Texas Revolution Research Articles

Tejanos in the 1835 Texas Revolution (review)

Reviewed by: Tejanos in the 1835 Texas Revolution James E. Crisp Tejanos in the 1835 Texas Revolution. By L. Lloyd MacDonald. (Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing, 2009. Pp. 366. Illustrations, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9781589806382, $26.00 cloth.) In spite of its rather misleading title, this book is a thoroughly traditional account of the Texas Revolution, albeit augmented by the author's special attention to the numerous Tejanos who took part in the revolt against the Mexican government in 1835 and 1836. (The Tejano "tories," however, are virtually ignored). Unfortunately, MacDonald mars his analysis at the outset by engaging in an endlessly confusing discussion of the proper nomenclature for the people of Hispanic and Anglo-American origins who together made up the rebel forces in this contest. After finally landing on a definition of Tejanos as "Texas-born descendants of Latino heritage" (21), he contradicts himself by applying this label to Lorenzo de Zavala (136), the native of Yucatán who became the Vice-President of the Texas Republic. [End Page 95] The book is further marred by errors of fact and geography: the author conflates the separate incidents at Anahuac in 1832 and 1835 (105); he twice claims that Zacatecas was the home town of the Jalapa-born Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna (46, 64); and he incorrectly locates the Orozimbo plantation where Santa Anna was held captive by the Texans after the Battle of San Jacinto (281). Far more serious than these lapses, however, is MacDonald's apparent ignorance of both key source documents and important recent scholarship. For instance, his claim that the Mexican army under General Filisola was obediently following the orders of Santa Anna in retreating from Texas in April and May of 1836 is thoroughly undercut by Gregg Dimmick's Sea of Mud (Texas State Historical Association, 2004). Moreover, during his discussion of David Crockett's controversial death at the Alamo (213-214), MacDonald cites sources that are both dubious and contradictory, while failing to mention the important Dolson letter, which is arguably the very best evidence as to just "how Davy died." This book's difficulties with regard to sources are exacerbated by a bizarre system of documentation which, when combined with the author's frequent use of the passive voice, obfuscates more than it reveals, and renders most of the author's endnotes virtually worthless to the reader. Most damning in terms of shoddy use of sources is a twice-quoted phrase (20, 239) from Herman Ehrenberg's memoir of the Texas Revolution which simply does not exist, either in the original German or in the four extant translations into English. MacDonald has inserted Irishmen and Tejanos into Ehrenberg's declaration that the German, English, and American soldiers held captive by the Mexicans at Goliad had all become Texans. MacDonald further taints his use of Ehrenberg's memoir by stating that the young Prussian came to Texas with "Bonham's Mobile Greys" (229). Ehrenberg entered Texas with Breece's company of the New Orleans Greys. This book is not all bad. MacDonald writes with a great love of his subject, which often brings immediacy to his descriptions of the tribulations of the Texans (though sometimes with invented dialogue). His analysis of Sam Houston's qualities as a commander is generally sound, and his elaboration of the role of Tejanos in the Texas Revolution is commendable. The greatest testimony to MacDonald's deep love of his subject comes from the book's many illustrations, which are all photographs of the author's own creations, in tooled leather, of maps, portraits, and architectural details. It is a shame that these are so dimly reproduced in many instances that the text is virtually illegible. James E. Crisp North Carolina State University Copyright © 2010 The Texas State Historical Association

Memory, the Texas Revolution, and Secession: The Birth of Confederate Nationalismin the Lone Star State

Memory, the Texas Revolution, and Secession: The Birth of Confederate Nationalismin the Lone Star State

The Sutton-Taylor Feud: The Deadliest Blood Feud in Texas (review)

414Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJanuary morton's rise to power and his eventual removal from the governor's office as an "impediment to Reconstruction." (105) Through his exploration of Throckmorton and nineteenth-century Texas, Howell uncovers a slew of intra-southern cultural divisions that strike directly at the idea of a monolithic southern regional identity. Particularly interesting, Howell thoroughly dissects Throckmorton's racial agenda, dealing with both African Americans and Native Americans. The book oudines Throckmorton's obsession with defending the white frontier from Indian attacks. He sought to manipulate the federal government into military assistance as he fought to preserve Whig conservatism and a non-autocratic military audiority in Texas. Clearly a white supremacist, Throckmorton also despised African-American slaves because they represented the affluence and mobility of an elite planter class that threatened to confiscate premium frontier land from his constituency, a district of small farmers. In short, Howell maintains that Throckmorton "developed an irrational hatred of them [slaves]," because "he did not have a problem with the institution ofslavery as a legitimate labor system," but "he harbored animosity toward the planters who used slave labor to amass wealth and dominance in die southern states" (43). By grouping together the physical attacks levied by displaced Indians and the economic advances ofaspiring planters, Howell cleverly illustrates how the frontier represented a socio-economic hideout for Throckmorton and his constituents. Finally, Throckmorton's symbolic disdain for slaves, his anti-elite rhetoric, and his abundance of local support in North Texas as displayed by Howell correcdy indicate that die frontier served as a safe nexus of anti-planter sentiment within a region dominated by planter politicians. Howell lucidly identifies the formative elements of Throckmorton's life and career, how they influenced his policies, and how those policies fit within and shaped the courses ofTexas and southern history. With that in mind, Texas Confederate , Reconstruction Governor:fames Webb Throckmorton is appropriate for and highly recommended to historians in either field. North Carolina State UniversityMatthew C. Hulbert TL· Sutton-TaylorFeud: TL·Deadliest BloodFeud in Texas. By Chuck Parsons. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2009. Pp. 368. Illustrations, map, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9781574412574, $24.95 cloth). InJames Smallwood's recent revisionist account ofthe Sutton-Taylor feud, entitled TL·Feud That Wasn't (Texas A&M, 2008), the author argues that an ongoing struggle between law enforcement officials and criminals in Reconstruction Texas has been misinterpreted as a blood feud. With that context in mind, Texas scholar Chuck Parsons, in TL· Sutton-TaylorFeud, attempts to reestablish a traditional reading of the conflict. Differing in numerous ways from Smallwood's interpretation, Parsons contends that the feudists were neither criminals nor nostalgic former Confederates, "but men who believed that they had been wronged and that the legal system was inadequate to providejustice" (6). Parsons begins by describing the important and admirable qualities of the individual members of die Sutton and Taylor families who first arrived in early 2010Book Reviews415 Texas. These pioneers helped found communities and served proudly during the Texas Revolution and Civil War. However, by the late 1 860s the two families were clearly organized in opposition to one another. Parsons remains uncertain as to what exact incident spawned the feud. It could have been the killing of Daniel Chisholm by the Taylors or the deadi ofa Taylor relative at the hands ofa posse led by Bill Sutton. Moving on from those incidents, Parsons proceeds chronologically and presents an image of bloody and lawless Reconstruction Texas. The Taylors, often categorized as cattle thieves, come off as oppressed citizens within Parsons's work. Creed Taylor, the generally recognized leader of the Taylor family, is described by Parsons as a "Texas hero" (81). The Suttons do not appear quite as favorably as it is clear throughout the text that Parsons believes they were generally corrupt officials bent on personal retribution. Instead of curbing the violence, Parsons argues that Sutton affiliates Captain Charles S. Bell and John Jackson Marshall "Jack" Helm initiated a "reign of terror" (62) across Texas characterized by large numbers of fugitives—often Taylor men—being killed during supposed escape attempts. In the end, it is difficult to entirely agree with Parsons's attempts to rehabilitate...

