Moore's Savage Frontier, vol. 1, to be reprinted

[TRK]

Good news: Stephen L. Moore's Savage Frontier: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas, 1835-1837, is being reprinted at the end of September by University of North Texas Press: $13.57 preorder for paperback or $23.07 for hardcover at Amazon. It sure beats the $100-$200 that book scalpers have been demanding for used copies of this book, the original edition of which went out of print not long after it was published:

www.amazon.com/Savage-Frontier-Rangers-Riflemen-1835-1837/dp/1574412361/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-9545580-0829454?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188166902&sr=8-1

[sloanrodgers]

That's good. I still have my first edition of Savage Frontier I and I've
waited with abated breath for each of its successors to come out at
my local book store. I enjoy all three, but look foward to the fourth
book coming out soon as that is the Jack Hays era. ;D

[Jim Boylston]

While visiting San Antonio during the HHDs I noticed that at least the first two volumes of "Savage Frontier" are now back in print.
I picked up Vol. 1 at the Alamo gift shop.
Jim

[sloanrodgers]

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading Vol. 1 as much as you did discovering
it with me that day at the Alamo. I still havn't got around to reading the
J. R. Edmonson (Bowie w/ a knife) book that you suggested I purchase,
but I'm sure glad I had Jack sign it. Later.

[sloanrodgers]

Hey I talked to Stephen Moore the other day about John Glanton and other rangers. He informed me that Savage Frontier IV is going
to hit the bookstores in the next month, but Glanton doesn't make an appearance because there's apparently no ranger record of him
before the Mexican War. Here's an Amazon.com book link. He was going to put a bad photo of Bigfoot on the cover with Hays rangers,
but went with some other rangy fellow.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574412930/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1574412949&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0Y1R6TN1EVY3Q4A2BAF6

[TRK]

Just noticed that Savage Frontier IV has been published (actually, months ago). It's going on my next book order, but has anybody had a look at the book? RangerRod?

[Herb]

I got it and have been reading it off an on over the last couple of months - it has all the data of the other volumes, but, imo, the narrative is a a whole lot better.

[sloanrodgers]

I enjoyed Savage Frontier IV very much although there were a few things I didn't agree with in the narrative. I also wish it wasn't the end of the series.

[TRK]

Dec 16, 2010 22:14:42 GMT -5 sloanrodgers said:

I also wish it wasn't the end of the series.

What, Moore's not going to take it down south of the border in 1846-48, where things really were savage? Dang. I was hoping he'd extend the series to cover the Texas Mounted Volunteers, Spy Companies, etc., in the Mexican War.

[sloanrodgers]

Well, after talking to Steve, he doesn't seem to believe more books are necessary in the series. He seems to think other authors have covered the
Mexican War period fairly well. He may have also ended the series because the rangers were formed into the U. S. Mounted Volunteers, federalized
and placed under the control of U.S. generals. This even stretches my interpretation of Texas rangers, but I still want the series to go on. Oh well,
you can't always get what you want. That sounds like a song.

[TRK]

Dec 19, 2010 17:11:58 GMT -5 sloanrodgers said:

Well, after talking to Steve, he doesn't seem to believe more books are necessary in the series. He seems to think other authors have covered the Mexican War period fairly well.

"Fairly" is the key word. Although much has been written on the Texas Mounted Volunteers in the Monterrey, Buena Vista, and Mexico City campaigns, whole other areas have been skimmed over or neglected. A good example is the quasi-war the various Texan companies were waging against the Comanches in Coahuila and Zacatecas after the fighting between the Mexican Army and Taylor's and, later, Wool's Army of Occupation died down in spring 1847. It was an ongoing thing until the U.S. pulled out of Mexico in 1848, and even Brian DeLay's War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War gives this whole episode only a passing mention.

Dec 19, 2010 17:11:58 GMT -5 sloanrodgers said:

He may have also ended the series because the rangers were formed into the U. S. Mounted Volunteers, federalized and placed under the control of U.S. generals.

Point taken.

[sloanrodgers]

Dec 20, 2010 8:06:24 GMT -5 TRK said:

"Fairly" is the key word. Although much has been written on the Texas Mounted Volunteers in the Monterrey, Buena Vista, and Mexico City campaigns, whole other areas have been skimmed over or neglected. A good example is the quasi-war the various Texan companies were waging against the Comanches in Coahuila and Zacatecas after the fighting between the Mexican Army and Taylor's and, later, Wool's Army of Occupation died down in spring 1847. It was an ongoing thing until the U.S. pulled out of Mexico in 1848, and even Brian DeLay's War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War gives this whole episode only a passing mention.

Steve Moore may have also thought that so much was going on during the next period (1846-1848) that
it may have been hard to include all of the important stuff in a book of similar thickness to the others.

Point taken.

Thanks, but hopefully not like a Comanche arrow. The Texas Volunteers may not have fit the previous ranger
mold organizationally, but were clearly wild and wooley men, especially Hays' regiment. It's amazing that some
people paint the rangers with really broad strokes. Sometimes in the same period to glorify or disparage them
as a whole. Moore peels away the layers of misinformation on some units and clarifies the roles of others.