Life of Billy Dixon is a compelling narrative of the "wild, free life" on the Great Plains frontier. Ride with Billy Dixon to a high point on the plains and look out over a nearly solid mass of buffalo that stretches in every direction as far as the eye can see. Stand with Billy Dixon at Adobe Walls, in the unsettled Texas Panhandle, as hundreds of Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne warriors on horseback charge out of the pre-dawn darkness toward a few dozen buffalo hunters. Crouch down in desperation with Billy Dixon at the Buffalo Wallow Fight as he and a few wounded and dying men lie in a shallow depression on the plains surrounded by howling Indians. In the Life of Billy Dixon the Great Plains frontier is seen through the knowing eyes of a participant who lived that frontier experience and who fortunately left an accurate and engaging record for those who followed.

Life of Billy Dixon

Biographies & Memoirs

Dixon, Olive K.

Historical

State House Press at The Texas Center–Schreiner University

This historic collection, revised and expanded, is the most complete and authoritative history of the women who have contributed to the life of the Lone Star State. A compendium of authentic and detailed biographies based on historical sources, here is a rich tapestry woven from the polychrome backgrounds and ethnicities of Texas' women. Theirs is a legacy of gentleness to greatness, and their names are legend in the honor roll of Texas—from Jane Long, "The Mother of Texas," to Ann Richards. Henrietta King's name adorns a historic Texas ranch; Lizzie Johnson, Texas' eccentric cattle queen and financial wizard, lived like a miser in her old age but left a fortune in legendary diamonds and real estate; Babe Zaharias became a sports legend. These women's stories are tales of ingenuity, spirit, and entrepreneurial skills cast against the background of Texas history. From the 19th to the 20th century, Texas women have created a story of lives well spent and talents explored. They rode the cattle trails, wrote the books, painted and sculpted, and helped to govern their state, creating a legacy of "firsts": Mary Austin Holley, first woman to write a book about her adopted state; Miriam Amanda Ferguson, first woman governor elected in her own right; Barbara Jordan, first black woman from the South to be elected to Congress. Women in Texas collects the stories of the lives of the women who helped to create and nourish the life and the legend of the Lone Star State.

Women in Texas

Crawford, Ann Fears

Ragsdale, Crystal Sasse

Community & Culture

Robert Hall was a true Texian: a pioneer settler, Indian fighter, Texas Ranger, and veteran of three wars (the war for Texas Independence, the Mexican War, and the Civil War). He joined the Texas Army shortly after the Battle of San Jacinto, and married into the prominent King family of Gonzales County. Although less well known to history enthusiasts because of the rarity of this book, Robert Hall and his exploits were well known to other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Ed Burleson, Paint Caldwell, Ben and Henry McCulloch, "Big Foot" Wallace, and Jack Hays. His firsthand accounts of expeditions such as the one that he fought at Plum Creek are nowhere else published; "a gritty, intense chronicle, rich with perspective," says historian Stephen L. Hardin in his introduction to this new edition. Reprinted for the first time from the now extremely rare and valuable 1898 edition, Life of Robert Hall is a vital addition to the collection of first-person accounts of Texas' frontier history, reintroduces Hall and his exploits to the modern reader, and places him securely in the pantheon of Texas heroes where he belongs.

Life of Robert Hall

By 1850, the frontier settlement of San Antonio had seen more than its share of hardships, Indians attacks, rebellions, and repeated military occupations. These events all marked the towns recent past. In 1854, though, the editor of the Alamo Star felt confident enough in the town’s progress to announce that the embattled outpost would soon be known as the “Queen of the West.” The Star, of course, capitalized on the name of the town’s most famous landmark—the Alamo. 
Although historians have written about the battle and the town, no one has yet adequately explained how they are connected to each other. A deeper look at the development of San Antonio shows that it was not only the site of the Battle of the Alamo, it was the center of much of the history of Spain, Mexico, Texas, and the United States. 
Queen of the West: A Documentary History of San Antonio, 1718–1900 takes readers through a series of important writings detailing how San Antonio transformed from an important but threatened outpost to a thriving Edwardian city. The author, Richard Bruce Winders, provides an introduction to each eye-witness account providing diverse perspectives on the history of San Antonio by the people who actually lived it. 
The author is an internationally noted authority on the topic of the Alamo. The work will be a valuable resource for students of history and teachers. The book draws together a body of work that readers would have a difficult time finding on their own. 
The cover art is by noted artist Don Yena.

