1-1                                       1

 1-2                          SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 836

 1-3           WHEREAS, The City of Brownsville is celebrating the

 1-4     sesquicentennial of its founding in 1848, and the Texas Senate

 1-5     is especially proud to recognize the legendary city on this august

 1-6     occasion; and

 1-7           WHEREAS, Intricately woven into the history of the Lone Star

 1-8     State, Brownsville is Texas' southernmost city and the Rio Grande

 1-9     Valley's largest city; the area surrounding it dates from the

1-10     colonial days of Imperial Spain, covering periods of exploration,

1-11     wars, revolutions, and infamous banditry; and

1-12           WHEREAS, First to arrive at this remote area on the Texas

1-13     coast were the Spanish explorers who found hundreds of native

1-14     American groups known as Coahuiltecans living there; they were

1-15     followed by colonizers and staunch families who came to tame the

1-16     arid wilderness:  Alonzo de Leon in 1689, Jose de Escandon in

1-17     1746, and Jose Salvador de la Garza in 1782; and

1-18           WHEREAS, For over 300 years, the city has figured prominently

1-19     in the development of our state, and five national banners have

1-20     flown over its settlements--Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas,

1-21     the Confederate States of America, and the United States; and

1-22           WHEREAS, With its rich military, commercial, transportation,

1-23     and agricultural legacies contributing to the development of Texas

 2-1     and the United States, Brownsville has become a vital international

 2-2     seaport, airport, and railroad interchange point on the Mexican

 2-3     border; and

 2-4           WHEREAS, First settled as part of Matamoros, Mexico, in the

 2-5     latter half of the 18th century, Brownsville was first chartered

 2-6     as a United States city in 1848; General Zachary Taylor established

 2-7     Fort Texas (renamed Fort Brown after the death of its gallant

 2-8     commander, Major Jacob Brown) in 1846 to confirm the Rio Grande

 2-9     as the national boundary after the Republic of Texas became a

2-10     state; that incident resulted in the Mexican War, and the first

2-11     battles were fought here:  Thornton's Skirmish, the Battle of

2-12     Palo Alto, and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma; here General

2-13     Taylor launched his invasion of Mexico, which was followed

2-14     immediately by the organization of the City of Brownsville by

2-15     Charles Stillman; several existing buildings of Fort Brown are

2-16     now part of Texas Southmost Junior College; and

2-17           WHEREAS, During the Civil War, Brownsville was the only port

2-18     available to the Confederacy to ship its cotton in exchange for

2-19     war supplies and became the heart of action for international

2-20     intrigue; stationed in Point Isabel and Brazos Santiago, the Union

2-21     Army forced the Confederates to evacuate the city in 1863, and the

2-22     stored cotton was burned to keep it from the Union Army, which

2-23     resulted in destroying Fort Brown and part of the city; and

2-24           WHEREAS, Brownsville became the capital of Texas from November,

2-25     1863, to July, 1864, when Brigadier General Andrew Jackson Hamilton,

 3-1     appointed military governor of Texas by President Abraham Lincoln,

 3-2     occupied the city with Union troops; Confederates retook the city in

 3-3     1864 and maintained control, rebuffing the Union forces in the final

 3-4     battle of the Civil War at the Palmito Ranch under the command of

 3-5     John S. "RIP" Ford; at this time, the war had been over for several

 3-6     weeks; and

 3-7           WHEREAS, The cattle industry developed on the Spanish land

 3-8     grants and spread throughout the West at the end of the Civil War;

 3-9     Brownsville was the southern terminus of the Chisholm Trail;

3-10     during the same period large irrigation projects were started

3-11     that were the beginning of the rich agricultural business in the

3-12     valley; and

3-13           WHEREAS, From the beginning, Brownsville was a key commercial

3-14     center for South Texas and Northern Mexico; transportation was

3-15     always crucial to its development, and the area was served by

3-16     sailing ships, covered wagons, steamboats, railroads, deep-sea

3-17     ports, and the earliest major international airport; and

3-18           WHEREAS, Commissioned officers and future generals were

3-19     stationed in the city:  Robert E. Lee, Philip Sheridan,

3-20     Braxton Bragg, Don Carlos Buell, Edmund Kirby-Smith,

3-21     James Longstreet, John B. Magruder, George Gordon Meade,

3-22     John Pemberton, John F. Reynolds, George H. Thomas, Joseph Hooker,

3-23     Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George B. McClellan, Irvin McDowell,

