A couple of months ago fellow Filly, Linda Broday and I, along with two other writer friends who love to research went down to Fort Concho in San Angelo, Texas, for a visit. Little did we know about the ghosts of this retired military post.
Like many others in the chain of forts in the heartland of Texas, Fort Concho was built to protect frontier settlements, patrol and map the vast West Texas region, and quell hostile threats in the area. The site was very strategically located by the government in order to stabilize the region because no less than five major trails passed near the junction of the North and Middle Concho Rivers.
In December 1867, because of the lack of good water, the army was forced to abandon Fort Chadbourne (located north of what is now Bronte, Texas) and established Fort Concho. The original fort consisted of over forty buildings constructed for the most part of native limestone and covered more than 1600 acres. The post was known as Camp Hatch and Camp Kelly, named for commanding officers of the post.
But it only served the area for about twenty-two years. In June 1889 the last soldiers marched away from Fort Concho and the fort was deactivated. The fort’s role in the settling of the Texas frontier was over.
During its heyday, Fort Concho served as regimental headquarters for some of the most famous frontier units like the 4th and 10th Cavalry. Notable military commanders such as Ranald Mackenzie, Benjamin Grierson, and William 'Pecos Bill' Shafter commanded here. Elements of all four regiments of the Buffalo Soldiers were stationed at the post during its active period. At full strength Fort Concho supported 400-500 men made up of companies of infantry and troops of cavalry, staff officers and support personnel. The post played a pivotal role in the suppression of illegal profiteering that was being conducted by Mexican and American traders known as “Comanchero’s”.
Now that you know the history of the fort, let’s talk about the ghosts of Fort Concho.
One of the most haunted locations at the fort is the officer’s quarters also known as “Officers Row”. Located across the parade ground from the enlisted barracks, this row of sturdy stone houses serve as the impetus for most if not all of the ghostly tales that are told about Fort Concho.
Their most distinguished commander, Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, known for the infamous Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, is said to haunt his old residence at the center of Officers Row. The ghost of Colonel Mackenzie has been seen by visitors and staff at the old house on more than one occasion. It is said that Colonel Mackenzie was fond of his house and its location because he could see almost everything that was going on in the fort at any given time.
While preparing for a winter event one December, a female staff member working in the Mackenzie house heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps walking behind her. Just as the woman turned around, she was knocked up against a wall by a blast of cold air. Frightened, she heard the “unique sound of knuckles cracking.” Colonel Mackenzie was known for cracking his knuckles; therefore, there was no doubt to the woman that she’d come face-to-face with the spirit of the famous commander.
Another of the “row’s” many distinguished families was that of Colonel Benjamin Grierson, regimental commander of the 10th cavalry. Colonel Grierson’s daughter Edith died in the upstairs bedroom of one of the houses around her twelfth birthday. Over the years, many people have encountered the little girl along Officer Row. In most instances, Edith is often seen quietly playing jacks.
Those people who have encountered her say that the first thing they notice is that the room where the girl is playing is substantially cooler than any of the other rooms in the house. Edith will acknowledge the presence of a person when they enter the room by turning her head and smiling before she returns to her game of jacks, but she will rarely say anything them.
Another interesting story is about a delivery person bringing flowers to one of the houses along Officers Row. He was told to put the two bouquets of flowers in the bedrooms at the top of the stairs, one to the right and one to the left. As the young man ascended the stairs, he noticed that the temperature seemed cooler than in the foyer of the house. Reaching the top of the stairs, the man turned and entered the first bedroom on the right nearly tripping over a small girl playing jacks on the floor just inside the doorway. The man excused himself but the girl never appeared to even acknowledge his presence. The florist placed the flowers on the bedside table as instructed. Once finished, he left the room and placed the other bouquet in the bedroom across the hallway.
Before going back down stairs, the florist looked in on the little girl across the hall and she was gone; however, the flowers he had placed on the nightstand had been moved to a table in the corner of the room. He figured that the little girl had repositioned the flowers because he noticed that the girl’s jacks were on the table next to the bed.
Just as the florist was about to leave, he happened to see a portrait above the fire place. To his surprise, the little girl in the picture was a twin of the young girl he had just saw upstairs playing jacks. Believing that the small child was the daughter of the woman staying in the house, the florist mentioned that he had met the girl in the picture only moments before and commented on how she had moved the flowers from the nightstand. To the delivery man’s surprise, the woman stated that she did not have a daughter and explained that Colonel Grierson’s daughter Edith had died in the upstairs bedroom where he had placed the flowers. Chuckling to herself, she informed the man that countless others have seen the Edith’s ghost in the house.
The Officers Quarters is not the only location at Fort Concho where ghostly activity has been report. The fort’s headquarters building is also reputed to be a hot bed for paranormal encounters. In addition to the ghosts of Colonel Mackenzie and Edith Grierson, several other lesser known but still active spirits have taken up residence at Fort Concho, but I’ll have to save that for another day.
I’d love to hear your ghost stories.
Today is the official release date for “Give Me a Texas Outlaw” from Barnes and Nobles , Amazon, and all the book clubs. Here’s a picture of Linda and me in the Lonesome Dove Jail at Fort Concho. That dang sheriff couldn’t hear a dern thing and thought we were saying “We are Texas Outlaws” not we’re authors of “Give Me a Texas Outlaw”!
To celebrate our newest release, I'm gonna give away two autographed copies of "Give Me a Texas Outlaw", so get your name in the hat by comment ing today.
In memory of Elmer Kelton...
While in San Angelo, we had the humbling experience of attending the unveiling of Elmer Kelton’s bronze statue at the Tom Green County Library. I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Kelton, a western novelist of over forty books who brought the sensibility of the old-style western to bear on a modern Texas landscape of oil fields and financially troubled ranches, before he died in August 2009 at the age of eighty-three.
He won the prestige Western Heritage Award four times, and was a seven time winner of the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, amongst many other awards and achievements.
