For the Love of Texas. Tell Me about the Colonists! PDF
Preview For the Love of Texas. Tell Me about the Colonists!
Published by The History Press Charleston, SC 29403 www.historypress.net Copyright © 2013 by Betsy and George Christian All rights reserved First published 2013 e-book edition 2013 ISBN 978.1.62584.614.3 Library of Congress CIP data applied for. print edition ISBN 978.1.62619.159.4 Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews To George, Kathryn, Sarah and Leah, our historically curious children. Without the occasion to read aloud history books to you, the opportunity to write these books might not have occurred. Thank you for being receptive, probing and questioning. We are very proud of you. —Mom and Dad CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements 1. The “Old Americans”—And We Mean Old! 2. Here Come the Native Americans 3. The First Texans 4. Apache Invasion! 5. Europe, Meet Texas 6. If At First You Don’t Succeed 7. Missions and Mayhem 8. A Whole New Ballgame 9. Shaking Up the Comanchería 10. Who’s the New Kid? 11. Something Important 12. Trouble in Paradise 13. Best-Laid Plans 14. Mexican Troubles 15. No Picnic 16. Hard Times 17. A Rough-and-Tumble Life 18. Fighting for Your Life 19. Hard Truths Notes Bibliography About the Authors PREFACE How is history written? What if you were asked to write a factual account of what happened at your house last Sunday? Would you write from the same perspective as your mother, brother or neighbor? Did they experience things the same way you did? Might you or they write about facts that would make them look better or leave out something embarrassing or hard to talk about? Who gets to decide which account gets picked as “official” history? A teacher, historian, school board…the federal government? If all accounts are factual, shouldn’t all “histories” be the same? Then why aren’t they? When you read history, you have to use your brain and think about why the author decided to include some stuff and not other stuff. And of course, you should make sure the history you’re reading is from a credible source. But even so, you should always be careful about taking at face value somebody else’s opinion about what is important (including ours!). This book is well researched, that’s for sure, but it only covers a portion of what happened to the Texas colonists. There are infinite other stories and perspectives that can be told about this subject, but we’re leaving it up to you to find out about those and write your own book. Even if you don’t have a book in you, maybe this book will help you to find out more about something that interests you, whether for a school project or just because you like to learn. Most of all, we hope this book encourages you to look at history as somebody’s real life story, not just a long list of facts people can look up for themselves. For history to happen, real people have to live through it. And that’s what this book is really about. P.S. About all the little numbers in this book (just so you know, they’re called endnotes), feel free to ignore them. But if something really interests you, like maybe something you want to research for a school paper, the numbers coordinate in the back of the book with the original sources where we found the information. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks for the early encouragement and editing assistance of Carol Dawson. To Chris Gruszka of See Gru Ink and Animation, thank you for the spot-on illustrations and generosity of time and talent. And thanks to H.W. Brands, who inspired this book with his engaging style of historical writing. The younger market deserves similar publications that are well-researched yet attractive to non-academics. Finally, we appreciate and acknowledge the life work of T.R. Fehrenbach, whose thorough research and dedication to Texas history stands the test of time while accommodating new historical discoveries. Chapter 1 THE “OLD AMERICANS”—AND WE MEAN OLD! It’s not a trick—this book really is about the Texas colonists, the group of people who left their native countries and came to the land that is now called Texas to establish a new settlement. But to understand the full picture, you need to know about the Paleoamericans, the Amerinds and the Native Americans who first inhabited Texas. The good news is that the story of the Native Americans is full of action and quirky facts. To get started understanding Texas history, take your mind back tens of thousands of years ago and imagine the first hunter-gatherers making their way to North America. Archaeologists once thought that the first Americans arrived via the land bridge between Asia and present-day Alaska. You read that right— 1 Asia used to be connected to North America by a narrow stretch of land. A person could walk from Asia to Alaska—go figure that one. These immigrants, who filtered down the unglaciated valleys into the High Plains, lived in the Pleistocene era, or the last Ice Age, which ended almost twelve thousand years ago. They are called the Paleoamericans, or “Old Americans.” Recent evidence suggests that other Paleoamericans came to America the same way many modern immigrants did: by boat. Some made their way down the Pacific coast into South America, while others may have landed on the Atlantic coast. All of this started happening as far back as fifteen thousand years ago, about one thousand years earlier than scientists used to think. So, while all the later colonists mentioned in the rest of this book mostly came from Europe, the first American dwellers originated for the most part in Asia. In fact, scientists working with DNA evidence have linked most (but not all) of today’s Native
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