This Day In Texas History - August 10

[joe817]

1842 - Upon receiving a commission from Sam Houston on August 10, 1842, James Russell Cooke (Cook) "cheerfully commenced recruiting volunteers" in Washington County for the Somervell expedition. With the organization of the volunteers at San Antonio, Cooke was first appointed inspector general and mustering officer of Alexander Somervell's Army of the South West and then, on November 10, was elected colonel of the First Regiment of the Second Brigade. He played a conspicuous role in the capture of Laredo and Guerrero, but when Somervell suggested that the expedition be broken up and return to San Antonio, Cooke is said to have replied, "we cannot break up this expedition, the men will mutinize, they are determined to cross the Rio Grande and fight the enemy, but my advice is to fling every impediment in its way and let it break itself up." As Somervell's authority over his men deteriorated, Cooke resigned his command. Nevertheless, he remained in a position of some authority and was largely responsible for returning the rump of Somervell's army to San Antonio intact, while the second half of the command remained on the Rio Grande under William S. Fisher preparing for the disastrous Mier expedition. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fco48 ]

1862 - The Civil War skirmish known as the battle of the Nueces took place on the morning of August 10, 1862, when a force of Hill Country Unionists, encamped en route to Mexico on the west bank of the Nueces River about twenty miles from Fort Clark in present-day Kinney County, were attacked by mounted Confederate soldiers. The Unionists, mostly German intellectuals led by Maj. Fritz Tegener, had camped without choosing a defensive position or posting a strong guard. The ninety-four Confederates, led by Lt. C. D. McRae, came upon the camp on the afternoon of August 9. Firing began an hour before sunlight the next morning; nineteen of the sixty-one to sixty-eight Unionists were killed, and nine were wounded. The nine wounded were executed a few hours after the battle. Two Confederates were killed and eighteen wounded, including McRae.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qfn01 ]

1875 - The Mason County War, commonly known as the Hoodoo War, was one of a number of feuds that developed over the stealing and killing of cattle. The trouble began seriously when the sheriff, John Clark, jailed nine men on charges of stealing cattle. One of the early victims was John Worley, who was killed on August 10, 1875, while he was working on his well. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jcm01 ]

1908 - The US cutter, Windom, became the first ship to navigate the Houston ship channel, opening the port of Houston to commercial traffic.

1935 - The Texas Department of Public Safety was established by the Texas legislature, prompted by the election of Governor James Allred, who ran on a platform of better law enforcement. The department was to enforce laws to protect public safety and to provide for crime prevention and detection. A three-member Public Safety Commission, appointed by the governor for six-year terms, oversaw the department and in turn named the director and assistant director. Homer Garrison, Jr., the first assistant director, became the director in 1938, and led the department for almost thirty years. Originally department operations were classified into six divisions: the Texas Highway Patrol, Texas Rangers, Bureau of Communications, Bureau of Intelligence, Bureau of Education, and Bureau of Identification and Records. Through the years the Department of Public Safety continued to reorganize and expand its operations into such activities as licensing of drivers, investigation of drug trafficking, accident records, emergency management, automated fingerprint identification, combating organized crime, and motor-vehicle theft.

1942 - Hondo Army Airfield is in northwest Hondo off U.S. Highway 90 in Medina County. In early 1942 Hondo applied for a United States Army Air Force pilot-training facility. The air field, commanded by Col. G. B. Dany, began student training on August 10, 1942, and graduated its first class of navigators on November 26 of that year. By that time more than 5,300 military personnel were stationed at the base. The aircraft included B-34s, B-18s, AT-7s, and AT-11s. The school was the largest United States Air Force navigation School in the world at the time. Hondo Army Airfield is in northwest Hondo off U.S. Highway 90 in Medina County. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qch02 ]

1958 - Aline Triplette Michaelis, the first woman to be named poet laureate of Texas, died in Beaumont. Triplette was born in St. Louis in 1885. After marriage to F. G. Michaelis, she lived in Austin for several years before moving to Beaumont in 1919, where she worked as a staff member of the Beaumont Enterprise. Writing under her own name and the pen name Susan Arnold Taylor, she published more than ten thousand poems. Her poem "Courage" was distributed to servicemen with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. Her column "The Rhyming Optimist" was carried by King Features for some sixteen years and reached well over three million daily readers. Many of her poems dealt with nature; her work was characterized by its optimism. She published a volume of her verse, Courage and Other Poems, in 1931. She served as poet laureate of Texas from 1934 to 1936.

1958 - JP (Jape) Richards also known as "The Big Bopper" hit the Billboard top 100 with "Chantilly Lace". The song reached No 6, and was followed up by another top 40 hit, "Big Bopper's Wedding". Richards was a DJ at KTRM in Beaumont. Over six days in May of 1957, the play 1,821 songs in a row, setting a world record. On January 1959, he joined Buddy Holly's Winter Dance Party.