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State celebrates Texas Independence Day

Michelle Wulfson, The Huntsville Item, Texas
·2 min read

Mar. 4—Local leaders, members of the community and honorary Texans gathered Wednesday at the grave site of statesman and politician Sam Houston to celebrate the 124th Texas Independence Day.

The celebration marked the 41st annual Texas Independence Day and General Sam Houston's birthday to be hosted by the Walker County Historical Commission.

Members of the ROTC, students, staff and faculty of Sam Houston State University paid their respects to the general by carrying out their traditional march from the Old Main Pit on campus to Oakwood Cemetery for a ceremony hosted at Sam Houston's grave site.

Community leaders opened the event with praise for the general, words of appreciation for their state and love for home sweet Huntsville.

"When I came to this city, I had no idea that I'd fall in love with it like I did. I tell people that throughout the course of my life, I've made some pretty dumb decisions, but one of the smartest decisions I've ever made is when my wife and I came to Huntsville," Mayor Andy Brauninger said.

"We are rich in history, early Texans died so that we can celebrate this day today, so this idea that freedom is not free is exemplified by the fact that the Texas Independence Day is here today because of what early pioneers did, General Sam Houston being one of those. He was a great patriot, a great general, a great lover of Texas," Brauninger added.

Walker County Historical Commission chairman Scott Collier hosted this year's event and its annual Baptized a Texan ceremony, dabbing water derived from the spring that feeds the pond at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum on the foreheads of honorary Texans.

"The first time we did this, we had two to three people, today, we have 49," Collier said to the crowd.

Lawyer and author Chuck Bailey served as the keynote speaker for the event, discussing the political world of Sam Houston and the ceremony was then wrapped with the laying of the wreaths by Houston's descendants and the SHSU student government, followed by a 21 gun salute and song.