The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 101, July 1997 - April, 1998 Page: 541
574 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
accurate. This has been a problem with translations in the past, and having the
Spanish with the English is a worthwhile trend that should be encouraged.
Anyone interested in the development of the northern frontier during the
Spanish era will treasure these volumes and want to have them all. They are a
valuable reference source on this broad region, not only for its Spanish
colonists and soldiers but for its Native American inhabitants as well. My only
suggestions for improvement are that the editors-in their selection process-
monitor the availability of other translations more closely; that they avail them-
selves of the latest Texas route studies in putting together their diary annota-
tions; and that they obtain better photographs for the archival maps repro-
duced. The series is too beautifully designed, printed, and bound to be marred
by maps that lack clarity and look like they were taken from out-of-focus micro-
film shots. Yet to come: a volume that translates all the on-site inspection
reports of the Marques de Rubi, and others of equal importance to understand-
ing the military activities that shaped the rugged frontier of northern New
Spain from California to Texas.
Austin JACK JACKSON
My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue. By Samuel Chamberlain. Annotated and
with an introduction by William H. Goetzmann. Austin: Texas State
Historical Association, 1996. Foreword, illustrations, appendices, notes,
index. ISBN 0-87611-156-8. $6o.oo, cloth.)
This volume should serve to spread the reputation of one of the most colorful
figures in the nineteenth-century United States military, Samuel Chamberlain
(1829-19o8). Reared in Boston, Chamberlain moved to his uncle's Illinois farm
at the age of fifteen and enlisted in the United States Army following the out-
break of the Mexican War, where he participated in several engagements.
Chamberlain claimed, probably falsely, to have ridden with John Glanton's infa-
mous scalp-hunting gang in Arizona after the war. Subsequently, he served with
distinction (and was seriously wounded) in the Civil War, rising to the rank of
brigadier general.
The present volume is the only published version of the complete text of
Chamberlain's journal, which concludes with him in the company of Glanton's
gang. The journal was excerpted in Life magazine forty years ago and published
in an edited book version. However, this recent edition is far superior in a num-
ber of respects. First, it not only contains the complete text, but also reproduces
splendidly in color the dozens of watercolor illustrations Chamberlain painted
to depict his exploits, both real and imagined. Also, its maps are of great help to
the reader in following Chamberlain's peregrinations in the West and his battle-
field descriptions.
William H. Goetzmann's extensive introductory essay and annotations of
the text perform the indispensable service of setting the journal and paintings
in the chronology of Chamberlain's life as well as in a larger historical con-
text. Also, his discussion of the history of the manuscript itself is almost as1998
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 101, July 1997 - April, 1998, periodical, 1998; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117155/m1/624/?rotate=180: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.