Hello, I'm trying to do research in order to learn and also educate my kid. I tried posting in the homeschooling group first for resources but I had no luck there and was even downvoted?

I am looking to do research on the freethinkers massacre. Not just the basic facts and numbers of the event, but the people living there. From what I heard, they were Germans who migrated here. They built a socialist commune and were Athiests who didn't take slaves, build all kinds of infrastructures and schools, pushing for the education of not just boys but also girls too. They made many scientific discoveries, being the first people to ever collect data on climate change, count tree rings, and even were the first to test plane models way before the Wright brothers, and so much more. I heard the indiginous community also helped them as many weren't good homesteaders and would have died without said help. And they were big on human rights.

I'm trying to find more information on communities that the freethinkers established, what they were like, all the discoveries and progress they had made. Their relationship with the indiginous despite living in their territory. And everything leading up to, during, and after the war and massacre.

I'd like to find good sources on this topic

Thank you :)

In my garage are stacks and stacks of multi-gallon tots full of mostly out-of-print Texas history books. For the most part I have them all labeled and organized. Texas Revolution, Civil War, Pre-1800, General, and one in particular, Ghost Stories.

I have collected Texas ghost stories since I was a kid, even before I started on my path to becoming a Texas Historian. I have publications by Ed Syers, Docia Williams, Frank Dobie, Jay Nord, and many others. But in all of these books, I cannot recall ever seeing a single ghost tale from probably one of the most haunted locales in Texas. And, truthfully, I didn’t even know the yarns until I started researching the place myself.

Our first true origin Texas ghost story for Halloween Week kicks us down to Refugio, west of Victoria. Precisely to the intersection of West Roca and Highway 77 (S. Alamo). This is one of the most paranormally active sites in lower Texas, and you’ll soon discover why.

Largely unknown to most, Refugio is an old town. Its seed was planted in 1795 with the establishment of Nuestra Senora del Refugio, the last of the grand Spanish missions to be built in Texas.

The Refugio Mission was intended to be utilized for the conversion of the Karankawa culture, and had been specifically requested by a conglomerate of Karankawa villages. Unfortunately, this was mostly just an excuse to get Spanish military protection from other tribes that were in the same region, primarily the Apache.

Nonetheless, at its peak, the Refugio Mission had a congregation of over two hundred missionary Karankawas. But by the early nineteenth century, the Spanish government was faltering and it was getting increasingly difficult to get supplies and food to the Refugio Mission. With vastly declining numbers, the church was officially abandoned in 1822. But its story was long from being over.

Starting almost immediately, like most of the Spanish missions in Texas at the time, Nuestra Senora del Refugio was turned into a military outpost. First by the Spaniards, who tried to burn the place down before leaving Texas altogether, then by the Mexican government, followed by Irish colonists and eventually Texian revolutionaries. On March 14, 1836, the “Mission” was the scene of one of the most impressive battles of the Texas Revolution, and just two days later, one of the initial mass executions of Texas prisoners by the Mexican Army.

Afterwards, the place was left in ruins and slowly collapsed. It was totally demolished in 1860, re-established in 1867, then completely rebuilt in 1905. But despite the changing facades of the chapel itself, there was one factor from both the original mission and the battle that never changed. The graves.

In 2002, TXDOT was planning to widen Highway 77 and knew that the road would pass through the historical site of the Nuestra Senora del Refugio. An archaeological survey was ordered, and in a surprising discovery, over a hundred skeletal remains were found! Almost all of these had been lying underneath Highway 77 for decades. The majority of these individuals were found to be largely of Native American descent, most having been interred directly underneath the main chapel as was customary.

Years before that, in 1936, another eleven bodies had been found right across the street from the ones unearthed in 2002. These were members of the Yucatán Battalion who had been killed in the 1836 battle and just, unceremoniously, tossed into a mass grave on the battlefield as directed by Mexican General Jose Urrea. They remained interred for a century before finally being given a proper Catholic burial in the Refugio City Cemetery.

After learning all of this information, I was quite convinced that there had to be some ghost stories somewhere. So, I reached out to the Refugio community (via social media) and asked for any without directly mentioning the mission, the graves, the battle, or the street. It was not in vain!

People from Refugio started telling me about West Roca, and everything from Native American ghosts, to priests, and to Mexican soldiers. One individual, who was actually a co-worker of mine, related a verily haunting experience that his cousin had witnessed as a teenager in the mid-1990s.

