The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954 Page: 245

ook Reviews
RUDOLPH L. BIESELE, Editor
Samuel Maverick, Texan: 1803-1870. A Collection of Letters,
Journals and Memoirs. Edited by Rena Maverick Green. San
Antonio (privately printed), 1952. Pp. xix+43o. $6.oo.
From his arrival in Texas in the fall of 1835, at the age of thirty-
two, until his death in 1870, Samuel A. Maverick was in the thick
of Texas life. A volunteer in the Revolution, he was also a signer
of the Declaration of Independence. He was mayor of San Antonio
in 1839, was imprisoned in Mexico in 1842-1843, and later served
as a member of the Texas Congress.
This participation in public life and a keen observation of
events and trends add value to the letters, journals, and memoirs
left by Maverick. They not only give intimate glimpses of the
San Antonio of a century ago but throw light on many historic
happenings. Fortunately the Maverick papers, most of which are
in the archives of the University of Texas Library, have just
become available in a handy volume. This is the result of careful
compilation and editing by a granddaughter, Mrs. Rena Maverick
Green of San Antonio.
Mrs. Green's introductory and transitional notes, along with
the letters and journals, make the book almost a biography. Born
in South Carolina in 1803, Maverick was graduated from Yale
in 1825. After reading law in Virginia, he was admitted to the bar
in South Carolina. Because he disagreed with John C. Calhoun
on nullification and opposed secession, he left his native state
and, for a short time, managed a cotton plantation in Alabama.
Texas in 1835 was a magnet that attracted Maverick, along
with many others. After his arrival he did not allow a few chills
and fevers or the prospect of war to keep him from staying. He
quickly adjusted himself to life on the frontier and showed the
qualities of leadership that marked his whole adult life.
In his letters and memoirs, Maverick showed a wide range of
interests. In 1844 he recounted a conversation with Jack Hays
in which the valiant Ranger commander told of putting a band
of Comanche warriors to flight with the new six-shooters. Letters