12 minute read
Texas History Minute
Ben Milam was an average man who traveled the early frontier But the course of events would place him in the middle of the fight for Texas independence and into legend.
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Milam’s decisive actions made him one of the early heroes of the Texas Revolution.
Benjamin Rush Milam was born in 1788 in Frankfort, then just a tiny village on the Kentucky River in what was not yet Kentucky. His life was defined by the early frontier He had very little formal education, as almost no schools were available
As a young man, he was mostly interesting in trade and bartering Struck by wanderlust, he drifted from one adventure to the next In 1812, he enlisted in the Kentucky militia and served honorably as a lieutenant in the War of 1812
Milam made his first, brief foray into Texas in 1818 By the next year, he found himself in New Orleans, caught up in the excitement of a potential raid into Texas to seize it for the United States from Spain In what became known as the Long Expedition, James Long made Milam a colonel and led his ragtag army that crossed the Sabine River into Spanish Texas They quickly took Nacogdoches and declared Texas independent of Spain When the Spanish Army arrived, the Long Expedition fell apart
Milam and Long attempted to reorganize at Galveston in 1820, but the effort quickly faltered Milam then went to Veracruz and on to Mexico City Instead of finding the cities defended by monarchists, he and his party found that the rebels had already taken the cities He and the dozens of men with him were thrown in prison An American diplomat later arranged their release
He returned to Mexico in 1824 in the aftermath of yet another revolution, one that established Mexico as a republic And with a new government came a new attitude All was forgiven, and Milam was made a colonel the Mexican Army as well as a citizen Times were good for Milam He soon teamed up with a British immigrant, Gen Arthur G Wavell, and started a silver mine in Nuevo Leon, a northern Mexican state adjacent to Texas In 1825, they also gained empresario grants in Texas – land grants that allowed them to sell or lease lands in order to attract residents to what was still a lightly-populated region
Events, however, soon turned sour for Milam The Nuevo Leon mine started to falter, and he and Wavell soon leased out a mine to a British company In the meantime, Mexican officials grew increasingly concerned about American designs on Texas in light of offers by the United States government to buy Texas and raids such as the Long Expedition. In 1830, the Law of April 6 banned all immigration from the United States into Texas and expressly forbade the introduction of new slaves into the area even though Mexico had officially banned slavery the year before This imperiled Milam’s empresario contract
Agustin Viesca became governor of Coahuila y Texas in 1835 Ben Milam believed he could work with him to secure new land titles for Texas settlers On his visit to the new governor, he found a willing audience in his attempt to secure legal protections for their lands However, Gen Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had overthrown the elected government His officials arrested Viesca and Milam both Milam, however, was able to talk their way out of jail thanks to Viesca’s political allies Milam reached Texas in October and joined George Collinsworth’s column as they marched to take Goliad on October 10
After Goliad, Collinsworth’s forces met with other armed Texans marching toward San Antonio Gen Martin Perfecto de Cos held the city for Santa Anna Mexico had a large armed force occupying the city It was now December 4 With the weather growing cold, many Texans considered holing up for the winter, building their forces, and preparing for an attack in the spring
Milam recognized that point was the time to try to consolidate their gains and was determined to lead the charge himself With the permission of his superiors, he made an impassioned plea and declared to the troops, “Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?” Three hundred men stepped forward and marched into the lion’s den. They attacked at dawn the next morning
After two days of fighting, Milam’s forces were making progress. On the morning of December 7, they were charging steadily forward for the third day Milam stood at the fore of the battlefield, eyeing the positions of their attackers A chance shot rang out He was then struck in the head by the rifle fire and collapsed into the arms of his friends He died at the scene at the age of 47 just as the Texas Revolution was heating up Texas forces took the city two days later
Milam was widely honored in the years after his death In addition to streets, schools, and parks, a memorial site stands in San Antonio Residents of the Sabine
County community of Red Mound renamed their city after Milam in 1836 The Texas Republic established Milam County in Central Texas in 1837 and is now boasts nearly 25,000 residents
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Samuel Moore-Sobel is a freelance writer. He is currently working on a memoir and publishes a blog which can be found by visiting holdingontohopetoday com Follow him on both Facebook and Twitter.
