News Around Texas

Discover Texas is more than a name.

Discovery is a whole way of learning.

 Research proves that students remember:

• only 10% of what they read
• 20% of what they hear
• 30% of what they see (pictures and other visual images)
• and just 50% of passive presentations (a movie, exhibit, or demonstration).

So why does most “schooling” rely on such ineffective methods?

When learning is ACTIVE–when students

• see
• hear
• touch
• taste
• smell
• discuss
• share
• participate
• experience

…in short, when they discover knowledge for themselves, retention jumps to 70%-90%!

Discover Texas is all about helping students discover for themselves what’s meaningful and memorable about Texas history…and having fun in the process!

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?

The school year is a busy time. Sometimes it’s hard to squeeze in everything you hoped to do between September and May. That’s why I’m glad summer’s coming–

Time for Field Trips!

A Texas field trip is easy to plan and easy on the budget. You can take a day trip, a weekend, or a whole week to enjoy something special.

For ideas, click “Field Trips” in the list of categories in the sidebar to review Field Trip Ideas in the News Around Texas archives, or look under “Field Trips” in the Teacher’s Tips index of each Discover Texas volume.

(Shhh…don’t tell the kids it’s educational!)

In May of 1628 Maria de Jesus de Agreda’s superiors wrote a letter to the archbishop of New Spain. The young nun reported visions and deep trances as she prayed for the mission work among the native people of the New World. Her superiors didn’t know whether to believe her or not.

But Father Benavides, a mission priest, wrote back saying that the Jumanos of Texas and New Mexico reported seeing a “Lady in Blue.” She urged them to welcome the priests and hear what they said about Jesus. Father Benavides’ book, A Harvest of Reluctant Souls, is still available and offers a first hand account of his missionary experiences.

Mission Conception in San Antonio is named in honor of Maria de Jesus de Agreda.

Teaching Tip: An original source document is a first-hand account. Original source documents are valued as research documents because they provide an eye-witness to history. Discuss the advantages of original source documents over other research sources.

When Spain returned Louisiana to France in 1800, one of the stipulations of the Treaty of San Illdefonso was that France would NOT sell the territory to the United States.

…but Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte dreamed of a French Empire. He needed money to fund his army, so he made an offer to President Thomas Jefferson.

The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France–more than 800,000 square miles of land stretching from the Mississippi River across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains–through a treaty signed April 30, 1803. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States at that time.

At 640 acres per square mile, we bought 512 million acres for about $15 million. (Only $11,250,000 was paid directly. The rest was covered by the assumption by the United States of French debts to American citizens.) Less than 3 cents per acre!

The Louisiana Purchase brought the border of the United States adjacent to the border of Texas…and in some places, the claimed territories overlapped. Fuel for disputes!

Teaching Tips: Do the math!

Rumors reached Mexico City that the French were building a fort on Texas soil.

Alonso de Leon set out in search of the French Fort St. Louis. When he arrived on April 22, 1689, all he found were the burned remains of LaSalle’s ill-fated colony.  He burned the fort, burying both its cannons and its victims.

Thirty-two years later (in 1721) the Spanish built a presidio, Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía, on the site to secure their claim to the territory.

Archeologists working with the Texas Historical Commission ended centuries of debate about the exact location of Fort St. Louis in 1996 when they discovered the buried cannons on a private ranch near Victoria.

Teaching Tip: Lessons plans about the Fort St. Louis Archeological Project are available at the Texas Historical Commission website.

From an official standpoint, the Civil War was “over” on April 9, 1865

…almost 4 years to the day after it began.

General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate forces, surrendered at Appomattox.  During the following month, one after another of the various Confederate departments surrendered as well.  On May 30, 1865 Texas was formally surrendered.

Teaching Tip #1: The term “Civil War” is a figure of speech called an oxymoron–a phrase made up of words whose meaning is actually quite opposite. Phrases like:

• ill health
• random order
• found missing

Think about it. How can a war be civil (polite)?

Check out this website for more oxymorons.

Teaching Tip #2: Saying a war is over is a little like saying you’ve “unfired” a cannon. Wars are, by definition, destructive. Admittedly, some things need to be destroyed, but wars are always followed by a necessary period of reconstruction, and the Civil War was no different. Talk about some of the ways our country tried to “reconstruct” the Union. How was it received? Did it work?