Elmer’s novels were set in many eras of the past and occasionally the present, all of them underscoring the workingman’s dignity of the cowboy, which he treated as a category of man rather than a specific profession. His protagonists were as likely to be oil-field workers, handymen or Texas Rangers as ranchers, and though they weren’t perfect — in fact they were often hugely flawed — he always imbued them with natural competence, self-sufficiency and self-respect.
I've always been interested in the oil industry, since my daddy worked for an oil company, and our family of five roamed all over Texas, following the oil fields. At an early age, I learned the terms "roughnecks, roustabouts, wildcatters, pumpers, and oil camps. We lived in weird places, moving twice a year until I was ten and got a permanent home.
For almost a hundred years, the discovery of oil led millions of American families just like mine to work in the oilfields. It was a way of passage from rural farm life to urban industrial society. The main lure was economic opportunity. Texans, as well as citizens from other states, faced the hazards and challenges of a new life because they saw the promise of a better one for themselves and for their children.
When I began writing The Cameron Sisters series, my hero Dalton King became a wildcatter, a man with a dream and vision of striking oil (Book I-Texas Promise). He'd heard of Spindletop at Beaumont, Texas in 1901,and that ushered in the modern era of drilling. On ranch land he owned southeast of Austin, he took a chance and drilled. Dalton was married to Jo Cameron, and together they founded an empire.
Dalton's foreman was savvy Sam Deleon, a loner wandering the West, looking for work. I was so intrigued with his character I wrote Book II-Texas True, about Jo's younger sister True Cameron. She fell in love with Sam, and wow, they have quite a story! Sam proved to be less than honest with his new bride, but through many trials and tribulations, they do find their HEA.
In the early chapters of the book, True packs up and moves from her upscale home in Austin to live in the oilfield ragtown that provided homes for the families of the roughnecks. Sam, as foreman, becomes furious with his new bride and orders her to return home, but she is determined to live there during the summer as the other women do.
I created the tent city by researching early oil camps, specifically to learn how the tents were constructed. "They built a wooden platform and a four foot high wall all around. Then they added the canvas tent and fastened it just below the top of the wall. Then they'd screen it in to keep out flies and mosquitoes. At night, they'd roll the canvas up so the breeze would blow through."
No doubt, many of you, the readers, have similar stories about growing up around oil wells. I'd love to give eBook/pdf copies of these books to two visitors—winner's choice. Thank you for stopping by to visit today!
******
Blurb for Texas Promise:
After two years, Jo Cameron King’s life as a widow abruptly ends when her husband returns home to Austin. Unable to understand her angry and bitter husband, she accepts a call to travel to the New Mexico Territory to meet her dying birth father whom she knows nothing about. Her plan to escape her husband goes awry when he demands to travel with her.
Dalton King, believing lies his Texas Ranger partner tells him about Jo, seethes with hatred toward his wife. Now he must protect Jo from his partner’s twisted mind, while sorting out the truth. Jo’s bravery and loyalty convince him she’s innocent. But can they regain the love and respect they once shared?
Blurb for Texas True:
At a Governor's Ball in Austin, Texas, True Lee Cameron meets suave Sam Deleon. Before the night is out, she transforms from the coddled and protected younger sister to a woman in love. Reality crashes down when she accidentally learns he has deceived her. Daring to disobey him, she follows Sam to the oilfields and determines to live wherever he does. Has she made a mistake? Will she give up and return home where she can make her own rules?
When Sam Deleon meets the gorgeous young woman his mother has chosen for him, he fears falling in love, because he knows nothing about love. In order to carry out his mother’s plan, he marries True and moves her to his mother's home, intending to visit enough to set the plan in motion. When True fails to obey him, he faces the possibility of losing her, thereby losing his inheritance and the family property.
Sam and True attempt a reconciliation and compromise. Together, they now face a nemesis, someone who determines to thwart every action they take, endangering not only their lives, but also those whom they love.
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"Doffing his saloon apron, the grizzled barkeep dons a dirty alpaca coat, sits himself down behind the bar, draws a pistol and bangs for silence using the butt as a gavel. "Order, by Gobs! This honorable court is now in session, and if any galoot wants a snort before we start, let him step up to the bar and name his pizen." The good judge had never seen the inside of a law school. His only law book was the 1879 Revised Statutes of Texas. But the self-styled "Law West of the Pecos" knew how to hold court. There, in his Jersey Lilly saloon in the minuscule West Texas town of Langtry, Roy Bean doled out drinks and his own brand of justice for more than 20 years." -Smithsonian Magazine June 1998
“…Judge Bean ruled with a high handed, but appropriate brand of homespun law, outrageous humor, and six-shooter justice.”
http://www.texasoutside.com/westtexasparks/judgerbframes.htm, Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center, Langtry, TX
The above statements and excerpts give you an idea why “Hanging Judge” Roy Bean is such an enduring character in the history of the old west. Born Phantly Bean, in Mason County, Kentucky, in 1825, Roy Bean has pretty much done it all. He ran a blockade during the Civil War hauling cotton from San Antonio to British ships off the coast. He helped run a shop in Chihuahua, Mexico with his older brother, Sam, until he caused too much trouble. Next he went to live with his oldest brother, Joshua, who was mayor of San Diego. Roy was jailed for dueling, broke out, and followed his brother to San Gabriel. He inherited Joshua’s saloon but moved on again in 1857 or 1858 to escape being hanged. Next he went to Mesilla, New Mexico, where Sam made him a partner in a saloon there. Things went well until the Civil War reached them. A military life wasn’t for Roy - he moved to San Antonio, where he became famous for “circumventing creditors, business rivals, and the law.”
In 1882, Bean left his wife of sixteen years, and their four children, to move with the railroad grading camps to Vinegaroon, a tent city near the Pecos River. According to the Texas State Historical Association’s The Handbook of Texas Online: “Crime was rife at the end of the track; it was often said, "West of the Pecos there is no law; west of El Paso, there is no God." To cope with the lawless element the Texas Rangersqv were called in, and they needed a resident justice of the peace in order to eliminate the 400-mile round trip to deliver prisoners to the county seat at Fort Stockton. The commissioners of Pecos County officially appointed Roy Bean justice on August 2, 1882. He retained the post, with interruptions in 1886 and 1896, when he was voted out, until he retired voluntarily in 1902.”
