The true story of Texas

Under Six Flags: The Story of Texas e-book for free. Under Six Flags: The Story of Texas by M. E. M. Davis, (c) 1897.

“The viceroy, having a hint of this, did not trouble St. Denis again; but he decided to establish posts and missions throughout the New Philippines—as Texas was still called—with garrisons armed to prevent contraband trade.” Page 16.

Came through on a list-serve of recent public domain offerings, and intrigued, I downloaded it. The beauty of the digital stuff, the front cover image is redolent in velvety, aging red leather, but the book is durable.

Not that I haven’t read a lot of Texas history already, just that an 1897 imprint might offer some different version. Right away, the early days, in all I’ve red, I never heard Texas called “the New Philippines.” Which goes to show, hat tip to Pizza Steve, why books are such a adventure, even straight up ancient history tomes.

“Enlarged and rebuilt on the same spot, San Fernando remains to this day the parish church of the Spanish-speaking Catholics of San Antonio.” Page 24.

I maintained, like London, living within earshot of the San Fernando Cathedral counts as a form of validation.

Books, in and of themselves, and especially in a colloquial history tome like this, offer a way to see the past, the historical past, the past when the book was published, and the present, all in a new light. It’s also easy to set it aside, then come back, over time. Just local history, no new ground, but with its older style, more than a century distant, it does have nuanced flavors, attitudes that would be possibly objectionable now.

In other notes?

“The Texas mustangs were the product of the cavalry horses brought from Europe to Mexico by Cortez in 1519. They had multiplied, almost unmolested, during the three hundred years they had roamed prairie and forest. These mustangs were always fat, and when nothing better was to be had they made tolerable food.” Page 54.

That much is true.

“Some Irish colonists founded on the Nueces River, near its mouth, a town which they named St. Patrick in remembrance of the patron saint of Ireland. To the Spanish-speaking people of Texas it soon became known as San Patricio, and so it is still called.” Page 55.

The answer to a questioned I never asked, the name for that county, been through there, to fish, seems like a lot.

“A temporary government was therefore agreed upon, and a declaration of adherence to the Republican constitution of Mexico of 1824 was signed and sent out.” Page 74.