Spring, 1864 . . . the Civil War's two greatest generals face each other in the field of battle. Ulysses S. Grant spurs his Army of the Potomac across the Rapidan River as part of a grand offensive pl
For nearly half a century, Grady McWhiney has stood in the foremost ranks of Civil War historians, receiving numerous honors and helping prepare a new generation of historians to carry on the task of
Admiral David Farragut eyed a potentially lethal minefield guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay, Alabama, as his attack column of ironclad monitors rushed forward, opening the assault against the Confe
President Abraham Lincoln is worried about the presence of a French army in Mexico and eager to satisfy the demands of Texas Unionists and New England textile manufacturers for a loyalist government i
Love and War: The Civil War Letters and Medicinal Book of Augustus V. Ball is not a typical Civil War letter collection. Ball's circumstances and experiences allowed him to glimpse the war through two
Texas Rangers had patrolled on horseback since the early days of the Republic. Texas military heritage, born in a revolution from Mexico in the 1830s and maturing in the Mexican-American War of the 18
On the brink of World War II, Texas was still largely a rural state, a closed society. Few chose to leave, and even fewer outsiders found any reason to enter. A frontier morality dictated adherence to
The author describes what Christmas was like living on a ranch in West Texas during the Depression, his last Christmas at home before leaving for Europe during World War II, his first Christmas after
Don Martin De Leon was the only Tejano empresario to settle a colony in Texas, in the days before statehood. Other empresarios, such as Moses Austin and Sterling C. Robertson, were Anglos who had bee
Ann Richards was one of the best-known and beloved governors in Texas history, the only woman to be elected to that office on her own merits. But she was also a controversial figure, having been elec
In the middle of the Great Depression, nine brothers from a small town in the Texas Hill Country played a baseball game they would never forget - the All-Brothers Baseball Championship in Wichita, Ka
The classic board game, Monopoly, doesn't include a jail in its town for nothing. Jails hold a certain awe for most of us, and in the game or in reality, everyone would rather be "just visiti
Texas "a whole other country"—a slogan that promotes tourism as much within the Lone Star State as elsewhere—is familiar to native Texans and those adopted sons and daughters who &am
The longest field goal in the history of football was kicked in Texas. But did you know it was love that first led a Swedish soccer player to Texas, where he still lives more than thirty years after h
Miriam Ferguson was a quiet, private person who preferred to stay home in her big house in Temple, Texas, and take care of her husband, raise her two daughters, and tend to her flower garden. But in
The Road to Dr Pepper, Texas is the story of Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Co., a David-Goliath case study of the world's first Dr Pepper bottling plant and the only one that has always used pure cane sug
During the first quarter of the 20th century, the major naval powers of the world built hundreds of Dreadnought-style battleships. Today there is only one.The battleship Texas was for a time the most
The outbreak of war in Europe in the summer of 1914 surprised Americans. Although most hoped to avoid involvement in the conflict, the German submarine campaign against shipping in the north Atlantic
The Battle of the Alamo is one of the most compelling stories from American history. Students of the battle often wonder why William B. Travis and his small garrison were left alone to meet their fate
John R. Cook was an American original. He witnessed or participated in a string of important events that shaped the nation and sculpted the history of the West. Born in Ohio in 1844, Cook moved with h
Black Americans arrived in West Texas in the early sixteenth century and nearly five centuries later continue to contribute to the region that shares so many characteristics with the western United St
The Thurber coal district sprang to life in the late 1880s in northern Erath County, Texas, some seventy miles west of Fort Worth. The mines were opened by the Texas & Pacific Coal Company to fuel