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbe08
Bean didn’t stay in Vinegaroon. When the railroad moved west, Bean packed up his courtroom and saloon and moved 70 miles to Strawbridge, and a new tent city.
According to legend, Bean named the town after the British actress Emilie Charlotte (Lillie) Langtry, with whom Bean had fallen in love after seeing her picture. Bean even named his saloon The Jersey Lilly, in Miss Langtry’s honor. The truth: railroad records indicate that the town was named for George Langtry, a railroad construction foreman. [I found the photo to the left on tworobins.com]
But Bean was definitely the “law” in the town. Though he’d had no formal schooling in law, and only owned one law book, the 1879 edition of the "Revised Statutes of Texas", he appointed himself Justice of the Peace and held court at his bar and passed down judgments until 1902. Although only district courts in Texas were legally allowed to grant divorces, Bean did it anyway--as long as the person had $10. He charged $5 for a wedding and sent the happily married couples on their way intoning "and may God have mercy on your souls." None of the fines he collected were sent to the state.
Again from The Handbook of Texas Online: "Bean died in his saloon on March 16, 1903, of lung and heart ailments and was buried in the Del Rio cemetery. His shrewdness, audacity, unscrupulousness, and humor, aided by his knack for self-dramatization, made him an enduring part of American folklore."
Today, a recreation of The Jersey Lilly Saloon and Courtroom adjoins a Visitor's Center in Langtry, Texas.
There's a town just a short distance from where I live in West Texas called Hale Center. It's the home of an early rancher by the name of James Franklin Norfleet. He has such an amazing story that I had to share it with you.
James was born in 1865 to a Texas Ranger father and a mother who would go on to birth five more children. At age 14, James joined a buffalo hunt that brought him to this part of the country. After that he worked as a cowboy and drover for various ranches until he could make enough money to start his own ranch. When he was 29, he fell head-over-heels in love and married Mattie Eliza Hudgins. They had four children of which only two lived to adulthood.
One day on a business venture to Fort Worth, Texas in 1919, Norfleet ran into a group of scam artists who took him for $45,000 and promptly left the country.
Mattie told James to "Go get those miserable crooks and make them pay. But bring them in alive. Any man can kill but it's a brave man who can capture the criminals and bring them to justice." She told him she'd manage the ranch and keep him in expense money.
So that's exactly what James set out to do. Using his expert tracking skills, he began a one-man manhunt.
He caught up to three of the swindlers in Los Angeles within a few weeks. He located another one in Salt Lake City and two more in Georgia. At one point, one of the men turned himself in because he couldn't take being hunted any longer.
In all he spent five years and $75,000 and traveled 30,000 miles across two continents chasing the scam artists. He single-handedly captured and turned them in to the authorities without any assistance from the federal government.
His fame quickly spread and he was besieged with requests to hunt down other criminals. And so he began an unlikely career in law enforcement. Between 1919 and 1935, he brought in over 100 wanted men. And, although he was quick on the draw and dead shot with a pistol, he never killed anyone.
James Norfleet earned the nickname "Little Tiger" because of his short stature and uncanny ability to stalk a fugitive. He never lost a fresh trail. The FBI awarded him a special certificate for his services. Pretty good for an old cowboy.
His exploits became known far and wide. He was the subject of several magazine articles and a full-length book that was published in 1924. And actor Wallace Berry once portrayed him in a radio drama. The country desperately needed a hero and Norfleet fit the bill.
His ranch near Hale Center took a hit though with him being gone so long and he wound up having to sell it. James and Mattie lived quietly the rest of their days on a small farm. I'm sure they spent many an hour reliving James's exciting adventures. James died at the age of 102 and Mattie lived to 101.
This true story just proves that it doesn't pay to mess with one determined cowboy.
You can preorder our new anthology that releases July 1st through Amazon or Barnes and Noble!
A Bowie knife is a style of fixed-blade knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century.
Much like the owner with whom this blade is synonymous, the “Bowie” knife is shrouded in myths, legends and questionable facts. Even the experts are still arguing over what is truth and what is legend.
Let’s start with what the experts know: A blacksmith named James Black from Washington, Arkansas, was well-known for his guardless “coffin” knife, meaning the handle is shaped like a coffin and there is no guard to keep the wielders hand from slipping onto the blade.
From here, the truth gets a little murky.
One version of the creation of the famous knife is that Rezin Bowie commissioned the knife from blacksmith Jesse Cleft of Avoyelles Parrish, Louisiana.
Another has Jim’s brother, John, claiming the knife was made by a blacksmith named Snowden.
The favored version of the story is that Jim Bowie went to Black in 1830 with a wooden mock-up of the knife he wanted. Black made that knife and another one with several improvements. When Bowie returned for his knife, Black offered him his choice. Bowie took the improved model.
“It was said that a Bowie had to be sharp enough to use as a razor, heavy enough to use as a hatchet, long enough to use as a sword and broad enough to use as a paddle.”
The historical Bowie knife had a blade of at least 6 inches in length, some reaching 12 inches or more, with a relatively broad blade that was an inch and a half to two inches wide. Bowie knives often had an upper guard that bent forward at an angle (called an S-guard) intended to catch an opponent's blade or provide protection to the owner's hand.
The moniker “Bowie Knife” seems to have grown from the account of an attempted murder of Bowie. In Mississippi in 1827, in what became known as the “Sandbar Duel,” Jim Bowie was attacked by three men on the orders of a local sheriff that Bowie had vocally refused to back for re-election. Bowie, using the knife, survived; his attackers did not. Yes, I know this happened before Bowie bought the knife from Black. But keep in mind the historical “Bowie knife” was not a single design, but was a series of knives improved several times by Jim Bowie over the years.
James Black became famous on his own merits; he was and is considered one of the best blade-makers of that time period. Black's knives were copied by cutlers in Sheffield, England, and sold in America as the "Arkansas Toothpick."