Writing a book is not for the faint of heart It requires hours of dedication, coupled with a strong vision comprising what an author desires to impart Some books require much research, while others appear to be written nearly entirely off the cuff There are narratives that languish, while others become an instant success. The book business is a rather unpredictable one; for, we never truly know what books will come to captivate our attention until we read them
I recently read Blue Eyed Boy: A Memoir by Bob Timberg The memoir focuses on the life of a man who experienced great tragedy Suffering severe burns after riding in a van that encountered a landmine during the Vietnam War, the young Marine was forced to grapple with the implications of loss His face nearly entirely distorted as a result, he endured dozens of surgeries, eager to restore his previous physical appearance
Although his story may be rare, at least in comparison to the life of an average American, the words he offers are ones to which we can all relate A tale filled with pain and regret, joys and success He writes in a tone filled with sincerity, readily admitting to an extramarital affair, along with his penchant for wrecking marriages
Despite the pain inherent in his journey, he refuses to play the victim card He owns his mistakes, leaving it up to the reader to decide whether or not they were carried out as a result of experiencing horrific trauma
While books of all genres fill my bookshelves, there is something rather special about a memoir A sentiment likely shared by countless readers We long to delve into the stories of others, eager to connect and understand the human experience “Truth is stranger than fiction,” as the saying goes
Reading a memoir can help us identify our own thought patterns, making sense of the behavior we see in ourselves and those around
Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie showed us what it looks like for a human being to have empathy for another It illuminated the need for the older generation to provide wisdom and insight to those of us still trying to find our way James McBride’s The Color of Water helped redefine the meaning behind the color of our skin, paving the way for a more understanding culture in which human beings’ are judged and accepted by the character they display during the lives they live A view of a nation to which so many of us aspire
Admittedly, I may be biased, since I am in the process of completing a memoir A gut-wrenching, difficult, excruciating project that has taken several years to complete. One which I have occasionally wished to walk away from, only to be pulled back in by the prospect of making an impact My motivation for writing stemming from a desire to show others the lessons I have learned after enduring a traumatic experience, while offering hope to those who need it most For how else can we influence others if we are unwilling to share our stories?
In a few weeks, I plan to attend the National Book Festival in Washington, D C I will eagerly wait in long lines to meet fantastic authors, longing to hear the origination of the stories they so eloquently pen I will readily listen to lectures given by both nonfiction and fiction writers alike, willingly getting lost in the stories they tell Yet none will be as exciting as those offered by memoirists, offering tidbits along the way of the journeys they have traveled The adventures they have lived, the demons they have conquered The mountains they have climbed, and the tunnels they have burrowed Here’s to hoping the next year brings a whole slew of new memoirs For, so much would be lost if the sharing of beautiful, gut-wrenching, inspirational stories were to suddenly cease
Samuel Moore-Sobel is a freelance writer To read more of his work, visit wwwholdingontohopetodaycom
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How can I retire young with financial independence?
Hey Taylor - I have friends who keep talking about this FIRE movement (financial independence retire early, I think) It seems like something that’s either too good to be true, or you just have to make millions in your 20s and 30s Am I missing something? -DJ
Hey DJ - You’re not missing much, just doing a bit of oversimplifying The idea of retiring at 35 or 40 sounds glamorous and somewhat unrealistic, but it is possible and it actually might not be as glamorous as you think I’ll try to give you a succinct breakdown
1 Make a million dollars in your 20s and 30s This sounds like a lot, but it’s not that crazy a number Let’s say you get a job at 21 with a salary of 35K If you can get a 5% raise each year, either through the company or by seeking out higher salaries, you should be making 50-60K a year when you’re in your early 30s If you don’t have any debt and keep minimal expenses, a significant portion of that income can go into an investment account that continues to compound your earnings As long as you invest in quality stocks and bonds, turning a modest salary into a million dollars isn’t that far fetched Why a million? Because that’s usually the number for the FIRE model of living If you can make more, feel free to do so.
