William Barret Travis and almost two hundred other defenders found themselves surrounded at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio in late February of 1836. Refusing to surrender, they held off the invading armies of Mexican Dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna for almost two weeks.

On March 6, the courageous Texans were overrun and slaughtered by well over 2000 Mexicans. The resulting delay of Santa Anna's eastward movement gave other Texans more time to organize, both politically and militarily, and to ultimately defeat and capture Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, fought April 21, 1836.

The name Texas is derived from tejas or teyas, the rendering by the Spanish in the mid-16th century of the Caddo people's word for friends or allies. It gradually became used to denote the region north of the Río Grande and east of New Mexico, and was officially applied as Texas when the area was organized as a republic in 1836. Texas was an independent republic until it joined the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. Its single-star flag dates from its independent period and has given Texas the nickname the Lone Star State.

Texas is so vast and diverse we offer a few of the best resources for Internet information. Click on the following links for additional Texas information.


Texas Highways - published monthly by the Travel and Information Division of the Texas Department of Transportation.
http://www.texashighways.com/

Population trends are detailed, followed by what may be the most complete list ever compiled of Texas towns, cities, communities and villages. This list of more than 14,000 Texas town names, includes not only the 5,800 existing towns, but also the names of towns that no longer exist and early names of existing towns. Since the list includes the counties in which these towns were located, it is a treasure for genealogists researching family history in Texas.

Texas Nature, generally, from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/

Weather Forecasts for Texas from weather.com
http://www.weather.com/weather/us/states/Texas.htm

U.S. Geological Survey's mapping information (find the latitude and longitude of any place in Texas) http://www-nmd.usgs.gov/www/gnis/

U.S. Naval Observatory (calculating times of moonrise/set and sunrise/set for a particular location) http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/

Texas Department of Transportation (Texas travel information)
http://www.traveltex.com

Visitor information for individual cities
http://www.tded.state.tx.us/tx-city/tx-city.htm

Texas Events, Fairs and Festivals List
http://www.traveltex.com/

Road Mileage Calculator (distances between Texas cities) http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/comptrol/texastra.html

National Parks and Historic Sites in Texas
http://www.nps.gov/parks/search.htm

Recreational facilities on National Forests and Grasslands in Texas http://www.southernregion.fs.fed.us/texas/

Texas Hunting License Information and Regulations
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/hunt/hunt.htm

Texas Fishing License Information and Regulations
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/fish.htm

The Texas State Historical Association
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/

Texas Historical Commission
http://www.thc.state.tx.us/

Texas State Library and Archives - for government records and historic documents
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/general/index.html

General Land Office - for Texas land archives and records
http://www.glo.state.tx.us/central/arc/index.htm

Texas Historic Sites Atlas
http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us

Lone Star Junction, an interesting and well-researched Texas history site.
http://www.lsjunction.com/

Web Cams

Austin Cam (from 6th St. and Trinity)
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/austin/


Austin Skyline
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/1814/austin.htm


Capitol Cam from KVUE
http://www.KVUE.com/webcam/capitol.html


University Tower from University Coop
http://www.coop-bookstore.com/ePOS?form=texas/tower.html


Bayou Vista Highlands Bayou
http://www.gccs.net/cam.htm


Corpus Christi Caller-Times - BeachCam, SkyCam, GhostCam
http://www.caller.com/specials/cams/


Surf Corpus
http://www.surfcorpus.com/


EarthCam Dallas - from Dallas Museum of Natural History
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/dallas/


WFAA Downtown Dallas
http://www.wfaa.com/bigcam.html


El Paso -Ozone Map Cam
http://www.ozonemap.org/aircams/


Galveston Surf Cam
http://www.galvestonsurfcam.com/index.html


Garland -
http://www.ci.garland.tx.us/cogwbcam.htm


Houston - EarthCam Houston - from Houston Museum of Natural Science
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/houston/museum/


KHOU Web Cams (11 cameras at different spots around Houston)
http://www.khou.com/webcams/index.html


Laredo - Eye in the Sky
http://www.bravo.net/eye.asp


Lubbock Texas Tech Park Place Cam at Talkington Plaza
http://www.hs.ttu.edu/web-cam/


Matagorda Beach Matagorda Beach Surf cam
http://www.matagordabay.com


Round Rock Round Rock traffic
http://www.round-rock.net


San Antonio EarthCam San Antonio River Walk
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/texas/sanantonio/boudros/


Heart of San Antonio (corner of Navarro and Houston streets)
http://HeartofSanAntonio.com/salive/smallview.asp


SkyCam - KENS 5 Eye in the Sky
http://www.mysa.com/mysanantonio/skycam/


Stephenville Weather Cam
http://www.stephenville.com/weather.asp


Surfside Surf Cam
http://netsurfing.com/surfcam/


Texas City Anita's Bait & Tackle Cam
http://www.fishtexas.cc/texascity/anitas/index.htm
Contact us: texas-almanac@dallasnews.com


On - line Magazine
http://www.texashighways.com/currentissue/index.php

Search the Texas Highways Online Index for the Road Trips we have featured on our Web site since 1998. Every month, our Road Trips take you to select destinations in the Lone Star State.


Texas Cooking - recipes, features, humor, etc.
http://www.texascooking.com/


Guide To Texas Outside - information on hiking, camping, boating, fishing, hunting, parks, hotels, golf, retirement, scuba diving, and anything else you can do outdoors.
http://www.texasoutside.com