“We Never Retreat”: Filibustering Expeditions into Spanish Texas, 1812–1822. By Ed Bradley.

Abstract

“We Never Retreat”: Filibustering Expeditions into Spanish Texas, 1812–1822 . Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West and Southwest. By Ed Bradley. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2015. xxii + 321 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. $47.00.) “ W e Never Retreat” examines the principal Anglo-American filibustering incursions into Texas of the early nineteenth century, especially the Gutierrez-Magee and Long Expeditions. The author has meticulously researched the subject by culling evidence from the Bexar Archives, the U.S. National Archives, the memoirs of individual freebooters, and an array of contemporary U.S. newspapers. Although ably documented, Ed Bradley’s book does not present a unified theme on broad issues regarding U.S. frontier republicanism and evolving U.S.-Mexican relations. “We Never Retreat” is most notable for its insightful narrative of … narrett{at}uta.edu