Some Serious History About Texas with a Side Order of Texas A&M

Since LC Aggie Sith seems like a friendly sort, I'll only do this once (unless it happens to be Thanksgiving, then I might do it again provided that the annual football contest happens the way it is suppose to happen).

Texas A&M is a fine university and I've always had a deep respect for its academics in engineering, architecture, military studies, agriculture and science among other areas of study like animal husbandry. In Texas, the Aggie is the brunt of all insulting jokes (we use them in lieu of the Polish people), well, until the last general election. Now, we have a more adequate target.

A&M has a conservative value (virtue?) that permeates the campus and the general mindset of the student body that is rare on college campuses around the country.

This photo was taken on the campus of Texas A&M. It depicts one of the strengths of the agriculture academic programs - feeding barnyard animals gin from a styrofoam cup. I also like that they keep the leftist jackasses behind bars where they belong. The only issue I have is that the sign says, "Beware of dog." This is partially why many jokes are directed toward the university's graduates and student body.














For me though, being in the engineering biz for a substantial portion of my existence, I have worked with hundreds of Aggies and consider them all to be above the grade intellect wise. In fact, the most accurate joke told on them is this:

Q: What do you call an Aggie four years after graduation?

A: Boss.

It's true in many cases.

Many people label the Aggies as a sort of a cult in that the bond held between it's graduates probably exceeds, in camaraderie, that of any other university. I have always been amazed at how close the Aggies seem to be after graduation.

Further illustration of the conservative attributes of Texas A&M is this proposal, which took place on campus beneath the much revered Century Tree. I don't know if she accepted the proposal, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be capable of not doing so considering her hands are stuck to her face in awe in spite of his affiliation to The Corp.














Tradition is held in high regard at Texas A&M and for that, I will always have a healthy respect for the university.

Some of the other things I know about A&M:
- They have a dog grave yard at the football field score board.
- They name all they're dogs (collies) Reveille.
- Reveille is a five star general and highest ranking officer in the Aggie Corp of Cadets.
- If Reveille barks while her attendant is in class, that class is dismissed for the day.
- The don't have cheerleaders or song girls, they have yell leaders...and they are all male.
- Each class of undergraduates has they're own hand sign and yelp.
- After football touchdowns, everybody kisses each other...on the lips.
- The student body stands up through out the entire game.
- They are very, very loud.
- They hate Texas Tech, Baylor (1926) and most of the time Texas.
- They have a most incredible yell practice prior to the A&M vs. Texas game. Did I mention that they are very, very loud?
- They say "gig'em" a lot for no apparent reason.

Ok, one side note here...on occasion, the corp boys (or corpse boys as the pinhead in office might say), have a tendency to do some rather idiotic things. Reference the sword threat versus SMU and the 1926 debacle, which caused the feud between A&M and Baylor (that event was messy at best and caused a 30 year hiatus in football contests between the two schools).















And I always knew Nebraska fans were less than bright, but you have to know that when you do a road trip to A&M, you MUST mind your manners...and for the love of Reveille stay off the football field.
















LC Aggie Sith reminded me of the LSU dust up, but I couldn't find a timely photo.

Move along, move along..

Welcome to The Republic of Texas
April 21 was the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, which was fought in 1836 following the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, which was deemed official on March 2nd of the same year. Not coincidentally, April 21st was the day that Texas won its independence from Mexico. For some nine years, Texas was a sovereign republic, which is a claim that cannot be made by any other state in the union.

I have several lines of ancestry (including the line with the surname by which I am known) that date back to times prior to the events leading to independence. Some of my ancestors undoubtedly fought in those battles, which are now considered by many to be some of the more interesting battles fought in American history.

The Battle of The Alamo:
On March 6th, 1936, several thousand Mexicans showed up in San Antonio for fiesta and siesta in anticipation of a war rout. It didn't quite go as they had planned, because 140 (estimated) Texans and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) had other ideas and were able to fight for two weeks. This was important because it gave Sam Houston time to retreat to the east and gather his troops in what was known as the Runaway Scrape.













Alamo casualties:
Texans and Tejanos - 140 (estimated)
Mexicans - 600 (estimated)

History is unclear on the actual numbers, because while all Alamo Texas fighters were killed (allegedly some family members were spared), the lingering wounded Mexicans died in the following days and weeks due to lack of medical personnel.

Link: The Alamo (very well done website)

The Battle at San Jacinto:
It took 18 minutes for Sam Houston and his 850 fighters to defeat the post Alamo remnants (estimated to be about 1500) of the Mexican Army. Apparently Santa Anna's troops were full of fiesta tequila and siesta headache on the day of April 21, 1936. Sam Houston being worthy of legend status around these parts, decided to use this lack of respect as an opportunity for a do or die attack. A wounded Santa Anna was later captured while hiding in the thick woods wearing a private's uniform, which was somewhat significant considering he was a proud and pompous dickhead.












San Jacinto casualties:
Texans - 9 killed, 30 wounded.
Mexicans - 650 killed, 200 wounded, the rest captured.

Side note: The Texans held two main battle cries; "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad." The Goliad Massacre occurred on or about a March 27, 1836 skirmish between 60 Texans and 350 Mexicans. The Mexicans won the skirmish and subsequently took the remaining Texans prisoner. Santa Anna (dickhead) ordered all prisoners to be executed.

The Yellow Rose of Texas:
The brilliance of Sam Houston offers one side note of genius on the eve prior to the battle. One of the legends claims that Houston sent an attractive mulatto slave, Emily Morgan (or Emily West as the legend is unclear), into the camp of El Presidente Santa Anna to distract him from the war plans. Santa Anna was well known to have surrounded himself with attractive ladies.

Link: Timeline of the Texas-Mexican War

Being a natural born Texan, I find this stuff fascinating. The rich Texas history has many legends of heraldry including some excellent stories of the famed Texas Rangers - them are some bad-ass dudes make no mistake. I've known one or two of the modern day version and I can tell you this - you really do not want to be on the wrong end of their ire. History shows that they don't always play by the rules. No doubt this is a topic for future posts.

I'll most likely sprinkle more of my favorite historical notes in this blog as time passes. For now, though, there are chores to be completed or the domesticated room mate will introduce me to her specific brand if ire.

Cheers and be safe.