-
-
Throughout the 18th Century, Spain established Catholic missions in Texas, and the towns of San Antonio, Goliad and Nacogdoches
-
- San Antonio de Valero mission, known as the Alamo was the chapel, is founded in San Antonio.
-
San José y San Miguel de Aguayo mission founded near San Antonio de Valero.
-
- March 16 - Santa Cruz de San Sabá mission near present-day Menard destroyed and eight residents killed by Comanches and their allies.
-
- Spanish troops on a retaliatory raid are defeated by Indian residents of a large encampment at Spanish Fort in present-day Montague County.
-
- Texas' first recorded hurricane strikes near Galveston.
-
- Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costillo and several hundred of his parishioners seize the prison at Dolores, Mexico, beginning Mexico's struggle for independence from Spain.
-
About 130-men strong, the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition crossed the Sabine from Louisiana in a rebel movement against Spanish rule in Texas.
-
Moses Austin dies, his son, Stephen F. Austin, receives authority to continue the colonizing effort.
-
- A hurricane wrecks the fleet of pirate Jean Lafitte in Galveston
-
- Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River. Mexican officials approve Austin's plan to bring three hundred families into his colony. This group becomes known as the "Old Three Hundred."
-
The Declaration of Independence of the republic of Fredonia is signed at Nacogdoches.
-
- First of several large groups of Irish immigrants arrive to settle in South Texas.
-
Mexican government stops legal immigration into Texas from the United States except in special cases. Relations between Anglo settlers and the Mexican government deteriorate.
-
First bloodshed of the Texas Revolution takes place at Velasco when Texans, transporting a cannon from Brazoria to Anahuac, are challenged by Mexican forces at Velasco. The Mexicans surrender on June 29.
-
- First sale of town lots in the new capital of the Republic, which is named for Stephen F. Austin, is held.
-
The Santa Fé Expedition, launched without Texas Congressional authorization by Pres. Mirabeau B. Lamar, leaves Central Texas on its way west to establish trade with and solidify Texas' claims to territory around Santa Fé. Members of group are taken prisoner by Mexican troops, marched to Mexico City and imprisoned. They are finally released in 1842.
-
- Southern route of the Butterfield Overland Mail crosses Texas on its way between St. Louis, Mo., and the West Coast. Service discontinued in March 1861 at the outbreak of the Civil War.
-
The El Paso Salt War is the culmination of a long dispute caused by Anglos' attempts to take over salt-mining rights at the foot of Guadalupe Peak, a traditionally Mexican-American salt source.
-
- The Texas & Pacific Railway reaches Sierra Blanca in West Texas, about 90 miles east of El Paso.
-
The University of Texas classes begin
-
- Hurricane destroys or damages every house in the port of Indianola, finishing the job started by another storm 11 years earlier. Indianola is never rebuilt.
-
Present state capitol is dedicated
-
- Oil is discovered at Corsicana; a commercial field opens in 1896, becoming the first small step in Texas' rise as a major oil producer.
-
- Teddy Roosevelt arrives in San Antonio to recruit and train "Rough Riders" for the First Volunteer Cavalry to fight in the Spanish-American War in Cuba.
-
San Antonio, TX
