The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999 Page: 402
559 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
using their partially-completed church for worship but they did not fully com-
plete construction until after the Civil War. Texas was also the twenty-eighth
state in the union, not the twenty-sixth as Fisher states (p. 23).
Such flaws are exceedingly minor, of course, but they are worthy of mention
in a review of works that propose to offer a compendium of data on a city.
Despite such minor flaws, both books successfully fulfill their purpose of provid-
ing an overview of San Antonio history for both the general reader and the spe-
cialist seeking a summary of the city's origin and development. These two vol-
umes add yet another testament to the legacy of a city that unites history, natural
beauty, hospitality, cultures, and a festive spirit to form a singular mystique.
Loyola Marymount University TIMOTHY M. MATOVINA
Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston. By Edward T. Cotham Jr.
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998. Pp. 241. Illustrations, acknowledg-
ments, introduction, epilogue, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN
0-292-71205-7. $16.95, paper).
Battle on the Bay is a well researched traditional history of Galveston during the
Civil War with an emphasis on military events. An excellent introduction pro-
vides a description of Galveston on the eve of war, a city from which 200,000 of
the 3oo,ooo bales of cotton produced in Texas were exported. Secession, block-
ade, invasion, capture, occupation, recapture, and defense are treated in
sequence and adequately. Chapters on running the blockade and the union
reoccupation end the book. Sixteen photographs, maps, and sketches compli-
ment the text.
The book is short on analysis and coherence. Local politics and the effect of
the war on the local economy for the most part disappear after the introduction
and a chapter on secession. The author tries to maintain that Galveston was of
great importance to the Confederacy and thus of significance for capture for the
Union. If this were true, why didn't the Union made a greater effort to defend
the city it had captured and then to recapture it when it was lost. How did
Galveston fit into both the Confederate and Union military planning? Despite
remaining in Confederate hands for most of the war, did blockade running pro-
vide any significant military resources to the confederacy? With this volume the
military history of Galveston in the Civil War has been told; we still need a total
history of the city during the conflict.
University of Texas at San Antonio DWIGHT F. HENDERSON
Women, Culture and Community: Religion and Reform in Galveston 1880-192o. By
Elizabeth Hayes Turner. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp.
viii+371. Illustrations, acknowledgments, introduction, conclusion, appen-
dix, notes, index. ISBN 0-19511938-X. $49.95, cloth).
In 1900 a great hurricane struck Galveston. Winds and floodwaters swept
across the island, pushing people, places, and things under Gulf torrents filledJanuary
402
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999, periodical, 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101219/m1/459/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.