Sachse Historical Society

05/14/2026

Thanks Sachse Public Library for partnering with us to highlight the history of Memorial Day and some of our local Veterans!

05/14/2026

https://allthingsliberty.com/2026/05/escape-from-yorktown/. A lengthy read, but good stuff!

The 1781 defeat of British forces at Yorktown Virginia is often cited as the pivotal battle of the American Revolution, winning American independence. General George Washington with the support of French ground and naval forces under General Rochambeau and Admiral de Grasse, along with the expertise...

05/10/2026

Happy Mother's Day!

04/16/2026

I'm pretty sure we all just scratched after reading this..

The Texas Quote of the Day is something that many Texas folks, me included, can relate to:

"We have fortunately passed the chigger district and their bites are healing. I wish I knew what was the real word ---- chigger or jigger ---- our boys pronounce it the latter. It is so small as to be almost invisible but soon builds a large bloody house about him which itches extremely, and if scratched is inflamed into a large, running sore. Many cannot resist bringing them to this ---- though I have. But such a scratching goes on in tents as to annoy those who otherwise could sleep."

------- Artist Miner K. Kellog, "Texas Journal," 1872, published by University of Texas Press in 2014. Kellog was an interesting character. A skilled artist and painter who had done portraits of kings and presidents, by 1872 he was a land surveyor working in Texas ---- and his journal is essentially an unending catalog of complaints about the Lone Star State. He was a cultured man who viewed Texans as uncivilized, uneducated, and uncouth. Nevertheless, he was also a skilled observer and chronicler, and his observations about Texans, when he's not complaining about them, are very interesting.

I couldn't find a photo of Miner himself, but here's a portrait of Andrew Jackson he painted in 1840. It is in the Smithsonian.

04/16/2026

April 16, 1776 — New York’s Mechanics Push for a Bolder Course

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, New York was preparing for war in more ways than one.

The Continental Army was strengthening defenses around the city, and everyone understood that New York was likely to become a major battlefield in the months ahead. After the British evacuation of Boston, attention was shifting to the harbor, the rivers, and the approaches to Manhattan and Long Island. A military struggle was clearly coming.

But there was also a political battle within the colony itself.

New York remained deeply divided. Many merchants still hoped to preserve some connection to the Crown, mindful of how much trade and commerce had long depended on the British Empire. That made New York’s leaders tread carefully. In Congress and at home, they often tried to hold a cautious line in a colony where loyalty, resistance, and uncertainty still existed side by side.

The city’s mechanics and tradesmen wanted something different.

On April 16, 1776, the Mechanics in Union put forward a petition and their own preferred candidates for the Provincial Congress. That mattered because the Provincial Congress would choose New York’s delegates to the Continental Congress and help decide how the colony would respond when the question of independence came fully into view.

The issue, then, was not just who would represent New York, but how. Would the colony continue to move cautiously, treading a careful line? Or would it send men prepared to act boldly when the decisive moment came?

The mechanics were pressing for the latter. After a year of war, coercion, destruction, and unanswered petitions, they did not want New York’s representatives to follow a loyalist line or abstain — courteously — while other colonies moved ahead. They wanted men ready to speak and act for liberty.

So as defenses rose against a British attack from without, another struggle was unfolding within. New York was preparing for the possibility of battle in its streets and waters, while also fighting over its political direction, its representation, and its future.

On April 16, New York faced two battlefields at once—one against the approaching British Army, and one within the colony over whether to tread carefully or move boldly toward independence.

And that’s the way it was, April 16, 1776.

04/16/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16zErsaovk/

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day: Blue topaz, the official Texas state gemstone, in Texas is found only in Mason County. The one shown in this photo is in the Texas Memorial Museum on the UT campus in Austin. Isn't it gorgeous?

04/14/2026

04/14/2026

Union Pacific’s legendary Big Boy No. 4014 steam locomotive embarked on its first coast-to-coast tour in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary with a kickoff ceremony held at Milepost 0 in downtown, Sacramento – the historic site where Central Pacific Railroad began construction on the fi...

04/14/2026

April 14, 1776 — John Adams and the Experiment of American Government

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, John Adams reflected on how quickly the colonies were moving from resistance to the work of government.

Writing to Abigail Adams on April 14, 1776, he predicted that “Governments will be up every where before Midsummer,” along with “an End to Royal style, Titles and Authority.” This was more than a forecast of separation. Americans were already deciding what would replace royal rule.

At first, many new governments followed familiar lines. Provincial congresses, conventions, and committees stepped into roles once held by royal governors and other imperial officials. They adapted the old framework, but without loyalty to the Crown, preserving order while redirecting authority.

But the deeper question was not simply who would govern. It was how government should be designed. The imperial crisis had exposed what many Americans saw as a weakness in the British system: too much depended on custom and restraint, and too little on clear legal structures to protect liberty. As old governments fell away, Americans were being pushed to think more deliberately about constitutions, balances, and written rules.

That made the spring of 1776 a moment of experimentation as much as revolution. While George Washington prepared the military defense from New York, Adams could see a parallel political struggle unfolding. Americans were testing what forms of government might best preserve liberty under law.

Adams also knew this process would not unfold evenly. He noted “an Aristocratical Turn” in the southern colonies. New governments would reflect differences in wealth, social structure, and power. The question was not only whether Americans would govern themselves, but what kind of self-government they would create.

Through this private letter, we see that by April 1776 the colonies were moving beyond protest. They were experimenting with new governments, rethinking political authority, and asking how liberty could be secured not just by inherited custom, but by institutions and law.

And that’s the way it was, April 14, 1776.

04/14/2026

One of my favorite hidden spring gems are these beautiful purple irises! Some years they are absolutely stunning, other years you better enjoy them quick! These irises were transplanted to the front flower bed from some older family property. I remember Virginia Stone telling me where she got them, but I have completely forgotten. Anyone else know?