The Texana Review - Podcasts

Texas History Tidbit: Battle of Velasco, 1832

The Battle of Velasco took place on June 26, 1832. 

It's considered by historians to be a harbinger of the Texas Revolution.

Although Texas independence wasn't actually declared until March of 1836, tensions had been running high for years between Mexico and it's Tejas state bordering the United States.

More and more lethal spats broke out between Texas settlers and Mexican soldiers after the Battle of Velasco, in which were involved many future leaders of Texas.

For example, William B. Travis, who perished at the Alamo, was involved, although indirectly.

Anyway, here's another Texas History Tidbit.

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5:56 minutes

Music by Deyo under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

 

IceRocket Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,Texas,history

 

Texas History Tidbit: La Reunion, Texas b. 1855 - d. 1857

Back in the 19^th century there was a socio-political movement very much in vogue. It was called Utopianism and was making its way from Europe to America.

One of these Utopians came to Texas to found a colony on the Trinity River in a location that is now inside the city limits of Dallas. That colony was dubbed La Reunion.

The Utopian I’m speaking of was named Victor Prosper Considerant. According to historical records, he was one of the leading democratic socialist figures in France in mid-19^th century.

He wandered into northeast Texas around 1852 looking for a place to colonize under the Utopian philosophy; in other words, his Texas Utopia.  He found his spot on the Trinity River and invited about 2,000 people from Europe to come a settle at La Reunion.

Listen to this Texana Review Texas History Tidbit.

Listen...

3:30 minutes

Music by  Dave Howard under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

More on La Reunion Here and Here

 

Technorati Tags: Texana Review,Ed Blackburn,La Reunion,Texas,Considerant,utopia,Dallas

 

 

Texas History Tidbit: Sturdiness, wit and luck made Cabeza de Vaca a legend

Cabeza de Vaca stood with his remaining shipmates somewhere on Galveston Island in November of 1528. 

They were wet, their clothing threadbare.  They were weak from lack of food and a crisp, cold wind blew through them from the north.  Pieces of their sailing vessels and what remained of their stores lay about them on the sand or bobbed in the Gulf of Mexico's surf. 

It was an inauspicious arrival, but it's considered to be the first time a European stood on Texas soil.

What happened to Cabeza de Vaca over the next several years is miraculous and truly makes a tale of adventure.

Listen...

8:40 minutes

Music by Deyo under Creative Commons License Podsafe Audio

Learn more

For more information on Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca:

Southwestern Writer's Collection

Handbook of Texas Online

Texas Beyond History

Technorati Tags: Texana Review, Texas history, Cabeza de Vaca, Indians, early explorers, Ed Blackburn

Texas History Tidbit: Stetson means cowboy hat

As a child in the 1830s, John Stetson learned hat-making from his father in New Jersey.  When he got tuberculosis, he headed west, first to Missouri, then to Colorado. 

While in Colorado, out of necessity, he made a new and unique hat that a passing cattleman on a spirited horse later bought for five dollars, gold.

After returning to Philadelphia around 1865 and founding the Stetson Hat Company, John Stetson came up with a unique marketing idea that changed the way westerners would look, particularly Texans.  He made a hat called "The Boss of the Plains."

To this day, "Stetson" conjures up the image of a cowboy with his hat.

Listen...

7:33 minutes

Music by Tracy Jane Comer under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

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Technorati Tags: Texana Review, Texas history, Texas, Ed Blackburn, Stetson hat

Texas History Tidbit: Sam Houston excelled despite meager education

Sam Houston had little education.  It's been guessed that he maybe had as much as six months of education at a local schoolhouse in Rockbridge County, Virginia by the time he was 15-years-old.

After moving with his widowed mother, three sisters and five brothers to Tennessee around 1808, he ran away from the oppressive life he was living and moved in with the Cherokee Indians with whom he would be close his entire life.

It was the start of an eventful life.

History has shown us what Sam Houston was able to accomplish with his meager education.

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5:49 minutes

Music by Barry McCabe under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

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Technorati Tags: Texana Review, Texas, Ed Blackburn, Sam Houston, Texas history, history

Texas History Tidbit: The Packsaddle Mountain Fight

The Indian wars in Texas were almost over in the 1870s, but in August 1873 a raiding party of about 20 Indians, reportedly Apaches, raided in the vicinity of the Llano settlement and made off with some cattle and horses.

Thinking they were safely away from the white men, the group settled down to eat some of their plunder and rest.

Little did they know that a determined James P. Moss and seven other men - W.B. and Stephen Moss (his brothers), S.B. Harrington, Robert Brown, Eli Lloyd, Arch Martin and Pink Ayers - formed up a posse and set out after the Indians.

They caught up with the Indians at Packsaddle Mountain.  What ensued came to be known as the Packsaddle Mountain Fight.

Listen...

5:45 minutes

Music by Max Avery Lichtenstein under Creative Commons License

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Technorati Tags: Texana Review, Texas stories, history, Texas, Packsaddle Mountain Fight, Ed Blackburn

Texas History Tidbit: The Black Bean Episode

(Podcast)
What happened to the men who were executed as a result of The Black Bean Episode?

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2:44 minutes

Music by Barry McCabe under Creative Commons License Podshow Podsafe Music Network

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Technorati Tags: Texana Review, Texas stories, history, Texas, Black Bean Episode, Ed Blackburn

Texas History Tidbit: Noted ex-Marshall dies with his boots on

(Podcast)
Ben Thompson was one of those lawless bad-good guys or good-bad guys that seemed to be so much a part of the late 19th century, southwestern America, especially Texas.  His contemporaries included Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, James Butler Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, Bat Masterson and others.  There's no doubt that he was a tough hombre because he lived longer than most gunslingers of the period.

Here's a story based on a report from the National Police Gazette of New York of Thompson's demise in San Antonio in 1884.

(click once to activate, then Play to start)

Play and/or download HERE

7:00 minutes

Texas History Tidbit: From Buffalo Bayou To Big Time

(Podcast)
Houston is a LARGE city by anyone's estimate ... well, maybe not on a world wide basis, (although it DOES rank 94th in size, if you're curious) ... but it's certainly considered large in the United States.

To grow as large and diverse as it has in only 170 years, is incredible.

It all started in 1836, when two brothers - Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen - had a vision for a city.

(click once to activate, then Play to start)

Play and/or download HERE

08:16 minutes

Texas History Tidbit: The Mile-Long Shot

(Podcast)
Not many people, including Texans, know about the Battle of Adobe Walls.  Actually there were two battles at Adobe Walls.  The first one included the famous Kit Carson; but the most famous was the second one.

At that battle, there were a few white men - buffalo hunters - and a woman, the wife of one of the men, and a large group of Indians intent on a last hurrah as the white man took over the land.

At the battle, a fellow by the name of Billy Dixon became legendary for a rifle shot that's come to be known as "the mile-long shot."

(click once to activate, then Play to start)

Play and/or download HERE

08:23 minutes

Music by Max Avery Lichtenstein - "Tarnation: End Credits"