News Around Texas

On November 13, 1961 the Devil lit his “Cigarette Lighter” in the Algerian Sahara when fire broke out at the Gassi Touil gas field. The fires burned until April 28, 1962 when Texan “Red” Adair put them out, earning worldwide fame.

“Red” Adair served with a bomb disposal unit during World War II. After the war, he began fighting oil well fires using a highly specialized (not to mention extremely dangerous) method of blowing the wells, depriving them of fire-feeding oxygen until they could be capped. Toward the end of his long successful career, he took part in controlling and extinguishing the oil well fires in Kuwait, set by Saddam Hussein’s retreating Iraqi forces after the 1991 Gulf War. Mr. Adair was 75.

It is natural to view history from our own perspective, but we can learn interesting things by putting ourselves in another position to see how things looked from that side.

Imagine, if you will, that you are a Native Texan living when the first explorers arrive from Spain. It must feel like an alien invasion! The men wear metal breastplates and helmets that gleam in the sun. Their faces are covered with hair (uncommon among native peoples) or a chain mail buffe that makes it difficult to see their features or read their expressions. They ride large, strange beasts that you have never seen before. (Horses were unknown in the New World before the Spaniards arrived.) They tower over you.

Do you feel curious? Scared? Wary? Defensive?

When they speak, their language is strange. You don’t understand. You try to guess what they might be saying. “Who are you?” And you answer. “Tejas–friends!” (Maybe because you hope they won’t attack you.) Many of the words  the explorers wrote down as tribal names translate to “People” (as opposed to whatever it is you and that animal are) or “the best of men” (…so don’t try anything).

And when you learn, through a series of gestures, that they landed on the coast and ran afoul of a mean-tempered tribe there, you exclaim “Attakapa!” The Spaniards write it down as if you’ve told them the name of the tribe they encountered. What you actually said was more like, “Oh, my goodness! Those guys eat folks!”

It’s amazing the things you can find on the internet. Really. And if you have an academic bent and love history, you can learn a lot by chasing down links from article to article.

I am such an “academic.” For those of you who are not, that translates “dork” and you can go to sleep now and save yourself an excursion that is sure to bore you to sleep anyway. For the rest of you…

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

(Seriously, only a dork could be this excited over a 470-year-old list of “Things to Bring”…)

This is the muster list of equipment* that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s men took with them on their expeditions:

Cavalry Equipment (225 horsemen)

Armor:

• 5 full plate harnesses (including helmets) four of them Coronado’s
• 4 full sets of plate horse armor, all Coronado’s
• 7 corselets or ¾ plate (breast & back plates, collar, armor for arms, armor for upper legs, and an open helmet; the Borgonata was most popular)
• 8 cuirasses (breast & back plates)
• 55 Cota de Mala (long chainmail shirt, all but one sleeveless)
• 2  Jacqueta de Mala (sleeveless chainmail vest)
• 3  sets of chainmail for the legs.
• 207 Gambeson/Esquipil quilted cotton jackets
• 65  leather jackets
• 20  morrion style helmets
• 7    borgonata style helmets
• 23  buffe (plate or chainmail protection for face and neck)
• 2    gorgets (plate collar)
• 2    metal gauntlets (not a pair)
• 19  “armor for the head” (just what this refers to is not stated, but it is differentiated from helmets)
• 4    quilted cotton armor for the head

Weapons:

• Every man had a lance and a sword
• 4 “arms of Castile”
• 3 crossbows
• 3 matchlock muskets
• 1 two handed sword
• 1 dagger
• 2 lances (Since these two were specifically noted, they presumably are the heavier impact type weapon not normally carried in the field in Nueva España.)

INFANTRY EQUIPMENT (62 men, 5 of whom also had horses)

Armor:

• 1 corselet/ ¾ plate
• 6 leather jackets
• 43 Gambeson/Esquipil quilted cotton jackets
• 1 set of chainmail sleeves
• 21 metal knee plates (No man had two, usually worn on leading leg.)
• 2 borgonata type helmets

Weapons:

• 49 swords
• 1  two handed sword
• 12 daggers
• 21 matchlock muskets
• 16 crossbows

*Many thanks to the National Park Service’s Cabrillo National Monument website

On Oct. 26, 1930 the Southern Methodist University Mustangs took the field against the Indiana Hoosiers in the first football game ever played in the brand new Cotton Bowl in Dallas Fair Park. The new stadium could hold 46,000 cheering fans–three times as many as the old Fair Park Stadium that had occupied the site since 1921. As they inaugurated a classic Texas landmark, perhaps it’s fitting that SMU won the game 27-0.

