The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 318

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

limitations to such a compact treatment. For example, the author
seems overly concerned with military events and treats social,
economic, and political factors too briefly. Occasionally in his
enthusiasm the author also overstates himself, as when he writes
"all Texans wanted to fight on horseback," (p. to), or "the divi-
sion [Hood's] rear guard action saved the Confederates from near
certain annihilation" (p. 16).
Professor Ashcraft's use of primary sources seems adequate but
a number of significant secondary works, including Charles Cum-
berland's article on the capture of Galveston, Martin H. Hall's
monograph on the Sibley invasion of New Mexico, Alwyn Barr's
article on coastal defense, L. H. Johnson's brilliant study of the
Red River campaign, and Stephen B. Oates' articles and recent
book on Confederate cavalry of the Trans-Mississippi, do not seem
to have been consulted. Althought the author did make use of
some graduate theses, several which would have added valuable
insights into social, economic, and political factors, such as Robert
P. Felgar's "Texas in the War for Southern Independence," are
not listed in either the footnotes or bibliography.
The format of the booklet is rather impressive and the factual
errors few. Unfortunately, numerous typographical errors in
spelling and punctuation mar the work.
RALPH A. WOOSTER
Lamar State College of Technology
The Golden Log. Edited by Mody C. Boatright, Wilson M. Hud-
son, and Allen Maxwell. Dallas (Southern Methodist Uni-
versity Press), publications of the Texas Folklore Society,
Number XXXI, 1962. Pp. vi+168. $4.00.
The Golden Log, containing fourteen contributions, provides
a great variety of folklore. The title piece, by Francis E. Aber-
nethy, tells of an East Texas paradise now lost because female
hearts could not despise gold. In the tale are counterparts of
Adam, Eve, the devil, and God, and it ends with man's expulsion.
Roger Abrahams presents material from his Pennsylvania doc-
toral dissertation on Negro folklore collected in Philadelphia.
Here the concern is with the changing concept of the Negro
hero-from trickster to badman, from guile and banter to arro-