Moments in Texas History ~ 10.28.2011

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Battle of Concepción ignites siege of Bexar

October 28, 1835

On this day in 1835, Texans and Mexicans skirmished near San Antonio at the battle of Concepción, the opening engagement in the siege of Bexar. Some ninety Texans under the command of James Bowie and James W. Fannin, Jr., defeated a force of 275 Mexican soldiers and two cannons. Mexican losses included fourteen killed and thirty-­nine wounded, some of whom died later. Texas losses included one killed and one wounded.

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Chamizal Dispute finally settled

October 28, 1967

On this day in 1967, U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson and Mexican president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz formally settled the so-called Chamizal Dispute by agreeing that Mexico should receive 7.82 acres of the Ponce de León land grant. The dispute between Mexico and the United States involved about 600 acres at El Paso between the bed of the Rio Grande as surveyed in 1852 and the present channel of the river. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 and the Treaty of 1884 had specified that the boundary between the two nations should be down the middle of the river along the deepest channel, regardless of any alterations in the banks or channels. By 1873, alterations in the river's course had carved out a 600-acre tract known as the Chamizal that became de facto U.S. territory. In 1895, however, Mexico argued that the boundary had never changed and that the Chamizal was therefore technically Mexican territory. In 1911, the International Boundary Commission proposed dividing the disputed territory, but the U.S. rejected the proposal. The dispute continued until President John F. Kennedy agreed to settle it on the basis of the 1911 arbitration award. In January 1963, the United States and Mexico ratified a treaty that generally followed the 1911 arbitration recommendations. The small portion of the Ponce de León grant that changed hands in 1967 officially ended the dispute.

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German newspaper ceases publication

October 28, 1945

On this day in 1945, the German-language San Antonio Freie Presse für Texas, one of the leading Republican papers in the South in the years after the Civil War, ceased publication. August Siemering and Company started the paper in 1865, a few months before starting the San Antonio Express. Two years later James P. Newcomb became involved in the operation of both papers. The German paper, with Siemering as editor, was a five-column, four-page publication issued bi-weekly, tri-weekly, and, at times, daily. Siemering, who had been a vocal opponent of slavery, was a staunch Unionist despite having been impressed into the Confederate army. The company sold the English paper, the Express, in 1877, but continued to do the mechanical work until the Express bought its own presses some years later. Siemering died in 1883; the Freie Presse continued as an eight-page, six-column weekly until it was discontinued.

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posted by Jeff - 10.28.2011  -  The Texas State Historical Association