This Day In Texas History - March 21

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1801 - Early Texan entrepreneur and Mustang wrangler, Philip Nolan on his forth expedition to Texas to gather wild Mustangs for market in New Orleans, is met by Spanish troops near present day Blum. He and many of his party are killed, others imprisoned, leading to outrage in America and a desire to free Texas from Spanish Rule. Survivors are held captive for several years, before a toss of the dice is used to select which prisoners are hanged.

1845 - German nobleman, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, Commissioner General of the "Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas", also known as the "Noblemen's Society" founded the town of New Braunfels. Prince Carl named the city for Braunfels, his hometown in Germany. By 1850, it was the fourth largest town in Texas.

1862 - Camp Breckenridge was on Gunsolus (now Gonzales) Creek six miles above its confluence with Hubbard Creek, near Crystal Falls in northern Stephens County. The camp was established by Col. James M. Norris with half of Capt. John Salmon's company of the Frontier Regiment on March 21, 1862. Salmon's company, which was organized in February 1862 with slightly more than 100 men, maintained Camp Salmon in southwestern Stephens County and Camp Breckenridge as a deterrent against Indian aggression. However, Capt. R. Whiteside, who commanded at Breckenridge in 1863, stated that the only service satisfactorily rendered was to carry the mail, because "the patrol keeps our horses poor and when we find Indians they can outrun us."

Beset by inadequate supplies, low morale, and frequent changing of officers, the camp supplied little real service. A report late in 1863 found only twenty-six out of fifty-four men who should have been in camp: one had been killed, four were absent without leave, and the rest were either sick, on patrol, or hunting for lost horses. The entire Frontier Regiment was mustered into regular Confederate service in the last year of the Civil War. The camp was used briefly during Reconstruction by area settlers who took refuge there against Indian raids.

1864 - The USS Clifton, was a side-wheel steam ferryboat that saw action along the Texas coast during the Civil War. She was captured by the Confederates at Sabine Pass, Texas, on September 8. The Clifton ran aground at Sabine Pass on March 21, 1864, while trying to run the Union blockade and was burned by the Confederates to prevent her capture.

1886 - A shoot-out involving cowboys from the LS ranch at Tascosa, leaves four dead.

1899 - The Tenth United States Cavalry, under the command of Capt. Charles G. Ayers, moved into the affected neighborhoods of Laredo to maintain the peace and assure that the work of controlling the smallpox epidemic which had reached epidemic proportions. Texas Rangers also patrolled the area, searching for and arresting anyone they thought involved in the riot. The riot was caused by W. T. Blunt, State of Texas health officer, who ordered house-to-house vaccination and fumigation, the burning of all questionable clothing and personal effects that could not be fumigated, and the establishment of a field hospital to disinfect patients.

1910 - The Bryan and College Interurban Railway Company was chartered on March 21, 1910. In 1911 the road built five miles of track between Bryan and College Station, and in 1916 an additional 1½ miles was constructed between Bryan and Villa Maria. Although primarily a passenger carrier, the line also handled express. The company did not exercise its authority to carry freight. Competition from private automobiles led to the abandonment of the interurban in 1923.

1916 - 1,400 building in Paris in northeast Texas burned leaving the city virtually destroyed. In 10 1/2 hours, the fire had worked it way throughout the city, killing 3. The fire was so tremendous that firefighter from as far away as Hugo, Oklahoma, Bonham, and even Dallas came to assist. Paris is destroyed, and rebuilding would take years.

1926 - Rebecca Fisher died in Austin. She was born Rebecca Gilleland in Philadelphia in 1831. Her family came to Texas around 1837 and settled in Refugio County. In 1840 Comanches attacked their home, killing Rebecca's parents and taking Rebecca and her brother. The children were rescued by Albert Sidney Johnston and a detachment of Texas soldiers. Mrs. Fisher was a charter member and state president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She also aided Clara Driscoll in saving the Alamo from destruction, and for several years she gave the opening prayer when the Texas legislature convened. She was the only woman elected to the Texas Veterans Association and was its last surviving member.

1942 - George A. Davis, Jr., Medal of Honor recipient, was born in Dublin, Texas, on December 1, 1920. He attended Morton High School at Morton and Harding College at Searcy, Arkansas. He joined the United States Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet at Lubbock on March 21, 1942. He completed flight training with Class 43-B and was commissioned second lieutenant at Lake Charles, Louisiana. After further training as a fighter pilot he was assigned to the 342nd Fighter Squadron, 348th Fighter Group, Fifth Fighter Command, in the Southwest Pacific. Around New Guinea he flew some of the first P-47 aircraft in the Pacific Theater. While in the Pacific during World War II Davis became an "ace" with seven victories and was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster, and the Air Medal with seven clusters.

He returned to the United States in 1945. During the Korean War, while leading a flight of four F-86 jet fighters near the Manchurian border, his element leader ran out of oxygen and with his wing man was forced to return to base. Major Davis and the other remaining F-86 continued the mission. The pilots sighted approximately twelve MIG-15 aircraft about to attack friendly fighter-bombers conducting low-level ground operations. Davis dove at the MIG formation and shot down two planes. While he was attacking a third, under continuous fire from enemy fighters, his aircraft received a direct hit, went out of control, and crashed into a mountain thirty miles south of the Yalu River. His bold attack permitted the friendly aircraft to complete their mission.

For his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty," Davis received the Medal of Honor posthumously. He had also been awarded the nation's second highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, a ninth cluster to the Air Medal, a third cluster to the DFC, a second Silver Star, and the Korean WLCHI Medal. On his sixtieth combat mission in Korea, his final mission, he scored his thirteenth and fourteenth aerial victories and became America's leading jet ace at the time. Mrs. Doris Forgason Davis received the Medal of Honor at Reese Air Force Base from air force chief of staff Gen. Nathan F. Twining. A veteran's memorial was dedicated to him in the City of Lubbock Cemetery on November 16, 1990, and a Medal of Honor headstone was placed there by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

1966 - Edith Wilmans, who in 1922 became the first woman elected to the Texas legislature, died in Dallas. Wilmans, born in Louisiana in 1882, moved to Dallas at an early age. She helped organize the Dallas Equal Suffrage Association and was president of the Democratic Women's Association of Texas.