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FEATURES
Cover Story
The Alamo, Well Remembered
By Paul Andrew Hutton
On its 175th anniversary, the battle remains in the national memory and in the hearts of most Texans—and with good reason. It was a pivotal historical moment toward the fulfillment of America’s continental destiny
The Alamo from Above
An aerial photo-illustration from the northwest captures how things stood and fell at the famous mission-turned-fortress on the morning of March 6, 1836
Misremembering the Alamo
By William Groneman III, Illustrations by Thom Ross
We know about the “Cradle of Texas Liberty,” but misconceptions persist, including these 10 popular myths
Dangerous and Inept: Curly Bill’s Brutal Assault
By Peter Brand
A few years before he gunned down a Tombstone marshal, Curly Bill Brocius tried to hold up an Army wagon outside El Paso with fellow robber “Dutch” Martin
A Texas Cattleman & His Comanche Concubine
By Richard Selcer
The union of prominent cattle rancher Tom Burnett and Comanche woman Jennie Ho-we-ah may have produced a daughter who much later sued for a share of the rich Burnett estate
The Calamities of Calamity Jane
By William B. Secrest
Despite her widespread fame as a frontier scout for the likes of Custer and Crook, Jane never did measure up to the newspaper and dime novel hype—except in her ability to drink like a fish
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| Editor’s Letter
Letters
Roundup
William Groneman III’s Top Ten reasons to admire Davy Crockett, Butch Cassidy’s lost court cases, a possible picture of Wyatt Earp at church and a cowboys-vs.-aliens film
Interview
By Johnny D. Boggs
S.C. Gwynne discusses his book Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
Westerners
Western ranch families worked together and played together—in this instance, musical instruments
Gunfighters and Lawmen
By Harold L. Edwards
Emboldened by their success two months earlier, Kid Thompson and Alva Johnson tried a second train holdup at the same California location
Pioneers and Settlers
By Scott Dyke
Bob Van Kirk brought a rough-and-tumble past and pioneer spirit to the Arizona mountains
Indian Life
By John Koster
“Will you labor like the white man, plant, hoe and raise corn for food?” Indian Agent Thomas Twiss asked the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahos in 1859. “Or will you die with hunger?”
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Western Enterprise
By Chuck Lyons
Borax mining made some men rich and left a lasting image (with the help of TV) of 20-mule teams pulling wagons across Death Valley
Art of the West
By Johnny D. Boggs
Doc and the Earps “walk down” Tombstone’s Fremont Street once again in a Gib Singleton sculpture loaded with “emotional realism”
Collections
By Linda Wommack
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin is going great guns in year 10
Ghost Towns
By Dave Lauterborn
Ghost town lovers will find scattered ruins and stunning vistas in Arizona’s Patagonia Mountains
Guns of the West
By Lee A. Silva
Winchester marketed select “super-accurate” Model 1873 and 1876 rifles as “One of One Thousand” and “One of One Hundred”
Reviews
What do you know? Books and movies related to the Alamo. Plus recent books on Quanah Parker and Tiburcio Vásquez
Go West!
A Battle of Flowers at the Alamo, and a dramatic new look at the old mission |
On the cover: Davy Crockett swings “Old Betsy” during the fall of the Alamo, by Robert Onderdonk (Courtesy of Friends of the Governor’s Mansion, Austin, Texas)
ONLINE EXTRAS
Discussion: Is the 175th anniversary of the Alamo something worth commemorating this February and March? Is the story of the siege and subsequent battle over that old San Antonio mission—and its consequences for Texas and the United States—one that all Americans (not just white Texans) should remember?
Web Exclusive! New West Showgirls Show Old West Graves: These striking images were a bit too hot for Wild West to handle in print
The Republic of the Rio Grande: Texians weren’t through fighting after San Jacinto—there remained the small matter of the Rio Grande valley
Also be sure to visit GreatHistory.com, where you can read and write about history, even if you don’t know a “blog” from a bowie knife.
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