As his cousin, who my coworker called up immediately upon me asking about it without even knowing anything that I had asked about, related: He was in a field along Crockett Street for a Fourth of July celebration. When one of the big fireworks went off, he saw a figure wearing a military uniform and a shako across the field from him, aiming what looked like a musket towards the crowd.

He panicked and hollered to their uncle, who was standing between him and the figure, to get down because someone had a gun and was about to shoot towards them. But there were no gunshots, and when he and a few others rushed over to see who the person was, no one was there. Later, in that same spot, he was looking around and found a Mexican Army cartridge belt under the ground.

Now, as with every such case, maybe it was true or maybe it was fake. But remember those Texian revolutionaries who were mass executed that I mentioned earlier? They were killed in that very field on March 16, 1836, and left to rot.

But why a Mexican soldier and a Mexican cartridge belt? Well, most of the Mexican troops at the Battle of Refugio were not the best supplied members of Santa Anna’s army. Most were either volunteers or conscripts, issued badly degraded equipment. In contrast, the majority of the Texian rebels were better geared, and what use of a good cartridge belt would a dead Texian need? Saavy?

West Roca in Refugio is a street of ghosts. With over a hundred bodies scattered across such a small area, all of which were mostly unknown until 1936 and 2002, would you expect anything else? Also, those are just the ones that have been found. I wonder how many others still rove in the night?

Till next time, stay Spooky my friends.

Source: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth222071/

Any ideas of what Jim Bowie might have been sick with?

You can read his full speech at https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-waco-texas

This photo comes from the Texas Collection at Baylor University.

This one took a twelve hour nose dive into local history. I had to re-write it three times, but I think it turned out very well. Enjoy.

EMPATHY

To be honest, this piece is more in line with a November atmosphere rather than Spooky Season. But nonetheless, it is still a true origins Texas ghost story that is connected to a larger, empathetic, tale…

Tonight’s story takes us to Matagorda County, way down on the coast and more precisely to two locales roughly thirty miles apart. Caney Creek and the Trespalacios River.

Not far from the intersection of Highways 71 and 35, lies the isolated grave of Sarah Ann Bright Hunter McCrosky Lacy. Born 1808, died 1880 at the ripe age of seventy-one. This is the scene of the spooky part of this tale, but, we’ll get back to it in a bit.

Sarah Bright, also known as “Sally,” came to Texas with her parents in 1822. She was part of Austin’s Old 300, the first wave of Anglo colonists to arrive in the desolation of northeast Mexico. She was fourteen years old.

In 1823, she married another member of Austin’s Old 300 named Eli Hunter. Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those instances of an old man wedding a young girl. No, Eli was also only about fifteen or sixteen years old at the time of their marriage, and as gift, he was given a large tract of land near the present Lawson community in Wharton County. The two lived there for some time, and in 1824, were blessed with a daughter who they named Lavina.

It was around this same period that Eli decided to sell his land in present Wharton County for another tract on the lower reaches of Caney Creek, probably somewhere in the general vicinity of present day Cedar Lane. But his decision to do so was met with intense caution from his neighbors.

Starting in late 1823, the Anglo settlers and the members of the Karankawa culture had turned the lower portions of the Texas coast into an open war zone. Depredations committed by both parties had sadly resulted in bloodshed on both sides. The Battle of Jones Creek in late June, 1824, had forced the Karankawas to largely withdraw to the west shoreline of the San Bernard River. Directly in the region where the young couple were going to be residing.

Driving Eli Hunter’s determination though was the fact that the soil along Caney Creek could grow just about everything, and in great number. Crops meant profits, and the young family needed all the financial freedom that they could achieve.

The Hunters relocated to their new home in early 1825, and Eli began planting very quickly. His efforts proved successful, because by harvest time, the family had a surplus of everything.

It’s not told exactly when, but most likely in late October, 1825, autumn hit the Caney Creek area with an unusually cold breath. Temperatures plummeted. For the colonists however, most of whom were accustomed to even harsher conditions, this sudden change was not difficult to navigate. But for the Karankawa, whose members had lived solely on the Texas coast for generations, it changed their whole norm.

The Karankawa people were primarily fishers and hunters. Their whole lives depended on fish, game, and weather. As was customary, when the temperatures began to sink, the Karankawa would relocate their encampments from the opened barrier islands and prairies and into the thick woods of the mainland which were mainly forests of evergreens.

But colder temperatures meant the heavier fish would be harder to locate in the bays, bayous, and rivers. Adding onto that hardship, large parties of hunters were frequently thought to be raiders preparing for battle by the anxious colonists. And for Chief Hozzie Merear (that’s how his name was spelled in the primary source), the leader of the largest community of Karankawas in the Caney Creek region at the time, the early cold snap was gravely concerning.

