The Runaway Scrape was the 1836 escape of Texas residents from the
encroaching Mexican Army of Operations under the command of Antonio
López de Santa Anna during the Texas Revolution. Civilian evacuations
began on the Gulf Coast in January after the vanguard of the Mexican
army crossed the Rio Grande to quell the insurrection of American
colonists and Tejanos (Mexicans born in Texas). Weeks later, news of the
Battle of the Alamo and the Goliad massacre created a state of panic.
Sam Houston was the Texas commander-in-chief of raw recruits who had
little or no combat experience. Fleeing civilians moved in tandem with
Houston's troops for protection, as he sought a safe training camp for
his soldiers. The pursuing Mexican army had orders to execute all rebel
combatants, and it cut a swath of destruction in its search for them.
After a mere three weeks training near the Brazos River, the Texas
troops finally parted ways with the civilians, who were given a military
escort to safety. Houston turned his army southeast and engaged the
Mexican army at the April 21 Battle of San Jacinto that resulted in
Santa Anna's surrender.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_Scrape>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
900:
A debt was pardoned by the Datu of Tondo on the island of Luzon,
as inscribed on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest known
written document found in the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription>
1509:
Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his
father Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the
history of the English monarchy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England>
1863:
After the Ottoman Empire exiled him from Baghdad,
Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, began his twelve-day
stay in the Garden of Ridván where he declared his mission as "He whom
God shall make manifest".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h>
1914:
Mexican Revolution: The United States detained a German steamer
carrying materiel for the Mexican federal government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypiranga_incident>
1970:
In response to a long-running dispute over wheat production
quotas, the Principality of Hutt River proclaimed its secession from
Western Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
macroeconomics:
The study of the entire economy in terms of the total amount of goods
and services produced, total income earned, the level of employment of
productive resources, and the general behavior of prices.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/macroeconomics>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The purpose and cause of the incarnation was that He might
illuminate the world by His wisdom and excite it to the love of Himself.
--Peter Abelard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Abelard>