The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 28, July 1924 - April, 1925 Page: 92
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
No Texas historian has given due weight to the enormous in-
fluence of the mere presence of Davy Crockett in the Alamo.
Travis and Bonham were not known to great fame till then.
Bowie was indeed famous, but the slur, perhaps unjust, of being
a mere desperado, together with his drinking and quarreling while
sick in the Alamo, weakened his influence there both as man and
commander. But Davy Crockett's fame was continental and
European, thanks to his books and the legends invented by him-
self and his friends and enemies. He was the idol of the fron,
tier. So that any solution of that momentous decision to stay
to the death in the Alamo must give the highest value to the in-
fluence of Davy Crockett. Yet I do not recall any article on
"Davy Crockett in Texas" by qualified historians.
A second question has grown in my mind from a study of the
Land Office maps of Texas counties. Why did so few of the
old settlers take part in the San Jacinto campaign? Any ama-
teur can repeat this experience. Check out on your county map
the names, the surnames, of all old settlers with headright en-
tries that are found on the rosters of the San Jacinto campaign
and the lists of the dead in the Alamo and at Goliad. There
must be allowances, of course. Sons were more likely to go to
war than fathers; many headrights were speculative and long
since sold to residents of the United States. But after all de-
ductions are made, the challenging question still stands: Why
did so few old settlers take part in the war?
A third problem has grown in my mind, partly from a study
of the Land Office maps, but also from a study of scattered facts
and documents: What was the real final fate of all the pro-
Texan Mexicans after the revolution of 1836? Many agree to
John N. Seguin's contention of a conspiracy among certain
Texans in San Antonio to ruin wealthy Mexicans. The matter
has been left untouched by historians. John N. Seguin, the
Coriolanus of Texas, did great services to the Texan cause. And
as to his father, Don Erasmo Seguin, that page in John Henry
Brown's history, where the Texans turned the old man's ox-cart
back towards San Antonio, as he told the long story of his aid
to Americans, beginning with his befriending the Austins, father
and son, twenty years before,--that story would have moved a
heart of stone.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 28, July 1924 - April, 1925, periodical, 1925; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101087/m1/96/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.