The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 99, July 1995 - April, 1996 Page: 579
626 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
in the first decade of statehood, the peaceful Caddo found themselves forced
westward toward the Brazos River country. Their relatively brief and tragic stay in
that area was made worse by attacks from white frontiersmen and nomadic Co-
manches. In 1859, they were removed north of the Red River where they shared
a small reservation with the Wichita.
With excellent maps, a great depth of research, and an engaging writing style,
Smith presents an excellent overview of three centuries of Caddo life. Now all
that remains to be done is an equally successful treatment of the "modern era"
that explains Caddo cultural persistence against such great odds.
University of Nebraska at Omaha MICHAEL L. TATE
Blood and Treasure. By Donald Frazier. (College Station: Texas A&M University
Press, 1995. Pp. xiii+361. Illustrations, maps, epilogue, notes, bibliography,
index. ISBN o-89096-639-7. $29.95.)
In the summer of 1861 Henry Hopkins Sibleyjourneyed to Richmond to meet
with Confederate President Jefferson Davis. When he left, Sibley had been grant-
ed the authority to raise a volunteer force in Texas whose mission would be to
drive Federal forces from New Mexico Territory. The drama of the Confederate
attempt to conquer the Southwestern territories that unfolded in the months to
follow came to an end just one year later, as the remnants of the Confederate
Army of New Mexico straggled back to Texas, and the dream of Southern expan-
sionists withered and died. In the end, Sibley concluded, "The Territory of New
Mexico is not worth a quarter of the blood and treasure expended in its con-
quest" (p. 268).
Donald S. Frazier has done what I had suspected was impossible: he has not
only surpassed the detailed treatment of Martin Hall's Sibley's New Mexico Cam-
paign (1960), but his scope is beyond that of even Alvin Josephy's The Civil War
in the American West (1991). To specialized studies of military history and Ameri-
can imperialism, Frazier has added a work that blends the personalities and the
military process of the campaign into the larger context of the Civil War, and
has given it a continental flavor. His first chapter is perhaps the finest brief ac-
count ever written of the Texan and Southern expansionist sentiment that was
the stimulus for the New Mexico campaign of 1862.
Frazier's descriptions of the battles of Val Verde and Glorieta Pass are small
models of exciting and insightful military history, rich with descriptions and im-
pressions based upon primary sources. The writing style is lively and based upon
thorough research, and deserves to stand with the very best campaign studies of
the war. The greater worth of this work, however, lies in its synthesis of primary
and secondary accounts, giving us the story within the context of American im-
perialism and Southern nationalism. This volume is for scholars and students
alike, whether their interest lies in the Civil War or the still fertile fields of the
American West.1996
579
Dallas
DAVID PAUL SMITH
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 99, July 1995 - April, 1996, periodical, 1996; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101217/m1/657/?rotate=180: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.