One of the most popular literary subjects worldwide is the American Civil War. In addition to an enormous number of history buffs, there are tens of thousands of collectors of Civil War artifacts. In the last fifty years, several books have been written concerning the equipment associated with soldiers of specific Confederate states, but no book until now has ever chronicled the military equipment used by Texas soldiers. Texas Civil War Artifacts is the first comprehensive guide to the physical culture of Texas Civil War soldiers. Texas military equipment differs in a number of ways from the equipment produced for the eastern Confederate states. Most of the Texas-produced equipment was blacksmithed, or local-artisan made, and in many cases featured the Lone Star as a symbol of Texas. Contemporary Civil War literature frequently mentions that most soldiers of Texas displayed the Lone Star somewhere on their uniform or equipment. In this groundbreaking volume, Richard Mather Ahlstrom has photographed and described more than five hundred Texas-related artifacts. He shows the diverse use of the Lone Star on hat pins, waist-belt plates, buckles, horse equipment, side knives, buttons, and canteens. In addition, the weapons that Texans used in the Civil War are featured in chapters on the Tucker Sherrard and Colt pistols; shotguns, rifles, and muskets; and swords. Rounding out the volume are chapters on leather accouterments, uniforms and headgear, and a gallery of Texas soldiers in photographs. This book will prove to be a valuable reference guide for Civil War collectors, historians, museum curators, re-enactors, and federal and state agencies.

Written by one of the deans of Texas history, Civil War Texas provides an authoritative, comprehensive description of Texas during the Civil War as well as a guide for those who wish to visit sites in Texas associated with the war. In one compact volume, the reader or tourist is led on an exciting historical journey through Civil War Texas. Because most of the great battles of the Civil War were fought east of the Mississippi River, it is often forgotten that Texas made major contributions to the war effort in terms of men and supplies. Over 70,000 Texans served in the Confederate army during the war and fought in almost every major battle. Ordnance works, shops, and depots were established for the manufacture and repair of weapons of war, and Texas cotton shipped through Mexico was exchanged for weapons and ammunition. The state itself was the target of the Union army and navy. Galveston, the principal seaport, was occupied by Federal forces for three months and blockaded by the Union navy for four years. Brownsville, Port Lavaca, and Indianola were captured, and Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi, and Laredo were all under enemy attack. A major Federal attempt to invade East Texas by way of Louisiana was stopped only a few miles from the Texas border. The Civil War had significant impact upon life within the state. The naval blockade created shortages requiring Texans to find substitutes for various commodities such as coffee, salt, ink, pins, and needles. The war affected Texas women, many of whom were now required to operate farms and plantations in the absence of their soldier husbands. As the author points out in the narrative, not all Texans supported the Confederacy. Many Texans, especially in the Hill Country and North Texas, opposed secession and attempted either to remain neutral or work for a Union victory. Over two thousand Texans, led by future governor Edmund J. Davis, joined the Union army. In this carefully researched work, Ralph A. Wooster describes Texas's role in the war. He also notes the location of historical markers, statues, monuments, battle sites, buildings, and museums in Texas which may be visited by those interested in learning more about the war. Photographs, maps, chronology, end notes, and bibliography provide additional information on Civil War Texas.

In 2008, Texas historian Nancy Draves happened upon an amazing find up for public auction: the 1861 diary of Kitty Anderson, the daughter of prominent San Antonio resident and vocal Union Army supporter Colonel Charles Anderson. Kitty's diary chronicles the Anderson family's tumultuous experience during the early years of the Civil War. Following the vote for Texas's secession and the surrender of San Antonio's federal garrison, Col. Anderson attempted to flee, only to be arrested by Confederate Texas soldiers. Kitty and the family fled to Matamoros via Brownsville and boarded a ship; Col. Anderson escapedfrom custody and made his way across the Rio Grande and into Monterrey, later reuniting with the family in Vera Cruz. Kitty Anderson's diary is unique not only for chronicling her trials and observations servations during the harrowing days between September 29 and November 30, 1861-- it also contains a later account written by Kitty describing her father's escape from the Confederates. The strength of this appended text, along with the first-person diary itself, lies in Kitty's gifted prose and her willingness to catalogue all her experiences, including the names of those she encountered, the dates, and the places. A Promise Fulfilled is an important artifact of Civil War Texas and illuminates the diversity of viewpoints held by Texans on the issues of secession, slavery, and what it truly meant to be a patriot. Nancy Draves taught high school in San Antonio for twenty years and still lives there. This is her first book.

Throughout his life, Atlanta resident George W. Wray Jr. (1936–2004) built a collection of more than six hundred of the rarest Confederate artifacts including not just firearms and edged weapons but also flags, uniforms, and accoutrements. Today, Wray’s collection forms an integral part of the Atlanta History Center’s holdings of some eleven thousand Civil War artifacts. Confederate Odyssey tells the story of the Civil War through the Wray Collection. Analyzing the collection as material evidence, Gordon L. Jones demonstrates how a slave-based economy on the cusp of industrialization attempted to fight an industrial war. The broad range of the collection includes many rare or one-of-a-kind objects, such as a patent model and early inventions by gun maker George W. Morse, the bloodstained coat of a seventeen-year-old South Carolina soldier, battle flags made of cloth imported from England, and arms made in Georgia, the heart of the Confederacy’s burgeoning military-industrial complex. As Civil War history, Confederate Odyssey benefits from the study of material remains as it bridges the domains of professional scholars and amateur collectors such as Wray. The book tells of the stories, significance, and context of these artifacts to general readers and Civil War buffs alike. The Wray Collection is more than a gathering of relics; it is a tale of historical truths revealed in small details.

How Did Texas Survive The Civil War? More specifically, how did Texas manage to repulse invading Union armies? And why were there no major battles like Antietam, Shiloh or Gettysburg fought in Texas? Answers include that Texas was too far, too large and that Texans (over 80,000 fought in that terrible struggle) were too feisty. The Civil War in Texas and the Southwest answers the above while shedding new light on Texan audacity, bravery and just plain luck. Part one of the book provides a chronology of the tragically unsuccessful 1861-1862 invading expedition of Confederate General Sibleys Texas volunteers into New Mexico and Arizona. Sibley grandiously called his brigade the Confederate Army of New Mexico. Of the 3,700 Texans who left San Antonio on this campaign, only 2,000 stumbled back the next year. Part two contains little-known stories about failed Union efforts to conquer southern and eastern Texas between 1863-1865. For example, Galveston was occupied by Union forces in 1862, then recaptured during a six hour battle on New Years Day 1863. Further up the Texas coast at Sabine Pass, a Union flotilla of four warships, twenty-two troop transports loaded with 5,000 invasion troops was defeated by a young red-headed Irish Texan lieutenant and his 40 immigrant cannoneers from Eire. And who knows that 300 Texans repulsed 500 better-armed and provisioned Union troops at Palmito ranch in the southern tip of Texas? Palmito was the last battle of the war and was actually fought after Lees surrender. Author Sullivans previous, acclaimed book, Scattered Graves: The Civil War Campaigns of Confederate General and Cherokee Chief Stand Waitie, depicts Waties leadership and hit-and-run tactics. He was the only Indian to be promoted to general on either side and was also the last Confederate general to surrender. Both books are available through Authorhouse.