1916 :: Just following the flag

"Just following the flag," was suggested at the sight of one 87-year-old ex-slave, Alfred Booker, who in hickory shirt and overalls voluntarilly brought up the rear carrying an American flag. He sawed the postoak block that supported the first raw-hide house in Rockdale, and drilled by hand out of Granite Mountain the 24-foot columns that support the state capitol. The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 6, 1916 

1886 :: A Deluge of Rain and Hail

New York Times. April 29, 1886. Houses Damaged, Orchards Destroyed, and Cattle Killed. Rockdale, Texas, April 28. -- The most destructive rain and hail storm ever known in this section of Milam County visited Rockdale and vicinity yesterday afternoon. About half an hour before the storm burst upon the town the sky became almost black. The deluge of water led many to suppose a waterspout had burst. The roofs of many houses offered only partial protection against the downpour, as the water pounded through nearly every flat roof in the town. Following the deluge came a phenomenal hailstorm, which destroyed every sign of vegetation for miles around. The orchards were literally stripped of all small twigs and limbs, and many trees were barked and killed. 
Thousands of the hailstones were an inch in diameter. They tore through roofs, puncturing even the tin roofs and breaking the window shutters. Scarcely a single window pane on the west side escaped destruction. Following the rain and hail came a severe gale. The damage to dwelling houses and orchards within the immediate vicinity of Rockdale will exceed $15,000. The storm moved eastward, devastating fields and orchards in its path. No loss of human life is reported, but a large number of cattle was killed.