March 2, 2024 - On this day, in 1836, during the siege of the Alamo, another handful of men met one hundred fifty miles to the east in a large unfinished blacksmith shop at Washington-on-the-Brazos. There, on his forty second birthday, Sam Houston with fifty eight other duly elected delegates to the Convention of 1836 met to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence, prepared by George C. Childress and his five man committee.
Among those signing were William Carroll Crawford and Sydney O. Pennington, representing what would become Shelby County. Most of the signers wished to be on the battlefield with their fellow Texans but Houston convinced the delegates that the declaration would give the emerging republic a basis of legality and would draw more help from the United States. Four days after the signing Houston departed the Convention as commander of all military forces of the new Republic and the Republic had a constitution and an ad interim government headed by David G. Burnet and Lorenzo de Zavala.
On this day, March 2, Texas Independence Day, fly your Texas flag proudly.
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
William Carroll Crawford Chapter
