Many Heroes and Many Villians

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     El Gringo Viejo has driven north from Seguin, Texas several million times, heading for either San Marcos, Texas to the University there....now known as Texas State University, a dull replacement for its older and more noble name, Southwest Texas State University.....or to other points to the north.   Other times meant a drive to Austin, Texas the capital of the Republic of Texas, where he lived for a good while.   Austin is the Sodom and the Gomorrah of our blessed entity, but it remains a good and interesting place even for dull and boring people such as me.



Jose Franscisco Navarro
Among the Greatest of the Greatest
of all Texian Heroes

 

      But, going back to just north of Seguin, Texas on Texas 123 one soon enters into a place called Geronimo, more correctly pronounced Hei -ROE - neh - moh.  The little community is an old Spanish - Mexican outpost that long, long ago lost all such characteristics with the arrival of the thousands of German settlers in the 1840s and 1850s.    But, the names mean something.  The school district is named Navarro Independent School District, and the rural community, never incorporated into city status, is still formally known as Geronimo.   It has been gentrified in recent years with the obligatory Sears houses from  the early 1900s changed into "antique and collectictible" shoppes.   A very good, and very typical Mexican restaurant named "Loera's" sits on the right, as one drives north, at the north end of town....quite close to, you guessed it...Geronimo Creek.
     Jose' Antonio Navarro was of the family that gave the names.   Some have declared that Geronimo was the grandfather of Jose' Antonio, while others maintain that Jose' Antonio's father Geronimo, Jr.  founded the large ranch during the Spanish Colonial period and christened it on the day of San Geronimo, that being the saint's day on the Roman Catholic calendar.   Whichever is true, and we have spent and will continue to spend time researching the point, the Navarros were well entrenched in the life of the area by the 1830s.

Stephen Fuller Austin
Father of the Republic of Texas

     Jose' Antonio Navarro was an interesting personality because he managed to have had four different citizenships during his lifetime without every having renounced one....or applying for another.    He was born a Spanish subject, and with the completion of the break by Mexico from Spain, he became a Mexican citizen....first a subject of Emperor Agustin de Iturbide I (1822 - 1823) and then as a citizen of the Republic upon the deposition of the Imperiato and the establishment of the republican Constitucion de 1824.   As Texas and Coahuila devolved into the mess of war against the Centralists under the command of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Navarro became a Texian....not only by just standing still, but also by attending, participating, and guiding the movements and actions of the Convention at Washington on the Brazos...near what is now Brenham, Texas.   Three people of the sixty there gathered had considerable experience in the nature of political stylings, the law, and matters of State.  They were Sam Houston, Lorenzo de Zavala, and Jose' Antonio Navarro.

     Navarro had one other great marker in his personnel file.   He was the closest friend and advisor to another great Texian personality...The Father of Texas ....Stephen F. Austin.   Because of Austin's health, it was thought that Navarro not only represented a large body of large landowners, but also the Latin group in general, the professions, experience in dealing with Lopez de Santa Anna, but also Stephen Fuller Austin himself on the floor of the Congress. The Congress of Texas....the Congress of Coahuila y Texas....and the Congress of the Republic of Mexico.

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     To-night, we wait with Trepidation and fear of showing fear.  There are 1,600 Mexicans supporting the indefensible official Mexican Centralist Government's  position facing off against a rag-tag bunch of 200 or so.  That small body was too stubborn to have taken the advice of Texano civilian leaders and military advisors...to choose their fight to the east and not waste themselves before a tyrant by dying uselessly in a nowhere place, defending nothing of military import.    This is their antepenultimate night on this earth, those inside the walls, and fully one-third of those outside the walls will join their enemies on the flight to judgement in less than thirty hours from the posting of this notice.

Pray for the souls of friend and foe.  The Ghosts of the Alamo will be restless again.  They never go away.
El Gringo Viejo

 

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An Interesting Tale about a Wondrous Place in the Middle of Nowhere

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This is another submission from our allies in the outpost at the ranch in "Extreme Central Texas".   It speaks to a bit of lore that is known to Real Live Texans,  and while what is written might sound like a "midsummer's night's dream", the OROG needs to be aware that it is simply so much innocent accuracy.

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Demasiado and Gringo Viejo,

      Here is a border porosity story less than three days old.  Among other things, it will establish that the “Law of Unintended Consequences” is alive and well.  Five years ago Princess Better Half and I tried to visit the Big Bend National Park but the Rio Grande had flooded during the drought and we were not allowed to drive south of Marfa, the scene of another funny story during an election year that I am not sure I should mention on here without more deliberation.  In an event, we are driving around the least visited and a very spectacular park when we come to Boquillas Crossing, the end of the road.  There is nothing there and you have to want to be here BAD to even find this place.  Where is Boquillas, you might ask?  Well Boquillas is 60 miles southeast of Terlingua, Texas, a thriving hippie hideout.  There is no significant town in either direction, up river of down river, closer than 150 miles, in Mexico or in the U.S.  We could not see the river from the U.S. Customs and Immigration point, so I asked how this crossing works?  It was then revealed me that you walk through the bushes, walk down the river bank a 100 feet and then wave and whistle.  This was too good to miss! 

