill Country families received electricity. During the 1930s farmers and ranchers across the Lone Star State banded together to form nonprofit electric cooperatives to apply for funds from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). With money from the REA, they constructed their own power lines and repaid the loans from sales of electricity. The Pedernales Electric Cooperative included a network that spanned parts of Blanco, Burnet, Gillespie, Hays, Kendall, Llano, and Mason counties. Their initial REA loan of over $1.3 million for more than 1,700 miles of electric lines was the most money and longest mileage ever granted in a single approval, but the effort brought modern conveniences to thousands of thankful folks.
11/2/1920: Voters ratify Better Schools Amendment
On this day in 1920, voters ratified the Better Schools Amendment to the Constitution of 1876. The amendment removed limitations on tax rates allowable by local school districts for support of their public schools, thus potentially easing the state’s burden of school financing. Administrators also hoped the amendment would increase equality in school conditions by enabling each district to improve its facilities. The results of the amendment were mixed. Though it brought a 51 percent increase in local support for public schools by 1923, many local districts moved slowly to increase taxation while continuing to rely on the state as their primary source of financing.11/3/1930: Braniff Airlines incorporates
On this day in 1930, Braniff Airways was incorporated and went public as a subsidiary of the Universal Air Lines System, with Oklahomans Paul Braniff as secretary-treasurer and Thomas Braniff as president. In 1934 the airline moved company operations and maintenance facilities to Love Field, Dallas, from Oklahoma City, and its administrative offices followed in 1942. The airline was a pioneer in providing air service to Texas cities. After Thomas Braniff was killed in a plane crash in 1954, Charles Beard continued to expand the airline’s routes. For a time Braniff was the world’s sixth-largest airline. Braniff experienced severe financial difficulties in the late 1970s and ceased operations in 1982. Two attempts to resurrect the airline in the 1980s and 1990s were unsuccessful.
11/4/1906: Dance Queen is Born
On this day in 1906, Gussie Nell Davis was born in Farmersville, Texas. She went on to gain fame as the organizer and leader of the Kilgore Rangerettes, the innovative dance-drill team at Kilgore College. First performing in 1940, the group achieved international recognition under Davis’s direction and appeared at such heralded events as President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Inauguration and several Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades. The Rangerettes graced the covers of Life, Newsweek, the Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines. Davis guided the group until her retirement in 1979, and she served as a consultant for drill teams across the nation. This drill team pioneer was honored with induction into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989.
11/4/1835: Texans engage Mexican force in battle of Lipantitlán
On this day in 1835, the battle of Lipantitlán was fought on the east bank of the Nueces River three miles above San Patricio in San Patricio County, directly across from Fort Lipantitlán. A Texas force of around seventy men under Adjutant Ira J. Westover engaged a Mexican force of about ninety men under Capt. Nicolás Rodríguez. The battle lasted thirty-two minutes, leaving twenty-eight Mexicans dead, including Lt. Marcellino García, second in command, who was mortally wounded and died two days later at San Patricio. The Texans suffered only one casualty, when a rifle ball cut off three of the fingers on William Bracken’s right hand.
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