2 Avoid most luxury buys If you
Living with children
have an inheritance an good deal on a house, help with your retirem down the road Otherw leaving the workforce usually means renting living nomadically fo foreseeable future A use the international h sites, going where the them and living for fr probably won’t be living in a gated community and playing golf every day of your retirement, but that’s usually not the goal for people who ditch their jobs while still relatively young
3 Weather the storms The rule of thumb for this lifestyle is living of 4% of your portfolio amount That means you have more money when your assets increase in value, and less money when the markets are struggling If you have a million-dollar portfolio, you have $40,000 a year to live off This math shows how feasible an early retirement might be, but the variables of healthcare, having a family and unexpected expenses still loom large If you commit to a jobless life at the age of 40, you will be closely monitoring your money for the rest of time
Is early retirement possible? It really, really is Is there a cheat code that makes it easy? There definitely is not It’s a lifestyle you have to identify with, but it’s one you can absolutely strive to live Hope this helps, DJ!
Taylor Kovar - Family Man Wealth Manager Author Speaker Serial Entrepreneur Travel Lover. Chick-Fil-A Fanatic. Kovar is the CEO and founder of Kovar Capital Management LLC of Lufkin, Texas
When I was a child, my most important possession was my bicycle, followed closely by my radio
My bike was how I got around I rode it to school, friend’s houses, pick-up baseball games, shopping centers, and just about anywhere else my heart desired and my parents would allow (and some they wouldn’t have allowed)
My radio – AM-only with a 3-inch speaker – connected me to a world far removed from my suburbanChicago neighborhood and its surrounds, but it mostly connected me to one of the 1960s greatest rock ‘n’ roll stations: WLS When I was home, I was usually in my room singing along with the likes of Elvis and Frankie Vallie
My parents were strict, and I was given to mischief, so I was punished a fair amount – more than any of my friends, for sure My parents’ default penalty was to ground me to the house for a week, sometimes more On occasion, they grounded me to my room – I could, of course, come out to do chores, which they seemed to delight in assigning whenever I was grounded – and confiscated my radio In that event, my social and creative life came to a virtual standstill Obviously, I survived these traumas
I’m sharing this personal history because of something odd about many of today’s parents, or at least a good number of those who come to me seeking advice, much of which pertains to narcissistic, sociopathic behavior on the part of their kids The odd thing in question is a self-defeating form of enabling.
To use a not-uncommon example, a young teen’s parents tell me she is disrespectful and belligerently defiant toward them, refuses to lift a finger around the house, and is just plain nasty toward her younger siblings No one knows that she has an evil alter-ego because outside the house she is a paragon of civility When she is home, she is found in her room, door closed, submerged in what is called “social” media – an oxymoron if ever there was one home rehab program. I recommend taking everything away from her that is not of absolute necessity, including, of course, her smart phone For how long? the parents ask. Until she turns herself around, becomes a model family citizen, and sustains her recovery for three months I point out to them that it may be a year or more before she is reunited with her smart phone
They look at one another like they’ve just realized they’re in a room with a person who’s not in possession of a completely right mind They tell me they don’t think they can do that Why not? I ask
“Well, John, I mean, um, uh, well, in her peer group everyone communicates by phone,” the father answers “And, well, uh, I mean that’s her whole social life it’s, well, it’s her whole world ”
Precisely That’s the point I understand that certain possessions can become superimportant to a teenager and that one particular possession can become key to the teen’s social life My bicycle occupied that status until I could drive And when I was in my room – where, like most teens I preferred to be –my radio was my world With it on, my room became a stage and I became a rock star Nonetheless, my parents had no problem parking my bicycle and grounding me to my room – which they would purge of my WLS machine – for weeks at a time. Somehow, my mental health survived these abuses, as did my social life
There are times when nothing short of a “Godfather offer” – one the child can’t refuse – will bring about what the child does not know is in his or her best interest: civil behavior And yes, when things get to that point, they are sure to get worse before they get better, but keep in mind that the operative words in that adage are “they get better”
Family psychologist John Rosemond: johnrosemond com, parentguru com
John Rosemond has worked with families, children, and parents since 1971 in the field of family psychology In 1971, John earned his masters in psychology from Western Illinois University and was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor
