Texas Day by Day
Find out what happened today in Texas history.
Texan earns Medal of Honor for heroism
56 years ago today on April 26th, 1968
On this day in 1968, PFC Milton Lee was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in action in Vietnam. After attending Harlandale High School in San Antonio, Lee enlisted in the army. He arrived in Vietnam in January 1968. On April 26 of that year, near Phu Bai, South Vietnam, he was serving as radio and telephone operator when his platoon came under intense fire. Lee rendered lifesaving first aid while under heavy enemy fire. During a subsequent assault on the enemy position he saw four enemy soldiers, armed with automatic weapons and a rocket launcher, lying in wait for the platoon. He passed his radio to another soldier, charged through heavy fire, overran the enemy position, and killed all the occupants. He continued his assault on a second enemy position. Though mortally wounded, he delivered accurate covering fire until the platoon destroyed the enemy position. Only then did he die of his wounds. The Medal of Honor was presented to his grandmother and guardian, Mrs. Frank B. Campion, by President Richard M. Nixon at the White House on April 7, 1970.
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War Department orders surveys for Indian reservations
169 years ago today on April 26th, 1854
On this day in 1854, the U.S. War Department ordered Randolph B. Marcy, in conjunction with Indian agent Robert S. Neighbors, to locate and survey land for Indian reservations in unsettled territory, preferably on timbered land of good soil adjacent to navigable water. The sites selected after consultation with the various Indian groups concerned were four leagues of land on the Brazos River below Fort Belknap for the use of the Caddos, Wacos, and other Indians, and another tract of the same size forty miles away on the Clear Fork of the Brazos for the use of the Comanches. A third tract of four leagues adjoined the one on the Brazos and was intended for the use of the Indians living west of the Pecos River, chiefly the Mescalero and Lipan Apaches. These western Indians, however, failed to come in to the reservation, and this tract was added to the Brazos agency, making that reservation total eight leagues. Both reservations reverted to the state when the Indians were removed to the Indian Territory in 1859.
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First letter from "Pidge" appears in Austin paper
149 years ago today on April 26th, 1874
On this day in 1874, the first of a series of twenty-three letters and poems signed "Pidge" was published in an Austin newspaper. They were actually the work of Thomas C. Robinson, and appeared in the Austin Statesman and State Gazette. Robinson, born in 1847, had come to Austin in 1874 after feuding with a neighbor in his native Virginia. After enlisting in the Texas Rangers, he served under Leander H. McNelly during the Sutton-Taylor feud and battled Juan N. Cortina's raiders. Pidge's literary efforts describe Austin in the 1870s and provide a rare illustration of ranger service written from the field. They reveal literary knowledge, intelligence, and wit. Robinson returned to Virginia on leave to settle a feud with his former neighbor. In the resulting gunfight he was mortally wounded and died on April 4, 1876, just four days after the last Pidge letter was published in Austin.
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From Cabeza de Vaca's ship-wreck in 1528 through the Texas Revolution to present day—almost 500 years of recorded history—a myriad of significant events in Texas history have occurred. These events are arranged by day of the year to allow the reader to see into the past on any specific day.
