The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 104, July 2000 - April, 2001 Page: 116
673 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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116 Southwestern Historical Quarterly July
that, because of protecting their women and children during army attacks, they
couldn't devote their full attention to repelling the assaults. Such dubious con-
clusions need clarifying footnotes, and these are frequently missing throughout
the book, even when specific authors are referenced.
On the other hand, McDermott describes army clothing with such impressive
meticulousness that a reader half expects him to list the color of the thread the
soldiers used to sew loose buttons on their jackets. Related topics that are equal-
ly well developed and most interesting, especially because of the volume of infor-
mation the author provides about them, include, for example, army and Indian
weaponry, artillery, health medical supplies and situations, the military's organi-
zational structure, and Indians in films, literature, and art.
The author's main emphasis in the first part of the book is on the Plains
tribes. That's too bad, because as most everyone interested in western history
knows by now, the Chiricahua Apaches were the group that held out the longest,
causing Uncle Sam unprecedented embarrassment, to say nothing of the untold
numbers of deaths of soldiers and settlers. Geronimo's Apaches deserve more
space in this book than just a paragraph or two. A close second to the Chirica-
huas in terms of a compelling "fire in the belly" hot enough to cause infuriated
opposition to the intruders were the Comanches of Texas, and this tribe too has
been given insufficient attention.
Nonetheless, one cannot fault the mass of specific information that really
characterizes this book. The author has organized it in such a way that it is well
controlled in categories and through the use of subheadings. The first half of
the book is exposition, while the second half describes the historic battle sites
and museums by region.
As an Arizonan living in the shadow of the Chiricahua and Dragoon moun-
tains, I noticed a couple of mistakes related to local historic and heritage sites:
Cochise's band, whose territory was southeastern Arizona, never occupied south-
western Arizona as the author states. Additionally, Fort Huachuca is not a town.
It is a military reserve situated on the western flank of the city of Sierra Vista.
Next, Tom Jeffords did not convince Cochise to surrender in the Stronghold.
The old chief decided to yield after negotiating terms that were satisfactory to
him and Gen. O. O. Howard.
A few overlooked spelling errors and redundancies that should have been cor-
rected in editing, and the lack of an index are troublesome, but all in all, this
primer belongs on a reference shelf, to be used with a discerning eye.
Cochise College H. Henrietta Stockel
Lizards on the Mantel, Burro at the Door: A Big Bend Memoir. By Etta Koch with June
Cooper Price. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999. Pp. xi+169. Fore-
word, acknowledgments, introduction, photo section, epilogue. ISBN 0-g92-
74339-4. $16.95, paper.)
Big Bend National Park had just opened when Etta Koch, her husband Peter,
and their daughters arrived in 1944. Her memior is a delightful account of the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 104, July 2000 - April, 2001, periodical, 2001; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101221/m1/144/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.