“The term Arkansas toothpick became synonymous with “bowie knife” for most of the population [of the United States]. Sheffield cutlers thought the addition of this term in particular added value to the knives they made to sell in the United States...” http://www.historicarkansas.org/collections/knives.aspx?id=54
Black's knives were known to be exceedingly tough, yet flexible, and his technique has not been duplicated. Black kept his technique secret and did all of his work behind a leather curtain. Many claim that Black rediscovered the secret of producing true Damascus steel. [An interesting process, but I’m going to let you research that one on your own. If you want to see some beautiful knives, go to http://www.mountainhollow.net/bowieknives2.htm]
The Bowie knife became the most famous blade in the states, perhaps in the world, following The Alamo. But, as is the way of most things, by the end of the Civil War, the knife gave way to the bayonet, rifle and revolvers for self-defense.
Hollywood launched something of a revival of the knife’s popularity when, in the 1950s, Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were featured in books and movies.
Here’s some of the links I discovered, if you want to learn more:
http://www.historicarkansas.org/knife_gallery/http://www.historicarkansas.org/collections/knives.aspx?id=153http://www.historicarkansas.org/jamesblackrevisited/
Jim Bowie--a name synonymous with Texas. Most of us know he died defending the Alamo, and that he wielded a big knife that now carries his name. But Jim Bowie was quite an interesting character.
Born in Kentucky in the spring of 1796, he moved with his parents and nine siblings west to the Red River, then Missouri and finally to Spanish Louisiana and Opelousas in 1812. Fluent in Spanish and French, Bowie was also proficient with pistol, rifle and knife. Bowie and his elder brother, Rezin, enlisted for the War of 1812, though they arrived too late for the fighting.
Now that they were out in the world, the Bowie brothers tried many things to make a living. In order to raise the money needed to take advantage of the rising land prices in Louisiana, they smuggled in slaves, making three trips to buy slaves from the pirate Jean LaFitte and selling them in Louisiana. Of course, they’d worked a deal where they bought the very slaves they’d smuggled in and got back half the price he paid.
In 1825, three of the Bowie boys bought a plantation and established the first steam mill used to grind sugar cane in Louisiana. When they sold out, they used their profits to move on to another plantation in Arkansas.
“The adult Bowie was described by his brother John as "a stout, rather raw-boned man, of six feet height, weighed 180 pounds." He had light-colored hair, keen grey eyes "rather deep set in his head," a fair complexion, and high cheek-bones. Bowie had an "open, frank disposition," but when aroused by an insult, his anger was terrible.”
Always rather fearless, Bowie cut a path for himself all the way to Mexico. As early as 1819, he was working to liberate Texas from Spanish rule. In 1830, he moved to Texas, took the oath of allegiance to Mexico and settled in Saltillo, where he learned of an old law that allowed a Mexican citizen could purchase eleven-league grants in Texas for $100 to $250 each. Bowie urged Mexicans to apply for the eleven-league grants, which he purchased from them. When Jim Bowie left Saltillo a few months later, he owned fifteen or sixteen of these grants. At 4,428.4 acres per grant, Bowie was becoming a rather wealthy man.
Bowie, now age thirty-four, was at his prime. He was well traveled, convivial, loved music, and was generous. He also was ambitious and scheming, played cards for money, and lived in constant state of debt.
When he arrived in San Antonio, he posed as a man of wealth and attached himself to the wealthy Veramendi family. In the autumn of 1830, he accompanied the family back to Saltillo, and on October 5 officially became a Mexican citizen. The citizenship, however, was contingent on his establishing wool and cotton mills in Coahuila, so, through a friend back in Natchez, Bowie purchased a textile mill for $20,000.
On April 25, 1831, Bowie married Ursula de Veramendi, the daughter of a Mexican Governor. But marriage didn’t settle his lust for adventure. He led a fruitless search for the "lost" Los Almagres Mine, somewhere west of San Antonio, and was given the title of “Colonel” when he led twenty-six citizen “rangers” to scout the head of the Colorado River for hostile Indians. He came back empty-handed that time, too.
After the death of his wife and two young children of cholera in 1833, Bowie became a land commissioner for the Texas-Coahuila government, promoting land settlement in Texas. In May of 1835, Mexican President and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna abolished that government and ordered the arrest of all Texans doing business in the new capital. In response, Bowie led a small group of Texas "militia" to San Antonio in July and seized a stack of muskets in the Mexican armory there.
On October 3, 1835, Santa Anna abolished all state legislatures in Mexico. Former Empresario to Mexico Stephen F. Austin, newly elected to command the volunteer army of Texas, issued a call to arms and placed Jim Bowie on his staff as a colonel. William B. Travis also joined the new army. Bowie led forays south of Bexar and successfully commanded his troops at the battle of Concepción, but he had little interest in formal command, and tried repeatedly to resign from his position.
Sounds to me like General Sam Houston foundthe best way to use Bowie when he asked himto organize a guerilla force to harass the Mexican army in December of 1835.
From here, Bowie’s fate is set in motion. In January, 1836, Bowie returned to Bexar with an order from Houston to demolish the fortifications. After seeing the situation, he recommended that they hold Bexar instead, because of its strategic position. William Travis, now a lieutenant colonel, arrived with thirty men on February 3; David Crockett rode in with twelve men on the eighth. The garrison at the Alamo now had nearly 190 men.
On February 11, Lt. Colonel Travis took command of the garrison. On the 12th, the volunteers elected Bowie to command. On February 13, Bowie and Travis worked out a compromise giving Travis command of the regulars, Bowie command of the volunteers, and both men joint authority over garrison orders and correspondence.
Before dawn on March 6, 1836, while Bowie was confined to a cot with what is believed to be advanced tuberculosis, the Mexican Army under Santa Anna attacked and killed all 188 defenders of the Alamo.