John Mackay: Silver King in the Gilded Age (review)

2010Book Reviews415 Texas. These pioneers helped found communities and served proudly during the Texas Revolution and Civil War. However, by the late 1 860s the two families were clearly organized in opposition to one another. Parsons remains uncertain as to what exact incident spawned the feud. It could have been the killing of Daniel Chisholm by the Taylors or the deadi ofa Taylor relative at the hands ofa posse led by Bill Sutton. Moving on from those incidents, Parsons proceeds chronologically and presents an image of bloody and lawless Reconstruction Texas. The Taylors, often categorized as cattle thieves, come off as oppressed citizens within Parsons's work. Creed Taylor, the generally recognized leader of the Taylor family, is described by Parsons as a "Texas hero" (81). The Suttons do not appear quite as favorably as it is clear throughout the text that Parsons believes they were generally corrupt officials bent on personal retribution. Instead of curbing the violence, Parsons argues that Sutton affiliates Captain Charles S. Bell and John Jackson Marshall "Jack" Helm initiated a "reign of terror" (62) across Texas characterized by large numbers of fugitives—often Taylor men—being killed during supposed escape attempts. In the end, it is difficult to entirely agree with Parsons's attempts to rehabilitate the Taylors due, in part, to his reliance uponJohn Wesley Hardin's self-serving and Taylor-praising autobiography. Hardin, drawn into an alliance with the Taylor family out of allegiance to his cousins, played his part in the violence that consumed DeWitt, Gonzales, Karnes, and Bastrop counties, until he decided to relocate to Florida, most likely to avoid capture and prosecution for murder. When authorities finally apprehended Hardin in 1877, the feud was winding down with Parsons stating that it officially ended with an 1899 pardon of one feudist. Parsons's account of the feud highlights the individual personalities of the feudists while also providing a plausible description of how life in Reconstruction Texas resembled "in many respects a continuation of the declared war" (257). The usefulness of Parsons's text lies in its accounts of deadly gunplay that serve not only to titillate but to reinforce the interpretation ofa Reconstruction Texas ruled by brute force and not force of law. Rice UniversityRobin Sager John Mackay: Silver King in the Gilded Age. By Michael J. Makley. (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2009. Pp. 284. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780874177701, $34.95 cloth.) John Mackay was a man almost bigger than life. This biography offers us insights into the man and his times as the exploitation of the Comstock Lode was turned into a symbol of wealth and excess. He presided over an environmental disaster twenty-five miles east of the high ridge of the Sierra Nevada during a time of intense human exploitation and corrupt business dealings. However, in this interesting book diat contains a wealth of local detail, Mackay emerges as an almost heroic figure. Born in 1831, he emigrated from Ireland in 1840 with his parents and lived as a boy in New York City. In 1851 he arrived in the gold fields along the American 416 Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJanuary River and then moved on to Sierra County. In 1 859 word of the Comstock discoveries lured him to that site. Mackay married the widow Louise Bryant when he was in his mid thirties. It was a lifelong but largely long distance relationship since she chose Paris and London as her principal domiciles. During the course of the marriage he was sued at least once by a woman after a failed relationship. The author shows Mackay's struggles with local cartels and banking interests that exploited small-scale mine operators while depicting the growth of his own business. As an inquiring reader I would like to know more about Mackay's financing and where it came from, if it did not come from the same sources as the others . At the highest levels Mackay interfaced with New York financiers including J. P. Morgan, but no analysis of that relationship is offered. In die later phases of his career he expanded into the transoceanic cable and land communications industries. This would have meant competition, cooperation, or both...

General Vicente Filisola's Analysis of José Urrea's Military Diary: A Forgotten 1838 Publication by an Eyewitness to the Texas Revolution (review)

