Basic Texas Books: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works for a Research Library Page: 83
xii, 648 p. : ill.View a full description of this book.
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BASIC TEXAS BOOKS 83
The bitterness of the work is its basic flaw. Coleman was as
vehement about Houston as J. Evetts Haley was about Lyndon Johnson
in A Texan Looks At Lyndon. The careers of both Houston and Johnson
contain ample grounds for honest criticism without any need for
exaggeration or slander. The two works are parallel in a number of
respects; had either author presented his case objectively and calmly,
the results would have been infinitely more significant. My inclusion
of the Coleman work in this bibliography is because it initiated a
controversy that lasted throughout Houston's career and has not yet
ended. The Coleman pamphlet is the initial anti-Houston casebook
and is therefore important despite its lies and slanders.
Coleman, for example, is at his weakest when he accuses Houston
of being a coward. The Coleman pamplet is also the original printed
source of the accusations regarding Houston's drunkenness. When
Houston prepared to leave Washington-on-the-Brazos to join the Texas
Army, Coleman says, "he mounted in front of Mrs. Mann's boarding
house, where he had the unblushing impudence to acknowledge, to
the bystanders, that he did not recollect to have set out from any
place sober or free from intoxication, during the last five years; but
on that occasion he considered himself sober."
The pamphlet put Houston on the defensive for the remainder of
his career. His own version is excellently presented in his official
account, which appeared as a pamphlet and was reprinted hundreds
of times in subsequent publications. The important pro-Houston
accounts of the San Jacinto campaign by other participants are included
in this bibliography. The other anti-Houston accounts may be found
in volume four of the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association and
in the David G. Burnet, Amasa Turner, Jesse Billingsley, Guy M.
Bryan, and Moseley Baker papers in the University of Texas Archives.
The San Jacinto controversy was a major issue in every Texas
presidential election and in all of Houston's campaigns for office after
statehood. Seldom a year and never a decade has passed since 1836
but that some article, pamphlet, or book has been issued condemning
or lauding Houston for his actions in the spring of 1836. This little
volume is the granddaddy of them all.
Howes C57I. Streeter 190 and 44o.
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Jenkins, John Holmes. Basic Texas Books: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Works for a Research Library, book, 1988; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth296838/m1/98/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.