The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 608
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
In twenty-four chapters Nance tells, with meticulous documen-
tation, of the unimposing 1836 military establishment of the new
Texas republic as Mexico refused to recognize that republic's
independence and eternally threatened invasion while the orig-
inal Texas "cow boys" made cattle raids and frontier maraudings.
Trade went on, both legal and smuggled; the Federalist wars
attracted "unspeakable" foreign auxiliaries in the form of unem-
ployed Texans eager for a fight, particularly a Mexican fight; the
Republic of the Rio Grande was born and died, with its capital
on soil claimed by Texas. Santa Anna rose phoenix-like from the
fires of San Jacinto and other familiar Mexican characters re-
appear: Jose Urrea, Ram6n Mi'squiz, Domingo de Ugartechea,
Martin Perfecto de C6s, Francisco Vidaurri y Villasefior, and
Texas' good friend Jose Antonio Mejia. And always there were
the federalistas who dashed back and forth across the Rio Grande
and even the Nueces, but they turned out to be Mexicans first
and Federalists second.
The wealth of serious history is too detailed to summarize in
any review, but for the reader in search of drama there are in-
numerable tantalizing episodes: forged letters, the Xenophon-like
escape of Samuel W. Jordan's men after the battle of Saltillo, a
courier with a Canales letter concealed in the sole of his shoe,
and Martin K. Snell being saved by some women of Morelos who
"hid him under some canes." Perhaps the best single story appears
in a footnote-the story of the imprisoned Carrizo Indians brought
out naked to get some exercise who kicked a ball all the way from
Matamoros to Reynosa, outdistancing the horsemen appointed to
guard them and so achieving freedom.
Should an opera be based on the story, the villain would be
the wily Canales, "with eyes false as those of a mustang"; the
chorus might feature the Federalist presidential guard of sixty
Texans; Indians would furnish the ballet; and the recurrent
musical theme would have to mean the Mexican Constitution of
1824. Minor themes or asides would tell of the Texas Navy and
of the Texan-Santa Fe Expedition.
I have but one serious quarrel with the book. I like my Mon-
terrey with two "r's." At least the second "r" is consistently absent.
Every good serial must have a come-on to whet appetite for
the next installment. So ends the epilogue:608
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/686/?rotate=90: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.