A Texas Past Revisited

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A TEXAS PAST REVISITED IN SEARCH OF TEXANA BELLE contains twenty five chapters separated into four sub divisions: (1) The Dawning of Texas (2) The Branding of Texicans, (3) Where Are You Texana?, and ( 4) Battle or Massacre? This division was necessary in order to guide the reader to an understanding of one Tall Texas Tale and its truthfulness. If you are a history buff, as I am, you will enjoy section one. Here I review the emerging of the only State of these United States once existing as an independent nation. An attempt is made to make Texas history entertaining, long enough to cover essentials, but brief enough to retain interest. Texas history is a bloody struggle from inception. Mexican armies, Indians, new settlers, and outlaws were competing to stay alive in a hostile, environmentally unfriendly, wilderness expanse. Many families traveling to Texas, in the hope of new beginnings, reaped only disaster. Here I write of one such family who experienced this altered expectancy. I proudly lived with, and related this family story on many occasions before realizing it could be an untruth, a myth, or just another Tall Texas Tale. Have I been a liar all these years? This epistle invites you along on my search for historical truth. The second division of my book could best be labeled, Formation of the Texas Personality. Have you from other states ever queried why Texicans are always talking, even bragging, about Texas? Moreover, do you Texans truly understand your own braggadocio tendencies? These important issues are answered in this section, along with a little bragging, storytelling, and Texas humor all my own. In segment three we get down to the serious business of researching my family saga. You will learn, and I do apologize, how not to do a genealogical study. I take you with me on a trip through several parts of colorful Texas. You will tag along as I struggle with two- and three-hundred-year-old records, books, and genealogical notes. You will also meet some very helpful librarians, genealogists, and other individuals. Elation and depression continually fight for control of my psyche as both disappointment and fantastic findings are dug from secluded hiding places. In section four, Battle or Massacre, I researched the career of Texas Ranger Captain John R. Waller. He played an important role in my family narrative and I needed to follow his career to ferret out information on Texana Belle. It was in this pursuit I discovered and questioned an important piece of Texas and Indian history. Looking at the writings of contemporary historians for understanding, I found misinformation, major discrepancies in reporting, and an interpretation of past history with present day ideologies. The event is too important to Texas history to ignore such variations. Thus, I open this phase of my book with a chapter titled History, True or False. My intentions are not to sway the reader's opinion but rather to present sufficient facts for a discerning individual to establish his own idea of truth. The citizens participating in the so-called "Massacre of Indians" on December 27, 1858, are finally given the opportunity to present their sworn statements. The author accomplishes this with a fictitious dramatization of a meeting between the accused and the angry, frightened citizens of a frontier community. I believe you will enjoy this unusual presentation of history. I conclude my tome with a summary of findings, a looking back at personal history, and conceding how I finally reached understanding of my resistant to accept societal change. B. Bryce Davis