3-24     John Pope, John Sedgwick, Hamilton Bee, John Pershing, and others;

3-25     future presidents of three nations lived there:  Zachary Taylor,

 4-1     Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Porfirio Diaz, Manuel Gonzalez,

 4-2     and Mariano Arista; and men who would one day be governors:

 4-3     A. J. Hamilton, Lew Wallace, Edmund J. Davis, and

 4-4     Juan Nepomuceno Cortina; and

 4-5           WHEREAS, Here revolutions were planned and

 4-6     supplied--revolutions that altered the future not only of the

 4-7     United States and Mexico, but Europe as well; forty-niners passed

 4-8     on their way to the California gold rush, some remaining to help

 4-9     build the city; and

4-10           WHEREAS, Men of vision came to find fame and fortune:

4-11     businessmen turned ranchers--Richard King, Mifflin Kenedy,

4-12     Francisco Yturria, John Young, John McAllen, and Adolphus Glaevecke;

4-13     pioneers who became farmers, merchants, builders of ports and

4-14     railroads, and persons of special talents--Charles Stillman,

4-15     Louis Brulay, Manuel Alonso, Simon Celaya, Jose San Roman,

4-16     Manuel Trevino, J. H. Fernandez, Albert, Peter, Nicholas and

4-17     Joseph Champion, A. P. Barreda, Adrian Ortiz, J. L. Putegnat,

4-18     Samuel and Jeremiah Galvan, Jacob Mussina, S. A. Belden,

4-19     Frank S. North, Humphrey E. Woodhouse, Juan S. Cross,

4-20     Victoriano Fernandez, Joseph Webb, Thomas Carson, Patrick Shannon,

4-21     Henry Miller, Andres Pacheco, Henry M. Field, William Neale,

4-22     S. W. Brooks, Stephen Powers, John S. "RIP" Ford, J. T. Canales,

4-23     Morris Edelstein, James Well, and many others; and

4-24           WHEREAS, Women capable of carving civilization from the cactus

4-25     and chaparral came also:  Maria Josefa Cavazos, Una Rutland Neale,

 5-1     Henrietta Morse Chamberlain King, Theresa Clark Clearwater,

 5-2     Nora Kelly, and Salome Balli; and

 5-3           WHEREAS, Men and women of the cloth came to bring the Word

 5-4     of God into a wild frontier town:  Father Jean Maurice Verdet,

 5-5     Father Pierre Karalum, Reverend Hiram Chamberlain, Melinda Rankin,

 5-6     Father Pierre Parisot, and the sisters of the Incarnate Word and

 5-7     Blessed Sacrament, Saint Clare, Saint Angel, Saint Ephrem, and

 5-8     Saint Dominic, to establish the first parochial school; and

 5-9           WHEREAS, The future surgeon general of the United States,

5-10     William Crawford Gorgas, came to work and conquer yellow

5-11     fever, providing the key to the building of the Panama Canal;

5-12     Lieutenant Abner Doubleday, who helped give us baseball, served

5-13     there twice; during the birth of air transportation, Amelia

5-14     Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Les Mauldin, Claire Chennault,

5-15     Ira Eaker, William "Billy" Mitchell, Juan Trippe, Howard Hughes,

5-16     Eddie Rickenbacker, Tom Braniff, and others; until World War II,

5-17     the airport at Brownsville was the busiest international airport

5-18     in the United States; and

5-19           WHEREAS, The names of countless men and women, who are a part

5-20     of Brownsville's unique history and who gave of their own talents,

5-21     will forever leave their mark on the city's illustrious past;

5-22     Brownsville's sesquicentennial celebration will honor these

5-23     individuals and their contributions not only to Texas, but also

5-24     to the nation; now, therefore, be it

5-25           RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas,

 6-1     75th Legislature, hereby extend its deepest appreciation to

 6-2     the citizenry of Brownsville and extend best wishes for a most

 6-3     glorious sesquicentennial celebration in 1998; and, be it further

 6-4           RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for this

 6-5     notable event as a token of the highest regard of the Texas Senate

 6-6     for the City of Brownsville and its people.

 6-7                                                                   Lucio

 6-8                                  ______________________________________

 6-9                                          President of the Senate

6-10                                       I hereby certify that the above

6-11                                  Resolution was adopted by the Senate

6-12                                  on May 23, 1997.

6-13                                  ______________________________________

6-14                                          Secretary of the Senate

6-15                                  ______________________________________

6-16                                           Member, Texas Senate