This Day In Texas History - July 15

[joe817]

1824 - Stephen F. Austin granted Robert Hardin (or Hampton) Kuykendall two leagues of land, one on the east side and one on the west side of the Colorado River. Kuykendall established his home on the east league near the site of present Glen Flora and named it Pleasant Farm Plantation.

1836 - Almanzon Huston, quartermaster general of the Texas army, sent an entreaty to Secretary of War Thomas Jefferson Rusk that the men be better supplied. "These are the men that have fought the battles of our country, they have not shared in the spoils of victory, nor have they had one cent from the government either in clothing or money," he wrote in frustration. "I do hope for the honor of our cause you will order these men clothed." Although aware that he was in violation of regulations, he continued to supply rations to soldiers in order that they might make their way home after discharge.

1839 - On this day in 1839, some 500 Texas troops under Kelsey H. Douglass routed 700 to 800 Cherokees led by Chief Bowl in what is now Henderson County. The battle was fought a few miles west of Tyler, near the Neches River. The battle of the Neches was the principal engagement of the Cherokee War; it resulted in the expulsion of the hostile Indians from East Texas and virtually ended Indian troubles in the settled portion of the state.

More than 100 Indians, including Duwali, were killed, and the remaining Cherokees were driven across the Red River into Indian Territory. Among the prominent Texans who participated in the battle were Thomas J. Rusk, Edward Burleson, David G. Burnet, Albert Sidney Johnston, and John H. Reagan. The Cherokee War was the culmination of years of friction between Cherokee, Kickapoo, and Shawnee Indians and white settlers in Northeast Texas.

1852 - Settlers of the Peters Colony met to protest alleged efforts of the land company to invalidate their claims. Thus began the "Hedgcoxe War" also known as the Peters Rebellion. In February the legislature had attempted to satisfy both the settlers and the land company by passing a compromise law. In May the agent of the company, Henry Oliver Hedgcoxe, issued a proclamation that contributed to the misinterpretation of the law.

The meeting on July 15 accused Hedgcoxe of fraud and corruption. The next day, John Good led an armed group of 100 men to Hedgcoxe's office, seized his files, and took them to the Dallas County Courthouse. No violence was done, but Hedgcoxe was ordered to leave the colony. He fled to Austin. In February 1853 an amendment to the compromise law satisfactory to both sides was passed.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jch01 ]

1865 - August Siemering founded the German-language Freie Presse für Texas in San Antonio. Freie Presse became known as one of the leading Republican newspapers in the South during Reconstruction. A few months after founding the paper, Siemering also founded the English-language San Antonio Express, in which the prominent Republican journalist James P. Newcomb bought an interest in 1867. Siemering sold the Express in 1877 and died six years later. The Freie Presse ceased publication in 1945.

1882 - The Texas Bar Association was organized in Galveston. O. M. Roberts and Robert S. Gould were leaders in calling the organizational meeting, attended by 300 attorneys. The Texas Bar Association was the predecessor of the State Bar of Texas, a public corporation headquartered in Austin.

1917 - Shortly after the United States entered World War I, the war department ordered the establishment of thirty-two divisional training camps-sixteen tent camps for the National Guard and sixteen camps with wooden buildings for the United States Army. Camp Travis was selected as the training site for the Ninetieth (Texas-Oklahoma) Division of the army. Additional land was subsequently acquired for vital training facilities, and numerous structures were erected by the soldier welfare agencies. Camp Travis comprised 18,290 acres, of which 5,730 were on the main campsite adjoining Fort Sam Houston.[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qbc28 ]

1932 – Joseph Edwin Lockridge was born in Waco. In 1967 he became the first African-American to represent Dallas County in the Texas House of Representatives.

1942 -Camp Maxey, a World War II infantry-training camp ten miles north of Paris, Texas, was named in honor of Samuel Bell Maxey. It was activated on July 15, 1942, under command of Col. C. H. Palmer. The first division to be trained at the camp, the 102d Infantry Division, was organized and activated on September 15, 1942, under Gen. John B. Anderson. Col. Robert C. Annin succeeded Palmer as commander on March 25, 1943. The Ninety-ninth Infantry Division arrived at the camp in November of 1943. In addition to the army ground forces trained at Camp Maxey, army service forces and army air forces had a part in the development of camp activities.

The varied terrain provided facilities for working out problems of infantry training to meet modern battle conditions. An artillery range, obstacle course, infiltration course, and "German Village" were included in training maneuvers. Troop capacity was 44,931. German prisoners of war were also held at the military reservation. The camp was put on an inactive status on October 1, 1945. Afterward, the installation served as a training center for the Texas National Guard, and most of the original buildings were demolished or sold and removed; in 1990 the camp sewage-treatment plant was used by the city of Paris. When Pat Mayse Lake was constructed in 1965–67, parts of the northern edge of the base were inundated.

1975 - On this date in 1975, Clifford Antone, a University of Texas drop out, opened a nightclub at Sixth and Brazos in Austin. The location eventually moved to West 5th. For decades Antone's was the place for blues in Austin. Among hundreds of other bands to headline at Antone's were regulars like the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.