Brief history of Texas

The earliest Texans lived as hunters and gatherers, sharing the landscape with ice age animals including mammoths, cave lions, giant sloths, and dire wolves. Spain claimed the land that is now Texas in 1519, when the explorer Alonzo Alvarez de Piñeda sailed along the Gulf Coast to the Rio Grande.

Prior to the arrival of Alvarez de Pineda and other European explorers, numerous tribes of the Indians of Texas occupied the region between the Rio Grande to the south and the Red River to the north.

In 1540, the Spanish conquistador Vasquez de Coronado set out to find the seven cities of gold. For two years he and his men trekked through present-day New Mexico, West Texas, and as far north as Kansas, fighting Indians and leaving behind horses and cattle, but never finding any gold.

During his search, Coronado encountered the Teyas (or Tejas) Indians. Some scholars believe that Texas got its name from those Indians; others believe it came from the Caddo Indian word tayshas, which means "friend."

The Spanish Colonial era in Texas began with a system of missions and presidios, designed to spread Christianity and to establish control over the region. The missions were managed by friars from the order of St. Francis – the Franciscans — and were placed in lands that had been home to Native Americans for thousands of years.

The Spanish continued to colonize, and in 1718, the Mission San Antonio de Valero was established in what is today the city of San Antonio, and Franciscan padres began converting local Indians to Catholicism.

In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain. Soon after, Stephen F. Austin negotiated a contract with the new Mexican government to lead roughly 300 families, mainly Protestants from the southern United States to colonize along the Brazos River.

On March 2, 1836, Texas formally declared its independence from Mexico. The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos, now commonly referred to as the “birthplace of Texas.

It joined the United States in 1845 as the 28th state. Texas seceded from the United States and joined the Confederate States during the American Civil War. In 1870 Texas was officially readmitted into the Union following the period of Reconstruction.
Brief history of Texas

Battle of the Alamo in 1836

The Alamo was built as a mission, not a fort. So, the Texans had to work hard to build higher and thicker walls, add cannons, and add high fences made of stakes.

The belligerents were the Mexican Republic—under command of Antonio López de Santa Anna—versus the newly declared Republic of Texas—under command of William Barret Travis.

In December 1835 after the Battle of San Antonio, many Texans thought that the centralist threat to Texas had ended.

On Tuesday, February 23, 1836, General Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived in San Antonio that afternoon with the vanguard of his army. Mexican forces quietly occupy San Antonio and begin surrounding the Alamo.

A bloodred banner was raised atop the bell tower of San Fernando Church, signifying that no prisoners would be taken. Colonel William B. Travis ordered a cannon fired in response. Santa Anna was outraged. The Mexican soldiers fired back.

The Texans were unaware that Santa Anna had decided to lead his army into Texas. They believed that he would wait until spring to launch an attack. As a result, the Texas forces remained unorganized and scattered. Their lack of preparation would ultimately cost them at their next encounter with Mexican troops, the Battle of the Alamo.

The siege of the Alamo had begun. Mexican artillery began to bombard the fort. Santa Anna wanted to smash down the walls. It was to last 13 days. All but a few of the 200 defenders of the Alamo are killed in battle. The prisoners are executed. Santa Anna reports 70 of his men killed, while reports claim as many as 400 men killed.

Battle of the Alamo in 1836

Declaration Of Independence Of The Republic Of Texas

During the late 1835 general rebellion, Texans take Presidio La Bahía at Goliad and lay siege to San Antonio. At the same time U.S. volunteers begin arriving for the Texas fight. While one group of revolutionaries was fighting for Texas on the battlefield, at the same time there was another group was meeting to decide Texas’s fate.

When delegates to the first Consultation met in November 1835, they had a decision to make: should Texas remaining part of Mexico or seek independence. They called a second meeting of the Consultation on March 1, 1836, hoping that events would help them make their decision.

On March 1, 1836, the delegates gathered at Washington-on-the-Brazos for the second meeting of the Consultation, also known as the Convention of 1836 and one of the convention’s first acts of business was to declare independence from Mexico. There were total of 59 delegates attended the convention. They were from Mexico, Scotland, England, Ireland and 12 U.S. states.

The Convention of 1836 penned the Texas Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the Republic of Texas and structured the ad interim government. The convention also selected Sam Houston as a commander in chief of the military forces of the republic. The delegates declared Texas independent the next day, March 2.

George Campbell Childress was the primary author of the Texas Declaration of Independence and chairman of the committee of five members to draft the document.
Declaration Of Independence Of The Republic Of Texas