      We had not intended to cross the border and Princess Better Half did not have her passport, but I happened to have mine; so while she read a book about half breed black and Seminole scouts used by the Army on the border; I proceeded down to the Rio Grande, waving and whistling.  Soon a boat appears and we agree that $5, will suffice for a round trip rowboat cruise.  On the Mexican side there were more tourist selections….would I rather ride a burro, a horse or a pickup truck for ¾ mile to the town of Boquillas, cost $5 per round trip, “out of kindness, I suppose.”  I selected a burro and was assigned Estoban Diaz Onates as mule skinner and town guide.  I ask Estoban about the population of Boquillas and learn there are now 39 families with five new houses, but no electric wires to most of them.  

      It seems that Boquillas was a prosperous mining town for silver and lead around 1900.  Later, in 1944, according to Estoban, the acquisition of the national park by the U.S. government caused problems with the transportation of ore through the park on park roads, etc.  Apparently, after the mining departed, tourism flourished with a few gringo tourists visiting each day.  We walked around town while I bought scorpions, ocotillo plants made from wire and beads, a walking stick and a woven bracelet.  It made them feel good and made me feel even better, all for $30.  See photo of me and Parda, the burro, with used Ford pickup in hot pursuit.

      Now the Law of Unintended Consequences.  Soon after 9/11/2001, the border crossing at Boquillas was closed.  So all the people were without work, but the men merely walked across the river and got jobs in the U.S., illegally of course.  A year ago, the Boquillas crossing point reopened and now with the economic downturn in the U.S., most of the men have returned home to the new tourist business again.  That is why there are five new houses in Boquillas and boys and girls, that is the end of today’s lesson in international market economics.

      An hour later, after returning to the U.S. side; my wife, Princess Better Half and I were hiking up Boquillas Canyon and saw several of the same trinkets for sale with coffee cans to deposit the money on the honor system, no people around.  Suddenly, we look down stream and here comes one of the young men on a horse, splashing across the river, out of sight of the border crossing and up the steep hiking trail, complete with horse poop, to check the cans for money.

 

Sincerely,

 

Outpost Commander

Extreme Central Texas

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       During the 1960s, El Gringo Viejo had the good fortune to have arrived in Boquillas, Chihuahua while working for the Institute of Texian Cultures.  We had the occasion to cross over and visit the humble place that was fairly vibrant in spite of its isolation.  In those days Old Timers would take their mules and donkeys and a couple of saddle mounts into the mountains in search of gold seams, sometimes with success.

     The father of El Gringo Viejo was briefly stationed in the Fort Leaton, Terlingua, and Fort Lajitas (quite near the mouth of the Boquillas Canyon area and the little village across the Rio Grande) area during the 1929 - 1933 period of his service with the Ist Cavalry (mounted) Division, 12th Regiment, Headquarters Squadron, during a time when that part of Mexico across the Rio Grande was "outside the national territorial control" of the Republic of Mexico.  It was thought that it was an ideal place for anarchists and "community organisers" of the period...especially from the Soviet Union and certain European countries could easily move into and out of the United States.

     Try this link,  http://www.first-team.us/tableaux/chapt_01/ for some peripherally relevant information.

El Gringo Viejo

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Independence Day - 2 March 1836

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TO-NIGHT PASSES INTO TO-MORROW, WHICH MEANS THAT WE CELEBRATE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS IN THE FACE OF ALL ODDS, AND AGAINST THE PRESENCE OF ONE OF THE BEST  (and worst) ARMIES ON THE PLANET AT THE TIME.

     There were seven general officers, six of whom were either high mediocre to extremely competent leading the Expeditionary Force.  There were 13,000 troops, either front-line or close support and reserve, of whom, probably 9,000 were high-mediocre to excellent in terms of combat efficiency.  The Texians could not comprehend the rapidity of movement and placement that the Mexican Centralist forces covered in the length of time that they used.

     The Texians could muster, at best, no more than 3,000 actives, very few of whom had ever served in anything beyond a militia.   Among the Latin elements, there were several hundred who had had experience in drill, tactics, supply, strategy formation and the like.   But the Anglo element was good with a rifle, but not easily trained.   There were a few officer level and command Sergeant level who could serve as a brain and nervous system for any Army, but the heart, muscle, soul, and will of the Army would have to come from yeomen.   Geographic understanding, cavalry, forage, and infantry would be provided by the Latins who knew the territory from about 70 - 100 years of occupation of the land under dispute by the 1824 Tricolour people who were opposing the Centralists under Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

 

     Then as now, the Texians made some foolish mistakes.  They thought that because they had removed a fairly strong force of Centralists under the command of Lopez de Santa Anna's brother-in-law, Gen. Perfecto de Cos, that they could handle anything coming out of Mexico City in future.  Interestingly, he was foisted finally, from the grounds of the Mission San Antonio de Valero (The Alamo) during a spirited several day battle in December, 1835.  Then when confronted with an invasion, they foolishly determined to defend a place that strategically, was neither worth defending nor offending.   Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, luckily for Texas, was foolish and egotistical enough to waste the flower of his particular element of the overall Army in the taking of the Alamo, which will fall four mornings ahead of now.   The Texians lost perhaps the best combination of irregular integrated infantry in the world at that time....178 - 208 men.

