About the Books
While many of Texas battles and conflicts have been the subject of historical works, novels and films,The Alamo being the most celebrated), many have escaped notice. Sometimes both books and films do not answer key questions. What impact did the first Texas war of independence in 1813 have on laying the grounds for the 1835 rebellion? (More Tejanos and Anglos died in the Battle of Medina than would die at the Alamo, Goliad, or San Jacinto.)
Why did Santa Anna and William Barrett Travis decide to fight at the Alamo? Was San Jacinto in 1836 really the last battle of the Texas War for Independence, or did it take place in 1842 in San Antonio? What Texas battle did Jefferson Davis call the Confederate Thermopylae? What battle involving Kit Carson almost became the “Little Big Horn” of the southern plains? Why was the Second Battle of Palo Duro Canyon a disaster for the Comanche nation when only three warriors were killed? These are the issues I wanted my readers to discover in this study of the battles of Texas.
Texas has been a cockpit of struggle between peoples and empires for much of its history, despite the fact that the term Tejas, used to describe the original Amerindian inhabitants of the land means “friendly.” What is interesting about the conflicts that Texas has witnessed is the variety of combatants that fought here. Spanish presidials fought the Plains Indians. Texas revolutionaries fought Mexican nationalists. Later on this struggle grew into conflict between the United States Army and Mexican regulars to decide to which nation Texas would belong. For a brief period of time, Americans fought Americans over the question of slavery and states, rights. Finally, the long, epic conflict between the White and the Red men would reach its unavoidable conclusion in the 1870s.
As a military historian I was fascinated by the decisions made by individual commanders and how they were influenced by terrain, weather, time and the forces available to each side. While readers of Texas history are all familiar with William Barret Travis, Jim Bowie and Santa Anna, equally fascinating personages such as Quanah Parker, Ranald Mackenzie, Nelson Miles, and, John Bankhead Magruder, are fascinating individuals who need to be studied by the serious military historian. In writing this book, I sought to follow as closely as possible the Battle Analysis System devised by the U.S. Army War College in Leavenworth Kansas. The Battle analysis system acts as a guide to the historical writer to insure he looks at all the factors (politics, terrain, weather, etc,) that influence the dynamics and outcomes of battle. While some readers may criticize the book for spending too much time on analyzing the preliminaries before the battle, than on describing the actual combat, I feel that setting the stage and examining the factors which influence commanders and military forces, is a critical part of understanding the eventual outcome of any battle or campaign