This year marks the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the beginning of the Civil War.

• What issues were solved?
• What issues were NOT solved?
• Do we still deal with the after-effects of the Civil War?

Santa Anna was not always a dictator. The Mexican people duly elected him President of Mexico in 1833. His inauguration day was April 1, 1833.

The date is ironic, because Santa Anna made many foolish choices.

Delegates for the Anglo settlers of Texas met on the same day Santa Anna took power as leader of Mexico. They asked the new president for tax relief and cultural tolerance, requests they had made before.  In addition, they requested him to recognize Texas as a Mexican state separate from Coahuila (which lay south of the Rio Grande) and submitted a proposed state constitution.  The delegates chose Stephen F. Austin to present the petition in Mexico City.

But Santa Anna was arrogant. Almost as soon as he was in office, Santa Anna had announced that the Mexican people were not “ready” for democracy.  He repealed the Mexican Constitution of 1824 and proclaimed himself dictator.

When Austin reached Mexico City, he was arrested for sedition (rousing the people to rebellion) and thrown into prison, where he remained for the next twenty-eight months.

Teaching Tip: Remind your students that Santa Anna was fighting to hold on to Texas on the third anniversary of his rise to power.

• Do you think Santa Anna felt he had “something to prove”?
• Do you think the people of Texas had “something to prove”?
• How do you think Santa Anna’s own army felt about him? Would they be united in loyalty towards a man they elected who then them told them they were not wise enough to rule themselves?

It’s easy to see things from our own point of view. It’s our opinion, after all. But it can be very enlightening to try someone else’s viewpoint on for size.

Texas was first settled by Spanish colonists. It was a good land, but it was also a long way from any supplies and protection a government in Mexico City could offer. And then there were the Indians and the French who also wanted the land. Spain, and later Mexico, had trouble finding enough pioneers to secure and establish the land.

Meanwhile, the United States was expanding to the west. Plenty of Anglo pioneers were interested in Texas land, and from  Mexico’s perspective, at least they weren’t French! (Spain and France are not traditionally on good terms.) These pioneers could help establish Texas for Mexico as long as they wouldn’t try to take the territory for the United States.

So colonists like the families Stephen F. Austin brought had to agree to certain terms.

• They had to promise to teach their children to speak Spanish.
• They had to worship in Catholic churches.
• They had to be loyal to Mexico and abide by the Mexican Constitution.

The Anglo colonists agreed to these terms…but they were in no hurry to actually do them.

Teaching Tip: Discuss why the new government of a newly independent Mexico found this alarming.

On 11 March General Sam Houston ordered Colonel James Fannin and his 341 volunteers to retreat from Goliad and join the rest of Texas’ forces in Victoria. The fact that he entrusted the message to a Captain, an officer, rather than a courier may say something about the importance and gravity of the order.

On the morning of 14 March, Colonel Fannin received the order, yet he did not begin his retreat until March 19th.

The Mexican army, marching toward Gonzales, encountered Fannin’s men at Coleto Creek that very day. Fannin’s men formed a square on the open prairie. The Mexican’s surrounded them. The Texans managed to hold them off until dark, but then the Mexican sharpshooters began to pick them off.

The next morning Fannin surrendered, begging for leniency.

Teaching Tip: You can read somewhat conflicting accounts of Col. Fannin’s decision here and here. Why did Col. Fannin delay in obeying a direct order?

• There are some indications that Fannin was generally indecisive and ineffective as a military leader. He had recently failed in an attempt to reinforce the defenders of the Alamo.
• Could it be that, perhaps on account of his recent failure, Fannin considered retreat a less valiant course of action?
• Fannin was entrenched in his position and had endured many hardships to make improvements to what he called Fort Defiance. Might he have been over-confident or felt reluctant to leave?
• Fannin had orders from Lieutenant-Governor Robinson “to not make a retrograde movement, but await orders and reinforcements.” Was he caught between loyalties to conflicting authorities?
• Fannin sent 28 men with Captain King to rescue some families from the mission at Refugio. When they were trapped by advancing Mexican forces, Fannin dispatched Colonel Ward with 100 men to bring them out. There is some dispute about whether Fannin sent Ward before or after he received the message from Houston, but is it possible that he was reluctant to leave so many men and civilians behind?

Whatever his intentions, the results of Fannin’s hesitance to obey were disastrous.