The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 90, July 1986 - April, 1987 Page: 213

Book Reviews

for the researcher is more than offset, however, by the author's inclu-
sion of a series of appendices containing the most extensive and defini-
tive serial number production statistics available on Colt arms. Cer-
tainly, among the more than thirty titles treating Coltiana, this volume
stands alone in the richness of its content. It is worthy of consideration
by anyone who appreciates artifacts combining ingenuity, artistry, and
history.
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum RICHARD C. RATTENBURY
Papers Concerning Robertson's Colony in Texas, Volume XII, October I5,
1835, through January 14, 1836: The Municipality of Milam. Com-
piled and edited by Malcolm D. McLean. (Arlington, Tex.: UTA
Press, 1985. Pp. 732. Preface, introduction, illustrations, bibliog-
raphy, index, colophon. $35.)
Volume XII of Malcolm D. McLean's Papers Concerning Robertson's
Colony in Texas is very much in the tradition of his earlier volumes. The
format consists of two or three miscellaneous preliminary sections, a
preface, an introduction that describes the documents, the documents
themselves, with extensive footnotes, and finally a bibliography. In
keeping with the pattern of volumes X and XI, Volume XII covers a
very limited period of time, only about three months.
These months, however, are a very critical time in the story of the
Texas Revolution. They include the siege and conquest of San Antonio
and the frustrating effort to establish a system of leadership through
the deliberations of the Consultation and the Provisional Government.
McLean gives both of these events attention in his selection of docu-
ments, but the majority of the documents, at least in terms of the pages
they take up, still relate to the affairs of the Robertson Colony, and,
more precisely, to the matter of land.
Indeed, one of the most significant lessons to be learned or to be re-
affirmed from the reading of this volume is the overriding importance
of land during the period of Mexican rule. The Mexican army might
be marching; life itself might be in jeopardy; but the correspondence
of the day indicates that Texans in large numbers remained preoc-
cupied with land, ways to get title to it, and ways to get more of it. A
great controversy, for example, developed when the General Council
issued orders closing the land offices in the early stages of the fighting.
The large number of documents in McLean's work relating to land, and
the content of correspondence discussing land, offer convincing evi-
dence of its importance.

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