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Allow me to
introduce myself. My name is George Armstrong Custer Bald Eagle.
But you can call me Swoops. I was adopted about five years
ago from Fort Abraham Lincoln up near Mandan, North Dakota
by Taylor Lang from Houston. It was from this fort
in 1876 that Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry
rode out to fight against the Sioux at the Little Big Horn in what
was then Montana Territory. That was when he got up close and personal
with several arrows and a mean tomahawk which took care of his long
blonde hair. Portions of the military post, including the Custer
House, have been reconstructed at that fort.
Did you know that Custer spent some time in Texas after the Civil
War? He and his reconstruction troops were camped on the grounds
of the Liendo Plantation, which is near Hempstead just northwest
of Houston on Highway 290. There is a Civil War re-enactment there
one weekend in November, and we're going to be there! Holy cow!
I almost forgot to mention my traveling buddy, Bison Bill!
He's pretty much a buffalo, but since someone else called himself
Buffalo Bill, and since that fellow liked killing buffalo for sport,
then my friend decided his name should be Bison Bill. Good
ol' Bison Bill is from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, so he has
a bit of a Southern accent. He doesn't do much of the writing, but
when my wings get tired of flapping, he's great for a free ride!
Just be sure you don't give him any alfalfa because he's allergic.
And if he sneezes on you, hoooo-eee! It's time to hit the
showers!
We're also Great American Legends, and we'd like you
to join us on our tour of great Texan legendary buildings. Of course,
you won't be able to ride along with us, but perhaps you, too, can
go to all the places we see and find out even more exciting things
about those places than we have!
The Great American Legends Tour begins with us visiting all
those Texas county courthouses that are listed with the National
Register. There are sixty-seven of them spread out all across
the state, from Donley County in the Panhandle
to Goliad County near the Gulf.
And from Shelby County in East
Texas to Presidio County out West.
We also will be on the lookout for those old courthouses that are
still standing but are no longer used as seats of justice.
Each time we
go somewhere, I'll log an entry at this website. We'll have a photo
of us in front of the courthouse with hopefully some kids from that
town. That way you can see what we saw!
If you'd like
to see all 254 Texas courthouses, there's a cool website (www.texascourthouses.com)
that has even better pictures than the ones we take. Maybe you have
one near you!
We plan on going to some festivals on our courthouse trek, so if
you know of any we need to see, please let us know! You can email
us at bbnswoops@aol.com.(That's
for Bison Bill 'n Swoops.)
Look for a new report about once a month, keep a Texas map handy,
and don't forget to write us!
May 2001
Copyright Lou Ann Herda, Ed. D
Author, Bison Bill & Swoops Email address : bbnswoops@aol.com
Author's
Bio
References
Click here :
The Great American Legends
Tour: Table of Contents
Texas
Architecture
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