Texas may be a great distance from the fabled Emerald Isle of Ireland, but the truth be told, Irish roots run deep in the Lone Star State, and in honor of Saint Patrick's Day -- and to prove the point - consider the following bits of little known history. At the battle of the Alamo, at least 40 Texan defenders were Irish, including Col. William Barrett Travis, commander of the garrison. The Irish, apparently, had accepted Mexico's call for immigrants to Texas long before the Texas revolution. Two major Irish settlements were formed, one in Refugio, just north of Rockport, and the other, San Patricio, on the Nueces River just north of present-day Corpus Christi. History tells us that most of these Irish settlers, Roman Catholics by faith, had sympathized with the Mexican government. But when General Antonio Santa Anna was elevated to dictator of Mexico in 1833, even the Irish complained of government corruption and unfair taxation. San Patricio, incidentally, in Spanish, means Saint Patrick. St. Patrick's fabled round up and abolition of all the snakes in Ireland is recreated during an annual celebration in San Patricio when the “Rattlesnake Roundup” is held every St. Patrick's Day. Now this one may be hard to believe at first, but there's no blarney to the story. The Blarney Stone, located in Blarney Castle, Ireland, is said to have mystical powers. To this day visitors to the castle pause to “Kiss the Blarney Stone,” which is said to give the person a talent for eloquent speech. But in 1659 a small piece of the Blarney Stone turned up missing. No one seemed to know how it disappeared or where it went, but there was much concern that a piece of notable Irish history was missing. Now here comes the fun part: In 1939 a team of electrical engineers from Texas Tech University in Lubbock `stumbled upon' a blue stone while touring Ireland that seemed to match the variety and texture of the missing chunk of the Blarney Stone. With an engineer's eye, one of the students on the trip suggested that the size and configuration of the chunk of stone indicated it may fit perfectly in the hole creating by the missing part of the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle. After research proved the piece to indeed be the missing chunk of the original Blarney Stone, the piece was brought back to Texas and is currently on display and part of a special monument in front of the old Electrical and Engineering building on the Texas Tech campus. Each year, graduating seniors from the University's engineering department are invited to “kiss the stone chunk,” which is said to give the kisser the gift of eloquent speech. Another piece of Texas Irish history: The San Antonio Riverwalk, the most popular tourist attraction in the Lone Star State, plays host to what has been called the largest annual Irish celebration in Texas. The San Antonio River is dyed green and the public is invited to participate in the “Pub Crawl,” starting at Dirty Nelly's Irish Pub on the River Walk. In a four hour event, a large crowd of celebrants travel from pub to pub singing Irish songs and, well, drinking Irish spirits. Finally, here's an Irish related tale that you won't hear much about in the history books of American schools. Yet many a school age youth in Mexico are familiar with the tale. During the Mexican-American War, a large contingent of Irish was recruited to serve in the U.S. infantry. After a long and bloody battle in Monterrey in 1846, U.S. forces, led by General Zachary Taylor, won victory and subjugated the Mexican populace. But a company of Irish Catholics complained over the U.S. Army's treatment of Mexican civilians and captured soldiers, and defected to the Mexican side. They would gallantly fight in future battles in opposition to U.S. forces. Eventually, thirteen of these `deserters' were captured and hanged by order of General Taylor. In Mexico to this day, the incident is celebrated annually on St. Patrick's Day. There are countless dozens of other stories about the Irish in Texas history, and you can find interesting reading on the subject at most any public library.