A Brief History On November 24, 1835, the Texas Provincial Government (Permanent Council) authorized the creation of a mounted para-military police force to enforce laws throughout The Republic of Texas and protect its borders. Digging Deeper Stephen Austin had first formed the unit under the command of Captain Morris as an unofficial call for volunteers in 1823, while Texas was still the property of Mexico. Texas became an independent republic in 1836, and was admitted as a state in the United States in 1845. Although Mexico had welcomed American settlers to Texas, the Americans insisted on violating Mexican law by…
Browsing: November 24
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A Brief History On November 24, 1863, Union forces under the command of future President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant captured Lookout Mountain as part of the campaign to relieve the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee by Confederate General Braxton Bragg. Grant is known as the most successful Union general of the Civil War, and as the man most responsible for winning that war. This much is true, but many of the other things we think we “know” about Grant are not so true. Digging Deeper For starters, Grant was not a drunkard. As a young officer, he had a…
A Brief History On November 24, 1971, a man known only as D.B. Cooper jumped with a parachute from a Boeing 727 into history as the only unsolved airplane hijacker! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find a white male, mistakenly identified as D.B. Cooper, getting on a flight out of Portland, Oregon heading to Seattle, Washington on Northwest Orient Airlines. Carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit, D.B. looked like a typical businessman of perhaps just over average height and early middle age. Cooper handed a note to a stewardess who plopped it into her purse without giving it a…
A Brief History Fans of the film Braveheart may recall the heir to England’s throne, future king Edward II, having eyes for men rather than his French wife, Isabella the She-wolf. One of these men, Hugh Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (c. 1286 – November 24, 1326), became a victim of that vengeful woman in one of history’s all-time most brutal executions, because as they say, well, sort of, “Hell hath no fury like a she-wolf scorned”! Digging Deeper Earlier on our site, we presented an article on hanging, drawing, and quartering. As that article mentioned, the process took multiple steps…