Republic of Texas

Historical Timeline


Note: Event dates marked with an asterisk (*) indicate events that occurred in Standard Timeline. Items in those events in italics indicate deviation from Standard Timeline in an otherwise factual event.


1836

Feb 23*     Mexican army arrives at Alamo, surrounding it and laying siege to the mission.

Mar 02*     Texas declares independence from Mexico. Forevermore celebrated as Independence Day in the Republic.

Mar 06*     The Alamo falls to overwhelming force of Mexicans. No quarter is given to the 186 militia and volunteers defending the mission.

Mar 12       Texican patriot Stephen F. Austin, imprisoned since January of 1834, is executed for treason in Mexico City on Santa Anna’s orders.

Apr 21*     Texican forces succeed in defeating Santa Anna’s troops at the Battle of San Jacinto. Santa Anna is forced to recognize Texas’ independence. The provisional government of Texas immediately proposes annexation with the United States; abolitionist opposition to the addition of a slave state kills the measure. The Mexican government refuses to acknowledge the existence of the Republic, keeping the new nation constantly in fear of a renewed invasion by Mexican troops.

Sept 06     Sam Houston elected first President of the Republic of Texas. He will serve until December 1838. His foreign policy centers on achieving annexation by the United States. Domestic policy includes maintaining friendly relations with Indian tribes in frontier areas.

Oct            Scrip-based sale of public lands (valued at $0.50 per acre) yields incredible results. Many Southerners buy land and move to the Republic, fearful of the increasing influence of abolitionists in the Northern states. The public debt remaining from the war ($1.25M) is retired by May, 1837.


1837

Mar 01         United States Congress establishes diplomatic relations with the Republic of Texas, in essence recognizing the Republic’s independence.

Mar 02         The Republic celebrates its first birthday. Cannon are fired in salute at all military installations, politicians deliver speeches and barbecue is shared around.

May 12     Public debt of the Republic stemming from expenses incurred during the war is retired. Tax revenues meet reduced operating costs of the Republic.

Jun 05*     City of Houston receives a charter; city is made provisional capital of the Republic.


1838

Feb 09       Texas Congress approves funds of $5 million for creation of second Republic Navy. Part of these funds is set aside for building the Goose Creek Navy yards in the Trinity Bay.

Sept           Mexican agents attempt to stir up rebellion among the Indian tribes within Texas. Cherokee Indians, mindful of the friendly treatment they have received from Houston, arrest and turn these agents over to the Texas Rangers.

Dec 10*    Mirabeau B. Lamar takes office as the second President of the Republic of Texas. His foreign policy is aimed at maintaining Texan independence instead of annexation into the United States. Domestically, he centers on education as a priority. His personal animosity towards the Indian tribes is restrained by their show of loyalty earlier in the year.


1839

Mar 09         The Pastry War ends. Mexican President Bustamante agrees to pay France 600,000 pesos and French troops withdraw form Mexico.

Mar 23         First vessel of the new Republic Navy is purchased in Philadelphia. Re-christened the RTS Zavala, she was the first steam-powered warship in North America. Her armament of four 12 pdr and one long 9 pdr was not impressive. The Republic purchases five more sailing vessels (Austin, Wharton, San Antonio, San Bernard, and San Jacinto) through 1840.

Apr             First shipyard built in Goose Creek as a private concern, building fishing craft for the Gulf.

Sept 25*     Diplomatic efforts by Texican emissary James Pinckney Henderson in France yields results: France recognizes Texas’ independence.

Oct             Houston becomes the official capital city of the Republic.


1840

May           Shipyard in Goose Creek finished. Two brig keels laid for purpose-built warships. These ships are built off a British design using lumber from locally available water and pin oaks.

July            Coerced by the continued conciliation efforts of the Republic, Comanches return several white captives. The government meets with representatives of the major tribes in Texas and works out the Treaty of San Antonio, which sets boundaries of native reservations within the Republic.

Sept 18*    The Netherlands recognizes the Republic’s independence.

Nov 13-16* Great Britain signs three treaties with the Republic, recognizing her independence and agreeing on several matters of commerce and navigation (this includes agreement to train Republic Navy officers and crews).

