Library: Texas by Credo Reference: History

General History

The Alamo
In Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

Eighteenth-century mission in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., site of a historic siege of a small group of Texans by a Mexican army (1836) during the Texas Revolution (War of Texas Independence).
Black Firsts in Texas
In Black Firsts
1967 • Barbara Charline Jordan (1936-1996) was the first black to sit in the Texas senate since 1883.
Economic History of Texas
In Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
Texas, located in the south-central United States, was acquired in 1845 after a decade as the Republic of Texas. It achieved statehood the same year. The economy of Texas was originally focused on agriculture and ranching, with a significant cattle industry by the end of the nineteenth century. The discovery of oil in 1901 profoundly changed the state's economy as the petroleum and petrochemical industries began to dominate in the twentieth century.
Texaco
In Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
Texaco Inc. was for many years one of the world's largest oil companies, with exploratory, manufacturing, and marketing operations in the United States and around the globe. Texaco first produced fuel for manufacturing and kerosene for lamps, but swiftly transitioned to gasoline as the automobile industry boomed.
Texas Rangers: Topic Page

A mounted fighting force organized (1835) during the Texas Revolution. During the republic they became established as the guardians of the Texas frontier, particularly against Native Americans. The Texas Rangers at first consisted of three companies of 25 men each. Said to “ride like Mexicans, shoot like Tennesseans, and fight like the very devil,” the rangers were unique as a police force in that they never drilled, were not required to salute officers, and wore neither uniforms nor any standard gear except the six-shooter.
Texas Settlement by Americans
In Encyclopedia of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution
The first Americans came to Texas from Louisiana in the late 18th century while that land was ruled by Spaniards who had arrived nearly 300 years earlier. There were at that time few inhabitants other than a scattering of colonial settlements, Apache and Comanche Indians, and small religious communities founded by Catholic priests for the purpose of converting the Indians to Christianity.

Civil War

The Civil War in Indian Territory
The Civil War in Indian Territory was in reality two wars. It was a war between pro-Northern and pro-Southern factions among the so-called Five Civilized Tribes. Among the Creeks and the Cherokees, however, it was also a continuation of the conflict between those factions that had supported removal and those that had been opposed. It was this second element that made the war such a destructive and bloody conflict.
Civil War in the West
In The New Encyclopedia of the American West
In general, the Civil War affected the lives of citizens living west of the Mississippi River differently from the way it affected those living in the North or South.
Hood's Texas Bridgade
In Encyclopedia of Warrior Peoples & Fighting Groups
An outstanding unit of the Confederate army during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Sam Houston: Speech on Refusal to Take the Oath of Loyalty to the Confederacy, 1861
In Milestone Documents of American Leaders
When on account of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States, I was urged to call the Legislature, I refused to do so until such time as I believed the public interests required it …

Historical Events

Apollo Project: Topic Page

US space project to land a person on the Moon, achieved on 20 July 1969, when Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot there. He was accompanied on the Moon's surface by Buzz Aldrin; Michael Collins remained in the orbiting command module.
Dust Bowl: Topic Page
The Dust Bowl, or the term the “dirty thirties,” was used to describe the environmental catastrophe that struck a wide swath of landscape in the southern and midwestern Plains during the Great Depression, extending from southeastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas to the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.
Mexican War: Topic Page
1846–48, armed conflict between the United States and Mexico. While the immediate cause of the war was the U.S. annexation of Texas (Dec., 1845), other factors had disturbed peaceful relations between the two republics. In the United States there was agitation for the settlement of long-standing claims arising from injuries and property losses sustained by U.S. citizens in the various Mexican revolutions.
The Raid on the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas
In World of Criminal Justice, Gale
The downfall of the Branch Davidians began several weeks prior to February 28, 1993. Federal and state law enforcement agencies gathered evidence that cult members under the leadership of David Koresh were stockpiling weapons. Agents believed that the cult had acquired over 8,000 pounds of ammunition and explosives as well as enough parts to convert hundreds of legal semi-automatic guns into illegal fully automatic weapons.
Texas Annexation
In Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
In 1845 the United States annexed the sovereign Republic of Texas and made it the 28th state of the Union. The annexation provided the United States important long-term economic benefits, but it also precipitated the Mexican-American War (1846–48). The annexation exacerbated longstanding tensions between the North and South over the institution of slavery that ultimately erupted in the American Civil War (1861–65).
Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2, 1836)

In Encyclopedia of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution
This Declaration drawn up and approved at the Texas Constitutional Convention at Washington on the Brazos proclaimed Texas to be independent of Mexican rule — superseding a preliminary proclamation known as the Declaration of November 7, 1835.
Texas Revolution: Topic Page
Conflict 1835–36 between US colonists and Mexican troops in Texas, then part of Mexico. The conflict, which included the famous siege of the Alamo in 1836, resulted in a US victory, led by Sam Houston, who became president of the new republic. Texas remained an independent republic until 1845, when it was fully annexed by the USA.