Bøger udgivet af TEXAS ST HISTORICAL ASSN

Eleven Days on the Colorado: The Standoff Between the Texian and Mexican Armies and the Pivotal Battle Unfought finds high drama between the Battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto. As General Sam Houston arrived in Gonzales on March 11, 1836, to take command of the gathered Texian forces there, he soon learned that the Alamo had fallen. Realizing that his small command was not equipped to meet the full force of the Mexican army, he ordered a rapid withdrawal to the Colorado River. Shortly afterward, the Mexican army, commanded by General Joaquín Ramírez y Sesma, encamped opposite the Texian camps. New volunteers poured in, and several skirmishes ensued. A pivotal battle seemed inevitable. Just as the two armies seemed prepared to engage, General Houston unexpectedly ordered a withdrawal to the Brazos River resulting in panic among the civilian population and outrage among his troops and officers. From the time of the Texian Aamy withdrawal from Gonzales to the unexpected order to retreat from the Colorado, Sam Houston made some curious decisions, which deserve scrutiny. A day-by-day examination of events helps to ascertain Houston's mindset and offers some justifications for his decisions. Additionally, this book reviews the lives of some lesser known, yet influential individuals who contributed to the Texian's fight for freedom.

In the first detailed study of its kind, Col. (Ret.) Thomas T. "Ty" Smith, known for his extensive research and writing on the U.S. Army in Texas, presents an in-depth examination of the civilian employees of the army in the nineteenth century. Under the Double Eagle: Citizen Employees of the U.S. Army on the Texas Frontier, 1846-1899 reflects the fact that citizens employed by the frontier army in Texas came under the impact of two symbolic eagles. The first was the eagle impressed into gilt buttons on the uniforms of the army officers for whom they labored. The second was the double eagle twenty-dollar gold piece they often received at the pay table, especially in the antebellum era, when all army wages were paid in hard coin rather than paper. Those two eagles had a lasting impact on the Texas frontier. Between 1846 and 1899, the U.S. Army in Texas issued more than $4 million in wages to citizen employees. Smith offers a detailed accounting of these wages, but his primary interest is in the people. After an introductory essay providing an overview, historical context, and demographic profiles, the author examines post by post the 111 army forts, camps, and stations documenting a civilian employee. He provides a brief history of each post, the names of the individuals employed, and where possible the position, wage, and length of employment. Altogether Smith names 1,721 army employees, and sample biographies demonstrate the diversity of the characters involved. Included among these employees are 309 civilian physicians. In the appendix, Smith offers biographies of 180 of these contract doctors who greatly contributed to the advance of medicine in Texas. This work will be of importance to historians, to the general public with an interest in Texas history or Texas medicine, and especially genealogists.

"Beasley's Vaqueros presents the life and work of South Texas artist Ricardo M. Beasley, whose vibrant pen-and-ink sketches captured the world of vaquero life in South Texas. Despite having lived much of his life after World War II, Beasley's art and words capture a world in which people and events from decades before his time are just as immediate-perhaps even more so-than events of the present day. More than just a testament to the talents of a singular, self-taught artist, Beasley's Vaqueros is a record of vaquero life in South Texas that spans the centuries"--