The Handbook of Texas is a digital state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) that is freely accessible for students, teachers, scholars, and the general public. The Handbook consists of overview, general, and biographical entries focused on the entire history of Texas from the indigenous Native Americans and the Prehistoric Era to the state's diverse population and the Modern Age. These entries emphasize the role Texans played in state, national, and world history.
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On June 19 ("Juneteenth"), 1865, Union general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order Number 3, which read, "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freed are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere." The tidings of freedom reached the approximately 250,000 slaves in Texas gradually as individual plantation owners informed their slaves over the months following the end of the war. The news elicited an array of personal celebrations, some of which have been described in The Slave Narratives of Texas (1974). The first broader celebrations of Juneteenth were used as political rallies and to teach freed African Americans about their voting rights. Within a short time, however, Juneteenth was marked by festivities throughout the state, some of which were organized by official Juneteenth committees.
Harwood, on the Southern Pacific Railroad and U.S. Highway 90 one mile north of Interstate Highway 10 in northern Gonzales County, was founded in 1874 during the westward expansion of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway. The town was named for Thomas Moore Harwood, who moved to Texas in 1850 and began a law practice in Gonzales in 1853. He worked with Thomas W. Peirce in the acquisition of land and the development of the railway.
Freddie Joe Steinmark, University of Texas football player who became a national symbol of courage and determination, was born on January 27, 1949, in Denver, Colorado, the son of Fred Gene and Gloria (Marchetti) Steinmark. His father had been a professional baseball player and encouraged him in all sports, so that Freddie had an early introduction to football, playing during his elementary and junior high school years on the Rough Riders team of the citywide Young America League in Denver. At Wheat Ridge High School there he lettered in football, baseball, and basketball; throughout his entire sports career, Steinmark's teams rarely lost a game. He ranked twenty-fifth scholastically in his high school graduating class of 530, and in his senior year he received the Golden Helmet Award from the Denver Post as the outstanding scholar-athlete in Colorado; he also received the Colorado Hall of Fame award as the state's outstanding high school athlete. In 1967 he received a football scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin. Despite his relatively small size, 5 feet, 10 inches, about 160 pounds, Steinmark was a valuable addition to the Texas Longhorn team. He, played defensive back on the freshman team and started in that position on the varsity during his sophomore and junior years. As a sophomore he was the team's leading punt returner and was named an All-Southwest Conference athlete-scholar while majoring in chemical engineering. On December 6, 1969, when Texas and Arkansas were rated first and second teams in the nation, respectively, he played in the game at Fayetteville, called the "Big Shootout," that gave the national championship to the Texas Longhorns. The game was important in sports annals because it determined the national football champion on the one-hundredth anniversary of college football and was witnessed by one of the largest television audiences in history. President Richard M. Nixon was in attendance and congratulated the team personally.
John Wiley Link, lawyer, land developer, and businessman, son of David Lowman and Nancy Emmaline (Henry) Link, was born near Gallatin, Texas, on December 1, 1866. He studied law at Baylor University and was admitted to the bar in 1888. In 1891 he joined the law firm of Holland and Holland in Amarillo. He married Ihna Imola Holland in 1891. He moved with the firm in 1895 to Orange, where he became mayor in 1900. During this time he was instrumental in securing the Beaumont-Orange deepwater channel. Link moved with his family to Houston in 1910 and developed the Montrose area under the title Houston Land Corporation. In 1912 he formed and became president of Link Oil Corporation and in 1921 became vice president and general manager of the Kirby Lumber Company (see KIRBY, JOHN HENRY). In 1926 he became first chairman of the board of the American General Insurance Company. He became president of the Dr Pepper parent company in 1929. He died in Houston on March 18, 1933, and was survived by his widow and five children.
