Recollections of Early Texas: Memoirs of John Holland Jenkins (Personal Narratives of the West Series)

“[These reminiscences] light up for whoever will read the earliest days of early English-speaking Texas.” —J. Frank Dobie, from the foreword A firsthand account of pioneer life in east Texas. “[A] firsthand account by one who measured up to the demands of danger and hardships and lived to write about it . . . Invaluable . . . Well documented.” —Library Journal As a teenager in the 1950s, John Holmes Jenkins set to work on collecting and editing his great-great-grandfather’s writings about his experiences on the Texas frontier. John Holland Jenkins joined General Sam Houston’s army at age thirteen after losing his stepfather at the Alamo. In addition to fighting the Mexicans, he faced peril from Indian warriors as well as the everyday difficulties of pioneer life. His reports on the events of the time were included in newspapers with very small readerships—and, his descendant would discover, were sometimes used word-for-word in respected history textbooks without any credit given to the source. This volume includes these memoirs of the Texas Republic and early statehood, along with illustrations, notes, biographical sketches, a bibliography, and an index. “Fascinating . . . A commendable job.” —The New York Times “[These reminiscences] light up for whoever will read the earliest days of early English-speaking Texas.” —J. Frank Dobie, from the foreword

John Holland Jenkins was thirteen and a half years old when the Alamo fell in 1836 and he became a soldier of the Texas Republic under General Sam Houston.... [But] it was not until 1884, when he was past sixty years old, that he began writing down...the reminiscences that, as now put into book form, light up for whoever will read [them] the earliest days of early English-speaking Texas.

-from the Foreword by J. Frank Dobie

This is the firsthand account by one who measured up to the demands of danger and hardships and lived to write about it for others. For, here is history in the making-Indian raids and Mexican forays were daily menaces and brought massacres, capture and torture to these first settlers. These reminiscences...are invaluable for their recordings of early frontier times and for their presentation of such historic happenings as the Mier and Santa Fe expeditions. The original flavor of the writing has been beautifully retained and the entire account is well documented.

-Library Journal

Series Page Frontispiece Title Page Copyright Dedication Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Contents Illustrations I. Austin’s Little Colony II. Valuable Additions Arrive III. Mexican Invasion IV. Brushy Creek and Plum Creek V. Comanches, Caddoes, and Cherokees VI. More Mexican Trouble VII. The Mier Expedition VIII. The Texan Santa Fe Expedition IX. People of Note X. Recollections at Random XI. In All Fairness XII. Hunting and Social Life XIII. From the Sublime to the Ridiculous XIV. In Conclusion Biographical Notes Bibliography Notes Index