Merear’s village had not been able to stockpile a sufficient amount of supplies for what seemed was going to be a longer winter. As he and his people began moving into the forests, the chief was gravely uncertain on what he was going to do.

According to some accounts, it was around November when the Hunters caught a young Karankawa boy trying to break into their storehouse one frigid morning. He was cold, hungry, and very frail and seemingly only acting out of pure desperation. His fragile conditions struck Eli and Sarah hard, as they both envisioned little Lavina having to do the same if the tables were turned.

Perhaps the two took this event as a sign from God to help their indigenous neighbors, or maybe Eli was smart enough to see an opportunity, but either way; the young couple decided to act on empathy. Eli loaded a wagon full of all the surplus crops he could spare, and drove off towards Chief Merear’s village.

Along the way, Eli added three fresh deer to his cargo. When he got close to the encampment, a rush of warriors came running out with bows and spears thinking that they were about to be attacked. But Eli called out to them in broken Karankawa and waved a white scarf to signal differently.

Chief Merear came out of the woods and met Eli face-to-face. The young husband explained, in some way, that he wanted to give all the food to the villagers. A whole cargo of pumpkins, corn, potatoes, and more. In exchange, all he wanted was a promise from Merear that his people would never harm his own family.

The offer was accepted. And with Eli Hunter’s wagon of goods, and the display of empathy, his family never had to endure any raids or attacks against them. It also might have helped to convince the Karankawa to agree to a truce with the Anglo colonists following the 1826 skirmish on Battle Island near Matagorda.

Unfortunately, things did not go so well for Eli Hunter himself or Sarah either. Sometime between 1825 and 1828, Eli Hunter died and Sarah remarried to another colonist name John McCrosky. A son was born to the two in 1828, but not long after, John McCrosky also passed away leaving the still young Sarah a widowed mother of two.

In 1832, Sarah was married once more to William Demetris Lacy. William would become one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico in 1836, and after the war, establish a plantation near the confluence of Wilson Creek and the Trespalacios River.

At some point, probably in the early or mid-1840s, Lavina (Eli and Sarah’s daughter) was along the river when a canoe of Karankawas suddenly appeared. In charge of the bunch was Chief Hozzie Merear, and he almost immediately recognized Lavina despite her being older and not having encountered one another since she was a little girl.

He asked her how her father, Eli, was and she replied with the unfortunate details about his passing many years beforehand. The old chieftain was very saddened to hear about Eli’s death, and lamented by saying that Eli Hunter was the best friend that the Karankawa ever had.

After the encounter, Lavina never saw Chief Merear again. But the simple act of empathy had clearly made a lasting impact between two factions of rivals.

Okay, okay. Now for the spooky part, although it’s pretty tame compared to the other stories I’ve posted this month.

William Lacy became very ill in the late 1840s. At Sarah’s request, the family moved back to his parent’s place in Paducah, Kentucky where he unfortunately passed in 1848. Once again, and now with four kids, Sarah was widowed for a third time. But, she still had a longing for their former home on the Trespalacios River.

Against her in-law’s wishes, Sarah moved back to Matagorda County in the 1850s with her whole family. She was able to re-establish William Lacy’s plantation and the estate thrived very well. Eventually, her two youngest daughters even married two New York brothers, Able and Edward Pierce.

The Pierce brothers created the massive Pierce Ranch which became one of the largest and most prominent holdings in mid-nineteenth century Texas. Then, in 1880, Sarah Ann Bright Hunter McClosky Lacy passed away and was buried within eyesight of her beloved home. But, her story doesn’t stop at the grave.

Since 2018, I have lived only about five miles downstream from Sarah’s grave. Friends and coworkers who were raised in the area have frequently told me that Sarah still wanders in the woods and field around her final resting place.

According to the ones who tell me that they have actually seen her, she supposedly wears a dress that would have been of high societal standards at her time. But, her spirit is neither frightening nor saddening. She just seems to be enjoying the same serendipity of nature that she enjoyed in life, and which must have been a pleasure to a woman who lost three husbands and spent a good chunk of her adult life as a widow.

Till next time my friends, stay Spooky…and maybe a little more empathetic towards others.

Source

With today being the first day of Early Voting I figured this was a nice bit of Texas history to post.

In 1919 Texas became the first state in the south, and ninth overall, to ratify the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.

There's a good chance one or more of the kids in this photo fought in World War II.

After their initial meeting in El Paso they met again in Ciudad Juárez that same day. The Texas State Historical Association has a decent write up about the event.