Francis Augustus Hamer, a prominent Texas Ranger, was born in Fairview, Texas, on March 17, 1884, to Franklin Augustus Hamer and Lou Emma (Francis) Hamer. Known commonly as Frank or Pancho, he spent his early childhood on the Welch Ranch in San Saba County. In 1894 the family moved to Oxford in Llano County where Hamer worked at his father’s blacksmith shop. He attended a rural school in Oxford through approximately the sixth grade. He also personally trained himself to excel in horsemanship and marksmanship. In 1901 Hamer and his brother, Harrison Hamer, found work as wranglers on Green Berry Ketchum, Jr.’s ranch in Pecos County near Sheffield. Ketchum was a brother of outlaw Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum (see KETCHUM BOYS). In 1905 Sheriff Dudley S. Barker recommended that Hamer, who was working as a cowboy on the Carr Ranch between Sheffield and Fort Stockton, join the Texas Rangers after he captured a horse thief. On April 21, 1906, Hamer enlisted as a private in the Texas Rangers in Capt. John H. Rogers’s Company C. Working primarily along the South Texas border, Hamer became known as an expert shot and was involved in murder investigations, gambling arrests, and was part of Ranger details assigned to protect and transport prisoners, often in the midst of racially-charged environments. He left the Rangers on November 30, 1908, to become city marshal of the lawless town of Navasota, Texas. By the time Hamer resigned as marshall on April 21, 1911, he had restored a semblance of order in the town, in large part by enforcing his authority over the racist White Man’s Union that had run the town’s politics and law. While working in Navasota, Frank Hamer married Mollie Bobadillo Cameron on March 19, 1911, in Hempstead, Texas. They were divorced by early 1915.
James Dickson Shaw, freethinker and editor of The Independent Pulpit, son of Granville C. and Mary A. (Manning) Shaw, was born in Walker County, Texas, on December 27, 1841. After serving in the Confederate Army, he was admitted to the Methodist ministry in 1870. During the next few years he taught at Marvin College in Waxahachie and served on the editorial staff of The Christian Advocate. His early pastorates included the church at Mexia and Lancaster Bell, Texas. In 1878 he assumed the pastorate of the Fifth Street Methodist Church in Waco. In 1880 in a public meeting in Waco, Shaw was described as being an agnostic by a visiting phrenologist, Dr. O. S. Fowler. A short time later questions were raised concerning his orthodoxy. At the annual session of the Northwest Methodist Conference meeting in Cleburne, Texas, 1882, a motion was made to bring charges of heresy before a committee for examination. When Shaw appeared before the committee to defend his beliefs, he spoke concerning the inspiration of the scriptures, the divinity of Christ, the vicarious atonement, and the punishment of the wicked. At the conclusion of his address, he was asked to surrender his credentials because his views were "detrimental to religion and injurious to the church." Returning to Waco, Shaw gathered together some of the prominent men of the city and established the Religious and Benevolent Association on December 2, 1882. The association established a monthly magazine in 1883 called the Independent Pulpit to serve as a forum for the most liberal and independent thinkers on the moral, social, and intellectual questions of the day. Shaw served as editor of the publication. Subscribers to the twenty-four page monthly publication were not limited to Texas, but were found in states throughout the United States and other countries. Through the pages of this magazine Shaw led a reform movement propounding the virtues of free thought. He drew much correspondence for the pages of the Independent Pulpit from across the state. In 1890 he was instrumental in the organization of the Liberal Society of Texas. Shaw was well known as a public speaker and was active in civic and political affairs for many years. He held the rank of captain in the Pat Cleburne Camp of Confederate Veterans, was a member of the board of aldermen for the City of Waco, and served as a member of the executive committee to formulate the commission form of city government for the city. He helped organize the Humane Society of Waco. Shaw married twice. His first wife, Lucy Frances, died in 1881, two weeks after the birth of their sixth child, leaving Shaw with a family of young children. Several months later the baby also died. In 1884 he married Rachella Dodson. She died on March 29, 1902. In 1910 Shaw moved to Glendale, California, with his daughter. He died there on December 3, 1926. Later his remains were returned to Waco for burial in Oakwood Cemetery.