“During Bowie's lifetime, he had been described as " a clever, polite gentleman...attentive to the ladies on all occasions...a true, constant, and generous friend...a foe no one dared to undervalue and many feared." Slave trader, gambler, land speculator, dreamer, and hero, James Bowie in death became immortal in the annals of Texas history.” http://www.forttumbleweed.net/jimbowie.html
---I’m saving the part about the knife for next time.
When I began writing TEXAS BLUE, April 2011 release with Berkley, I wanted to open with a Texas Ranger, Duncan 'Duck' McMurray, leaving on a secret mission.
As he says good-bye to his best friend, both men know the danger Duck faces but he comes from a long line of Texas Rangers and, much as Duck loves adventure, he loves Texas more.
His friend, a gambler named Lewton Paterson, prefers a quiet adventure of traveling to Whispering Mountain to court one of Duck's cousins while his friend is out of town and can't try to stop him. Though Lewt is successful in his world, he longs for a home and family, something gamblers rarely have.
Because of my love for Texas History, I knew of a raid the rangers made into Mexico to try to retrieve stolen cattle and to break up a gang of outlaws. It fit perfectly into my story.
Captain Leander McNelly organized a special force of rangers in 1875 and my character, Duncan McMurray, stepped into a time and place in history as wild as any western. It's often said that early Texans were great fighters but poor writers, so very little facts about the raid are known. This story, like many others in Texas Legend, was passed down in the telling.
The raid they made became part of the legend of the Rangers. We do know a few men, wearing the circle star, raced across the border with guns blazing one night in 1875. When met by outlaws several times greater in numbers, McNelly made his stand and, with a great deal of brass, demanded the hundreds of head of cattle stolen be returned. Because it was night, the outlaws didn't know how few rangers rode with Captain McNelly. By dawn cattle were driven back across the Rio Grande. More cattle, it turned out, than the rangers thought had been stolen.
You can read more about McNelly at http://www.theoutlaws.com/lawman3.htm.
I find it fascinating that McNelly, a great legend, was 5'6" tall and thin, 130 lb. or so and suffered from tuberculosis most of his adult life.
In my story, Duncan is hurt and accidentally left behind. Without a horse and too weak to walk, he knows he'll be killed if he doesn't get help. An old woman dressed as a peddler finds him. He thinks he's saved, but soon discovers she plans to auction him off to the highest outlaw bidding.
Lewt Patterson, unaware of what has happened to his best friend, travels to Whispering Mountain to meet the single ladies of a huge ranch called Whispering Mountain. The only women he's ever known are girls who hang around the saloons. Lewt's first surprise is that not all women find him irresistible.
I had great fun showing what ranching life in 1875 must have been like. The two stories of Lewt and Duck come together and both men grow as they define what it means to be a real hero.
TEXAS BLUE, like most of my historical romances, was sparked from true history. Ride along with me. I'll bet you'll fall in love with both men and the women strong enough to love them.
This is my fifth Whispering Mountain book and my first one of the new generation. If you would like to see Duck and the girls as children please read TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN.
Leave a comment to get your name in the hat for an autographed copy of TEXAS BLUE.
Let me know how you like my new video.
***Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 31 novels and 8 short story collections. As of July 2006, she was the 11th woman to be inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame. She is also currently serving as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.
In 1847, Colonel Samuel Walker, Army commander and a Texas Ranger in John C. Hays’ company, approached Sam Colt to make a new, stronger, more powerful revolver. Colt took the order--but had no factory. He turned to Eli Whitney, Jr., son of the famous inventor of the cotton gin, who had a factory in Connecticut where the order was completed and shipped by mid-1847.
Named the “Walker” for the Colonel, this single action, six shot, black powder revolver was 15 ½” long and weighed--are you ready--4 pounds, 8 ounces! Unloaded! Add the lead balls, wadding, etc. and you’re close to 5 pounds. That’s as much as one of those big bottles of wine. Try gripping that and holding it steady at arms length.
Can you even imagine shooting that thing, let alone hauling a couple of them around all the time? Though Hollywood shows the Colt Walker as a belt gun, the Texas Rangers and the mounted troops under Walker’s command during the Mexican-American War, and on the Texas frontier, carried the Colt Walker in saddle holsters.
Just to give you a visual, in the pic on the right, Josey Wales holds a Colt Walker in his left hand and a Colt 1860 Army in his right.
In the picture on the left, character Augustus McCrae of LonesomeDove, is holstering his Colt Walker. See how long it is compared to Robert Duvall’s torso?
[Both of these pictures are from The Internet Movie Firearms Database, www.imfdb.org. It's a great site!]
With an effective range of 100 yards, the 1867 Walker could be loaded with as much powder as some muskets, making it the most powerful revolver of its day. In fact, it was more powerful than most modern pistols. The black powder Walker Colt is regarded by some experts as the most powerful commercially manufactured repeating handgun from 1847 until the introduction of the .357 Magnum in 1935.
“It proved to be a revolver of such size, weight, and heft that Colt was reputed to have said, "It would take a Texan to shoot it." Walker wrote in 1847 that the gun was "as effective as a common rifle at 100 yards and superior to a musket even at 200." Far more powerful than the earlier Patersons, this gun quickly became legendary. For those who could afford it, the Walker Colt was a symbol of strength, authority and great financial means.
"Total production of the original Walker was about 1,100, a thousand of which were ordered by the U.S. Ordnance Department. The Walker was the first revolver ever purchased by the Army, and soldiers’ inexperience with a revolver resulted in a lot of “burst cylinders,” meaning all six chambers fired at the same time." [http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=820]
The Colt Walker was quickly followed by the Colt Dragoon series of revolvers, which only improved on a very good thing.
