The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 136
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
is often uncertain. In politics and in social relations, Amasa
Turner emerges here as a rather crusty individual who was not
extremely close to any of his associates.
Turner was born in Massachusetts in 18oo and came to Texas
in 1833. During the revolution he participated as a commissioned
officer and led a company of Texas Regulars at the Battle of San
Jacinto. After the war he was stationed at Galveston when an
army plot was conceived to arrest President David G. Burnet and
overthrow the civil government of Texas. Turner was ordered to
arrest Burnet and when he refused to arrest the president, who
was in Velasco, the movement to overthrow the government
collapsed.
After his discharge from the army in 1837, Amasa Turner settled
in the Cedar Bayou-Galveston area and became interested in
raising horses. In 1847, he moved to Lavaca County where he
lived until his death in 1877. He entered politics in Lavaca
County, then served in the Texas House of Representatives in
1850-1851 and in the Senate in 1852-1853. Except for the time
spent in Austin, he devoted his energies toward improving his
livestock and assisting his two sons in their farming and ranching
activities. One of his sons, Marcellus Turner, became associated
with Thomas M. Coleman in forming the Star Company and in
driving cattle from the Lavaca County area to the northern
markets during the 185o's.
The author devotes several pages to a discussion of the early
development of the cattle business in the area and to a variety
of legends and anecdotes that are related to the life of Amasa
Turner. A list of the names of Lavaca Countians who fought in
the Civil War with the Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas
Rangers) is given and the war careers of those persons are sum-
marized. All of these topics and anecdotes, as well as the career
of Amasa Turner, will be of interest to those concerned with
regional Texas history. FORREST E. WARD
Southwestern University
Pioneers in God's Hills: A History of Fredericksburg and Gil-
lespie County People and Events. By the Gillespie County
Historical Society. Austin (Von Boeckmann-Jones), 196o.
Pp. ix+305. $5.95.136
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/158/?rotate=270: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.