Mirabeau B. Lamar, Albert Sidney Johnston, and Thomas Jefferson Rusk called him friend and colleague. Sam Houston considered him his greatest political nemesis next to David Burnet. He was the most popular public speaker of his day. Hugh McLeod served in the Republic of Texas legislature, organized the office of Adjutant General, and held officer commissions in four armies over his lifetime. He fought at the Battle of Neches, wrote the official report of the Council House Fight, helped grow Galveston into a city, and at the time of his death was next-in-line to command the Confederate...

James Abijah Brooks (1855-1944) was one of the four Great Captains in Texas Ranger history, others including Bill McDonald, John Hughes, and John Rogers. Born and raised in Civil War-torn Kentucky, a reckless adventurer on the American and Texas frontier, and a quick-draw Texas Ranger captain who later turned in his six-shooter to serve as a county judge, Brooks embodied the raucous era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century American West. As a Texas Ranger, Brooks participated in the high profile events of his day, from the fence-cutting wars to the El Paso prizefight, from the...

John Harris Rogers (1863-1930) served in Texas law enforcement for more than four decades, as a Texas Ranger, Deputy and U.S. Marshal, city police chief, and in the private sector as a security agent. He is recognized in history as one of the legendary "Four Captains" of the Ranger force that helped make the transition from the Frontier Battalion days into the twentieth century, yet no one has fully researched and written about his life. Paul N. Spellman now presents the first full-length biography of this enigmatic man.
During his years as a Ranger, Rogers observed and participated in...

True story of Roscoe and Vera Diamond Chittim, the world that brought them together in Texas, and the world war that separated them for two years. During Roscoe's service in the U. S. Army during World War I, he and Vera wrote each other long and often passionate love letters, giving the reader a glimpse into the world of the early 1900s. Roscoe, a Missouri-born Cherokee Indian, met and married Dallas socialite Vera Diamond in 1917, and one year later was drafted into the Army. He overcame the deadly pandemic flu and the barrage of war in France to return to his beloved, but tragically lost...