Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 2016 Page: 4 of 28
twenty eight pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Mathis News
Viewpoint
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016
Page 4A
Stephen F. Austin’s militia saved the colony
the Indians were killed tation in favor of treaty the Brazos River,
and seven wounded, with with the Indians, when-
Stephen F. Austin’s
colony in central Texas,
established
enjoyed a short period of
goodwill from the Indians,
but ultimately was saved
by its own militia.
When the goodwill from
the Indians ran out in
1823, Austin found it nec-
essary to form a militia
from his colonists to pro-
tect from Indian attacks.
Until then, the colonists
had thought starvation
was their most immanent
threat.
The formation of a mili-
tia was done with the
approval of the Mexican
government in Bexar.
The Mexican govern-
ment nominally should
have provided security for
the colony. But this was
just after Mexico’s long
war of independence from
Spain, from 1810 to 1821.
Mexico was in sham-
bles and had only about
250 troops in all of Texas.
So Austin’s colony was on
its own and its survival
in the first several years
was precarious.
Austin’s colony was
saved by its own moti-
vated militia and their
leadership.
bison range, with the
Wichita between the col-
In September, a mili-
tia company of 23 men ony and the Comanche.
larger So no threat from the
Austin’s colony includ-
ed the Colorado and sutlers suffering no ever possible.
casualties.
1822
m
In September 1823, a encountered
The settlers were basi- group of Tonkawa stole band of Karankawa and Comanche then.
River on the west to past cally farmers with no mil- some valuable breeding in the battle lost three
the San Jacinto River itary experience and not horses and looted a num- men to the Karankawa s
on the east down to the every one of them owned her of outlying homes in fifteen.
the Brazos Rivers and
extended from the Lavaca
a
By the end of the year,
the increasing strength of
the militia and Austin’s
successful strategy for
dealing with the Indians
had overcome the imme-
diate threat of extinction
for the colony.
Gulf coast in the south.
His colony contained or
impinged on the territo-
ries of at least four Indian
tribes: the Tonkawa, the
Waco, the Tawakoni and
the Karankawa and was
in the occasional raiding
path of the Comanche.
A month later, Austin
led a militia group chas-
ing a group of Karankawa
west to the Mission at
Coastal Bend
Chronicles
La Bahia. At the request
of the missionary, Austin
spared the Indians on The colony’s militia was
their promise to stay west no killing machine with
of the San Antonio River.
> -
w **
A
By C. Herndon Williams, Ph.D.
inexperienced members
and insufficient arma-
The Karankawa honored
this pledge for a year or
neighbor-
ing Indian groups, the
Karankawa were the
most hostile and impla-
cable.
For the first year or
so, there were no clash-
es. But in late 1822, two
settlers were killed and
two severely wounded by
Karankawa arrows on
the Colorado River near
Skull Creek in Colorado
County.
In the first action by the
colonial militia, Robert
Kukendall organized a
group of 25 settlers near
San Felipe and attacked
a Karankawa camp on
Skull Creek. Fourteen of
Of the
ment, but under Austin’s
so.
leadership, they made the
By 1826, there were difference for the survival
1,600 people in Austin’s 0f the colony,
colony and manpower
was not the problem, but
a gun. They had not come the colony,
to Texas expecting to A militia group of
have to fight and they thirty men led person-
served only reluctantly in ally by Austin visited
the militia and for short the Tonkawa camp and
recovered the horses.
Herndon Williams
is affiliated with the
Bay side Historical Society
and the Refugio County
Historical Commission.
guns were.
The total strength of
the militia reached 565
campaigns.
The
Tonkawa
had
In this, the early militia
acted more like a posse, some 200 to 300 warriors
men, but there were a
total of only 345 weapons
They were usually mount- m camp, but no fight (muskets pius pistols), book, “Texas Gulf Coast
ed on their farm horse or occurred and a treaty was gQ the iacked 220 Stories,”
mule, but fought from the reached,
ground since they were
not horsemen.
He is the author of the
published in
weapons for each person December 2010 by The
History Press. His second
No such accommodation to be armed.
could be achieved with
In the early years of the fierce Karankawa.
Austin’s colony, their
numbers were meager several new families were and Karankawa. Austin’s Email at cherndon8695@
and they avoided confron- killed near the mouth of colony was east of the sbcglobal.net.
book, “Eight Centuries on
Still 1826 was an active
year for fights between the Ibe Texas Frontier,
In the summer of 1824, militia and the Tonkawa published in May 2013.
was
Officials urge court not to expand same-sex marriage ruling
AUSTIN - Gov. Greg
Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan
Patrick and Texas
Attorney General Ken
Paxton last week filed a
friend-of-the-court brief
with the Texas Supreme
Court over issues they
say were not addressed in
a landmark U.S. Supreme
Court case declaring
same-sex marriage a fun-
damental right.