2009Book Reviews259 also clearly reveals the intense pressures diat mounted on Indian societies in the South, forcing them into the West, and how the Alabama and Coushatta managed to hold onto a small parcel of land in Texas when so many other native societies were driven out. University ofOklahomaGary Clayton Anderson General VicenteFilisola'sAnalysis ofJosé Urrea's Military Diary: A Forgotten 1838 Publication by anEyewitness to theTexasRevolution. Edited by GreggJ. Dimmick.Translated byJohn R. Wheat. (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 2007. Pp. 350. photographs, maps, appendixes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780876112243, $29.95 cloth.) "Success has a thousand fathers,"John F. Kennedy succinctly observed, "failure is an orphan." The aftermath of the Texas War for Independence forcefully demonstrated the wisdom ofthat adage. During the 1836 campaign, General Vicente Filisola was Generalissimo Antonio López de Santa Anna's second in command. Following Santa Anna's defeat and capture at SanJacinto, command of the Mexican army transferred to Filisola. He ordered a strategic withdrawal that, for reasons documented in GreggJ. Dimmick's book Sea OfMud: The Retreat oftfoMexican Army afterSanfacinto, An ArcheologicalInvestigation (2004), degenerated into a rout. Almost as soon as the smoke of batde cleared, a war of words began. Brigadier General José de Urrea argued against the retreat and insisted that the Mexicans might have won the war had the Italian-born Filisola shown more fiber. In 1838, Urrea published Diario de las operaciones militares de la división que al mando del GeneralJos é Urrea hizo la campaña de Tejas; Publícalo su autor con algunas observaciones para vindicarse ante sus conciudadanos in which he excoriated Filisola as a spineless incompetent. Later that year, Filisola fired back with his own book, Análisis del diario military del General D. José Urréa durante la primera campaña de Tejas, in which he attempted to refute Urrea's accusations. In 1928, Professor Carlos E. Castañeda translated Urrea's Diario and included it in The Mexican Side of the Texas Revolution, and in 1983 John H.Jenkins listed Diario in Basic Texas Books. Consequentiy, American students of the Texas Revolution are familiar with Urrea's accusations. Without a translation, General Filisola's rejoinder went unnoticed—until now. The editor and translator deserve thanks and commendation. GreggJ. Dimmick is the dean of Mexican army scholars and his prologue and conclusion provide valuable context and comment. John Wheat provides a clear and crisp translation , but one would expect nothing less from he who, along with the late Jack Jackson, gave us Almonte's Texas (2003). The book's troubles stem from Filisola himself. He was no literary stylist. Indeed, his narrative reads like a quarterly report as written by Detective Adrian Monk. Filisola had cause to be indignant, but his compulsive attempt to embellish Urrea's flaws while ignoring his own make him appear petulant, petty, and, at times, puerile. As Dimmick admits, "It is true diat 'very biased' is understating the outrageous rants that Filisola used to fill his text, but too much of a warning 26oSouthwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober would have spoiled the fun ofdiscovering the extent ofhis animosity on your own" (26g). If reading more than two hundred pages of a screaming hissy fit matches one's notion of fun, I recommend Filisola's narrative without reservation. Most readers, however, will discover that Filisola's "analysis" provides more heat than light. Readers will close the book thinking considerably less of both generals. If Filisola wished to secure his place in history, a stately silence would have served him better. Even so, this translation makes a constructive contribution to die historical record. Dr. Dimmick is correct when he notes, "Even though very biased, to the point of absurdity at times, Filisola does make a convincing argument that Urrea was not necessarily die 'Golden Boy' of the Mexican army in Texas" (xxii). While not recommended as anyone's first book on the Texas War for Independence, serious scholars will welcome the volume as one that provides a "glimpse into the hearts and minds of the Mexican generals" (xxiv). McMurry UniversityStephen L. Hardin Texian Macabre: TheMelancholy Tale ofa HanginginEarly Houston. By Stephen L. Hardin . Illustrated by Gary S. Zaboly. (Abilene: State House Press...

Una Iglesia Más Mexicana : Catholics, Schismatics, and the Mexican Revolution in Texas, 1927-1932

March 16, 1930 was a dreary Sunday in San Antonio, Texas. It was raining. It had, in fact, been raining almost continuously for three days?a remark able occasion in what is normally a rather dry and sunny climate. Surprisingly, instead of dashing about under umbrellas or hiding away indoors on this rainy afternoon, much of the Mexican working-class community of San Antonio held a parade. Impervious to the inclement weather, hundreds of people gathered to follow bugles and drums, an honor guard, and a marching band through the rain to the train station because this, for them was a landmark day. Don Jose Joaquin Perez Budar, the archbishop and patriarch of the politically and religiously controversial Mexican Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAM), was finally coming from Mexico City to meet his followers in Texas.1 In both Mexico and in Texas, the schismatic Mexican Catholic Apostolic Church has largely vanished from historical memory. This all-but-forgotten movement, how ever, sits at the crux of many critical narratives in the history of post-revolutionary Mexico, and in the history of Mexican immigration to the United States during that same time. This article examines the popularity of the ICAM in Texas within the con text of contested national and class identities for the Mexican working class living in Texas. It also examines the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and these marginalized, often impoverished, Mexican immigrants, par ticularly in light of changing demographics and the resultant shift in political power in local communities. In addition, this study argues that the Roman Catholic Church's antagonism toward the newly installed revolutionary government of Mexico nega

The Secret War for Texas (review)

88Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly army by finding the trunk and opening it again. Back in the present, die three keep their adventure a secret. Who, after all, would believe them? The tale could have easily ended there, but thank goodness it did not. Hannah , Nick and Jackie are soon off on anodier adventure, this time to rescue Mr. Barrington (Journey to SanJacinto). The trio is joined by a substitute teacher, the niece of Mr. Barrington, and they are caught up in die events leading to die batde at San Jacinto. Again, Hannah, Nick and Jackie meet historical characters, diis time on both sides of die fighting. They grow with each of their experiences and learn, notjust about history, but about themselves. Melodie Cuate's series, "Mr. Barrington's Mysterious Trunk," is great. The history and historical characters, as far as we can know diem, are right. The human experience is compelling. The fictional trio, Hannah, Jackie and Nick, are believable and the reader will feel as if he knows diem. These are books that the reader will not be able to put down and will wait impatiendy for die next installment . (Here, I must add a personal note. After readingJourney to the Alamo, I lent the book to two students, an eighth grader and a seventh grader. Both of these students loved the book and wanted more. The eighdi grader even convinced his motiier to buy him his own copy!) Cuate is a fourth-grade teacher in McAllen, Texas, who clearly understands the minds of her young students. She is currently working on the eagerly awaited next installment of the series, Journey to Gonzales . This reader strongly recommends these books and can easily see diem being used with great success in fourth- and seventh-grade classes. Victoria, TexasDeborah Hardin The Secret Warfor Texas. By Stuart Reid. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2007. Pp. 248. Acknowledgments, introduction, illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9781585445653. $29.95, cloth.) Scottish historian Stuart Reid examines England's role in early Texas and the arguably related activities of his three-times-great-grandfather, Dr. James Grant, in the Texas Revolution. Focusing primarily on Grant's part in the ill-fated , 1835-36 expedition in which Texas rebels intended to attack Matamoros, Tamaulipas, the author develops a two-part thesis diat challenges traditional interpretations . First, in contrast to the usual idea that England's interest in Texas began after Texas became a republic, Reid asserts that almost as soon as American setders first arrived in Texas, England launched a twenty-year "secret war" with the United States—a war aimed at making sure Texas remained an impenetrable barrier to American expansion toward die Pacific Ocean. Second, contrary to the customary claim that Grant's land speculation interests motivated his participation in the Matamoros expedition, Reid maintains that Grant served as a British agent who, as part of the secret war, wanted to provoke a Federalist insurrection that would ensure Texas either remained a part of Mexico or became part of a new republic of northern Mexico. The generally chronological organization of Reid's crisply written book con- 2oo8Book Reviews89 tributes substantially to the clarity and coherence of his arguments. After clearly stating his thesis in a concise introduction, he uses his first chapter to provide evidence diat Grant's anti-American actions as a British agent began in die 1820s and included a clandestine involvement in the quixotic Fredonian Rebellion. In the next six chapters, Reid quickly shifts to die mid-i830s and traces Grant's numerous activities, first as a Coahuilan businessman, legislator, and recipient of controversial land grants and then as a warrior in the Texas Revolution. As the author shows, Grant's actions in the Revolution included fighting against Mexican troops in the siege of San Antonio de Béxar, helping to instigate the subsequent Matamoros expedition, and serving as an expedition leader until Mexican troops surprised and killed him on March 2, 1936. After devoting his eighth chapter to die relationship between England and the new Republic of Texas, Reid closes with a postscript that focuses on the administration of Grant's estate and the disposition of certificates issued to Grant in connection...

