The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 390

Votcs ad Documents
exass items the Army ard Navy
Ckroicle, 1836
Contributed by COLONEL M. L. CRIMMINS
E Army and Navy Chronicle was a weekly magazine
published in Washington, D. C., by B. Homans. During
the early months of Texas independence, its pages reflected
American interest in Texas. The extracts given here appeared
in successive numbers of Volume III from July through De-
cember, 1836. The number for July 7, 1836, carried on page
eight a description of a Texas flag which may add yet another
to the numerous standards which characterize the state's his-
tory. The item read: "Texas Flag-a plain red ground, with
a single white, five-pointed star, and the letters TEXAS between
the points."'
A second item in the Chronicle may show the difficulties which
faced the Republic of Texas in seeking recognition from and
annexation to the United States. The following extract, from
the issue for July 21, 1836, illustrates the obstructionist tactics
employed by John Quincy Adams2 to prevent annexation.
*TEXAS*
Saturday, July 2.
Mr. Mason3 gave notice, that as soon as the business before the Com-
'A flag of this description is not listed in Mamie Wynne Cox, The
Romantic Flags of Texas. It is similar, in the use of the white star and
white letters, to the Lorenzo de Zavala flag, which was adopted by the
Texas Convention, March 11, 1836, to be "the first official National Lone
Star flag." Part of the records of the minutes of the convention were lost,
however, and Miss Adina de Zavala says that her grandfather's flag had
"no lettering to mar its pure face."-(Cox, Romantic Flags of Texas, 230-
231.)
2Former President John Quincy Adams in 1836 was congressman from
Massachusetts. When President, he had made a fruitless attempt to obtain
Texas from Mexico by cession, but when the annexation of Texas was
proposed, he opposed it because he was against the extension of slavery.
See Dictionary of American Biography, I, 88, and Biographical Directory
of American Congresses, 1774-1927, 625. (Hereafter cited D.A.B. and
B.D.A.C.)
3John Young Mason, congressman from Virginia, introduced the bill
recognizing the independence of Texas. See D.A.B., XII, 369; B.D.A.C.,
1296.