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Recent & Upcoming Anniversaries
The following entries have anniversaries that occurred this month or will occur in the next 2 month(s)
470th Anniversary
- Spanish treasure ships wrecked on Padre Island 3 days from now
335th Anniversary
- Spanish explorer names the Nueces 3 weeks ago
- Coahuila governor discovers and names Guadalupe River 1 week ago
- Spanish explorer finds defunct French fort 4 days ago
325th Anniversary
- San Juan Bautista Mission founded 1 month 4 weeks from now
315th Anniversary
245th Anniversary
- American Revolution reaches Texas 1 month 3 weeks from now
205th Anniversary
- Provisional government declares Texas independence 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Early Texas journalist heralds Long expedition 1 month 1 week from now
200th Anniversary
- Austin Colony settlers clash with Karankawas 1 month 3 weeks from now
195th Anniversary
- Future Alamo defender and survivor elope 4 weeks from now
- Irish trader takes citizenship oath 3 weeks from now
185th Anniversary
- Republic of Texas defeats revolutionary plotters in key action 3 weeks from now
- "Village Blacksmith of Cumby" born in Tennessee 1 month 4 days from now
180th Anniversary
- Pioneer Texas doctor born in Alabama 3 weeks from now
- Historic steamer arrives in Texas 1 week from now
175th Anniversary
- Major Neighbors returns to San Antonio after leading historic western surveying expedition 1 month 6 days from now
- German furniture artist arrives in Texas 3 weeks from now
170th Anniversary
- War Department orders surveys for Indian reservations today
- Texas Germans declare slavery to be evil 2 weeks from now
- Prairie chicken namesake born in England 2 days from now
160th Anniversary
- General Taylor foils Union campaign in Louisiana 2 weeks ago
- Partisan leader promoted 1 month 5 days from now
- Former Texan rallies Union troops, awarded Medal of Honor 1 week from now
- Hood's Texas Brigade rallies around General Lee 1 week from now
- Civil War skirmish at Las Rusias 1 month 4 weeks from now
155th Anniversary
- Alleged participants in mob killing go on trial 4 weeks from now
- High court rules that Texas can sue in federal courts despite secession 1 week ago
150th Anniversary
- Governor Coke appoints commander of Frontier Battalion 6 days from now
- First letter from "Pidge" appears in Austin paper today
- Indian raiders strike again at Adobe Walls 2 months 1 day from now
- Feudists intensify conflict by lynching 1 month 3 weeks from now
145th Anniversary
- Northeast Texas community gets a post office 1 month 2 weeks from now
- First county in Panhandle organized 2 weeks ago
135th Anniversary
- Texas booster fair opens in Fort Worth 1 month 3 days from now
130th Anniversary
- Water-well contractor accidentally discovers first major Texas oilfield 1 month 1 week from now
125th Anniversary
- Water rises disastrously as rain gluts the Brazos rivershed 1 month 3 weeks from now
120th Anniversary
- West Texas Landscape painter born in Milford 1 week ago
105th Anniversary
- Texas Senate ratifies women's right to vote 2 months 2 days from now
- Texas congressman calls Mexican president a "spineless cactus" 1 month 3 weeks from now
100th Anniversary
- Congress establishes United States Border Patrol 1 month 2 days from now
- West Texas Historical Association organized in Abilene 1 week ago
- Texas baritone makes professional debut in New York 6 days ago
90th Anniversary
- Murderers and bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde gunned down in Louisiana 3 weeks from now
85th Anniversary
- UT observatory dedicated in Davis Mountains 1 week from now
- Soil Conservation Board established 1 month 3 days from now
- Refugee conductor gives "demonstration concert" in San Antonio 1 month 2 weeks from now
80th Anniversary
- U.S. Supreme Court dooms white primary 3 weeks ago
- Rudder's Rangers fight with distinction on Normandy beaches 1 month 1 week from now
75th Anniversary
- Residents of homestead community petition for incorporation 2 months 3 days from now
60th Anniversary
- Construction begins at Toledo Bend Reservoir 2 weeks from now
55th Anniversary
- Houston surgeon implants first artificial heart 3 weeks ago
- New park opens to public 1 month 5 days from now
- Famous horse wins at Aqueduct on the eve of his trainer's death 3 weeks ago
- Last passenger train leaves Dallas terminal 1 month 4 days from now
- New airport opens in Houston 1 month 1 week from now
- El Paso County gives rock art site to state 1 month 2 weeks from now
45th Anniversary
- Dallas designates Federal Reserve Bank a historic landmark 2 weeks from now
- Novelist dies after fistfight 1 month 1 week from now
- Orange Show opens to the public 1 week from now
40th Anniversary
- Landmark public education suit filed 3 weeks from now
- Legendary jazz pianist dies 3 days ago
25th Anniversary
- Spurs are champions! 1 month 4 weeks from now