BUY Cystone ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, Susanna Dickinson would probably agree with those who say, “Life in the early days of Texas was an adventure for men and dogs, but hell on women and horses.” Texans and historians will always remember her as the sole adult Anglo survivor that witnessed the massacre at the Battle of the Alamo. Buying Cystone online over the counter, I recently finished reading a novel titled Escape From the Alamo, written by Dac Crossley, online buy Cystone without a prescription, Order Cystone online c.o.d, a retired professor who lives in Georgia. However, Cystone from canadian pharmacy, Cystone price, coupon, as he says, he's still "a Texas boy." To me, buy cheap Cystone no rx, Where to buy Cystone, he's a gentleman Western author who writes about Texas Rangers in the Wild Horse Desert of South Texas. His latest novel, real brand Cystone online, Where can i order Cystone without prescription, though, is different, Cystone samples. Cystone for sale, Without relating the plot, he does mention Mrs, buy generic Cystone. Susanna Dickinson, a survivor of the fall of the Alamo, BUY Cystone ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. Canada, mexico, india, She was real, just like Davy Crockett and Colonel Travis, kjøpe Cystone på nett, köpa Cystone online. Online buy Cystone without a prescription, Why was Susanna Dickinson in the Alamo in the first place.
She lived in Gonzales in Mexican Texas with her first husband, where can i buy cheapest Cystone online, Buy Cystone without prescription, Almaron Dickinson. As Antonio López de Santa Anna entered the city, buy Cystone no prescription, Ordering Cystone online, Dickinson reportedly caught up his wife and baby daughter behind his saddle and galloped to the Alamo, just before the enemy started firing, buy cheap Cystone no rx. BUY Cystone ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, In the Alamo, legend says William B. Real brand Cystone online, Travis tied his cat's-eye ring around Angelina's neck. Angelina and Susanna survived the final Mexican assault on March 6, online buying Cystone hcl, Australia, uk, us, usa, 1836.
On March 7, where to buy Cystone, Buy cheap Cystone, Santa Anna interviewed each of the survivors individually. He was impressed with Mrs, order Cystone no prescription. Dickinson and offered to adopt Angelina and have the child educated in Mexico City, BUY Cystone ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. Buy Cystone without a prescription, Dickinson refused the offer. A few days after the battle, purchase Cystone online no prescription, Cystone trusted pharmacy reviews, Santa Anna released mother and daughter to act as a messenger to General Sam Houston.
Susanna Dickinson reported that after the battle, where can i buy Cystone online, Purchase Cystone online, the following had occurred during the siege and ultimate fight:
There were very few casualties before the final assault. She did not know the number.
She confirms that the legendary "line in the sand" incident, Cystone over the counter, Cystone gel, ointment, cream, pill, spray, continuous-release, extended-release, where BUY Cystone ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, Col. William Travis gave the defenders the choice of staying or leaving, japan, craiglist, ebay, overseas, paypal, Order Cystone online c.o.d, did happen--but at a different time.
She hid inside the chapel and did not see the actual battle.
She saw the body of Davy Crockett between the chapel and the barracks building.
She saw the body of Jim Bowie with two dead Mexican soldiers lying beside him.
She was taken to a house where she'd previously lived, and from there could see the pyres of the dead being burned.
The next day she was taken before Santa Anna, and a soldier convinced Santa Anna to release her rather than imprison her.
At some point after the battle, she has no recollections, only that she wept for days.
Susanna was a strong woman and a survivor, but the memory of those days would haunt her the rest of her life. She sometimes suffered from what she called her “black days”. She married and divorced 4 more times and is reported to have lived in a brothel for a time before she met and married Mr. Joseph Hannig. She and Hannig had a successful marriage until her death in 1883, BUY Cystone ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION.
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In my most recent release, Texas Promise, the hero is a Texas Ranger, and he marries his childhood friend, Jo Cameron. My novels feature brave, strong willed heroines--such as Susanna Dickinson. I'd love to give away a copy of Texas Promise.This novel is in eBook form. I can send the pdf version, or if I can learn how (oh, this new technology!) I'll send a copy for your Kindle. BUY Cystone ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, P&P will choose a winner.
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After two years, Jo Cameron King’s life as a widow abruptly ends when her husband returns home to Austin. Unable to understand her angry and bitter husband, she accepts a call to travel to the New Mexico Territory to meet her dying birth father whom she knows nothing about. Her plan to escape her husband goes awry when he demands to travel with her.
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BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, I’ve heard it said that you learn something new every day ... and today was certainly one of them. To my surprise, Purchase Zestril, when I was reviewing my research for today’s blog, I discovered something new ... the chuckwagon wasn’t named for its inventor, ordering Zestril online, Colonel Charles Goodnight. Zestril trusted pharmacy reviews, Colonel Goodnight was the first permanent rancher in the Texas Panhandle. Although he wasn’t a native Texan, he got here as quick as he could, where can i buy Zestril online. At the age of nine, Charlie traveled with his family 800 miles from his home in Illinois to Waco, Texas, riding bareback on a mare called Blaze, BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. As a youth he was a fairly good horse jockey, Online buying Zestril hcl, bull whacker, rail splitter and herded cattle. He served during the Civil War and was a Scout and Guide with the infamous Texas Rangers. After the war, rx free Zestril, he devoted his career almost exclusively to cattle.
At the age of thirty, Comprar en línea Zestril, comprar Zestril baratos, he blazed his first famous cattle trail ... the Goodnight-Loving Trail. He was one of the first cattlemen who recognized that the same head worth $4.00 in the Texas Panhandle was worth ten times that in the markets farther north. Goodnight also was the first to recognize that calves born on the trail were money at the end of the drive...but only if they survived and gained weight, where can i order Zestril without prescription. BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, The early practice was to kill calves because they could not keep up with the herd on their own. Cattleman Goodnight resolved that issue by contracting to have special wagons made that held 30 to 40 calves. Any calves born on the trail werepicked up by the drovers and put on the “calf wagon” for the day’s drive. When nightfall came, the calves were turned out with their mothers to nurse.
Goodnight soon discovered he had another problem on his hands. Order Zestril no prescription, A cow knows her own calf by its smell and The Colonel found that when he put different calves together in the “calf wagon” during the day, their scents mixed. Thus, where can i buy cheapest Zestril online, they were rejected by their mamas and would eventually starve to death. Buy Zestril from mexico, He then ordered his drovers to place each calf in its own separate sack, leaving the calf’s head out and tying the sack around its neck. The sacks were numbered so that the same calf went into the same sack each morning after being with its mother at night, BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. The calves rode safely in the calf wagon during the day and spend the night with their mamas, buy Zestril no prescription. The calves arrived at market healthy and in good shape. Purchase Zestril online, That meant increased profits at the end of the drive. I can only imagine what his cattle drives looked like.
