True Tales of the Texas Frontier: Eight Centuries of Adventure and Surprise

by C. Herndon Williams, Chris Abernathy (Contribution by)

Overview

For eight centuries, the Texas frontier has seen conquest, exploration, immigration, revolution, and innovation, leaving to history a cast of fascinating characters and captivating tales. Its historic period began in 1519 with Spanish exploration, but there was a prehistory long before, nearly fifteen thousand years earlier, with the arrival of people to Texas. Each story pulls a new perspective from this long history by examining nearly all angles—from archaeology to ethnography, astronomy, agriculture, and more. These true stories prove to be unexpected, sometimes contrarian and occasionally funny, but always fascinating. Join author and historian C. Herndon Williams as he recounts his exploration of nearly a millennium of the Texas frontier.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798228640788
Publisher:	Tantor
Publication date:	02/17/2026
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

C. Herndon Williams lives in Bayside on the site of the abandoned town of St. Mary's of Aransas. He is a native Texan, born and raised in Houston. In the course of his historical research, Dr. Williams discovered that some of his ancestors played significant roles in the history of Texas. After a career as a chemist, Dr. Williams retired to Bayside and began to indulge his interest by writing a historical-interest column, "Coastal Bend Chronicle," for local newspapers. He is the chair of the Refugio County Historical Commission, the treasurer of the Bayside Historical Society, and the editor/contributor for its quarterly newsletter, the Baysider.

Chris Abernathy is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

Part I Prehistoric Texas Through 1519

What the Indians Saw in the Texas Sky in AD 1054 11

The Gulf Beach Was Distant Ten Thousand Years Ago 13

Mammoths Roamed the Texas Plains 15

Disease and Illness in the Americas before Columbus 17

All the World's Camels Came from Texas 18

Clues to the Earliest Humans in Texas 20

150 Stone Point Types Found in Texas Over Twelve Thousand Years 22

Corn Culture in the Americas Predates the Pyramids 24

Deep-Sea Fishing Forty-two Thousand Years Ago 26

Cahokia 27

The Complexity of Native Languages in the Americas 30

The Karankawa Were Long-Headed 31

The Karankawa Were Peaceful at Home 32

Part II The Spanish Colonial Period, 1519-1811

The First European Baby in Texas Was French 35

Alvarez de Pineda Explored the Gulf Coast Five Hundred Years Ago 37

Tragicomedy of La Salle's Colonists at Fort St. Louis 39

The Tenth and Final Expedition to Find La Salle 41

Texas Indian Population Was Large in 1800 43

The Mission and Presidio la Bahia Migrated Inland 44

The Streets of San Antonio Were Always Crooked 46

The Church and the Jacals of Refugio Mission in 1795 48

Few Towns in Texas until Austin's Colony 50

What Do We Really Know About the Karankawa? 52

Part III Mexican Texas, Colonization and Revolution, 1811-1836

Terán and Almonte: Spies from Mexico City 55

Stephen F. Austin's Militia Was Not a Killing Machine 57

First-Person Account of Arriving at El Copano in 1834 58

The Flood of Anglo-European Immigrants into Texas 60

The Declaration of Texas Independence Was Written in One Day 62

The Arms at the Alamo Were British on Both Sides 65

The Chase to Capture Santa Anna at San Jacinto 67

The Texas Revolution: The Mexican Side, in Their Own Words 69

Luck at the Battle of San Jacinto 70

Portraits of the Indians of Texas in 1830 72

Did Austin Colonists Exterminate the Karankawa? 74

Part IV The Republic of Texas, 1836-1845

Is Texas the Only Lone Star State? 77

The Reluctant Republic of Texas 80

Texas Was Once Bordered by Two Lawless1 Strips 82

The Old South Plantation Life in Brazoria County 84

Columbia: First Capital of Texas, 1836 85

Aransas City, Lamar and Copano Competed for Primacy 87

The Texas Rangers Meet the Colt Revolver 88

Comanche, Vaqueros and Rangers in 1844 Rodeo 90

Jack Hays Was a Legend in His Own Time 92

The Panic of 1837 Almost Sank the Republic of Texas 94

Houston Was a Boisterous Boom town Even Then 96

Daily Life in the Republic of Texas 98

Fun in the Republic of Texas 99

Too Much Spitting in the Republic of Texas 101

The Industrial Revolution Came Early to Texas 103

Part V The State of Texas, the End of the Frontier

What Dialect Do You Speak? 105

Borders of Texas Contested for 150 Years 107

The Last Slave Smuggled into Texas 109

The Chihuahua Trail Started in Indianola 110

This Book Saved the Lives of Settlers and Soldiers 112

Tobacco Crossed the Atlantic Three Times 114

The Cemetery: Last Relic of St. Mary's of Aransas 115

The Devil's Rope Marked the End of the Texas Frontier 117

Index 121

About the Author 125