Texas Day by Day
Find out what happened today in Texas history.
Cherokee leader arrives in Mexico City seeking tribal land grant
197 years ago today on March 19th, 1826
On this day in 1826, Cherokee leader John Dunn Hunter arrived in Mexico City to renew negotiations with the Mexican government for land for a Cherokee settlement in Texas. Hunter was promised land to be granted to individual Indian settlers but was unsuccessful in getting a tribal grant with the right of self-government. He returned to East Texas and, with Cherokee diplomatic chief Richard Fields, began negotiations with Martin Parmer and his associates for the so-called Fredonian Republic, which would have divided Texas between the Indians and the Anglo-Americans. The Mexican government moved quickly to quash the uprising, however, and the Cherokee council refused to take part in the Fredonian Rebellion. Hunter, an American born about 1796, claimed to have been captured by the Cherokees as a child. Although he lived with the Indians until about 1816, he received a fairly good education and traveled considerably through the United States and England. While in England Hunter wrote an account which was published in London in 1824 under the title of Memoirs of a Captivity among the Indians of North America. Dr. Hunter, as he was often called, returned to the Cherokees at one of their East Texas villages in 1825. After the Cherokee council repudiated their agreement with Parmer and his allies, Hunter and Fields were tried by the council and executed in 1827.
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Spanish priest and chronicler of Texas enters Franciscan order
326 years ago today on March 19th, 1697
On this day in 1697, future Texas chronicler Isidro Félix de Espinosa was professed as a novice at the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro, a Franciscan missionary institution in Mexico. He probably arrived in Texas in 1703. Espinosa's missionary activities in Texas included his participation in several expeditions. Dubbed the "Julius Caesar of the Faith in New Spain" because he worked by day and wrote all night, Espinosa left behind several works on early Texas, including a biography of his friend Antonio Margil de Jesús. Espinosa's Crónica de los colegios de propaganda fide de la Nueva España has been called the "most important contemporary account of the Franciscans in Texas."
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Council House Fight irreparably damages Comanche-white relations
183 years ago today on March 19th, 1840
On this day in 1840, Republic of Texas soldiers killed some thirty Penateka Comanche leaders and warriors and five women and children in the Council House Fight in San Antonio. The Comanches had come to San Antonio seeking to make peace. Texas officials had demanded that the Comanches return all captives, but the Penatekas brought only a few prisoners, including the severely abused Matilda Lockhart. After a dispute about the other captives, Texas soldiers entered the Council House, where the peace talks were being held, and informed the assembled chiefs that they were to be held as hostages until the remaining captives were released. The Comanche chiefs attempted to escape and called to their fellow tribesmen outside the house for help. In the ensuing melee, the soldiers killed most of the Comanches who remained in the Council House courtyard. Six whites were killed and twenty wounded as well. Texas authorities freed a single Comanche woman with orders to secure the release of the remaining white captives in exchange for twenty-seven Comanches captured in the fight. The Penateka leaders refused to respond to Texas demands, and most of the Texans' captives escaped. The Council House Fight outraged Comanche sensibilities, for they considered ambassadors immune from acts of war. Led by Buffalo Hump, the Penatekas retaliated by raiding deep into Texas. Comanche hatred of Texans deepened and contributed much to the violence of the frontier.
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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 1 month 1 week from now
335th Anniversary
- Spanish explorer names the Nueces 2 weeks from now
- Coahuila governor discovers and names Guadalupe River 3 weeks from now
- Spanish explorer finds defunct French fort 1 month 3 days from now
315th Anniversary
- Expedition reaches future site of San Antonio 3 weeks from now
195th Anniversary
- Future Alamo defender and survivor elope 2 months 5 days from now
- Irish trader takes citizenship oath 2 months 23 hours from now
185th Anniversary
- Republic of Texas defeats revolutionary plotters in key action 1 month 4 weeks from now
- "Village Blacksmith of Cumby" born in Tennessee 2 months 1 week from now
180th Anniversary
- Pioneer Texas doctor born in Alabama 2 months 2 days from now
- Historic steamer arrives in Texas 1 month 2 weeks from now
175th Anniversary
- Secessionist paper founded in Marshall 1 week from now
- Fort Inge established on Texas frontier 6 days ago
- German furniture artist arrives in Texas 2 months 2 days from now
170th Anniversary
- War Department orders surveys for Indian reservations 1 month 1 week from now
- Texas Germans declare slavery to be evil 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Prairie chicken namesake born in England 1 month 1 week from now
160th Anniversary
- General Taylor foils Union campaign in Louisiana 2 weeks from now
- Former Texan rallies Union troops, awarded Medal of Honor 1 month 2 weeks from now
- Hood's Texas Brigade rallies around General Lee 1 month 2 weeks from now
- Confederate guerilla leader arrested by own side 1 week from now
155th Anniversary
- Alleged participants in mob killing go on trial 2 months 5 days from now
- High court rules that Texas can sue in federal courts despite secession 3 weeks from now
150th Anniversary
- Governor Coke appoints commander of Frontier Battalion 1 month 2 weeks from now
- First letter from "Pidge" appears in Austin paper 1 month 1 week from now
- Wildcatter born in Lithuania 5 days ago
145th Anniversary
- First county in Panhandle organized 3 weeks from now
140th Anniversary
- World-famous animal trapper born in Texas 2 days ago
135th Anniversary
- Texas booster fair opens in Fort Worth 2 months 1 week from now
130th Anniversary
- March on Washington falters in desert 3 days from now
125th Anniversary
120th Anniversary
- West Texas Landscape painter born in Milford 4 weeks from now
- Black gold gushes in East Texas 2 weeks ago
100th Anniversary
- Congress establishes United States Border Patrol 2 months 1 week from now
- West Texas Historical Association organized in Abilene 1 month 23 hours from now
- Texas baritone makes professional debut in New York 1 month 1 day from now
95th Anniversary
90th Anniversary
- Murderers and bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde gunned down in Louisiana 2 months 4 days from now
85th Anniversary
- UT observatory dedicated in Davis Mountains 1 month 2 weeks from now
- Soil Conservation Board established 2 months 1 week from now
- Script writer and future Texan born in Chicago 3 days ago
80th Anniversary
- Medal of Honor recipient's plane shot down 1 week ago
- U.S. Supreme Court dooms white primary 2 weeks from now
70th Anniversary
- A jolly good barbecue 1 week ago
60th Anniversary
- Construction begins at Toledo Bend Reservoir 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Ruby found guilty 5 days ago
55th Anniversary
- Houston surgeon implants first artificial heart 2 weeks from now
- Famous horse wins at Aqueduct on the eve of his trainer's death 2 weeks from now
- Last passenger train leaves Dallas terminal 2 months 1 week from now
45th Anniversary
- Dallas designates Federal Reserve Bank a historic landmark 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Orange Show opens to the public 1 month 3 weeks from now
40th Anniversary
- Landmark public education suit filed 2 months 4 days from now
- Legendary jazz pianist dies 1 month 4 days from now