On This Date In History

On December 9, 1835, inspired by the spirited leadership of Benjamin Rush Milam, the newly created Texas Army takes possession of the city of San Antonio, an important victory for the Republic of Texas in its war for independence from Mexico.
Milam was born in 1788 in Frankfort, Kentucky. He became a citizen and soldier of Mexico in 1824, when newly independent Mexico was still under a republican constitution. Like many Americans who immigrated to the Mexican state of Texas, Milam found that the government both welcomed and feared the growing numbers of Americans, and treated them with uneven fairness. When Milam heard in 1835 that Santa Ana had overthrown the Mexican republic and established himself as dictator, Milam renounced his Mexican citizenship and joined the rag-tag army of the newly proclaimed independent Republic of Texas.
After helping the Texas Army capture the city of Goliad, Milam went on a reconnaissance mission to the southwest but returned to join the army for its planned attack on San Antonio, only to learn that the generals were postponing the attack on San Antonio for the winter. Aware that Santa Ana’s forces were racing toward Texas to suppress the rebellion, Milam worried that any hesitation would spell the end of the revolution. Milam made an impassioned call for volunteers, asking: “Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?”
Inspired by Milam’s bold challenge, three hundred men did volunteer, and the Texas Army began its attack on San Antonio at dawn on December 5. By December 9, the defending forces of the Mexican army were badly beaten, and the commanding general surrendered the city. Milam, however, was not there to witness the results of his leadership, he was killed instantly by a sniper bullet on December 7. If Milam had survived, he might well have been among the doomed defenders of the Alamo that were wiped out by Santa Ana’s troops the following March.

 

On December 9, 1917, early in the morning, after Turkish troops move out of the region after only a single days fighting, officials of the Holy City of Jerusalem offer the keys to the city to encroaching British troops.
The British, led by General Edmund Allenby, who had arrived from the Western Front the previous June to take over the command in Egypt, entered the Holy City two days later under strict instructions from London on how not to appear disrespectful to the city, its people, or its traditions. Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot, in deliberate contrast to Kaiser Wilhelm's more flamboyant entrance on horseback in 1898, and no Allied flags were flown over the city, while Muslim troops from India were dispatched to guard the religious landmark the Dome of the Rock.
In a proclamation declaring martial law that was read aloud to the city’s people in English, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian and Greek, Allenby assured them that the occupying power would not inflict further harm on Jerusalem, its inhabitants, or its holy places. “Since your city is regarded with affection by the adherents of three of the great religions of mankind and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people, I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred.”
Church bells in Rome and London rang to celebrate the peaceful British arrival in Jerusalem. Allenby's success, after so much discouragement on the Western Front, elated and inspired Allied supporters everywhere.

General Sir Edmund Allenby

The surrender of Jerusalem to the British, 9 December 1917.

 

 General Sir Edmund Allenby entering the Holy City of Jerusalem on foot 1917 to show respect for the holy place.

 

 4th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment march through Bethlehem. Their infantry division; the 53rd (Welsh) Division occupied Bethlehem on night of 9 December.

 

Allenby and parading Indian troops at Jaffa Gate, 11 December 1917, during official ceremonies after the capture of Jerusalem.

 

First British Guard at the Jaffa Gate.