''The Old Army in Texas: A Research Guide to the U.S. Army in Nineteenth-Century Texas'' is a 2000 military history book by Thomas T. Smith about the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

during the 19th century. The book was published by the

Texas State Historical Association The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...

. The book received a second edition published by Texas A&M University Press in 2020.

Content

''The Old Army in Texas'' is made up of six parts, which follow a series of maps of the military frontier in Texas from 1849 to 1881 and an introduction. The first part of the book is an updated version of an article Smith wrote in 1996 for the ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' analyzing combat operations by the US Army in Texas against indigenous nations. The second part lists the different versions of the military department of Texas, its commanders, and the location of its headquarters. The third part is a dictionary of about 300 US Army posts in Texas. The fourth part of the book is a list of US Army regiments stationed at each post and their commanding for every year from 1849 to 1881. The fifth part is a summary of all 249 violent confrontations between the US Army and the indigenous nations of Texas in the same time period. The sixth part is a bibliography of books, articles, archives, and other resources for the study of Texas military history.

Reception

Paul H. Carlson, reviewing ''The Old Army in Texas'' for the ''New Mexico Historical Review'', called the book a "handy aid and useful compendium" and noted its "concise", "surgically sterile" style. Durwood Ball, editor for the ''New Mexico Historical Review'', called ''The Old Army in Texas'' a "superb study" in his own review of the book for '' The Journal of Military History''. Historian Allan O. Kownslar, writing for the ''

Journal of the West ''Journal of the West'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history and culture of the American West. Each issue of the journal is highlighted by a series of articles on a theme central to the history and life of the region. ...

'', said that the book "should allow future scholars to research in more depth ... that 32-year period that led to hedevelopment of an agricultural empire in West Texas." Michael D. Pierce, writing for '' The Journal of Southern History'', called the book "a very useful beginning point for reference and research".

Editions

The second edition of ''The Old Army in Texas'' was published by Texas A&M University Press on October 15, 2020, with a foreward by historian Robert A. Wooster.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Army In Texas Texas–Indian Wars 2000 non-fiction books Texas A&M University Press books 2020 non-fiction books Texas State Historical Association Non-fiction books about military history of the United States History books about the 19th century