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The Exodus of Federal Forces from Texas, 1861

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J. J. Bowden has put together a highly detailed and clear account of the events in Texas from January through May 1861- the status of U. S. Army forces at the time of secession, the events and attitudes leading up to secession, the events of February 17, 1861 (when General Twiggs surrendered all American forces in Texas to a militia under well-known frontiersman Ben McCulloch), to the surrenders of more distant posts around the state, right down to the capture and imprisonment of those Army soldiers and officers still in Texas when the decision was made to force Ft. Sumter's surrender in Charleston harbor.

Be warned: this book is not light reading. Although short, the material is EXTREMELY dry. This is a scholarly work in almost every sense of the word, assembling primary sources which otherwise would be confined to original documents or microfiche archives. For someone who wants to know how many soldiers were on duty at Camp Cooper at the time of the surrender, or exactly how many cannon were in the San Antonio arsenal when it was surrendered to the secessionists, this is their book. For those seeking a more modern historical volume that presents personalities and events in a journalistic or even novel-like format... this isn't that book.

As a work of academic research, though, this volume approaches perfection. Any in-depth student of the Civil War, especially the beginnings of the war in Texas, needs this book- not as a supplement, but as a vital starting point to all their future research.