When the Texans Came: Missing Records from the Civil War in the Southwest, 1861-1862

by John P. Wilson

Overview

The reports and letters brought to light by John P. Wilson in this remarkable collection offer new perspectives on the Civil War in the West. He documents, for example, the activities of Kit Carson, William Brady, and other well known figures whose roles in the Civil War have been incompletely understood; highlights for the first time the dedicated service of native New Mexican officers; unravels the sophisticated espionage (and the brutal executions of suspected spies) carried out by both sides; demonstrates how this national drama took place against the backdrop of ongoing Indian Wars—with the Apaches, the Navajos, and even the Kiowas—that ensnared both Union and Confederate armies; and elucidates the unprecedented ways in which the conflict militarized the Southwest for decades.

The 282 letters, song lyrics, casualty lists, intelligence dispatches, transcripts of witness testimony, newspaper accounts, and official reports of battles that appear here build upon the massive anthology of Civil War documentation first published in War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (128 volumes, 1881-1901). Wilson's book supplements that source by including previously unavailable materials that historians, scholars, students, and Civil War buffs will find invaluable and intriguing.

"I would go so far as to say that several of the documents contained in When the Texans Came not only add new information to our knowledge of the Civil War in the New Mexico Territory, but may well change previous opinions and conclusions about that conflict."—Jerry Thompson, Texas A&M International University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826322906
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	10/12/2001
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.36(d)

About the Author

John P. Wilson earned his doctorate at Harvard University. He worked as an archaeologist at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, and during this time excavated at old Fort Fillmore near Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico.Wilson has authored many articles and several books, including Merchants, Guns, and Money: A History of Lincoln, New Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

"This collection of documents is indispensable for those seriously interested in the Civil War in New Mexico or researching the conflict in the Southwest."

"This work will be invaluable to students of the confederacy's ill-fated New Mexico campaign of 1861-1862."

The volume is well-illustrated with likenesses of its principals and line-drawn maps that are useful to help the reader visualize the players and their operations.

Thoroughly indexed, the book is a good place to find references to important but hard to locate men . . . Wilson conveniently organized his book by area and topical chapters . . . an essential source work for students of its subject.

"The volume is well-illustrated with likenesses of its principals and line-drawn maps that are useful to help the reader visualize the players and their operations."

From the Publisher