A Texas Revolution in Technician Education: 2008 PTEC National Conference

A Texas Revolution in Technician Education: 2008 PTEC National Conference

Santa Anna of Mexico (review)

Reviewed by: Santa Anna of Mexico Pedro Santoni Santa Anna of Mexico. By Will Fowler. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-1120-9. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xxvi, 501. $45.00. During the past decade or so I have appraised several of Will Fowler’s books about nineteenth-century Mexico, but the work under review, which aims to “understand [General Antonio López de] Santa Anna in as sober, detached, and balanced a way as possible” (p. xi), is by far his finest. This superb monograph should go a long way toward stamping out the still-dominant perception of Santa Anna as the individual responsible for all the calamities that befell early republican Mexico Many aspects of Fowler’s book make it noteworthy, but given space limitations I will mention but three. First, he demonstrates the significance of Santa Anna’s relationship with elites and commoners in the region of Veracruz. The personal, political, and economic ties that he established, as well as his success as a major landowner, allowed him to consolidate his status as a regional strongman and helped him gain national prominence. Second, Fowler places Santa Anna’s supposed political opportunism in historical context. He shows that as early as 1828 Santa Anna had carved out a role as “an impartial mediator” who represented a “standpoint that was above factional interests” (p. 108). This stance served him well during his long career in the public eye, particularly as he cemented his ties with the army and tried to turn the military into an institution solely devoted to Mexico and above any kind of political infighting. Third, Fowler convincingly dismisses the charges of treason that have been leveled against Santa Anna over the years. He demonstrates that Santa Anna’s military failures during the Texas revolution of 1835–1836 and the war with the United States in 1846–1848, as well as his subsequent decisions to favor a monarchy and to acquiesce to the Gadsden Purchase, need to be understood within the circumstances that Santa Anna faced at those particular moments. Fowler’s meticulous research effort helped him unveil new perspectives and unearthed nuggets of information that allowed him to better contextualize previously known facts and/or events. For instance, the information he garnered from several repositories in Veracruz enabled Fowler to shed new light on Santa Anna’s activities in that region. He also conversed with the local historian from the town of Xico, who offered a different take on the well-known story about the Indians who early in January 1845 attempted to cook Santa Anna alive. Fowler too gained access to Mexico’s Archivo de la Defensa Nacional. This archive yielded numerous new details about the caudillo’s life as well as the minutes of a May 20, 1847 meeting in which nearly all high-ranking Mexican generals decided to continue the war with the U.S. The document, as Fowler puts it, illustrates “the reasons used by Mexico’s top [military] brass to explain the U.S. victories” until that time (p. 270). Fowler has produced an elegantly-written and engaging study about one of Mexico’s most notorious and misunderstood leaders. His evenhanded assessment of Santa Anna as more than just a power-hungry, opportunistic, and corrupt politician makes this biography a most welcome and valuable addition to Mexican historiography. [End Page 954] Pedro Santoni California State University San Bernardino, California Copyright © 2008 The Society for Military History

The Handwriting on the Wall: The Klan, Language Issues, and Prohibition in the German Settlements of Eastern Texas

Photograph of the proclamation posted on the door of the Lutheran Church in Berlin in the early 19,20s. Courtesy ofBillNeinasL The Handwriting on the Wall: The Klan, Language Issues, and Prohibition in the German Settlements ofEastern Texas Walter D. Kamphoefner* FOR HISTORIANS IT IS NO NEWS THAT THE Ku KlUX KLAN OF THE 1920s did not restrict its hostilities to blacks. Among its targets were also white Catholics and Jews, foreigners, and anyone who failed to conform to the Klan's definition of "morality." But it has largely escaped notice that even native-born white Protestants could be targets of Klan violence and intimidation merely because they spoke a language other than English. For the German Americans of Washington County, Texas, in the early ig20S, the handwriting was literally on the wall. The following proclamation was photographed from the door of the Lutheran church at Berlin,just a few miles west of Brenham.1 Be It Known and Hereby Proclaimed: That this organization composed of native-born Americans who accept the tenets of the Christian religion, proposes to uphold die dignity and authority of the law. No innocent person of any color, creed or lineage, has any cause to fear or condemn this body of men. . . . We . . . shall ever be devoted to the sublime principles of a pure Americanism and valiant in the defense ofits ideals and institutions. * Walter D. Kamphoefner, professor of history at Texas A&M University, has published widely in die field of German American immigration and ethnicity. His latest book, Germans in the Civil War: The Letters They Wrote Home, edited wiüi Wolfgang Helbich (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006) , includes a cross-section ofTexas Germans ofvarious political leanings. 1 Charles C. Alexander, Crusadefor Conformity: The Ku Klux Klan in Texas, ig2o-ig30 (Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association, [n.p.], ig62), 6. The Brenham Banner-Pressori December 24, 1921, carried the bizarre headline, "K.K.K. Sends Gift to Old Negroes on J.E. Routt Place." It was subsequently revealed that Routt was a Klan leader; one suspects that he simply processed his usual Christmas bonus (fifteen dollars) dirough the Klan. On May 17, 1921, a German from Fort Bend County gave a secondhand reported ofa recent Klan procession in Rosenburg. Not yet realizing for whom the bell tolled, the German remarked: "Not a Negro was to be seen. Can't hurt widi the Negroes, since their impudence went a bit too far." Wochenblatt (Austin), May 26, 1921, p. 5 (trans, by the author, as are all German sources cited in these notes); Alexander, Crusade, 15-26. Vol. CXII, no. 1 Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly 2008 54Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly Havingpledged our allegiance to the Hag which protects our Nation, we maintain and insist upon a ?oo per cent Americanism, which includes speaking theEnglish Language. The eyes of the unknown hath seen and doth constantly observe those whose hearts are not right. To each and everyone ofsuch we say: Do not disregard the warning. Be ioo per cent American. Speak the English language or move out of this city and county. Without regard to official, social or financial position, this warning applies to all persons alike living within diisjurisdiction of this Klan. . . . This warning will not be repeated. Mene Mene Tekel Upharsen. KNIGHTS OF THE KUKLUX KLAN2 This sign wasjust the tip of the iceberg in a series of interlocking cultural and political conflicts that extended beyond Washington County to adjacent areas and to some extent to wherever there were significant concentrations of Germans in Texas. Austin County, a few miles southeast of Washington County, was home of the two oldest German settlements in the state, Industry and Cat Spring, both ofwhich predated the Texas Revolution. Austin County was demographically similar to the adjoining counties of Washington and Fayette (with its seat in La Grange). In all three counties, Germans made up a slight majority, ranging from 50 to 54 percent of the white population according to the 1887 agricultural census (which although notoriously vague about its methodology, provides marvelously detailed data regarding ethnicity, which it seems to have assigned based on language and country of origin). The black proportion of the population ranged from 44...

