The Fate of Texas: The Civil War and the Lone Star State
An anthology of brief essays edited by Charles Grear, The Fate of Texas: The Civil War and the Lone Star State, is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the Civil War in the West. The 11 essays that make up this book examine the role of Texas and Texans in the Civil War as well as the pervasive impact that the war had — and in some respects continues to have — on the Lone Star State. The essays, written by a collection of Texas college history professors, run between a dozen and 25 pages each. Several of the authors, for instance, Richard Lowe and Richard McCaslin, are well-known Civil War historians, while others are newcomers to the field. Each essay makes up a separate chapter and covers a distinct subject, making it possible to pick up and put down the book after brief readings without losing track of a story line. This reviewer’s favorite chapter is the first one: “Texas, Jefferson Davis, and Confederate National Strategy.” The author, Texas A&M history professor Joseph Dawson, explores how Texas fit into overall Confederate military strategy. Within the first year of the war, Texas served as a launching pad for Confederate invasions of Federal territory in the Southwest, while elsewhere in the Confederacy Jefferson Davis and his generals pursued a primarily defensive policy. According to Dawson, the vision of a Confederacy stretching westward to California appealed to Davis, in part because he saw territorial growth as a means for promoting Confederate nationalism. Given its geographic location, Texas was essential to any Southern strategy related to the West. Ultimately, Davis’ expansionist policies in the Southwest failed, in large part due to logistical problems connected with staging military operations over a vast and sparsely settled territory. Subsequent chapters discuss a hodgepodge of different subjects touching upon Texas and the Civil War experience, including why Texans fought east of the Mississippi, how the war affected the lives of Texas women, and how slaves were taken to Texas for safekeeping during the war. Each essay in The Fate of Texas: The Civil War and the Lone Star State is thoroughly researched, well written and studded with endnotes. Maps are few, but adequate, given that none of the essays deals with battles or military campaigns. Socio-economic, cultural and gender history are the main stuff of this book, and readers sensitive to contemporary political correctness may be put off by a couple of the essays. In summary, readers with a strong interest in Civil War topics related to Texas will find this book both interesting and thought-provoking.
Reviewer: C. Michael Harrington C. Michael Harrington is a member of the Houston Civil War Round Table and Civil War Aficionados. He has written several articles on South Carolina Confederates. A practicing lawyer, he has degrees in economics from Yale and Cambridge and a law degree from Harvard.
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Illustrated, maps, endnotes, bibliography, index, 296 pages, 2008. University of Arkansas Press, 105 N. McIlroy Ave., Fayetteville, AR 72701, $37.50 plus shipping.