The three officials
asked the Texas Supreme
Court to accept their view
that Obergefell v. Hodges,
the U.S. Supreme Court’s
June 2015 decision rec-
ognizing a right to same-
sex marriage “does not
resolve all constitutional
issues relating same-
sex marriage.” The brief
points to Parker v. Pigeon
and related cases involv-
ing a Houston mayor’s
extending benefits to
same-sex spouses of city
employees, and asks that
a lower court’s temporary
injunction preventing the
extension of those ben-
efits be reinstated.
“Both the U.S. Supreme
Court and the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit made clear that
Obergefell left a host
of issues unresolved,”
Abbott
Paxton asserted. They
maintained that “the tra-
ditional, Texas definition
of marriage” is still in
force because “a federal
district court judgment
against state officials
does not amend the Texas
Constitution or the Texas
Family Code.”
Referenced in the brief
is Texas Family Code
Section 6.204 paragraph
(c), subparagraph (2),
which says, “The state
or an agency or political
subdivision of the state
may not give effect to
a right or claim to any
legal protection, benefit,
or responsibility asserted
as a result of a marriage
between persons of the
same sex or a civil union
in this state or in any
other jurisdiction.” That
section of the law took
effect on Sept. 1, 2003.
Workgroup appointed
State Senate Finance
Committee Chair Jane
Nelson, R-Flower Mound,
on Oct. 27 appoint-
ed a Senate Finance
Workgroup on
Protection to evaluate
funding to address the
ongoing crisis at Child
Protective Services.
This followed an inter-
im hearing of the com-
mittee, in which mem-
bers heard testimony on
unmet needs for children
under the care of the
state, and calls for the
hiring of more full-time
employees to meet those
needs.
Nelson appointed as
members ofthe workgroup
Sen. Charles Schwertner,
R-Georgetown
Sen. Brian Birdwell,
R-Granbury; Sen. Lois
Kolkhorst, R-Brenham;
Sen.
D-Austin; and Sen. John
Whitmire, D-Houston.
“We need a plan that
keeps children safe.
There is no issue of great-
er importance,” Nelson
said. “This workgroup
will review the agency’s
request for immediate
funding and, in prepara-
tion for the next budget
cycle, review the agency’s
entire proposed budget more than 1,200 school information
line by line to ensure that districts and charters district or charter is
assigned one of four pos-
Some 97 percent of all sit>le letter grades (A, B,
Texas school districts and ^ or an(^ a financial
management rating of
a school
Child
every dollar is being put across the state,
toward successfully keep-
ing children safe.”
Patrick and
“I am very concerned charters earned a sue- . .
about the welfare and cessful final rating for Superior, Above Standard
Achievement, Meets
Standard or Substandard
Achievement.
safety of the 511 children 2015-2016.
we discussed at our hear-
The Texas Education
ing, and I am asking for Agency said its rating
daily updates until that system encourages public According to the Texas
number reaches zero,” schools “to better manage Education Agency, all
their financial resources school districts and char-
Nelson added.
School ratings released to provide the maximum ters are required to report
allocation possible for information and financial
direct instructional pur- accountability ratings to
parents and taxpayers.
The Texas Education
Agency on Oct. 24
released final financial Poses-
In addition, districts
and charters must hold
a public discussion or
hearing regarding its
financial report. The
Texas Education Agency
formally notified school
districts and charters of
their preliminary rating
in August.
accountability ratings for Based on submitted
chair;
Kirk
Watson
CWWfc
THE THIN6 THAT
UNITED
POLITICALLY?
THE PRESIDENT
WT0SENP
M
Mathis
News
wnLTKRft
fighting over
THE NAME
WPLANET
(USPS 334-040)
(ISSN 0746-5459)
Published Every Thursday
Office:
620 E. San Patricio
Mathis, TX 78368
1 (361) 547-3274
RE-ELECT
Mail correspondence to:
620 E. San Patricio
Mathis, Texas 78368
Jeff & Chip Latcham,
Co-Publishers
.DAVID
Aken
Paul Gonzales,
Editor
Subscription Rates
(Yearly)
W
1
\
Kb
$ 35.00
$ 45.00
$ 50.00
San Patricio County
Elsewhere in Texas
U.S. Outside of Texas
Periodical postage paid at
the post office in
Mathis, Texas 78368
Mathis News will not be held
responsible for any omissions,
deletions, or typographical errors
other than to correct the same in
the next issue of the newspaper.
All advertising is accepted on this
basis. Advertising rates available
upon request.
32 Year Record of Integrity,
Advocacy & Experience as
County Attorney
Defended tax base against
Nueces County
Helped capture new jobs and
broadened the industrial taxbase
Q£Mj3 PZMHO0O®
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to The
Mathis News, 104 N. Sehorn,
Sinton, TX 78387
Paid political advertisement David Aken
Re-Elect Campaign, P.O. Box 937, Sinton, Texas
78387. Santos Encinia, Treasurer.
^^i^^EMBER
WWW.REELECTDAVIDAKEN.com
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Gonzales, Paul. Mathis News (Mathis, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 44, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 2016, newspaper, November 3, 2016; Mathis, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1170761/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Mathis Public Library.