South of the Guadalupe: A History of Nixon and Southern Gonzales County (review)

242Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober ballads known as corridos have on Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and specifically, Mexican immigrants in the United States. The aim of the author is to examine the role of corridos in shaping the cultural memories and identities of transnational Mexican groups, focusing on transnational communities from northern Chihuahua dirough northern Texas and New Mexico. In proving her argument, Chew Sánchez begins by discussing and comparing certain details, such as the recorded history, characteristics, identities, immigration, and migration ofMexicans living in the American Southwest and in Mexico after the U.S.-Mexican War. The second chapter defines the corrido, focusing particularly on corridos about immigration and how those ballads impacted migrants culturally , socially, personally, and collectively. The author's third chapter analyzes how her interviewees of Mexican descent, whether migrants, songwriters, singers, disc jockeys, or others, understand the meaning oflife through the corrido. Chew Sánchez uses the fourth chapter of her study to describe how corridos are transmitted to the Mexican migrant populace in transnational communities. The last chapter focuses on the importance of Los Tigres del Norte, the most popular Mexican musical group, famous for performing corridos about immigration, in preserving the migrant memory through their music. The author's work is well organized and presented. She provides a Spanish phrase or sentence with almost each chapter tide and subtide that gives die Spanish reader an understanding of what to expect. Chew Sánchez also focuses on issues relevant to this study, such as migrant women, clothing, female singers ofcorridos, and narcocorridos (ballads about drug trafficking). There are some items in the work that need attention. Although the book focuses primarily on Texas and New Mexico, it would have been beneficial to add migrant viewpoints of corridos from Arizona and California to assure balance among all states that border Mexico in further proving the argument. The author might have interviewed adolescents of Mexican descent to see whether corridos are important to their migrant memory. Chew Sánchez might also have attempted to ascertain Anglo American perceptions ofcorridos, especially ofsome who understand Spanish or are acquaintances ofMexicans living in transnational communities. Despite these omissions, this historical analysis is a grand achievement because historians, particularly those focused in Chicano, Mexico, borderlands, Southwest, and/or immigration studies, have not previously ventured into this territory. Immigration is a timely issue, and reading Dr. Chew Sanchez's work will help Americans and Mexicans understand life for transnational migrants. What better way to understand a group of people than by listening to music that truly defines them. "Si con mi cantopudiera derrumbaría lasfronteraspara que el mundo viviera con una sola bandera en una misma nación. " University ofTexas-Pan AmericanJ°si A. P. Alaniz South ofthe Guadalupe: A History ofNixon and Southern Gonzales County. By Donald D. Hoffman. (Privately printed, 2006. Pp. 292. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography , index. ISBN 0978737008. $39.95, cloth.) 2oo7 Book Reviews243 Cattleman Donald D. Hoffman, a native of soutfiern Gonzales County and former teacher and principal at Nixon High School, succincdy states his South ofthe Guadalupe "is not a history of one generation of Anglo setders, or even two or three. Rather it is the history of a particular piece of land and die people who have lived on it since the beginning of time" (p. 3). True to his premise, the author traces the history of Gonzales County, placing emphasis on die southern portion, from the era of the dinosaurs to the present day by providing brief accounts of the area's relationship to Native Americans and their culture; Spanish explorers, missions, and presidios; the establishment of the Green DeWitt colony; the Texas Revolution and the Republic period; Texas's entry into the Union; and the major events in American history. The development of southern Gonzales County began in 1849 when Paul Murray, a migrant from Mississippi, established a general store and gristmill some thirty miles south of Gonzales where several trails leading to the interior and die coastal region crisscrossed. By the early 1850s, die community that emerged around Murray's business ventures became known as Rancho, and in 1855, a post office was opened in the settlement. Throughout the remainder of the century...

