Winner of the Coral Horton Tullis Memorial Prize In the early morning hours of October 1, 1862, state militia arrested more than two hundred alleged Unionists from five northern Texas counties and brought them to Gainesville. In the ensuing days, at least forty-four prisoners were hanged and several others were lynched in neighboring communities. In the first systematic treatment of this grisly climax to a heritage of violence and vigilantism in North Texas, Richard B. McCaslin provides a unique opportunity to study the tensions produced in southern society by the Civil War, the nature of...

Most scholars agree that Robert E. Lee's loyalty to Virginia was the key factor in his decision to join the Confederate cause. Richard B. McCaslin demonstrates that beyond such loyalty, Lee's true call to action was the legacy of the American Revolution viewed through his reverence for George Washington. In this thematic biography of the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. McCaslin locates the sources of Lee's devotion to Washington and shows how this bond affected his performance as a general in battle.

"History like that of Texas is rare. . . . Is it not discreditable to the people of Texas, that they should leave the collection of material for the history of the State to the great endowed Northern libraries? . . . Let Texas arouse herself for very shame, and begin at once the discharge of her filial duty."
So wrote George Pierce Garrison in the first issue of the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, published in July 1897, just months after the establishment of the organization on March 2. The state of Texas was just half a century old; the city of Austin, going...

Over 240 photographs, maps, and related documents

Awards for the Portraits of Conflict Series Volumes Include:
- Chicago Book Clinic Design Award
- American Association of University Presses Design Award
- Arkansiana Award, Arkansas Library Association
- Award of Merit, American Association for State and Local History
- Certificate of Commendation, American Association for State and Local History

One of the most cited collections of letters by a Civil War soldier, A Soldier's Letters to Charming Nellie was originally published in 1908. A unit history of the 4th Texas Infantry in epistolary form, Joseph B. Polley's letters make available the correspondence of a soldier who participated in virtually all military action in the Eastern Theater. Polley was an unusually gifted writer, with a talent for satire and humor unmatched by most Civil War diarists.
While the collection met with an enthusiastic audience upon its appearance, it has not been without controversy. Scholars have...

In Fighting Stock, Richard B. McCaslin illuminates numerous facets of Ford s life typically overshadowed by emphasis on his identity as Ranger and soldier in nineteenth-century Texas. In this third volume of the Texas Biography Series, published by TCU Press and The Center for Texas Studies, McCaslin reveals Ford as a man spurred on by the legacy of his nation-building grandfathers and his own strong convictions and energy to become a force in shaping Texas as a Southern state before and after the Civil War. Ford s battles as a Ranger, and as a leader of Texas military forces allied...

Randolph B. Mike Campbell has spent the better part of the last five decades helping Texans rediscover their history, producing a stream of definitive works on the social, political, and economic structures of the Texas past. Through meticulous research and terrific prose, Campbell s collective work has fundamentally remade how historians understand Texan identity and the state s southern heritage, as well as our understanding of such contentious issues as slavery, westward expansion, and Reconstruction. Campbell s pioneering work in local and county records has defined the model for...

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Galveston was a beacon of opportunity on the Texas Gulf Coast. Dubbed the "Wall Street of the Southwest," its laissez-faire reputation called those hungry for success to its shores. Led by brothers Salvatore and Rosario at the height of Prohibition, the Maceo family answered that call and changed the Oleander City forever. They built an island empire of gambling, smuggling and prostitution that lasted three decades. Housed in their nightclubs frequented by stars like Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington, they endeared themselves to their Galveston...