Beginning with tribal wars among Native Americans before Europeans settled Texas and continuing through the Civil War, the soil of what would become the Lone Star State has frequently been stained by the blood of those contesting for control of its resources. In subsequent years and continuing to the present, its citizens have often taken up arms beyond its borders in pursuit of political values and national defense.
Although historians have studied the role of the state and its people in war for well over a century, a wealth of topics remain that deserve greater attention: Tejanos in World War II, the common Texas soldier's interaction with foreign enemies, the perception of Texas warriors throughout the world, the role of religion among Texans who fight or contemplate fighting, controversial paramilitary groups in Texas, the role and effects of Texans' ethnicity, culture, and gender during wartime, to name a few. In Texans at War, fourteen scholars provide new studies, perspectives, and historiographies to extend the understanding of this important field.
One of the largest collections of original scholarship on this topic to date, Texans and War will stimulate useful conversation and research among historians, students, and interested general readers. In addition, the breadth and originality of its contributions provide a solid overview of emerging perspectives on the military history and historiography of Texas and the region.
CONTENTS List of Illustrations ixAcknowledgments xiIntroduction 1Alexander Mendoza and Charles David Grear
PART I. Texans Fighting through Time: Thematic Topics
1. The Indian Wars of Texas: A Lipan Apache Perspective 17
Thomas A Britten
2. Tejanos at War: A History of Mexican Texans in American Wars 38
Alexander Mendoza
3. Texas Women at War 69
Melanie A Kirkland
4. The Influence of War and Military Service on African Texans 97
Alwyn Barr
5. The Patriot-Warrior Mystique: John S. Brooks, Walter P. Lane,
Samuel H. Walker, and the Adventurous Quest for Renown 113
Jimmy L. Bryan Jr.
6. "All Eyes of Texas Are on Comal County": German Texans' Loyalty
during the Civil War and World War I 133
Charles David Grear
PART II. Wars in Texas History: Chronological Conflicts
7. Between Imperial Warfare: Crossing of the Smuggling Frontierand Transatlantic Commerce on the Louisiana-Texas Borderlands,
1754-1785 157
Francis X. Galan 8. The Mexican-American War: Reflections on an Overlooked Conflict 178
Kendall Milton 9. The Prolonged War: Texans Struggle to Win the Civil War during Reconstruction 196
Kenneth W. Howell
10. The Texas lmmunes in the Spanish-American War 213
James M. McCaffrey
11. Surveillance on the Border: American Intelligence andthe Tejano Community during World War I 227
Jose A. Ramirez12. Texan Prisoners of the Japanese: A Study in Survival 248
Kelly E. Crager
13. Lyndon B. Johnson's Bitch of a War: An Antiwar Essay 269
James M. Smallwood
14. Black Paradox in the Age of Terrorism: Military Patriotismor Higher Education? 283
Ronald E. Goodwin
Contributors 297
Index 301
About the Author: ALEXANDER MENDOZA, the author of Confederate Struggle for Command: General James Longstreet and the First Corps in the West (Texas A&M University Press, 2008), teaches at the University of North Texas. CHARLES DAVID GREAR is an assistant professor of history at Prairie View A&M University. He is the author of Why Texans Fought in the Civil War (Texas A&M University Press, 2010).
