The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, July 1964 - April, 1965 Page: 134

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

close to disaster when Canby's troops arrived unexpectedly. Green
was at fault for not having taken adequate precautions against
such a possibility. Colonel James Reily was killed at the battle
of Franklin, or Irish Bend, not Bisland (p. 53). The battle of
Burbeaux (p. 57) should be spelled Bourbeau.
A surprising feature of this poor work is the laudatory intro-
duction written by Rupert N. Richardson. This renowned West-
ern historian states that "This life story is based solidly on au-
thentic sources, is well told and deserves a wide audience." This
reviewer disagrees on all three points. Richardson also points out
that "In writing the life of General Tom Green in a fashion that
is in keeping with the stature of the man Mr. Faulk has, there-
fore, rendered signal service to the history of Texas." This re-
viewer feels that Faulk has done considerable damage to the pres-
ervation of the authentic history of Texas by the publication of
this inaccurate, superficial, and journalistic account of one of
Texas' great heroes. The primary value that this reviewer sees in
the book is that possibly it will stimulate someone to write a
more scholarly biography of Tom Green.
MARTIN HARDWICK HALL
McNeese State College
History of Fort Bend County. By Andrew Jackson Sowell. A Com-
plete Reprint. Waco (W. M. Morrison), 1964. Pp. xii+373.
Illustration, endpaper map, index. $1o.oo.
Sowell's History of Fort Bend County was first published in
Houston in 19o4. This was among the last of five books published
by Sowell and the only one devoted to the full history of a single
Texas county. It is one of the books that students of Texas gulf
coast history consult in tracing the history of the "Old 3oo" of
Austin's colony and the other settlers of the Texas coastal plains.
Sowell was born at Seguin, Texas, on August 2, 1848, and later
moved to Hays County. He joined the Texas Rangers and took
part in campaigns against the Wichita Indians in 1870 and 1871.
He turned to writing and published his first book, Raiders and
Pioneers of Texas, in 1884. His research for History of Fort Bend
County included interviews with the residents of the county, most
of whom were descendants of the early settlers. He used news-

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