900 Miles from Nowhere: Voices from the Homestead Frontier (review)

2oo7 Book Reviews229 their participation in the Runaway Scrape and the batdes of the Alamo and San Jacinto. Chapter Twelve then consists of a speculative essay in which Sutherland argues that participants in the Texas Revolution acquired a unique identity that included a sense of Texas as a place, as well as a loyalty to the idea of a sovereign Texas. That identity arose, she asserts, because the revolutionaries and their families derived from the revolution a "meaning [that] is analogous to the emotional and structural experience of a rite of passage" (p. 106). In subsequent chapters, the author covers her family's activities from the revolution through the early 1 900s. As she does for the earlier period, she stresses the strength her family found in their religion and kinship ties. Her chronological coverage ends with the marriage of her paternal grandparents, a great-granddaughter of Sterling Robertson and a great-grandson of George Sutherland. She then concludes with a chapter that describes how storytelling and Sutherland family reunions assisted in intergenerational transfers of a distinctive, collective self-perception. Sutherland's extensive primary sources, as well as secondary sources that include early histories ofTexas and local histories oftwo Texas counties, enable her to make several aspects of her work particularly interesting. In particular, her summary of fascinating details about both familiar and lesser known individuals entertainingly confirms the human-tradition premise that history is a mosaic of many lives. By extensively quoting many of those people, in effect allowing them to speak for themselves, she also substantially adds to her narrative's apparent realism and authenticity . In addition, she includes a number ofwell-placed, humorous anecdotes that increase her writing's appeal. Scholars may find Sutherland's primary sources ofsome interest and see in her emphasis on families and religion points of departure for further study. Nevertheless , her work seems intended primarily for a general audience, and anyone who is curious about the self-perceptions ofAnglo Texans or the lives ofAnglo Texans during the nineteenth century will find the book informative and enjoyable. Austin Community CollegeOwen L. Roberts 900 Milesfrom Nowhere: Voicesfrom theHomesteadFrontier. By Steven R. Kinsella. (Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2006. Pp. 2 1 6. Illustrations, map, notes. ISBN 0873515722. $29.95, cloth.) For those moving to America's Great Plains in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it often seemed that they were living 900 miles from nowhere. No matterwhere they looked, the entire horizon often seemed a treeless sea ofgrass. From the Canadian border to the Rio Grande, the Great Plains included one million square miles. Life in the region was marked by extremes. During the severe, frigid winters, the mercury plummeted to thirty below zero. In the blazing hot summers, it topped 100 degrees. Rainfall varied from thirty inches a year in the east to less than fifteen in the west. Out on the western plains and prior to the introduction of widespread irrigated agriculture, the unpredictable, semiarid environment forced many farmers to call it quits and move back East. 230Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober During this period, life on the Great Plains was backbreaking, lonely, and frequently tragic. Yet many found the landscape, the solitude, and the wide-open sky captivating. Those who made a go of it did so through "hard work, perseverance, and frugality" (p. 191). For thousands of European immigrants, the land represented a new start in life and an opportunity to acquire their own farm. Survival on the plains forced homesteaders to rely on one anotiier. Because there were so few people in the region, residents were generally friendly and helpful. Through shared work and social events, neighbors created a strong sense of community. Echoing Frederick Jackson Turner, author Steven R. Kinsella argues that this shared community and austere, disciplined lifestyle created a special type ofperson. Those who survived and setded the Great Plains embodied the true essence of the American spirit. The region serves as a "touchstone" for the nation, "a metaphor for all that Americans believe to be good about their character" (p. 16). Kinsella, the great-grandson ofGreat Plains homesteaders, is a media consultant and public affairs strategist for conservation organizations. 900 MilesfromNowheresucceeds marvelouslyin creating a...

Stephen Crane's Sources and Allusions in “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” and “Moonlight on the Snow”

Without a doubt the idea of the frontier played a crucial role in the Ameri can mind in the late nineteenth century. Whether one was reading dime novels about legendary heroes, watching wild west shows, or participating in the debate about the significance of the frontier in American history, the frontier as an imaginative setting was clearly part of popular culture. In response to this interest, the Bachelier syndicate sent Stephen Crane in 1895 on an extensive tour of the West and Mexico in order to write feature articles on local events and conditions. As these articles and his Western fiction demonstrate, Crane was ambivalent about the movement of civilization across the American continent. Whereas he admired the rapid modernization of the West, he deplored a detestable superficial culture1 of the East. In two of his Western stories, The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky and Moonlight on the Snow, written several years after his 1895 tour, Crane expresses his ambivalence about the significance of the development of the West by incorporating literary and historical allusions to well-known people, places, and events in contemporary popular culture. At the same time, the two stories dramatize his private anxieties regarding the tension between his professional lifestyle as an itinerant author and his responsibilities to his companion Cora Taylor.2 In The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, Crane relies on America's growing awareness of a commonly shared popular culture. Readers would have rec ognized the historic and literary context of the first and last names of the Texas marshal, Jack Potter. Both names had a longstanding connection with Texas in fact and fiction. Reuben Marmaduke Potter, a key figure dur ing the Texas Revolution and the Mexican War, immortalized San Antonio

The Alamo: A Story Bigger than Texas (review)

Reviewed by: The Alamo: A Story Bigger than Texas Dora Guerra "The Alamo: A Story Bigger than Texas." Designed by Drew Patterson Studios, Austin. Permanent exhibit at the Alamo Complex, San Antonio, Texas. Organized and funded by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, with funding from the R. J. and H. C. Kleberg Foundation, the Janis and Barrow Fund, The Disney Corporation, Campbell Foods, USAA, The McCombs Foundation, Mr. Fess Parker, and the Van Meter Trust. "The Alamo: A Story Bigger than Texas" is a new and permanent exhibit in the Long Barrack Museum that was inaugurated on October 5, 2005, in celebration of one hundred years of custodianship by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. With the objective to inform the 2.5 million visitors who come from all over the world each year, Dr. Bruce Winders, Alamo curator and historian, has written a story that takes the events that occurred at the Alamo out of the incidental and [End Page 436] into the greater historical context where they belong. For clarity, he divided the exhibit into five chronological sections: The Spanish period, which includes the Alamo as a mission protected by the military; the Mexican Independence period; the period of colonization from the United States; the Texas Revolution; and the post-revolution period, in which awareness of the important role that the Daughters of the Republic of Texas have played in the rescue, preservation, and custodianship of the Alamo is presented. By means of these chronological sections Winders's story takes visitors along the Alamo's journey from its early beginnings to the present day in a way that does not leave them in doubt about how one period led to the other and about the political reasons that overshadowed and caused the several transitions, transformations and confrontations that took place. For the first time at the Long Barrack Museum the public gets a comprehensive picture of the role that the battle of the Alamo had upon the histories of the United States and of Mexico. It shows how the various pivotal moments influenced the course of their respective histories, and demonstrates how the battle of the Alamo was an important catalyst that forevermore changed the geography and the maps of two nations, and demonstrates that the Alamo's story is indeed "A Story Bigger than Texas." Grants for the project came from foundations that included the R. J. and H. C. Kleberg Foundation, the Janis Barrow Fund, Disney, Campbell Foods, USAA, the McCombs Foundation, Mr. Fess Parker, The Van Meter Trust, plus upwards of 49 percent provided by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, culminating in a budget of $500,000. Drew Patterson, head of Drew Patterson Studios of Austin, was selected to design and install the exhibit. He brought to the project a very respectable cadre of successful achievements. As graphic designer for the new exhibit at the Long Barrack it was his task to take Winders's words and to translate them into a graphic narrative that would engage and inform a public that often comes equipped with only John Wayne's version of what happened at the Alamo, or with no clue at all of its story. Patterson, aided by a crew of experienced and talented associates, successfully achieved the undertaking. Entrance to the building is preceded by a shady, twelve-foot-wide veranda that is created by an arcade typical of Spanish/Moorish architecture that is reminiscent of the building's Spanish mission days. Appropriately, it is here that the story of the Alamo's Spanish period begins to unfold on large enamel text panels that have been mounted on the exterior limestone walls. Alongside there are bright ceiling to floor banners with text that inform visitors of mission days and that throughout the rest of the exhibit also serve to move the viewers from one historical period to another. Inside, the story of the Alamo continues to unfold along the 178-foot length of the building in seamless glass cases filled with original artifacts that give visitors tangible evidence of the societies and of the ways of life of which the Alamo was a part. The artifacts, some of...

