Timeline of the Republic of Texas

This is a timeline of the Republic of Texas, spanning the time from the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, up to the transfer of power to the State of Texas on February 19, 1846.

1836

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Texas Declares Independence

Austin and Tanner map of Texas in 1836
Detail of the Republic of Texas from the Lizars map of Mexico and Guatemala, circa 1836

1837

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  • March 1 - The United States recognizes Texas's independence.
  • April - Houston becomes the sixth temporary capital of the republic March 1,1837

1838

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Thomas Gamaliel Bradford's 1838 map of the Republic of Texas, showing the Nueces River as its southern boundary
A different version of Bradford's 1838 map, showing the Rio Grande as Texas's southern boundary
  • October 5 - Disaffected band of Cherokee kills or abducts 18 extended-family members in the Killough massacre, the largest Native American attack on white settlers in Texas.
  • December 10 - Mirabeau B. Lamar becomes president of the republic.

1839

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  • March - An uprising of Nacogdoches-area Tejanos who did not support independence from Mexico culminated in the Córdova Rebellion and its defeat at Battleground Prairie in Guadalupe County.
  • July 12 - The Cherokee under The Bowl accept President Lamar's proposal of relocation to the adjacent Arkansas Territory in the United States but refuse to begin preparations for departure after asking for an extension to collect their already planted crops.
  • July 15 - The first day of the Battle of the Neches repulses a Cherokee attack against the Texian army under General Kelsey Douglass.
  • July 16 - The second day of the Battle of the Neches ends in a rout of the Cherokee, scattering them and their allies from their settlements on the upper Neches. Generals Rusk and Burleson command the Texians, and Vice President David G. Burnet and Secretary of War Albert Sidney Johnston are both wounded. Both Cherokee chiefs, The Bowl and Big Mush, are killed.
  • September 25 - France recognizes Texas's independence.
  • October - The capital

1840

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1841

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John Arrowsmith's 1841 Map of Texas

1842

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  • March - A division of the Mexican Army led by Ráfael Vásquez invades Texas and captures San Antonio and Goliad, only to withdraw a few days later.
  • June – July - A division of the Mexican Army led by Antonio Canales Rosillo invades south Texas and is repulsed near Fort Lipantitlán.
  • September 11 - A division of the Mexican Army led by Gen. Adrián Woll invades Texas and captures San Antonio.
  • September 18 - Col. Mathew Caldwell's and Capt. Jack Hays' companies attack General Woll's army at the Battle of Salado Creek.[2]
  • September 18 - 36 Texians are surrounded and killed by the Mexican Army in the Dawson Massacre.
  • December 26 - 261 Texians are taken prisoner in the ill-fated Mier Expedition, after they cause about 800 casualties in Pedro de Ampudia's force at the Battle of Mier, where they were outnumbered ten to one by the Mexican Army.
  • December 29 - The people of Austin fire on Texian officials, who attempted to move the government records to Houston at Pres. Houston's request, in the Texas Archive War.

1843

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  • April 24 – August 6, Snively Expedition; an operation led by Jacob Snively to intercept a train of Mexican traders who would be returning from Missouri on the Santa Fe Trail by way of Texas territory and to seize their goods. This was to be in retaliation for the Mexican raids on San Antonio in 1842 and for the mistreatment of Texas prisoners captured in the Mier Expedition and on the Texian Santa Fe Expedition. Despite defeating a detachment of Mexican soldiers on the Arkansas River, they caused a border incident with the United States, and were disarmed by U. S. Dragoons. Those who remained were not strong enough to defeat the guard on the train and returned to Texas.
  • May 16 - Two sloops-of-war of the Texas Navy of the Republic engage Mexican naval vessels in the Naval Battle of Campeche.

1844

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  • September 16 - All Texas prisoners are released by Mexico on order from Santa Anna.
  • December 9 - Anson Jones becomes president of the republic.

1845

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  • February 28 - The United States Congress passes a bill that would authorize the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
  • March 1 - United States President John Tyler signs the authorization bill.
  • October 13 - A majority of voters in the Republic approve a proposed Texas state constitution.
  • December 29 - The Republic of Texas is annexed by the United States of America.

1846

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  • February 19 - Power is transferred from the Republic of Texas to the State of Texas.

References

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  1. ^ Texas Declaration of Independence  – via Wikisource.
  2. ^ Early Days in Texas by Nathan Boone Burkett (1820-1898)
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