Civil War & Revolution on the Rio Grande Frontier

Civil War & Revolution on the Rio Grande Frontier
Author: Jerry D. Thompson
Publisher: Texas State Historical Assn
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN:

Civil War and Revolution on the Rio Grande Frontier contains more than 125 of the best images taken by De Planque and other photographers, the vast majority having never been published. From numerous archives and private collections, these images include everything from the destruction following the killer hurricane of 1867 to gripping views of the heart-wrenching hanging of an American army deserter and three unfortunate followers of Cortina, who happened to get caught on the wrong side of the river.

War and Peace on the Rio Grande Frontier, 1830–1880

War and Peace on the Rio Grande Frontier, 1830–1880
Author: Miguel Ángel González-Quiroga
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 509
Release: 2020-03-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 0806167025

The historical record of the Rio Grande valley through much of the nineteenth century reveals well-documented violence fueled by racial hatred, national rivalries, lack of governmental authority, competition for resources, and an international border that offered refuge to lawless men. Less noted is the region’s other everyday reality, one based on coexistence and cooperation among Mexicans, Anglo-Americans, and the Native Americans, African Americans, and Europeans who also inhabited the borderlands. War and Peace on the Rio Grande Frontier, 1830–1880 is a history of these parallel worlds focusing on a border that gave rise not only to violent conflict but also cooperation and economic and social advancement. Meeting here are the Anglo-Americans who came to the border region to trade, spread Christianity, and settle; Mexicans seeking opportunity in el norte; Native Americans who raided American and Mexican settlements alike for plunder and captives; and Europeans who crisscrossed the borderlands seeking new futures in a fluid frontier space. Historian Miguel Ángel González-Quiroga draws on national archives, letters, consular records, periodicals, and a host of other sources to give voice to borderlanders’ perspectives as he weaves their many, varied stories into one sweeping narrative. The tale he tells is one of economic connections and territorial disputes, of refugees and bounty hunters, speculation and stakeholding, smuggling and theft and other activities in which economic considerations often carried more weight than racial prejudice. Spanning the Anglo settlement of Texas in the 1830s, the Texas Revolution, the Republic of Texas , the US-Mexican War, various Indian wars, the US Civil War, the French intervention into Mexico, and the final subjugation of borderlands Indians by the combined forces of the US and Mexican armies, this is a magisterial work that forever alters, complicates, and enriches borderlands history. Published in association with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas

The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876

The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876
Author: Roseann Bacha-Garza
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2019-01-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 1623497205

2020, Texas Historical Commission's Governor's Award for Historic Preservation was awarded to the Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. This book grew out of the CHAPS program. Runner-up, 2019 Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Book Award, sponsored by the Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Association (TOMFRA) Long known as a place of cross-border intrigue, the Rio Grande’s unique role in the history of the American Civil War has been largely forgotten or overlooked. Few know of the dramatic events that took place here or the complex history of ethnic tensions and international intrigue and the clash of colorful characters that marked the unfolding and aftermath of the Civil War in the Lone Star State. To understand the American Civil War in Texas also requires an understanding of the history of Mexico. The Civil War on the Rio Grande focuses on the region’s forced annexation from Mexico in 1848 through the Civil War and Reconstruction. In a very real sense, the Lower Rio Grande Valley was a microcosm not only of the United States but also of increasing globalization as revealed by the intersections of races, cultures, economic forces, historical dynamics, and individual destinies. As a companion to Blue and Gray on the Border: The Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail, this volume provides the scholarly backbone to a larger public history project exploring three decades of ethnic conflict, shifting international alliances, and competing economic proxies at the border. The Civil War on the Rio Grande, 1846–1876 makes a groundbreaking contribution not only to the history of a Texas region in transition but also to the larger history of a nation at war with itself.

Lens on the Texas Frontier

Lens on the Texas Frontier
Author: Lawrence T. Jones
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2014-03-27
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 1623491231

Photographs of Texas’ frontier past are valuable as both art and artifact. Recording not only the lives and surroundings of days gone by, but also the artistry of those who captured the people and their times on camera, the rare images in Lens on the Texas Frontier offer a documentary record that is usually available to only a few dedicated collectors. In this book, prominent collector Lawrence T. Jones III showcases some of the most interesting and historically important glimpses of Texas history included among the five thousand photographs in the collection that bears his name at the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University. One of the nation’s most comprehensive and valuable Texas-related photography collections, the Lawrence T. Jones III Collection documents all aspects of Texas photography from the years 1846–1945, including rare examples of the various techniques practiced from its earliest days in the state: daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and paper print photographs in various formats. The selections in the book feature cartes de visite, cabinet cards, oversized photographs, stereographs, and more. The subjects of the photos include Confederate and Union soldiers and officers in the Civil War; Mexicans, including ranking military officials from the Mexican Revolution; and a wide spectrum of Texan citizens, including African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Caucasian women, men, and children.

Revolution in Texas

Revolution in Texas
Author: Benjamin Heber Johnson
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780300094251

In Revolution in Texas, Benjamin Johnson tells the little-known story of one of the most intense and protracted episodes of racial violence in United States history. In 1915, against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, the uprising that would become known as the Plan de San Diego began with a series of raids by ethnic Mexicans on ranches and railroads. Local violence quickly erupted into a regional rebellion. In response, vigilante groups and the Texas Rangers staged an even bloodier counterinsurgency, culminating in forcible relocations and mass executions. eventually collapsed. But, as Johnson demonstrates, the rebellion resonated for decades in American history. Convinced of the futility of using force to protect themselves against racial discrimination and economic oppression, many Mexican Americans elected to seek protection as American citizens with equal access to rights and protections under the US Constitution.