Cattle typically follow a lead steer and for many of his drives, Goodnight’s lead steer was “Old Blue”, online buy Zestril without a prescription. BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, According to legend, this famous steer helped lead a thousand head 250 miles up to Dodge City. That accomplished, Old Blue then turned around and trotted back home with the cowboys.
Known as the “Pulse of the Panhandle, Zestril samples, ” Goodnight helped organize the Panhandle Stock Association of Texas to fight rustling. In the 1870’s when it became apparent that the hide hunters would eventually exterminate the buffalo, with the encouragement of his wife, he started his own herd of domestic buffalo. When buffalo products became exceedingly scarce such things as hides, kjøpe Zestril på nett, köpa Zestril online, robes, Buy Zestril online no prescription, mounted heads and horns became a hot commodity. Buffalo meat was a high-priced luxury.
As time went on, order Zestril from United States pharmacy, friends began to comment that Goodnight with his mop of shaggy hair over bright dark eyes topped a massive, Australia, uk, us, usa, strong body, which with age, showed a hump rounding his shoulders .., Zestril price, coupon. became increasing likened to his beloved buffalo. You can decide for yourself from the undoctored, Zestril for sale, certainly not Photoshopped, picture of Goodnight and a buffalo. He attracted international attention with his breed of “cattalo”, a crossbreed with a buffalo bull and Angus heifer, BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. They could handle the high altitude and sever winters of a buffalo and resulted in a meatier animal. For me personally, purchase Zestril online no prescription, a hundred and fifty years later, Japan, craiglist, ebay, overseas, paypal, I’d say they had a buffalo body with the face and horns of a longhorn.
Up to this point, I could have written most of this with very little research, buy Zestril online cod. I was born and raised in the Texas Panhandle, Buy generic Zestril, so I’ve spent all of my life knowing about Goodnight and his innovative ways of ranching. I’ve visited the town named after him. BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, My upcoming novella in “Give Me a Texas Outlaw” is set in his dugout in Palo Duro Canyon, and I’ve visited his grave many times. But, the one thing he created that I presumed was named from him ... the chuckwagon, where can i buy Zestril online, wasn’t. Kjøpe Zestril på nett, köpa Zestril online,
Prior to the chuckwagon, Cowboys often relied on eating what they carried in their saddle bags such as dried beef, purchase Zestril, corn fitters or biscuits. Buy Zestril from mexico, It didn’t take Goodnight long to discover that a well-fed cowboy is a happy one.
Traveling the trail everyday carrying minimal baggage in hot, uncomfortable weather was tough on a cowboy. In 1866, Charles saw his opportunity and began on his new invention – the chuckwagon. He basically redesigned a Studebaker wagon to fit a cowboy’s needs. The Studebaker was a tough Army surplus wagon that could last months of hard driving on the trails. Goodnight designed his very own chuck box, buy Zestril from canada, containing a number of shelves and drawers. He fitted this to the back of the wagon and it served to keep the cook’s things in order. The box had a hinged lid, Online buy Zestril without a prescription, and when the cook (nicknamed “cookie”) shut it, he would have a perfect surface to fix meals on. A water barrel holding a two days’ water supply was also attached to the wagon alongside a row of hooks, boxes, buy Zestril no prescription, brackets, Where can i buy cheapest Zestril online, and a coffee grinder. Goodnight also hung hammock-style canvas under the wagon to carry wood and kindling, which was scarce on the prairies. An additional wagon box was used to carry the cowboys’ bedrolls, personal items, buy cheap Zestril no rx, and food supplies. Goodnight’s genius invention is used in cattle drives to this day. Order Zestril online c.o.d, By 1880, Studebaker had created a model called the “Round – Up” wagon.
The chuckwagon was equipped with all kinds of supplies needed along the trail. We typically think of a chuckwagon being used for food and cooking gear, but the supplies would also include ferrier and blacksmith tools for horseshoeing or making repairs to the wagon and horse tack, BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. Sewing needles for mending clothing or saddles, first aid and alcohol tonics used for medicinal purposes. Bedrolls and rain slickers for the drovers. One side was equipped with a large wooden barrel to carry a two day supply of water. The other side often had a tool box, as well a smaller attached wooden box in front called the jockey box. BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION, Additionally, the wagon would have a canvas cover called a bonnet that had been treated in linseed oil to repel rain keeping items in the wagon dry. To allow headroom in the wagon, bows where added raising the canvas and providing securing points.
Now you know why I figured the chuckwagon was named for Chuck Goodnight, although I have to admit I’ve heard him called “The Colonel”, Charles, and Charlie, but never Chuck.
To my surprise, the name chuckwagon wasn’t derived from Goodnight’s given name, but came from 17th Century England as meat merchants who referred to their lower priced goods as “Chuck”. By the 18th Century, the term "chuck" was communicated towards good hearty food. It is of no wonder to take the name chuck for Goodnight’s simple creativity that revolutionized the cattle industry, BUY Zestril ONLINE NO PRESCRIPTION. I’m presuming here but figure that’s where a Chuck Roast and Ground Chuck got its name.
I couldn’t talk about Charles Goodnight without showing you all a picture of his gravesite as it is today. Some of my writer friends, and my coauthors, never miss an opportunity to visit his grave when we’re near it. The Goodnight Cemetery is on the edge of the Caprock about five miles off the beaten track. It overlooks what was his land and it’s truly one of the most beautiful sights one could imagine. You’d really have to know what you’re looking for to find it.
On a visit about two years ago, we discovered that there were bandanas tied all over the fence surrounding his grave. All kinds, some we could recognize by the markings; commemorative bandanas and organizations, but most were just plain everyday bandanas like those worn by cowboys for centuries, so those who have gone there to tie a bandana to honor the “Father of the Texas Panhandle” didn’t drop in by accident. I’ve tried to research how the practice got started, but could find little about who started it, but thank them.
