Authors: Georgina Gentry

Colt (31 page)

BOOK: Colt

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Sixteen of the officers who accepted positions in the Second Cav went on to become generals in the Civil War. Half of the Confederate generals had served with the Second Cav. Some of the famous men who served in Texas with the Second Cavalry were: Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood, George Thomas, Fitzhugh Lee, and Albert Sidney Johnston. These officers served together in Texas and then went home to fight each other in the Civil War. An excellent research book on the subject is
Jeff Davis's Own: Cavalry, Comanches, and the Battle for the Texas Frontier
by James R. Arnold, Castle Books, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey.

The Comanches were the deadly scourge of Texas as they defended territory they had held for hundreds of years, first against the Spanish, the Mexicans, and then against the white pioneers who wanted the land for ranches and farms. For more about this tribe, I suggest these excellent resource books:
Comanche: The Destruction of a People
by T.R. Fehrenbach, and
The Comanche: Lords of the South Plains,
by Ernest Wallace & E. Adamson Hoebel, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.

The well-known Cynthia Ann Parker was carried off at the age of nine by the Comanche in the year 1836. She was recovered by the Texas Rangers and returned to her family in 1860. With her was her baby, Prairie Flower. Cynthia Ann left behind two half-Comanche sons. One of them died and the other would become the last chief of the Comanche, Quanah Parker. Cynthia did not adjust well to white society and tried to escape back to the Comanche. Her baby girl died and Cynthia Ann died soon after in 1870. Today, she is buried next to her son, the great Chief Quanah in the Fort Sill cemetery in Lawton, Oklahoma. The John Wayne movie
The Searchers
is based on the abduction of Cynthia Ann.

As my imaginary hero Colt predicted, when the Civil War began in 1861 and all the United States troops left Texas, the Comanches took full advantage of their absence to wreak havoc on outlying settlements and ranches. Their war against the white invaders would not cease until 1874 when Colonel Ranald MacKenzie defeated them and forced them all to move to a reservation at Fort Sill. The Indians had fought fiercely, but they were no match for the power and military might of the U.S. Army. A good reference book on this is:
The Buffalo War
by James L. Haley, Oklahoma University Press, Norman, Oklahoma.

Texas was a nation from 1836 until she joined the Union in 1845. Sam Houston, who had struggled to get Texas into the Union, did his best to keep her there, but hotheads prevailed and Texas seceded and joined the Confederacy in 1860. Two excellent books on Texas are:
Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans
by T.R. Fehrenbach, American Legacy Press, Crown Publishers, New York. Also:
Passionate Nation: The Epic History of Texas
by James L. Haley, Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, New York.

Remember that our heroine, Hannah, mentions that her father was killed in the Fannin Massacre, also known as the Goliad Massacre. A few days after the Alamo fell, Colonel Fannin and hundreds of his troops, surrounded and out of supplies, surrendered to the Mexicans on an agreement that the soldiers would be well treated as prisoners of war. Instead, General Santa Anna ordered that they all be executed and they were slaughtered on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836. Only a handful escaped to tell the story. A few of the prisoners were spared because of the pleas of a girl known as “The Angel of Goliad,” and she is herself one of Texas's most beloved legends.

I know someone is going to write and ask why I don't have the soldiers playing taps at the funeral services in this story. It might interest you to know the bugle call we know as “taps” didn't exist in 1856. It won't be written until 1862, during the Civil War.

For some of you who don't live in the Southwest, the Osage Orange tree, also known as “horse-apple, “Bodark,” or “Bois D'Arc”âthat's the wood Colt carves into a wooden horse for little Travisâwas the principal wood used by plains tribes to make bows. It bears a hard, green seed ball about the size of an orange. I own a beautiful belt buckle made from this wood.

My faithful readers know that all my stories connect in some manner, so Colt Prescott, as a small boy, was with the wagon train from which Texanna was kidnapped by War Bonnet in my very first book:
Cheyenne Captive.

Also, when he and Sergeant Mulvaney are discussing hanging the Irish soldiers who had revolted during the Mexican American War, that event connects to my last book:
Rio
. Rio's father was one of the men hanged.

In this series,
The Texans,
I've had a gunfighter, Diablo; a vaquero, Rio; a Cavalry officer, Colt; and next, a Texas Ranger, Travis. This next story will be about Travis Prescott, who grows up to become a Texas Ranger.

Half-Comanche Travis, a confirmed bachelor, and his old dog are only looking for a peaceful and early retirement since Travis was injured in a shootout with outlaws. Of course that's not what he's going to get. He's about to meet a saloon tart named Violet, disguised as an innocent schoolgirl, and four children she's rescued from an orphan train. The kids are on the run from the mean supervisor of the orphanage and Violet's escaping from the deadly gambler who owns the saloon and wants her back.

Unwittingly, Travis is about to get involved with all five of the runaways, plus some very indignant upright citizens who want to help find him a respectable wife and mother for all those children. Of course, there'll be a showdown with the tough gambler and his hired gunfighter. Maybe Travis is not going to find the peaceful bachelor life he is hankering for, but he just might find love and a ready-made family. Look for
Travis: The Texans
, coming probably in 2013.

You can order some of my past books at most bookstores or from
kensingtonbooks.com
. Also a number of them are now out in the new e-books for electronic readers. I realize some of my earliest books are difficult to find. Perhaps someday Kensington will reprint them.

I have a website:
georginagentrybooks.com
. Or you may write me at: Box 162, Edmond, OK 73083.

Wishing you romance and happiness,
Georgina Gentry

ZEBRA BOOKS are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018

If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

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ISBN: 978-1-4201-2781-2

ISBN-10:1-4201-2167-7

BOOK: Colt

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