Dec 31         Presidente Generalissimo Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna resigns from office, leaving an incompetent Vice President to take the blame for his failed policies.


1841

Jan–Aug 43 Mexico undergoes a series of rapid changes of leadership as several generals and politicians compete for control. Five violent coups leave blood on the presidential palace floors.

June 30*     In response to the Mexican Crisis, President Mirabeau B. Lamar sends an expedition to Santa Fe, hoping to convince the people of what will become Santa Fe Province to renounce their Mexican citizenship and join the Republic. Texas had claimed the region since 1836. Tired of the constant threat of civil war in Mexico, the Province of Santa Fe joins the Republic in October. The Republic’s border is established along the length of the Rio Grande.

Nov           First Texas-built warships launched and christened Alamo (18) and Goliad (18). Both are brigs, 120’ in length, armed with sixteen 12 pdr and two long 6 pdrs as bow chasers. Ships’ complements include 17 officers and 125 sailors and marines.

Dec 13       Sam Houston returns to the office of president. He is the only man in Texican history to be elected to the office twice.


1842

Apr 12       The second set of ships launched and christened Nacogdoches (20) and Santa Fe (20). Both are brigs, 135’ in length, armed with eighteen 12 pdr and two long 9 pdr chase guns. Ships’ complements include 17 officers and 130 sailors and marines.

Jun             Britain sells the fifth rate warship HMS Minerva (46), a frigate launched in 1820, displacing 1400 tons and crewed by 28 officers and 260 sailors and marines, to the Republic for $100,000.

Jul             Republic Army and Marines purchase 6,000 India Pattern “Brown Bess” .75 cal muskets from the British East India Company. This is the Republic’s first standard service longarm.

Sep            Capt. George Wheelwright and his Republic Navy crew deliver RTS Republic (formerly HMS Minerva) to Republic Naval Base (RNB) Galveston. Her new armament consists of twenty-four 18 pdr and twenty-two 12 pdr guns.

Oct 01      RTS ships Republic, Alamo, Zavala, Nacogdoches, San Bernard, and Archer stationed in Galveston.

Oct 05      RTS ships Goliad, Austin , San Antonio, Santa Fe, San Jacinto, and Wharton stationed in Corpus Christi.

 


1843

Aug 15     Back in power, Santa Anna attempts to invade Texas by sea via Corpus Christi. The Republic Navy squadron stationed there evades Santa Anna’s steam paddles and sinks three transports full of invasion troops. Santa Anna returns to the port of Veracruz, and then to Mexico City. Upon arrival in the capital, he is promptly ousted from office, arrested by the new president (Valentin Gomez Farias) and executed a week later


1844

May 24*     Samuel Morse sends the first telegram from Washington DC to Baltimore, MD.

Dec 09     Anson Jones, former Secretary of State and a political ally of Sam Houston, is elected to the presidency. Foreign policy is aimed at increasing friendship with Great Britain as a counter to both American and Mexican interests, and gaining Mexican recognition of Texas’ independence.


1845

Jun             The Mexican Government, after nine years and a hefty bribe from the Republic’s emissary to Mexican President Valentin Gomez Farias, officially recognizes Texican independence. President Jones uses the occasion to call for a final decision by plebiscite: annexation or independence?

Aug 01       Republic of Texas voters narrowly reject a proposed treaty of annexation with the United States. A disgusted U.S. President Polk turns his back on the Republic.

Oct-Nov    Constitutional Convention of 1845 begins. Most of the original Constitution of 1836 is left unchanged. Major changes are made on presidential and congressional terms, streamlined amendment procedures, and the General Provisions.

Dec 09      The Constitution of 1845 is ratified by popular vote. The changes to term restrictions will go into effect for the 1847 presidential elections, limiting presidents to a single, six-year term. Members of the House of Representatives have their terms extended to two years. Senate terms remain at three years. Both Houses of Congress have a maximum limit of 18 years service in each house.


1846

Feb            Army adopts the 1846 Manual of Organization and Equipment. It specifies the Colt Walker Dragoon Pattern revolver for cavalry and officers. The Republic of Texas purchases Colt’s manufacturing plant and relocates its equipment to Nacogdoches at a cost of $8,000. As part of the deal, Samuel Colt is given the honorary rank of Colonel in the Republic Army and works at the Nacogdoches Arsenal for the remainder of his life.

