Take a trip with me today. No, not around Anna, Melissa or Van Alstyne, but back in time, sort of like the Time Traveler playing on the big screens around town. We're going back 174 years to be exact, to October 1835, to witness the early steps leading to Texas independence.
The differences between Texas and Mexico went from the talking stage to the shooting stage on Oct. 2, 1835, at the Battle of Gonzales, generally considered to be the first battle of the Texas Revolution.
Leading up to the conflict, Mexican authorities sent a force of about 100 men to take back a cannon that was given to Gonzales residents to defend themselves against Indians. In response, the Texans loaded the cannon with scrap iron, aimed at the Mexicans, and fired the shot that began the revolution.
After a short fight near the Guadalupe River, the Mexicans retreated, suffering one casualty; there were no losses for the Texans.
The battle flag used by the Texans was the now-famous "Come and Take It" flag. On a white banner was a picture of the old cannon, painted in black, with the words "Come and Take It" printed below the cannon.
We see this flag in Texas-themed stores, as framed decorations in homes or offices and on occasional flagpoles underneath a fluttering Lone Star flag.
The road to Texas independence, militarily, saw valiant victories, bitter defeats, and in between there came anecdotes, as there always are in military operations.
Toward the end of November (remember, we're still back in 1835), Texans around San Antonio were alerted about a shipment of silver coming from Mexico. According to reports, the silver was being transported on a pack mule train, on its way to pay Mexican Gen. Cos' soldiers. Texas scouts watched for the convoy, fully intending to intercept it.
On the morning of November 28, Erastus "Deaf" Smith, while on patrol, discovered some mules with packs approaching. We'll digress here for a moment. Smith was hearing impaired, thus the name "Deaf". However, despite the handicap, he was known as a superior scout. And, incidentally, there is a Deaf Smith County southwest of Amarillo.
Now back to the mule train. Assuming this to be the silver shipment, Deaf Smith alerted the Texan camp. A group under Jim Bowie intercepted the mule train and a fight was under way. With more Texan reinforcements, the Mexicans were routed. The enemy ran, the Texans pursued, and the skirmish was over.
In retreat the Mexicans abandoned their mules. Unfortunately, the victorious Texans soon found that the packs were filled with grass, rather than the expected silver. The prisoners told them that the previous evening they gathered grass to feed their horses.
And that was the end of what became known as "The Grass Fight."
And now, just like the Time Traveler, we pop up back at home, and as Paul Harvey, in another time zone, used to say in his radio broadcasts, "we know the rest of the story."
Ken Gaidziunas is a staff writer for the Anna-Melissa Tribune and the Van Alstyne Leader.