The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, July 1964 - April, 1965 Page: 299
574 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
he lived on a rough and lawless frontier he never packed a gun
except when hunting game for food." Further, Scobee has a way
of injecting a word or phrase that is unexpected, not shocking
but novel in modern vernacular, that almost startles the reader,
thus enriching his style.
Scobee says in his Foreword that the hub of the book is the
old fort, but with spokes spreading out into the district. He says,
too, that the army surgeons were literate, observing men who
wrote much in their reports that is not found in formal records.
He has used material of this sort to present vivid drama of the
soldier years.
Scobee has been known to complain that, search as he would,
he never had found much in the way of letters or diaries by army
people. Yet he was fortunate enough to acquire the memoirs of
a general, who was a lieutenant on the post in the late 1850's,
that are alive with interest. He found also the diary of the nine-
teen-year-old son of Colonel B. H. Grierson, written day by day
in August, 188o, during that officer's campaign against the Apache
chief, Victorio. It is the first time for these two pieces of history
to see print, and as Scobee might say, "They pack a load of facts,
humor and entertainment." This book should not be confused
with a former one by Scobee, Old Fort Davis, which is presently
out of print.
So, the reader must conclude that Barry Scobee set out to
present the story of a town and area that will be a source book
for future historians. Perhaps no West Texan ever knew so
much about a community as Barry Scobee knows about the Fort
Davis area. Through many years he has been salting away every
little tidbit about the old cavalry post and the Davis Mountains
country. Those tidbits today are printed in one of the most in-
teresting books ever produced about a community. Probably the
thing which makes the book particularly entertaining is the
writer's way of telling a story. He uses a flowing language, much
like his colorful talk. BRYAN WILDENTHAL
Sul Ross State College
Autumn's Mightiest Legions: History of Texas Schoolboy Foot-
ball. By Harold V. Ratliff. Waco (Texian Press), 1963. Pp.
174. Index. $4.95.
Probably no individual is more qualified to write concerning299
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, July 1964 - April, 1965, periodical, 1965; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101198/m1/341/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.