Continental Crossroads: Remapping U.S.-Mexico Borderlands History

This collection of essays showcases the work of young, U.S.-based scholars working on U.S.-Mexico borderlands history during what the editors refer to as the region’s “formative” period, the 1820s through the 1940s. Samuel Truett and Elliott Young begin with an introduction situating the collection within existing literature. Rather than redefine the field, the editors insist that there is more to gain by seeing borderlands history as a “meeting place” for multiple fields, where Chicana/o, U.S. West, Spanish borderlands, and Mexican specialists can converse together “on their own terms” (p. 12). The essays reflect the fruits of such conversations.Many of the contributors add welcome complexity to familiar borderland subjects. In the opening essay, Raúl Ramos explores a range of attitudes held by Spanish and Mexican officials in San Antonio, Texas, regarding their powerful Indian neighbors. Locating interesting continuities in outlook and policy before and after Mexican independence, Ramos nonetheless has little to say about Indians themselves — a curious omission given the volume’s emphasis on multiple perspectives and boundary crossing. Andrés Reséndez’s excellent essay on borderlands literary cultures in the mid – nineteenth century begins with a failed attempt by Texans to extend their dominion over eastern New Mexico in 1841. Reséndez taps into fascinating differences in the ways borderlands peoples articulated corporate identity by placing sensationalized U.S. accounts of the Texan endeavor alongside the published accounts of Mexicans and pictographic calendars of Kiowa Indians. Louise Pubols presents a subtle portrait of political culture in post-1848 California. Writing against the more familiar story of elite Californios naively colluding with American newcomers and quickly losing their wealth and power, the author focuses instead on the prominent de la Guerra family of southern California and the endurance of their patriarchal political network into the 1870s.Benjamin Johnson’s essay serves as a tight précis of his important 2003 book, Revolution in Texas (Yale Univ. Press). When in 1915 ethnic Mexicans began attacking ranches and killing Anglos along the lower Rio Grande, Texas Rangers and vigilantes responded with often-indiscriminate reprisals. Johnson argues that in the disastrous aftermath of the rebellion, Tejanos came to embrace their American citizenship and fight politically for the ideal of “multiracial democracy” (p. 293). Alexandra Minna Stern explores the creation of the U.S. Border Patrol. Stern tells a tale of a hardening border, racist medical quarantines, and punitive immigration laws, all policed by a newly constituted Border Patrol service armed with extraordinary powers and inflated notions of masculinity.Other contributions enlist little-known actors to guide the reader through a complex and rich landscape of borderland dreams, schemes, and social relations. Bárbara O. Reyes explores the story of Bárbara Gandiaga, a native woman convicted in 1806 of conspiring to kill a friar at a mission in Baja California. By putting the official, Dominican account in conversation with a very different telling collected in the late nineteenth century, Reyes offers a penetrating critique of how one woman’s story became fodder for competing discourses: one Catholic and colonial, the other anticlerical and reformist. Elliott Young uses a pair of travel narratives written by the journalist and anti-Díaz revolutionary Ignacio Martínez to gesture at critiques of modernity arising out of the borderlands in the late nineteenth century. Young mines the travel narratives for Martínez’s evolving and sometimes contradictory thoughts about colonialism, development, and justice. Grace Peña Delgado explains how class structured opportunities for Chinese immigrants on the U.S.-Mexican border during the 1880s and 1890s. As exclusionary legislation complicated Chinese immigration through places like San Francisco or New York, many would-be immigrants — especially merchants — found better opportunities for life and for border crossing in northern Mexico.In one of the collection’s strongest pieces, Karl Jacoby recounts the efforts of William H. Ellis to organize an African American colony in Mexico in 1895. Billed as a nondiscriminatory haven for poor black farmers, Ellis’s colony attracted enough immigrants to panic white landowners in the U.S. South. Jacoby is at his best when discussing the complex but fascinating reasons for the project’s demise, an event that he argues prefigured growing prejudice against blacks in Mexico. Samuel Truett’s essay on Emilio Kosterlitzky, a Russian immigrant in Mexico who became a lauded military figure in northern Sonora, follows the transformation of the northwestern borderlands from a frontier zone of Indian wars to a transnational theater of labor struggle. Kosterlitzky’s eventful life, ending as a spy for the U.S. government, highlights the changing possibilities and limitations of transnational identity in the turn-of-the-century borderlands.While organized both chronologically and thematically, this collection is not (and was not meant to be) a comprehensive text for borderlands history. However, its clear, engaging essays would enrich undergraduate classes, and graduate students and professors will find in Continental Crossroads a lively tour of the region’s new and clearly flourishing historiography.