Do you have any traditions that you’ve observed, but don’t know its origin? I’d love to have you share them with everyone. When the day is done, I’ll pick a reader to receive a copy of our latest anthology, “Give Me a Texas Ranger”.
A couple of months ago fellow Filly, Linda Broday and I, along with two other writer friends who love to research went down to Fort Concho in San Angelo, Texas, for a visit. Little did we know about the ghosts of this retired military post.
Like many others in the chain of forts in the heartland of Texas, Fort Concho was built to protect frontier settlements, patrol and map the vast West Texas region, and quell hostile threats in the area. The site was very strategically located by the government in order to stabilize the region because no less than five major trails passed near the junction of the North and Middle Concho Rivers.
In December 1867, because of the lack of good water, the army was forced to abandon Fort Chadbourne (located north of what is now Bronte, Texas) and established Fort Concho. The original fort consisted of over forty buildings constructed for the most part of native limestone and covered more than 1600 acres. The post was known as Camp Hatch and Camp Kelly, named for commanding officers of the post.
But it only served the area for about twenty-two years. In June 1889 the last soldiers marched away from Fort Concho and the fort was deactivated. The fort’s role in the settling of the Texas frontier was over.
During its heyday, Fort Concho served as regimental headquarters for some of the most famous frontier units like the 4th and 10th Cavalry. Notable military commanders such as Ranald Mackenzie, Benjamin Grierson, and William 'Pecos Bill' Shafter commanded here. Elements of all four regiments of the Buffalo Soldiers were stationed at the post during its active period. At full strength Fort Concho supported 400-500 men made up of companies of infantry and troops of cavalry, staff officers and support personnel. The post played a pivotal role in the suppression of illegal profiteering that was being conducted by Mexican and American traders known as “Comanchero’s”.
Now that you know the history of the fort, let’s talk about the ghosts of Fort Concho.
One of the most haunted locations at the fort is the officer’s quarters also known as “Officers Row”. Located across the parade ground from the enlisted barracks, this row of sturdy stone houses serve as the impetus for most if not all of the ghostly tales that are told about Fort Concho.
While preparing for a winter event one December, a female staff member working in the Mackenzie house heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps walking behind her. Just as the woman turned around, she was knocked up against a wall by a blast of cold air. Frightened, she heard the “unique sound of knuckles cracking.” Colonel Mackenzie was known for cracking his knuckles; therefore, there was no doubt to the woman that she’d come face-to-face with the spirit of the famous commander.
Another of the “row’s” many distinguished families was that of Colonel Benjamin Grierson, regimental commander of the 10th cavalry. Colonel Grierson’s daughter Edith died in the upstairs bedroom of one of the houses around her twelfth birthday. Over the years, many people have encountered the little girl along Officer Row. In most instances, Edith is often seen quietly playing jacks.
Those people who have encountered her say that the first thing they notice is that the room where the girl is playing is substantially cooler than any of the other rooms in the house. Edith will acknowledge the presence of a person when they enter the room by turning her head and smiling before she returns to her game of jacks, but she will rarely say anything them.
Another interesting story is about a delivery person bringing flowers to one of the houses along Officers Row. He was told to put the two bouquets of flowers in the bedrooms at the top of the stairs, one to the right and one to the left. As the young man ascended the stairs, he noticed that the temperature seemed cooler than in the foyer of the house. Reaching the top of the stairs, the man turned and entered the first bedroom on the right nearly tripping over a small girl playing jacks on the floor just inside the doorway. The man excused himself but the girl never appeared to even acknowledge his presence. The florist placed the flowers on the bedside table as instructed. Once finished, he left the room and placed the other bouquet in the bedroom across the hallway.
Before going back down stairs, the florist looked in on the little girl across the hall and she was gone; however, the flowers he had placed on the nightstand had been moved to a table in the corner of the room. He figured that the little girl had repositioned the flowers because he noticed that the girl’s jacks were on the table next to the bed.
Just as the florist was about to leave, he happened to see a portrait above the fire place. To his surprise, the little girl in the picture was a twin of the young girl he had just saw upstairs playing jacks. Believing that the small child was the daughter of the woman staying in the house, the florist mentioned that he had met the girl in the picture only moments before and commented on how she had moved the flowers from the nightstand. To the delivery man’s surprise, the woman stated that she did not have a daughter and explained that Colonel Grierson’s daughter Edith had died in the upstairs bedroom where he had placed the flowers. Chuckling to herself, she informed the man that countless others have seen the Edith’s ghost in the house.
The Officers Quarters is not the only location at Fort Concho where ghostly activity has been report. The fort’s headquarters building is also reputed to be a hot bed for paranormal encounters. In addition to the ghosts of Colonel Mackenzie and Edith Grierson, several other lesser known but still active spirits have taken up residence at Fort Concho, but I’ll have to save that for another day.
I’d love to hear your ghost stories.
Today is the official release date for “Give Me a Texas Outlaw” from Barnes and Nobles , Amazon, and all the book clubs. Here’s a picture of Linda and me in the Lonesome Dove Jail at Fort Concho. That dang sheriff couldn’t hear a dern thing and thought we were saying “We are Texas Outlaws” not we’re authors of “Give Me a Texas Outlaw”!
To celebrate our newest release, I'm gonna give away two autographed copies of "Give Me a Texas Outlaw", so get your name in the hat by comment ing today.
He won the prestige Western Heritage Award four times, and was a seven time winner of the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, amongst many other awards and achievements.
Elmer’s novels were set in many eras of the past and occasionally the present, all of them underscoring the workingman’s dignity of the cowboy, which he treated as a category of man rather than a specific profession. His protagonists were as likely to be oil-field workers, handymen or Texas Rangers as ranchers, and though they weren’t perfect — in fact they were often hugely flawed — he always imbued them with natural competence, self-sufficiency and self-respect.
