Saturday, February 12, 2005
Twiggs Surrenders!!
Well today Megan & I went with the Mabrito Clan to a reenactment at the Alamo. This particular one wasn't a recreation of that famous battle that the Alamo is so famous for. This was a re-enactment of a different time that the Alamo made history. I actually didn't know about it until going.
In the late 1840's, after Texas became a state, the US Army made San Antonio the headqurteres for the Department of Texas and quartermaster supply depot for all of its 17 outlying forts. In Nov. 1860, brevet Major General Twiggs would be recalled to active duty and given command of the Department of Texas.
In Jan. 1861, a special session of the Texas Legislature was called in Austin that would adopt a resolution which validated & approved the calling of the Secession Convention. The convention assembled on Jan 28th and four days later it passed an Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 168 to 7 which provided for the final seperation of Texas from the Union.
The Committee of Public Safety felt they had to move quickly before the Federals had time to destroy their forts and removed the military arms and equipment which Texas would need to protect its frontier. They appointed a committee of four men to go to Gen. Twiggs in San Antonio and demand the surrender of all Federal property under his control. The committe also appointed Ben McCulloch a colonel of the cavalry and charged him with raising a force of militia in case force was needed to persuade Twiggs into surrendering the Federal property.
The four Tecas commisioners would meet with Twiggs and after weeks of negotiations, Twiggs still refused to surrender the property. The commissioners called on McCulloch to bring his militia and firce Twiggs t surrender. On Feb 16, McCulloch surrounded the federal buildings with approximately 1000 well-armed Rangers and experienced fronteir fighters against the outnumbered meager 160 federal garrison troops. Twiggs had no alternative but to surrender, or precipitate open warfare & bloodshed.
Two days after the surrender of the federal forces, Twiggs issued General Order Number 5 which deliver possession of all military posts and property within the state to the Commissioners. A month later, Texas would join the Confederacy. Many feel had Twiggs not surrendered that the Civil War would possibly have started at the Alamo.
The reenactment was really good. One really interesting part was after Twiggs surrender they had a man on a horse who was portraying Robert E. Lee. Lee refused to join the McCulloch and his militia so he was sent away. It was really neat to see him turned away by the same groups of people he would later lead. For those who don't know, my uncle Marc is like a walking history book and when we were walking back to the lot where we had parked we passed the famous Menger Hotel. He said that Robert E Lee actually rode his horse through the hotel. They had really neat old pictures inside that showed what it had originally looked like. They had these 3 pictures of the Continental Dining Room through the years and how it looked after each remodeling job. Then we peeked into it and it was sad to see that they had a modern suspended type ceiling with tiles. It was sad. They had some beautiful antiques in the lobby as well. There was a really neat life sized bronze statue of Col. Travis drawing a line in the sand. So of course we made Travis stand next to his namesake for a picture. We also went into the Alamo and looked around while we were waiting for the re-enactment to begin. I haven't been in there since I was a kid. I used to see it every summer when I was a kid and we came to visit our grandparents on vacation. But ever since I moved here I haven't seen it once. It was neat to go inside it again. They let you see more of it then they used to. Also they had on display the original knife made by Daniel Searles which was presented to Colonel Fowler by Resin Bowie. Resin was James Bowie's brother. I don't know the specifics, but Marc does, that we are related to this Colonel Fowler on my maternal great grandmothers side of the family. Check out Megan's fotopage for pictures of the re-enactment and the Menger. Well I am gonna end this post here before I totally bore yall to sleep! Yahweh Bless! 3:38 PM |
In the late 1840's, after Texas became a state, the US Army made San Antonio the headqurteres for the Department of Texas and quartermaster supply depot for all of its 17 outlying forts. In Nov. 1860, brevet Major General Twiggs would be recalled to active duty and given command of the Department of Texas.
In Jan. 1861, a special session of the Texas Legislature was called in Austin that would adopt a resolution which validated & approved the calling of the Secession Convention. The convention assembled on Jan 28th and four days later it passed an Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 168 to 7 which provided for the final seperation of Texas from the Union.
The Committee of Public Safety felt they had to move quickly before the Federals had time to destroy their forts and removed the military arms and equipment which Texas would need to protect its frontier. They appointed a committee of four men to go to Gen. Twiggs in San Antonio and demand the surrender of all Federal property under his control. The committe also appointed Ben McCulloch a colonel of the cavalry and charged him with raising a force of militia in case force was needed to persuade Twiggs into surrendering the Federal property.
The four Tecas commisioners would meet with Twiggs and after weeks of negotiations, Twiggs still refused to surrender the property. The commissioners called on McCulloch to bring his militia and firce Twiggs t surrender. On Feb 16, McCulloch surrounded the federal buildings with approximately 1000 well-armed Rangers and experienced fronteir fighters against the outnumbered meager 160 federal garrison troops. Twiggs had no alternative but to surrender, or precipitate open warfare & bloodshed.
Two days after the surrender of the federal forces, Twiggs issued General Order Number 5 which deliver possession of all military posts and property within the state to the Commissioners. A month later, Texas would join the Confederacy. Many feel had Twiggs not surrendered that the Civil War would possibly have started at the Alamo.
The reenactment was really good. One really interesting part was after Twiggs surrender they had a man on a horse who was portraying Robert E. Lee. Lee refused to join the McCulloch and his militia so he was sent away. It was really neat to see him turned away by the same groups of people he would later lead. For those who don't know, my uncle Marc is like a walking history book and when we were walking back to the lot where we had parked we passed the famous Menger Hotel. He said that Robert E Lee actually rode his horse through the hotel. They had really neat old pictures inside that showed what it had originally looked like. They had these 3 pictures of the Continental Dining Room through the years and how it looked after each remodeling job. Then we peeked into it and it was sad to see that they had a modern suspended type ceiling with tiles. It was sad. They had some beautiful antiques in the lobby as well. There was a really neat life sized bronze statue of Col. Travis drawing a line in the sand. So of course we made Travis stand next to his namesake for a picture. We also went into the Alamo and looked around while we were waiting for the re-enactment to begin. I haven't been in there since I was a kid. I used to see it every summer when I was a kid and we came to visit our grandparents on vacation. But ever since I moved here I haven't seen it once. It was neat to go inside it again. They let you see more of it then they used to. Also they had on display the original knife made by Daniel Searles which was presented to Colonel Fowler by Resin Bowie. Resin was James Bowie's brother. I don't know the specifics, but Marc does, that we are related to this Colonel Fowler on my maternal great grandmothers side of the family. Check out Megan's fotopage for pictures of the re-enactment and the Menger. Well I am gonna end this post here before I totally bore yall to sleep! Yahweh Bless! 3:38 PM |