Sep 07       Elections for the first full term Senators and Representatives are held under the new 1845 Constitution.


1847

Apr 09       Irish immigrants, fleeing the Potato Famine in Ireland, begin to arrive in so-called ‘coffin ships’ at Galveston’s wharves. Most immediately begin work on the new railway projects in the Republic. By 1870, three-quarters of a million Irish call the Republic home.

Dec 13      Anson Jones becomes president.

Dec 14      President Anson Jones announces a Goodwill Tour to England on the 10th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s coronation. Jones becomes the first President to leave the Republic while still in office. The fleet travels into the Mediterranean and back to Galveston via Africa and Argentina, collecting animals for the new National Zoological Park in Houston.


1848

Mar             Jones returns to Texas. Impressed with the rail system he experienced in Britain, and dismayed by the difficulties in transportation of goods and people across Texas’ vast distances, President Jones pushes for creation of a unified national rail system.

May           Congress approves the National Rail Act, providing for a system of rail lines connecting the major towns and cities of Texas. It sets a standard gage identical to that of its ally and trading partner, the United Kingdom: 4 ft., 8 ½ inches. The act also specifies that National Railway rights of way shall be double tracked unless geographical constraints are such that either safety or cost concerns would be prohibitive.

Aug            Construction of the first leg of the National Railway (Galveston-Houston-Waco) begins.


1849



1850

Oct 12         Galveston-Houston-Waco Railway completed.


1851

Mar            British leaders, fearing that pending hostilities between the Northern and Southern states of the United States might endanger their supply of cotton, begin to search for alternative sources. Orders for Texas cotton increase. India and Egypt become important secondary suppliers to British textile factories.

Apr 02       The now familiar campaign cover (a.k.a. the ‘Smokey the Bear’ hat) adopted as uniform headgear.


1852

Aug 06    The First Amendment to the Constitution of the Republic of Texas is ratified into law. This amendment makes all Natives living in the Republic citizens, with equal rights before the law.

Nov 01     Waco-San Antonio Railway completed.

Dec 02     Napoleon III becomes Emperor of the Second Empire of France.



1853

Dec 12        William Carr Lane becomes first person from the area that will later become Santa Fe Province elected to the presidency.


1854

Jan 17        Texican military receives 9,000 Enfield 1853 rifle muskets from the British government. This rifled weapon replaces the smoothbore India Pattern as the standard service weapon of the Army and Marines.

Mar 28     Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of France, Britain and the Ottoman Empire.

Apr 05      Texican government informed by British ambassador that, due to the war, Her Majesty’s Government will not be able to supply ammunition or spare parts for the recently purchased Enfield rifles. In response, a small ammunition factory is started outside of Santa Fe. This will grow to become the Santa Fe Arsenal, the major producer of weapons and munitions for the Republic.

May 04     The Texican Military Academy is established outside of Bryan, San Jacinto. Students receive a college education and military training over a four-year course. Academics focus on engineering and agriculture. A small town, appropriately named College Station, springs up around the train station at the Academy. Classes begin in September.

Oct 15     San Antonio-Corpus Christi Railway completed.


1855

Mar         Texas sends 1st Lieutenant John Bell Hood to act as military observer and attaché to the Ottoman Empire. He spends most of his time in the Sultanate of Egypt.

Apr         Continuous raids by Mescalero Apaches near El Paso cause military buildup along the border. The Army dispatches several regiments to the area to begin a two-year campaign to pacify the Apaches.

Oct         Cherokee Indians from the United States Indian Territory and northeast Texas take advantage of the military’s movement to the border areas and attempt an uprising. Their goal is to create an independent Cherokee Nation in northeast Texas and the Indian Territory.


1856

Mar 30     Treaty of Paris (1856) signed, ending Crimean War.

Apr          The Naval College of Texas is founded at Galveston. At the same time, new standards for uniforms, training, and rank are adopted within the Navy.

May 22    The Battle of Odessa Dunes takes place.