Queen of the West: A Documentary History of San Antonio, 1718-1900

History

Winders, Richard Bruce

Americas

Sulphur Springs native Frank Webster Pearce was a soldier in Texas' own 36th Infantry Division and the 111th Engineer Combat Battalion. The Division's story has been told before, but never from start to finish by a&nbsp;combat engineer, whose footprints stirred the sands of three invasion beaches, wallowed&nbsp;through the mud, and trudged in the snow of every battle. From training in the United&nbsp;States to the war's end in Austria, Pearce chronicled it all..&nbsp; With the combination of diary, numerous letters home, and official division reports, this is the most complete look ever&nbsp;produced on the 111th Engineers and their war against Hitler's Germany. This is a primary account written daily as the events unfolded. It was the war years. Here you find out how to properly bury a man in the water soaked Italian soil, a fool proof way to smuggle&nbsp;liquor from the US to the soldiers overseas, the foul stench of death reeking across the&nbsp;battlefield, and the beauty of exploding artillery shells in the night sky.&nbsp;These are his thoughts and letters as he wrote them--raw and unfiltered.

A Private in the Texas Army: At War in Italy, France, and Germany with the 111th Engineers, 36th Division, in World War II

Pearce, John A.

Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration

Juneteenth has been touted as a national day celebrating the end of slavery. Observances from coast to coast have turned this event into part of the national conversation about race, slavery, and how Americans understand, acknowledge, and explain what has been called the national "original sin." But, why Juneteenth? Where did this celebration-which promises to become a national holiday-come from? What is the origin story? What are the facts, and legends, around this important day in the nation's history? This is the first scholarly book to delve into the history behind Juneteenth. Using decades of research in archives around the nation, this book helps separate myth from reality and tells the story behind the celebration in a way that provides new understanding and appreciation for the event. This book will captivate people interested in the history of emancipation and African American history but also those interested in Civil War and Texas history. As the United States continues to wrestle with race relations and the meaning of full equality, Juneteenth promises to become an important expression of that equality-an Independence Day celebration in its own right, a couple of weeks in advance of the traditional July 4th Holiday. This book will be a welcome addition to classrooms, book clubs and general readers interested in this once obscure regional event now destined for the national spotlight.

Cotham Jr., Edward T.

Africa

Product Description Around 1848 Wilhelm Friedrich, a young German immigrant to Texas, completed three drawings that capture unique details of life on the frontier. Friedrich’s sketches feature Comanches, Germans, a captive girl, a wagon train, the landscape and wildlife of the Texas Hill Country, and dynamic scenes of cultural contact. Friedrich is the only artist known to have produced contemporaneous images of a Comanche captive while still in captivity. The authors use their expertise in Comanche culture, German immigration, art, and Hill Country history to explore the many layers of meaning in Friedrich’s drawings. Who was Wilhelm Friedrich? How did he come to Texas? What information does he pack into his drawing? How can we understand his work—as art, as data about Comanche life and customs, and as a record of German values and priorities in the New World? Who is the captive girl? And why is her portrayal important today? Review “Altogether excellent, both in terms of scholarship and writing.”—James C. Kearney, Department of Germanic Studies, The University of Texas About the Author Dr. Daniel J. Gelo is Dean and Professor of Anthropology Emeritus and former Stumberg Distinguished University Chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio and has written several award-winning publications on the Indians of Texas and the Great Plains. C. B. "Hoppy" Hopkins is an architectural and cultural historian, and an expert on firearms and the indigenous peoples of the Texas Hill Country. Dr. Christopher J. Wickham is Professor of German Emeritus in the Department and Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has produced numerous works on German language, literature, art, and popular culture. Bryden E. Moon Jr is a retired communications executive with extensive experience in Hill Country history.

Comanches, Captives, and Germans: Wilhelm Friedrich’s Drawings from the Texas Frontier

Arts & Photography

Gelo, Daniel J.

Wickham, Christopher J.

Hopkins, C. B. "Hoppy"

Moon Jr, Bryden E.

Drawing

Tempest Over Texas: The Fall and Winter Campaigns, 1863-1864 is the fourth installment in Dr.&nbsp;Donald S. Frazier's award-winning Louisiana Quadrille series. Picking up the story of the Civil&nbsp;War in Louisiana and Texas after the fall of Port Hudson and Vicksburg, Tempest Over Texas&nbsp;describes Confederate confusion on how to carry on in the Trans-Mississippi given the new&nbsp;strategic realities. Likewise, Federal forces gathered from Memphis to New Orleans were in&nbsp;search of a new mission. International intrigues and disasters on distant battlefields would all&nbsp;conspire to confuse and perplex war-planners. One thing remained, however. The Stars and&nbsp;Stripes needed to fly once again in Texas, and as soon as possible.

Tempest over Texas: The Fall and Winter Campaigns of 1863–1864

Frazier, Donald S.

Enter with Hope: Schreiner University at 100

Summerlin, Tim

Texian Macabre: The Melancholy Tale of a Hanging in Early Houston: The Melancholy Tale of a Hanging in Early Houston

Hardin, Stephen L.

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Books by State House Press at The Texas Center–Schreiner University