     Why the number difference?   Bodies were burned, save for one.  And the Latin roster that was recovered revealed the names of 19 persons, although various other accounts from surviving dependents who were inside the Alamo, Latin and Anglo said that other Latins had been present in the defence, who had come from the Yorktown area and entered three or four nights before the battle.   Others had come in from Castroville without registering with the Fort's Comandancia, either Bowie or Travis.   That is why people see different levels of numbers of defenders. 

      It is known that Lopez de Santa Anna lost at least 600 dead from the 13 days of siege and repeated assaults.   It was a foolish blunder by a man who styled himself as "The Napoleon of the West". 

      Once again, it is to be repeated that the fellows inside the walls of The Alamo never knew that Texas had "gone Independent".   Tomorrow marks the Day of the Declaration, written in large part by Lorenzo de Zavala, the first Vice-President of the Republic....the Alamo would fall four days later.

 

The new Enemy of Texas comes from the East and not the South so much.   It would have been so much better to never have joined their union and just decided to stay close, be friends, and be forever independent from things such as what are going on in Washington D.C. in these times.

 

Independencia y Libertad

El Gringo Viejo

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This up-date, penned 1 March 2014.  We have completed the third reading of  The Blood of Heroes  by James Donovan.   This will constitute the 20th complete book-length work that has been read concerning The Alamo, the Revolution against the Mexican Centralists, and the First Texian Republican Period 1836 - 1845, by El Gringo Viejo.   It is a recommended work, although diverges on ten or twelve points of common understanding held by both sides in this Epic Battle and Noble Episode in history.   The several hundred thousand other points and statements of knowledge and worthy facts put forth by Donovan are worthy of OROGs' attentions.  It ranges from Very Good, to Excellent to Profound in our estimation.

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Brief Climate Up-date from El Zorro

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     The message from El Zorro came in and was signed off with this cryptic observation, written at the extreme northern frontier of the Republica Texana, not far from the North Pole.

 

     As El Zorro informs, "We are expecting a high of 28° tomorrow and warming down to 10º tomorrow night.  Where is Al (the prophet) Gore?"

 

     Verily, verily will come those days when the truth will be lies, beauty will be ugliness, and goodness shall be called evil.   Where are you, Al?   El Gringo Viejo would like to know as well.

 

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Who Cares? We all should.

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The Charge Of The Light Brigade
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1809-1892

Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809-1892

This poem was written to memorialize a suicidal charge by light cavalry over open terrain by British forces in the Battle of Balaclava (Ukraine) in the Crimean War (1854-56). 247 men of the 637 in the charge were killed or wounded. Britain entered the war, which was fought by Russia against Turkey, Britain and France, because Russia sought to control the Dardanelles. Russian control of the Dardanelles threatened British sea routes. Many in the west best know of this war today because of Florence Nightingale, who trained and led nurses aiding the wounded during the war in a manner innovative for those times. The War was also noteworthy as an early example of the work of modern war correspondents.

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The Charge Of The Light Brigade

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Memorializing Events in the Battle of Balaclava, October 25, 1854
Written 1854


Half a league half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred:
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack & Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke,
Shatter'd & sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse & hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
 
Note: This poem, including punctuation, is reproduced from a scan of the poem written out by Tennyson in his own hand later, in 1864. The scan was made available online by the University of Virginia.
- See more at: http://www.nationalcenter.org/ChargeoftheLightBrigade.html#sthash.IIsdCbR8.dpuf
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Republican Referenda - Primary 2014

Republican referendums:   RELIGIOUS FREEDOM  - Texans should be free to express their religious beliefs, including prayer, in public places. SECOND AMENDMENT -  Texas should support Second Amendment liberties by expanding locations where concealed handgun license-holders may legally carry. FRANCHISE TAX - Texas should abolish the state franchise tax, also known as the margins tax, to encourage business growth. WELFARE REFORM -  Texas recipients of taxpayer-funded public assistance should be subject to random drug testing as a condition of receiving benefits. NO LAWMAKER EXCEPTIONS -  All elected officials and their staff should be subject to the same laws, rules, regulations, and ordinances as their constituents OBAMACARE - The Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," should be repealed.     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~        This is pretty much something that the Rightwing Crazies, Tea Party Folks, Country Club Hootsey-Snootseys, and Libertartian Elephants can pretty much come together over.   One does remember, however George Herbert Walker Bush telling a reporter, ''I'm a conservative, but I'm just not going to be crazy about it!''      We are well past the point when we can continue to be reasonable with our basic liberties and budget matters in the American Republic.  The only "reasonable" position is one that totally eschews any thought of further debt tolerance or deficit spending.   El Gringo Viejo   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~