The Comanches, exceptional horsemen who dominated the Southern Plains, played a prominent role in Texas frontier history throughout much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Anthropological evidence indicates that they were originally a mountain tribe, a branch of the Northern Shoshones, who roamed the Great Basin region of the western United States as crudely equipped hunters and gatherers. Both cultural and linguistic similarities confirm the Comanches' Shoshone origins. The Comanche language is derived from the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family and is virtually identical to the language of the Northern Shoshones. Sometime during the late seventeenth century, the Comanches acquired horses, and that acquisition drastically altered their culture. The life of the pedestrian tribe was revolutionized as they rapidly evolved into a mounted, well-equipped, and powerful people. Their new mobility allowed them to leave their mountain home and their Shoshone neighbors and move onto the plains of eastern Colorado and western Kansas, where game was plentiful.
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The Texas Revolution began in October 1835 with the battle of Gonzales and ended on April 21, 1836, with the battle of San Jacinto, but earlier clashes between government forces and frontier colonists make it impossible to set dogmatic limits in terms of military battles, cultural misunderstandings, and political differences that were a part of the revolution. The seeds of the conflict were planted during the last years of Spanish rule (1815–21) when Anglo Americans drifted across the Neutral Ground and the eastern bank of the Red River into Spanish territory, squatted on the land, and populated Spanish Texas. More alarming than these illegal residents, who only wanted to "settle and stay," were filibusters such as Philip Nolan, who commandeered portions of Spanish lands for personal gain and political capital. During the fading years of New Spain, its ruling council, the Cortes, worried about securing their far northern frontier and began to encourage foreign immigration to Texas, including Anglo American colonization. One who was eager to take advantage of a change in Spanish policy was Moses Austin, who received a commission from the Spanish governor of Texas to bring 300 families and establish a colony, thereby rebuilding some of his lost fortune associated with the Panic of 1819. Upon his death in 1821, his son and heir Stephen Fuller Austin fulfilled his father's vision and became the first empresario of Texas.
John Wesley (Wes) Hardin, outlaw, son of James G. and Elizabeth Hardin, was born in Bonham, Texas, on May 26, 1853. His father was a Methodist preacher, circuit rider, schoolteacher, and lawyer. Hardin's violent career started in 1867 with a schoolyard squabble in which he stabbed another youth. At fifteen, in Polk County, he shot and killed a black man as a result of a chance meeting and an argument. With the Reconstruction government looking for him, he fled to his brother's house, twenty-five miles north of Sumpter, Texas, where in the fall of 1868 he claimed to have killed three Union soldiers who sought to arrest him. Within a year, he killed another soldier at Richard Bottom.
The strong Texas interest in flags is shown in public and private displays of the "Six Flags Over Texas," i.e., the flags of the six countries that have ruled over Texas: the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Spain, the Mexican Federal Republic, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America. Spain has had four significant flags during its occupation of the New World. The royal banner of Castile and León, bearing two lions and two castles, was used as a state flag and ensign from around 1230 to around 1516. From 1516 to May 28, 1785, Spain used a state flag and ensign consisting of a modified red saltire on white to signify the house of Burgundy. A variant of the state flag and ensign 1580 to 1640 depicted the complete Spanish coat of arms on a white field. King Charles III established the familiar Spanish flag, with horizontal stripes of red-gold-red and the simple arms of Castile and León as the Spanish ensign, effective on May 28, 1785, and as the Spanish state flag on land, effective March 8, 1793. These flags were used until April 27, 1931.
The 25,610-square-mile Panhandle of Texas was shaped by the Compromise of 1850, which resolved the state's controverted territorial claims. It is bounded on the east by the 100th meridian, on the north by parallel 36°30', and on the west by the 103rd meridian. It comprises the northernmost twenty-six counties of the state; the line forming the southern boundary of Swisher County in the central Panhandle marks the southern boundary. The elevation declines from about 4,700 feet in the northwest (Dallam County) to about 2,000 feet in the southeast (Childress County). The growing season increases from 178 days a year to 217 days over the same distance. The average annual precipitation ranges from about 21.5 inches in the eastern counties to about seventeen inches in the western counties. Thus the dry Panhandle climate ranges narrowly from subhumid to semiarid. The High Plains cover all but the gently undulating southeastern third of the Panhandle, where the Rolling Plains begin. The two are separated by the scenic eastern High Plains escarpment commonly called the Caprock. The upper tributaries of the Red River and the Canadian River drain the region. The Canadian cuts across the High Plains to isolate the southern part, the Llano Estacado, which has little drainage and a reputation as one of the world's flattest areas of such size. Beneath the High Plains lies the enormous store of relict water held by the Ogallala Aquifer-unquestionably the region's most valuable resource. High Plains soils are loamy, clayey, deep, and calcareous; those of the Rolling Plains are loamy and sandy; and those of the canyonlands and river valleys are loamy, clayey, shallow, and calcareous and support woody species including juniper, cottonwood, hackberry, mesquite, elm, willow, and plum. Scrub oak, grape, and stretchberry grow on the escarpments. Grasses found on the uplands include mainly the bluestems, gramas, buffalo grass, and, around playas, western wheat grass. Especially on the Llano Estacado short grasses have protected the surface from erosion and, along with subhumidity and fire, have inhibited tree growth. In sum, Panhandle physiography produced a primordial grassland that supported the southern buffalo herd and a buffalo-hunting Indian culture, invited a grazing economy introduced by Americans, and eventually gave rise to a farming economy that displaced much of the grassland.
