This is a six stage multicache, with all stages within walking
distance of one another.
The Six National Flags of
Texas
Six national flags have flown over Texas since the first European
exploration of the region by Cortez in 1519. The six flags are:
Texas Under Spain.
1519-1685; 1690-1821.
Spain was the first European
nation to claim what is now Texas, beginning in 1519 when
Cortez was establishing Spanish presence in Mexico, and Alonzo
Alvarez de Pineda mapped the Texas coastline. A few
shipwrecked Spaniards, like Alvar Nunez, Cabeza de Vaca, and
explorers such as Coronado, occasionally probed the vast
wilderness, but more than 100 years passed before Spain
planted its first settlement in Texas: Ysleta Mission in
present El Paso, established in 1681. Gradually expanding from
Mexico, other Spanish missions, forts and civil settlements
followed for nearly a century-and-a-half until Mexico threw
off European rule and became independent in 1821. The red and
yellow striped Spanish flag after 1785 depicts a lion of Leon
and a castle of Castile on a shield surmounted by a crown.
Texas Under
France. 1685-1690.
Planning to expand its base from
French Louisiana, France took a bold step in 1685, planting
its flag in eastern Texas near the Gulf Coast. Although
claimed by Spain, most of Texas had no Spanish presence at
all; the nearest Spanish settlements were hundreds of miles
distant. French nobleman Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la
Salle, founded a colony called Fort St. Louis. But the effort
was doomed by a series of calamities: shipwreck, disease,
famine, hostile Indians, and internal strife resulting in La
Salle's murder by one of his own company. by 1690, France's
bold claim to Texas had evaporated. The French flag features a
host of golden Fleurs-de-lis emblazoned on a field of white,
which was actually the French royal ensign for ships and
forts.
Texas Under
Mexico. 1821-1836.
For more than a decade after
Mexico became independent, hardy pioneers from the Hispanic
south and the Anglo north flowed into Texas. It was a frontier
region for both; Anglo Texans became Mexican citizens. But
divergent social and political attitudes began to alienate the
two cultures. The final straw: Mexican General Santa Anna
scrapped the Mexican federal constitution and declared himself
dictator. Texans revolted and won their independence April 21,
1836, on the battleground of San Jacinto near Houston.
Mexico's intricate flag pictures an eagle, a snake (an image
from pre-Columbian mythology) and cactus on bars of brilliant
green, white and red.
Texas as a
Republic. 1836-1845
During nearly ten years of
independence, the Texas republic endured epidemics, financial
crises and still-volatile clashes with Mexico. But it was
during this period that unique accents of the Texas heritage
germinated. Texas became the birthplace of the American
cowboy; Texas Rangers were the first to use Sam Colt's
remarkable six-shooters; Sam Houston became an American ideal
of rugged individualism. Texas joined the United States on
December 29, 1845. The red, white and blue Texas state flag
with its lone star (the same flag adopted by the republic in
1839) today flies virtually everywhere: on government
buildings, schools, banks, shopping malls, and even on oil
derricks.
Texas in the
Confederacy. 1861-1865
Sixteen years after Texas
joined the union, the American Civil War erupted. Gov. Sam
Houston, urging Texans to stay aloof or re-establish a neutral
republic, was driven from office. Texas cast its lot with the
doomed southerners, reaping devastation and economic collapse
as did all Confederate states. But two events fixed Texas and
Texans as somehow different in the nation's eyes. First, Texas
troops on Texas soil won the final battle of the Civil War,
not knowing the south had capitulated a month earlier. Second,
returning Texans found a population explosion of wild
Longhorns, sparking the great cattle-trail drives that became
American legends. The first Confederate flag flown in Texas
was the South's national emblem, "The Stars and Bars" of the
Confederate States of America, although the later-crossed
Confederate battle flag is better known today.
Texas in the US.
1845-1861; 1865-Present.
On joining the union, Texas
became the 28th star on the U.S. flag. Shrugging aside defeat
and bitter reconstruction after the Civil War, the offspring
of Texas pioneers marshaled their strengths to secure a future
based on determined self-reliance. First was the fabled Texas
Longhorn, providing beef for a burgeoning nation. Newly turned
topsoil on vast farm acreage yielded bountiful crops. The 20th
Century dawned with the discovery of fabulous sources--gushers
roaring in at a place called Spindletop near Beaumont. By
mid-century, modern Texas industries were sprouting in a
fertile climate of advanced technology. Today under the
magnificent "Star Spangled Banner," Texas horizons continue to
expand, thrusting up to the limitless reaches of outer
space.