Though they look very dashing and cavalier in the pictures, the conquistadors may have been a more motley crew.

Officers were likely noblemen or at least wealthy, so they were better equipped with horses and gear. But the price of a full suit of armor was comparable to buying a luxury car. Besides, can you imagine riding in hot, humid Texas weather and baking inside an metal oven? A breastplate and helmet may have seemed a favorable option.

As for the soldiers, there was no standard uniform. Each man was responsible to provide his own, though a weapon, a helmet, and a shield were often required as a minimum. The commoners who signed on as cavalry and infantry opted for a quilted cotton jacket or a vest or sleeveless shirt of chainmail to protect their torsos.  Price was a consideration more important than fashion, and sometimes more important than safety or effectiveness. Fortunately, there were always soldiers willing to unload their obsolete armor at a discount to poor adventurers headed for the New World.

And those “pumpkin pants”? Probably not. That anachronism belongs in Elizabethan England. Even the name “Conquistador” was not coined until over a century after the expeditions.

And I’ll let you guess how many changes of clothes they brought along…and then imagine how they smelled.

Today is Columbus Day.

You may have noticed that Christopher Columbus wasn’t on your list of Texas explorers. That’s because Columbus never set foot in Texas. In fact, he never reached the American mainland. But Columbus Day is a good opportunity to put history in context by looking at the world-shaping events that took place in a very short period of time.

• Gutenburg invents the printing press (1441) - Moveable type made printing far less laborious, resulting in cheaper means of communication. News of adventurers, journeys of exploration, recent discoveries, and abundant land traveled quickly. Side note: When Martin Luther made the Bible available in the language of the common man following the Reformation (31 October 1517), Gutenburg’s printing press helped the Word of God travel quickly, too.
• Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks (1453) – The “Silk Road” trade route to India and China becomes much more dangerous for European travelers. The kingdom that discovers a faster, safer trade route will be able to obtain silks and spices more cheaply and gain the upper hand in economic markets.
• The Spanish Inquisition (1 Nov 1478) - Established by Ferdinand II and Isabella I, the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition was intended to restore Christian orthodoxy after the Islamic Moors were driven out of Spain along with the Jews who had supported them. An interesting side note: the Spanish Inquisition did not officially end until 15 July 1834.
• Spanish Reconquista (2 January 1492) - The Muslims invaded Europe in 711. The Crusades were part of the attempt to drive them back. With the conquest of the last Moorish stronghold in Spain at Granada, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I were able to fund Columbus’ first voyage.
• Alhambra Decree (31 March 1492) - an edict orders the expulsion of as many as 800,000 Jews from the Kingdom of Spain by 31 July 1492.
• Christopher Columbus set sail (3 August 1492) - Some theorize that so many ships crowded the harbors as Jewish residents fled Spain that Columbus could not sail until the evacuation was complete. This pushed his sail date much later in the season when autumn storms would become a threat to the safety of his journey.

Please comment. Do you believe that there are certain times when world events present a greater opportunity to shape history? Are we living in such a time? Does it matter?

Have you met Big Tex?

The official greeter of the State Fair of Texas was “born” in Kerens, Texas 14 miles east of Corsicana. He began life as a larger-than-life Santa Clause in 1949. That makes him 62 years old this year.

In 1952 he was sold and transformed into a 52-foot-tall cowboy. See that 10-gallon hat? Big Tex is so big, it’s actually a 75-gallon hat!

You know what they say–everything’s bigger in Texas! Read more about this Texas-sized icon here.

The State Fair of Texas runs 30 September-23 October this year and is well worth the trip!

El Dieciseis de Septiembre

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spain.

What does that have to do with Texas history? A lot, since at the time Texas was part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas! Many colonial Texians, both Hispanic and Anglo, looked forward to a Mexican democracy.

You’ll have to read Volume IV–Texas As A Nation to find out how that worked out…

On May 30, 1865 Texas formally surrendered to the Union.

Teaching Tips: You may remember reading that the Confederacy surrendered on April 9, 1865. What does it mean, then, to say that Texas surrendered on May 30, 1865? Does the fact that the Confederate States surrendered separately demonstrate their belief that each state was a sovereign entity?