The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 177

Book Reviews

177

stirring events in the annals of American history. Lord's ability
to combine his literary craftsmanship with an almost unbelievable
faculty for research has resulted in a valuable, interesting, and
rather unusual account, not only of the siege and fall of the Alamo
but of the colonial history of Texas and developments leading to
the Revolution, the preparation and movement of the Mexican
armies, and events following the fall of the Alamo including the
Battle of San Jacinto. The book also affords an interesting exam-
ination of some of the more perplexing problems growing out of
the various studies regarding the siege and fall of the Alamo, and a
good portrayal of the feelings as they existed in the United States,
prior to and during the Texas Revolution, regarding freedom
of Texas from Mexican rule. A great deal of information is pro-
vided about many of the lesser known participants in the battle
of the Alamo, about fifty of whom are mentioned. The author
has developed a convincing picture of the citizenry during the
period of the Texas Revolution.
In the broad field of Texas history, Lord seems a bit uncertain
at times; for example, Thomas Jefferson Green may have said
"Thermopylae had its messenger of defeat-the Alamo had none,"
as did many other persons but it seems to be good Texas tradition
that the author was Edward Burleson; likewise, the description
of Ben Milam as a "leathery plainsman" may have been accurate
but to most Texans he was much more than that; and the infer-
ence that Sam Houston could be frightened into giving his horse
to Jim Bowie or anyone else seems far-fetched to say the least,
especially if the author's authority is Ham's Memoirs. On matters
dealing strictly with the Alamo, however, a check of his conclu-
sions on such controversial questions as the flag that was flown
over the Alamo, the number of men that were engaged in the
battle, the last messenger, Travis' uniform, and the survivors of
the Alamo shows them to be as convincing as those of anyone who
has tackled the problems. A basic criticism of this book is that
it has no footnotes. It is, therefore, difficult to correlate the author-
ities relied upon by the author.
Before anyone decides that either A Time to Stand or Thirteen
Days to Glory sufficiently covers the history of the Alamo, its
siege and fall, the conclusions of each author on the following