The Battle of Lipantitlán was fought along the Nueces River on November 4, 1835, between the Mexican Army and Texian insurgents, as part of the Texas Revolution. After the Texian victory at the Battle of Goliad, only two Mexican garrisons remained in Texas, Fort Lipantitlán near San Patricio and the Alamo Mission at San Antonio de Béxar. The commander of Fort Lipantitlán, Nicolás Rodríguez, had been ordered to harass the Texian troops at Goliad. Rodríguez took the bulk of his men on an expedition; while they were gone, Texian Captain Ira Westover's force arrived in San Patricio. On November 3, a local man persuaded the Mexican garrison to surrender, and the following day the Texians dismantled the fort. Rodríguez returned as the Texians were crossing the swollen Nueces River to return to Goliad. The Mexican soldiers attacked, but the longer range of the Texians' rifles soon forced them to retreat. The Texians now had full control of the Texas Gulf Coast, which meant that the troops stationed at San Antonio de Béxar could receive reinforcements and supplies only overland. Historian Bill Groneman believes that this contributed to the eventual Mexican defeat at the siege of Béxar, which expelled all Mexican troops from Texas. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1889:

Menelik II , who would later introduce several technological and administrative advances under his reign, was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelik_II_of_Ethiopia

1921:

After a speech by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, members of the Sturmabteilung, known as "brownshirts", physically assaulted his opposition, an event which assumed legendary proportions over time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung

1960:

At the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Dr. Jane Goodall observed a chimpanzee using a grass stalk to extract termites from a termite hill, the first recorded case of tool use by animals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasakela_Chimpanzee_Community

1966:

The River Arno flooded Florence, Italy, to a maximum depth of 22 ft (6.7 m), leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Flood_of_the_River_Arno

1970:

Authorities in Temple City, California, discovered a 13-year-old feral child known as "Genie", who had spent almost her entire life in social isolation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_%28feral_child%29

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

amalgamate (v): 1. To merge, to combine, to blend, to join. 2. To make an alloy of a metal and mercury. 3. (mathematics) To combine (free groups) by identifying respective isomorphic subgroups. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amalgamate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

People often ask me, "Will, where do you get your jokes?" I just tell 'em, 'Well, I watch the government and report the facts, that is all I do, and I don't even find it necessary to exaggerate. --Will Rogers http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Rogers