Special Projects
Handbook of Dallas-Fort Worth
The tremendous growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex from the 19th through 21st centuries far outpaced the recorded history of this economically vital area. Texas is often associated with its rural ranching history, yet as the decades passed, the cultural and economic identities of Lone Star State evolved to reflect the increasing importance and influence of the urban areas. No area in Texas illustrates this transformation better than DFW—a well-traveled location during the cattle trailing and early railroad eras that blossomed into a modern financial and cultural hotspot in the present day. We need a more complete documentation of the DFW metroplex, and the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) seeks to correct this imbalance in the historical record.
Handbook of Texas Medicine
Texans lay claim to a dynamic medical history. The state has borne witness to deadly disease outbreaks, the establishment of world-renowned medical institutions, and the discovery of new therapeutics and cures. From the first documented surgery on Texas soil by Cabeza de Vaca in the sixteenth century to the innovative research spearheaded by university laboratories to develop vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19, the medical story of Texas is reflective of the many ways Texans have engaged to protect and promote their health and well-being. Today, the healthcare industry represents a significant share of the Texas economy, contributing more than $108 billion to the state’s GDP, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Yet, despite the fundamental role medicine has played in shaping the growth and development of the state, a comprehensive and authoritative medical history of Texas remains unfulfilled. With the development of the Handbook of Texas Medicine, TSHA proudly presents a unique opportunity to address this disparity.
Handbook of Texas Women
The Handbook of Texas Women project strives to expand on the Handbook of Texas by promoting a more inclusive and comprehensive history of Texas. Texas women make Texas history, and TSHA wants to significantly recognize the various ways women have shaped the state’s history at home, across the state, nationally, and abroad. The impacts of women on Texas history are often overlooked, and as more and more people are accessing information using smartphones, tablets, and other mobile technologies, this project will seize upon the unprecedented opportunities of the digital age in order to reshape how Texas women’s history will be understood, preserved, and disseminated in the twenty-first century.
Handbook of Texas Music
What is it about Texas music? Trying to define it is like reviewing a dictionary. There is way too much detail to try to pin it down. However, this much is clear: Texans have given American music its distinctive voice, and that's no brag, just fact.
Handbook of Tejano History
The TSHA is proud to announce the launch of the Handbook of Tejano History, which contains more than 1,200 entries, including 300 new entries, detailing the critical influence of Tejanos on the Lone Star State. Released on March 29, 2016, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Tejano Monument unveiling on the Capitol grounds in Austin, the Handbook of Tejano History is the culmination of a two-year effort involving dozens of researchers, educators, students, and Texas history enthusiasts committed to capturing and sharing Tejano contributions to Texas life and culture. Originally conceived in partnership with the board of directors of the Tejano Monument, Inc., the Association’s Handbook of Tejano History joins a number of other important initiatives born out of the legacy of the Tejano Monument, including the Tejano History Curriculum Project and Austin Independent School District’s Cuauhtli Academy/Academia Cuauhtli.
