The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954 Page: 413

Book Reviews

used. Particularly does this seem reasonable in a book printed
primarily for the sake of its illustrations, even though it is not
an "art book." Color is part of the "historical record" too.
RAY PAST
Texas Western College
Fortune Favors the Brave: the Life and Times of Horace Bell,
Pioneer Californian. By Benjamin S. Harrison. Los Angeles
(The Ward Ritchie Press), 1953- Pp. 294. Illustrations.
$7.50.
Horace Bell (1830-1918), a native of Indiana, reached the
California mines in 1850 and the pueblo of Los Angeles two
years later. Here he might have had an easy career as a rancher,
but his restlessness impelled him to go south of the border on
two occasions. He was with William Walker in Nicaragua as a
filibuster in 1856-1857, earning the title of major and not much
else. In 1859 Bell went into Mexico as far as Tehuantepec and,
after teaching school, took in some of the strange sights of south-
eastern Mexico. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bell returned
to his native state and enlisted at Indianapolis in the 6th Indiana
in April, 1861.
Bell served as mounted scout under the immediate orders of
several Union generals. In a long, detailed, informing, and dra-
matic chapter, "Saddle and Spurs," Professor Harrison has made
a contribution that should be of interest to historians of the
South and Southwest during the war. Bell served Nathaniel P.
Banks, Edward R. S. Canby, and Lawler in scouting expeditions,
ranging widely through Louisiana and once coming in sight of
Raphael Semmes as that officer, with a staff, prepared to cross the
Mississippi eastward on his route to Richmond. With more luck
his news that the admiral was in the neighborhood could have
resulted in his capture by the Union forces. Near the close of
the war Bell was nominated a treasury agent, serving at Victoria,
Texas. In May, 1866, he left San Antonio with his wife and two
children, proceeding with a military escort furnished by General
Canby as far as El Paso. His destination was Los Angeles, and
there he remained for most of his adult life.
Although Horace Bell was a native of the Old Northwest who
made his deepest impress on the region of the Pacific Southwest,

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