The Mexican War

The U.S.-Mexican War, although it took place more than 160 years ago, continues to shape the destinies of both the countries caught up in the conflict. For Mexico, the many problems of sharing a border with the U.S. had their origins with this war. And for the United States, the dilemmas posed by the incorporation of large populations of non-English-speaking, mestizo peoples continues to challenge the meaning of what it means to be an American. This book is a solid and useful tool for students of Latin America, who will see in this conflict a lesson of what happens when leadership gives in to ethnocentric notions of nationalism.The authors succeed in giving a clear narrative of events without overpowering us with the many details of diplomacy and war. They have done a masterful job of synthesizing the most important interpretations of the conflict, its origin, and course. They have given us valuable resources, a detailed chronology, copies of key primary documents of the period, and an annotated bibliography that is organized to help researchers.This is more than just a chronicle of the war. The authors give a good deal of background information about both the United States’ and Mexico’s political evolution prior to the conflict. The chapter discussing the Texas Revolution gives a deep background to understanding how it was that the Americans came to separate from Mexico. The writing is free from jargon and explains complicated events and their causes incisively.The authors’ goal is to look at the conflict from both American and Mexican perspectives, but this is a very difficult task for North American scholars. The problem is that the Mexican scholars’ deeply critical perspective on U.S. motives and conduct in the war does not fit readily into a narrative approach. The title of the book indicates a problem from the start. Mexican scholars would call it the “War against Mexico” or the “U.S.-Mexican War,” not the “Mexican War,” which has different implications. The stories of the Tejanos who died inside the Alamo, of the Polk-Stockton scheme in Texas, of the execution of the Haro twins in California, of the atrocities committed by the Texan irregulars who were with the U.S. Army, and of the U.S. summary execution of the Taos rebels are not in this narrative. A Mexican perspective would excoriate U.S. expansionist motives, from the annexation of Texas to the starting of the war on Mexican soil up to the forced annexation of half of its national territory. Unfortunately, the chapter on legacies does not mention the U.S. failures to live up to the Treaty of Guadalaupe Hidalgo and the loss of civil and property rights by former Mexican citizens in the United States.Several years ago, a binational discourse about the U.S.-Mexican War appeared in a two-hour PBS presentation entitled “The U.S.-Mexican War.” This program gave Mexican scholars a chance to discuss their perspectives about the war, alongside those of U.S. historians, including Chicano historians. The related Web site, with companion documents, is available for those who want a balanced view of the conflict (http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/mainframe.html). This kind of approach could serve as a framework for larger book presenting Mexican and U.S. interpretations of the war. Until then, The Mexican War will provide the interested public with a readable and factual, but ultimately one-sided, view of the conflict.

Changing National Identities at the Frontier: Texas and New Mexico 1800-1850

1. Carved spaces: Mexico's far north, the American southwest, or Indian domains? 2. A nation made visible: patronage, power, and ritual 3. The spirit of mercantile enterprise 4. The Benediction of the Roman ritual 5. The Texas Revolution and the not-so-secret history of shifting loyalties 6. The fate of Governor Albino Perez 7. State, market, and literary cultures 8. New Mexico at the razor's edge.

Reprinting the Legend: The Alamo on Film

The battle of the Alamo is a mythic event. One might be forgiven for thinking that it is a mythical event as well. As far as the movies have been concerned, it may as well have been. Back when schoolchildren actually knew anything about history, the stirring and heroic saga of the siege and fall of the Alamo was as well known as Washington's crossing of the Delaware or Teddy Roosevelt's charge up San Juan Hill. To tell the story was to sing a hymn to gleaming, unassailable patriotism and, as Alamo Commander William Barret Travis wrote in his most famous letter, everything dear to the American character. The story that those schoolchildren knew was roughly this: in February 1836 a small but determined band of Americans holed up in the Alamo, a crumbling old mission-turned-fort just outside San Antonio, Texas. Texas was at the time still a part of Mexico, and the cruel and despotic Mexican dictator, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, felt that these Americans were interlopers and revolutionaries. He and his army of thousands lay siege to the Alamo. There were not that many defenders inside the walls of the Alamo, but what they lacked in numbers they made up for in ferocity, bravery, and sterling goodness. Young William Barret Travis, a firebrand lawyer and revolutionary, was in command. His co-commander, Jim Bowie, was too ill to take an active role in the defense of the fort, but his legendary knife and exciting exploits were such that his presence was more important than his actions. But even Bowie's fame paled beside that of a recent arrival-Davy Crockett of Tennessee. Crockett's fellow fighters in the Alamo were inspired by his colorful history as a bear hunter and Indian fighter. He was possibly the greatest living frontiersman, and he had cast his lot with the outnumbered Texans in San Antonio. Santa Anna's cannon pounded the walls of the Alamo for thirteen days. Despite Travis' repeated pleas for assistance, only one group of thirty-two men arrived as reinforcements. Finally, knowing all was lost, Travis gave a stirring speech to his men, telling them that they would surely die if they continued to defend the Alamo. He drew a line in the dirt with his saber and invited every man who would volunteer to stay and fight to the death to cross over the line. Without hesitation, they all crossed over. In the early morning hours of March 6, 1836, the Mexican army attacked. By sunrise the battle was over and every defender of the Alamo lay dead. But each Texan had taken scores of Mexicans with him into death. As Travis had promised in his letter of February 24, Santa Anna's victory was worse than a defeat. A few weeks later a vengeful Texan army under Sam Houston surprised Santa Anna at San Jacinto and defeated him in a battle that lasted a mere fifteen minutes. Santa Anna was captured and, in exchange for his life, gave Texas to Houston. Now the territory was an independent republic thanks to the martyrdom of the heroes of the Alamo. Of course, as in all true stories, the actual event was far more chaotic and complicated than that pristine myth of patriotic sacrifice. Scholars and historians have spent decades uncovering new details, and, every time they do, it seems that the legend of the Alamo is chipped away just a little more. James Bowie was certainly an adventurer-but he was also a slave trader, land swindler, and a sometime partner of the pirate Jean Lafitte. And it appears that the famed Bowie knife was created by James' brother Rezin Bowie. William Barret Travis abandoned his pregnant wife to take up with a mistress and arrived in Texas under suspicion of having murdered a man back in Alabama. And David Crockett, while admittedly a fine hunter, did not have much of a career as a fighter of Indians or anybody else. His most striking achievement in life had been serving two terms in Congress. Nor was the Texas Revolution quite the pure-hearted enterprise of which the storybooks sing. …

Políticas de subordinación lingüística en Tejas durante la época revolucionaria

El presente estudio intenta esclarecer las políticas lingüísticas que impulsaron la subordinación del español en el estado de Tejas. Se estudia la política lingüística ejercida durante la formación de las colonias anglo tejanas y su arraigo en las políticas lingüísticas del virreinato de la Nueva España. Tambien se examina las maneras en que los empresarios negociaron esta política en la formación de colonias netamente anglófonas. A la vez se exploran las múltiples reacciones a esta negociación por parte de los tejanos locales por un lado y por los gobernantes mexicanos por otro; sucesos que al final estallarían en la revolución tejana. Por fin, se analiza el papel que desempeñó esta negociación política singular en la posterior subordinación del español después de la revolución tejana.

Review of Johnson, Revolution in Texas

<scp>Review of Johnson, Revolution in Texas</scp>