The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973 Page: 126
539 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
recent biography by Alvy L. King traces the stormy career of the state's
leading fire-eater, Louis T. Wigfall. King's third chapter, "To Pre-
serve the Union-of 1787," describes Wigfall's activities as Sam Hous-
ton's most vocal critic during the 1850's. Wigfall's election to the
United States Senate in 1859 gave him a national platform on the eve
of the secession crisis. King correctly notes that Wigfall's election was
made possible by the reaction in Texas and the South to John Brown's
raid on Harpers Ferry in October, 1859.24
The lack of adequate manuscript collections has been a major handi-
cap to historians seeking to write biographies of early governors. Rob-
ert G. Winchester's recent publication, James Pinckney Henderson,
while sketchy on the statehood period, is the best biography of Texas's
first governor." No major study of George T. Wood has been written,
but two articles in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly describe his
role as governor."' Peter H. Bell, third governor of Texas, has received
surprisingly little attention from historians. C. Luther Coyner's brief
article in 1899 and Charles Ramsdell's sketch for the Dictionary of
American Biography are the only scholarly studies of Bell to be pub-
lished."'
A doctoral dissertation underway at the University of Texas, Austin,
will examine the career of Elisha M. Pease, whom many historians
consider the most capable governor of the early statehood period.
Militant Unionist and Reconstruction Governor (El Paso, 1968); Ben H. Procter, Not
Without Honor: The Life of John H. Reagan (Austin, 1962).
34Alvy L. King, Louis T. Wigfall: Southern Fire-Eater (Baton Rouge, 197o), 70-78.
King observes that Wigfall and Brown had much in common. "Both followed their causes
to the neglect of family and fortune. Though his background did not harbor the preva-
lent strain of insanity that Brown's did, Wigfall was a fanatic on the subject of states'
rights and was unreasonably enthusiastic in devotion to his cause." Ibid., 77-78.
"Robert Glenn Winchester, James Pinckney Henderson: Texas' First Governor (San
Antonio, 1971) . Winchester's book is a revision of his earlier M.A. thesis at Texas A.&I.
University, 1952. Other studies of Henderson are Elizabeth Yates Morris, "James Pinckney
Henderson" (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, Austin, 1931) and F. B. Sexton, "J. Pinck-
ney Henderson," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, I (January, 1898),
187-o203. Ralph A. Wooster, "Early Texas Politics: The Henderson Administration,"
Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LXXIII (October, 1969), 176-192, describes Hender-
son's administration as governor.
"aS. H. German, "Governor George Thomas Wood," Southwestern Historical Quarterly,
XX (January, 1917), 260-268; Louella Styles Vincent, "Governor George Thomas Wood,"
ibid., 269-276. See also Ralph A. Wooster, "Early Texas Politics: The Wood Administra-
tion," Texana, VIII (No. 2, 1970), 183-199.
2"C. Luther Coyner, "Peter Hansborough Bell," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical
Association, III (July, 1899), 49-53; Charles W. Ramsdell, "Peter Hansborough Bell," in
Dictionary of American Biography, ed. Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone (22 vols.; New
York, 1956), II, 16o-161. Hardin Runnels, another governor of the period, has received
even less attention from historians than Bell.126
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, July 1972 - April, 1973, periodical, 1973; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101202/m1/156/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.