Handbook of African American Texas
African Americans have been part of the landscape of Texas for as long as Europeans and their descendants. Spanning a period of more than five centuries, African American presence began in 1528 with the arrival of Estevanico, an African slave who accompanied the first Spanish exploration of the land in the southwestern part of the United States that eventually became Texas. While African Americans have been subjected to slavery, segregation, and discrimination during this long history, they have made significant contributions to the growth and development of Texas. They have influenced Texas policies and social standards. Living and working with other ethnic groups, they have helped create a unique Texas culture. Historians have not always acknowledged the role that African Americans have played in the Lone Star State. Although numerous studies of Texas’s past appeared in the twentieth century, until 1970 there remained too many empty pages in the history of the state concerning the black population. This situation has changed since the 1970s, but the need to capture more of the African American experience still exists. For this reason, we are happy to launch the Handbook of African American Texas.
Handbook of Civil War Texas
At 4:30 on the morning of April 12, 1861—one hundred and fifty years ago this spring (2011)—Confederate States of America artillery opened fire on United States troops in Fort Sumter, South Carolina, beginning the American Civil War. Texans, who had voted overwhelmingly in February 1861 to secede from the Union and then watched their state join the Confederacy in March, thus became involved in a four-year conflict that would take the lives of many and leave none untouched. Texas escaped much of the terrible destruction of the war for a simple reason—United States troops never managed to invade and occupy the state’s interior. In sum, the Civil War exacted a huge price, primarily in terms of lives lost and ruined in the Confederate Army and in the privations of those left at home. However, the conflict had two vitally positive results for Texas: It freed the state’s more than 200,000 enslaved people, and it destroyed the curse of the ‘Peculiar Institution’ for the entire society of the Lone Star State.
Handbook of Houston
The Texas State Historical Association and the Houston History Alliance (HHA) are proud to announce the launch of the Handbook of Houston, which contains more than 1,250 new and existing entries highlighting the significant impact Houston has had on the state, the nation, and the world. Launched on March 2, 2017, the Handbook of Houston is the culmination of many years of historical research.
Gospel singing convention established
124 years ago today
Prairie chicken namesake born in England
169 years ago today
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Our entries are accessed thousands of times per day from all over the globe, and we are here because of you. Please consider a recurring membership or a gift.
Juneteenth read 17,174 times in the past week
Texas Revolution read 1,875 times in the past week
World War I read 1,866 times in the past week
Republic of Texas read 1,568 times in the past week
Comanche Indians read 1,347 times in the past week
Flags of Texas read 1,285 times in the past week
Steinmark, Freddie Joe read 1,212 times in the past week
Fiesta San Antonio read 1,181 times in the past week
Quintanilla Perez, Selena [Selena] read 1,178 times in the past week
Hamer, Francis Augustus read 1,162 times in the past week
San Jacinto, Battle of read 1,144 times in the past week
Rhodes, TX read 1,004 times in the past week
Gospel singing convention established
124 years ago today
Prairie chicken namesake born in England
169 years ago today
Get the FREE! Texas Day by Day delivered straight to your inbox:
Recent Additions
Every one of our entries is written, fact-checked, and reviewed by our team of professional and academic historians. It is the time, dedication, and support from both our staff & people like you—through your recurring memberships & generous donations—that makes it possible for us to produce quality work that you can trust.
Richards, Paul Rapier 3 days ago
Stratton, Monty Franklin Pierce 3 days ago
Koehler Park 3 days ago
Halaby, Najeeb Elias, Jr. [Jeeb] 4 days ago
Cash, Norman Dalton 6 days ago
Runnels, James Edward [Pete] 6 days ago
Montgomery, Ellie Alma Walls Mims 6 days ago
San Antonio Water Works Company 1 week ago
Arizmendi Mejía, Elena Irene 1 week ago
Fisher, Vernon Lane 1 week ago
Camfield, William Joseph [Icky Twerp] 1 week ago
Read, Julian Otis 1 week ago
Capps, Sarah Angel Brooke [Sallie] 3 weeks ago
Austin Rape Crisis Center 3 weeks ago
Kraft, Clarence Otto [Big Boy] 3 weeks ago
Bush Dome Reservoir and Cliffside Field Terminal 3 weeks ago
Southwestern General Hospital, El Paso 1 month ago
Irby, Lovita Ann Choat 1 month ago