New Mexico Territory During the Civil War

New Mexico Territory During the Civil War
Author: Henry Davies Wallen
Publisher: UNM Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2008
Genre: Fortification
ISBN: 0826344798

These inspection reports, edited by award-winning Civil War historian Thompson, provide unique insight into the military, cultural, and social life of a territory struggling to maintain law and order during the early Civil War years.

A Crooked River

A Crooked River
Author: Michael L. Collins
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2018-04-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0806161574

During the turbulent years of the Civil War and Reconstruction, a squall of violence and lawlessness swept through the Nueces Strip and the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas. Cattle rustlers, regular troops, and Texas Rangers, as well as Civil War deserters and other characters of questionable reputation, clashed with Mexicans, Germans, and Indians over unionism, race, livestock, land, and national sovereignty, among other issues. In A Crooked River, Michael L. Collins presents a rousing narrative of these events that reflects perspectives of people on both sides of the Rio Grande. Retracing a path first opened by historian Walter Prescott Webb, A Crooked River reveals parts of the tale that Webb never told. Collins brings a cross-cultural perspective to the role of the Texas Rangers in the continuing strife along the border during the late nineteenth century. He draws on many rare and obscure sources to chronicle the incidents of the period, bringing unprecedented depth and detail to such episodes as the “skinning wars,” the raids on El Remolino and Las Cuevas, and the attack on Nuecestown. Along the way, he dispels many entrenched legends of Texas history—in particular, the long-held belief that almost all of the era’s cattle thieves were Mexican. A balanced and thorough reevaluation, A Crooked River adds a new dimension to the history of the racial and cultural conflict that defined the border region and that still echoes today.

The Seventh Star of the Confederacy

The Seventh Star of the Confederacy
Author: Kenneth Wayne Howell
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 1574412590

On February 1, 1861, delegates at the Texas Secession Convention elected to leave the Union. The people of Texas supported the actions of the convention in a statewide referendum, paving the way for the state to secede and to officially become the seventh state in the Confederacy. Soon the Texans found themselves engaged in a bloody and prolonged civil war against their northern brethren. During the curse of this war, the lives of thousands of Texans, both young and old, were changed forever. This new anthology, edited by Kenneth W. Howell, incorporates the latest scholarly research on how Texans experienced the war. Eighteen contributors take us from the battlefront to the home front, ranging from inside the walls of a Confederate prison to inside the homes of women and children left to fend for themselves while their husbands and fathers were away on distant battlefields, and from the halls of the governor’s mansion to the halls of the county commissioner’s court in Colorado County. Also explored are well-known battles that took place in or near Texas, such as the Battle of Galveston, the Battle of Nueces, the Battle of Sabine Pass, and the Red River Campaign. Finally, the social and cultural aspects of the war receive new analysis, including the experiences of women, African Americans, Union prisoners of war, and noncombatants.

Duval County Tejanos

Duval County Tejanos
Author: Alfredo E. Cardenas
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2024-10-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1574419544

In Texas, to hear the words “Duval County” evokes Archie and George Parr, politics, and corruption. But this does not represent the full truth about this South Texas county and its Tejano citizens. Duval County Tejanos accentuates the significance and meaning of place, showcasing Tejanos as historical actors, not bit players. This cultural region comprises la familia, las costumbres, la fe católica, y las comidas. And we must not leave out la política. Tejanos were engaged in community life: they organized politically, cultivated land, and promoted agriculture, livestock raising, the local economy, churches, schools, patriotic celebrations, and social activities. Americano newcomers sought to start and develop a trade economy, but Mexicanos wanted to make sure they held on to their land. The Civil War stunted economic and governmental development but did not prevent the population growing in numbers and diversity, including the arrival of Americanos in more significant numbers. Still, old-time pioneers and newcomers joined hands to build a faith community, develop schools, improve transportation, and bring commerce to serve their needs. In 1876 Duval County citizens formally petitioned Nueces County for the opportunity to organize themselves. When the railroad rolled into the county seat, San Diego, in 1879, their world changed forever. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Duval County economy exhibited vitality and adaptability—sheep and cattle raising and cotton farming anchored and sustained the local economy. Moreover, Texas land programs opened opportunities to previously landless Tejano farmers. Duval County Tejanos continued to be alarmed as Americanos were cementing their political influence out of proportion to their numbers. In the 1870s Tejanos pursued organized politics to attain fairness and acquire political power corresponding to their population. In the twentieth century the political atmosphere intensified as Tejanos pushed forward their agenda of assuming their proper role, consistent with their numbers. Ultimately, the Americano actors were replaced by new faces more willing to share in the power structure, both politically and economically, and Tejanos achieved political strength commensurate with their numbers.

Discovering Texas History

Discovering Texas History
Author: Bruce A. Glasrud
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2014-09-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0806147830

The most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to Texas historiography of the past quarter-century, this volume of original essays will be an invaluable resource and definitive reference for teachers, students, and researchers of Texas history. Conceived as a follow-up to the award-winning A Guide to the History of Texas (1988), Discovering Texas History focuses on the major trends in the study of Texas history since 1990. In two sections, arranged topically and chronologically, some of the most prominent authors in the field survey the major works and most significant interpretations in the historical literature. Topical essays take up historical themes ranging from Native Americans, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and women in Texas to European immigrant history; literature, the visual arts, and music in the state; and urban and military history. Chronological essays cover the full span of Texas historiography from the Spanish era through the Civil War, to the Progressive Era and World Wars I and II, and finally to the early twenty-first century. Critical commentary on particular books and articles is the unifying purpose of these contributions, whose authors focus on analyzing and summarizing the subjects that have captured the attention of professional historians in recent years. Together the essays gathered here will constitute the standard reference on Texas historiography for years to come, guiding readers and researchers to future, ever deeper discoveries in the history of Texas.