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Sam Houston and the Alamo avengers : the Texas victory that changed American history / Brian Kilmeade.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: [New York] : Sentinel, [2019]Description: 272 pages, 16 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525540533
  • 0525540539
Other title:
  • Texas victory that changed American history
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Online version:: Sam Houston and the Alamo avengers
Contents:
Prologue: The lessons of battle -- General Jackson's protégé -- Gone to Texas -- -- "Come and take it" -- Concepción -- A slow siege at the Alamo -- The defenders -- Twelve days of uncertainty -- The massacre -- Bring out the dead -- Houston hears the news -- Fort Defiance -- The Texian exodus -- An army assembles -- The battle at San Jacinto -- "Remember the Alamo!" -- Old Sam Jacinto -- President Sam Houston -- Epilogue: The founding and the founders of Texas.
Summary: "In his now trademark fashion, Brian Kilmeade explores hidden aspects of Sam Houston, the first president of Texas, and brings the reader to the scenes of one of the most pivotal moments in American history. Thanks to Kilmeade's storytelling, a new generation of readers will remember the Alamo"--Provided by publisher.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Phillipsburg Free Public Library Adult Non-Fiction Adult Non-Fiction 976.404 KIL Available 36748002494104
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In March 1836, the Mexican army led by General Santa Anna massacred about 200-250 Texans who had been trapped in a church in San Antonio for thirteen days. The devastating loss galvanised the surviving Texans. Under General Sam Houston, a maverick with a rocky past, the tiny army of settlers rallied. Just one month after the massacre, the underdog Texans soundly defeated the 'Napoleon of the West' (as Santa Anna styled himself) at the Battle of San Jacinto. Thanks to Kilmeade's storytelling, a new generation of readers will remember the Alamo.

Map on endpapers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-244) and index.

Prologue: The lessons of battle -- General Jackson's protégé -- Gone to Texas -- -- "Come and take it" -- Concepción -- A slow siege at the Alamo -- The defenders -- Twelve days of uncertainty -- The massacre -- Bring out the dead -- Houston hears the news -- Fort Defiance -- The Texian exodus -- An army assembles -- The battle at San Jacinto -- "Remember the Alamo!" -- Old Sam Jacinto -- President Sam Houston -- Epilogue: The founding and the founders of Texas.

"In his now trademark fashion, Brian Kilmeade explores hidden aspects of Sam Houston, the first president of Texas, and brings the reader to the scenes of one of the most pivotal moments in American history. Thanks to Kilmeade's storytelling, a new generation of readers will remember the Alamo"--Provided by publisher.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

Prologue The Lessons of Battle   "Experience is the teacher of all things." --Julius Caesar   No small target at six-foot-two, young Sam Houston wasn't thinking about getting hit. He was thinking about getting even. Running through a hail of musket balls, spears, and ar­rows, he and his fellow soldiers sprinted toward an eight-foot-tall bar­ricade. Behind it was an army of Red Stick Creek American Indians who had massacred three hundred men, women, and children at a Missis­sippi Territory stockade town called Fort Mims seven months earlier. For months Houston and his fellow soldiers serving under General An­drew Jackson had been attempting to retaliate, only to have the Red Sticks escape them time and time again. But now Jackson and his men had discovered their main camp, here at Horseshoe Bend, and they were not leaving without revenge.   The first man over the barricade took a bullet to the skull and fell back lifeless. Just behind him, Sam Houston never wavered.   On enlisting a year earlier as a private, Houston had immediately attracted notice. Tall and strong, his eyes a piercing blue, he looked every inch a leader. Promoted to drill sergeant, Houston's deep voice rang with authority; in a matter of months, he was promoted twice more. His superiors saw him as "soldierly [and] ready to do, or to suffer, whatever the obligation of . . . military duty imposed." Now that reso­lution would be tested.   As the second man to top the wall, Houston did not hesitate. Wav­ing his sword, he called for his men to follow. He immediately drew enemy fire, and he leapt to the ground inside the Red Stick fort, an arrow plunged deep into his upper thigh.   Houston refused to be turned aside. Despite the pain, he remained standing, fighting on with the shaft of the arrow protruding from his leg. His platoon, joined by reinforcements, soon drove the Red Sticks back. Only then did Houston look to his wound.   At Sam Houston's order, another lieutenant tried--but failed--to pull the arrow from his thigh. At Houston's insistence, the officer yanked a second time, but still the arrow refused to budge. Houston, sword in hand, demanded a third attempt, saying, "Try again and, if you fail this time, I will smite you to the earth." This time the barbed arrowhead tore free, releasing a gush of blood and opening a deep gash.   Most men would have been done for the day and, after a surgeon field dressed his gaping wound, Houston rested. When General Jack­son came to check the wounded, he recognized the young man who had helped lead the charge and honored him for his bravery--but he also ordered Houston out of the fight. Houston objected, but Jackson was firm.   Houston admired Jackson as the sort of father he'd always wanted, but he wasn't about to be kept out of the battle by anyone or anything. A short time later, when Jackson called for volunteers to storm a last Red Stick stronghold built into a ravine, Houston got to his feet and grabbed a musket. Limping and bloodied, he charged. When he stopped to level his gun, musket balls smashed into his right shoulder and upper arm, and his shattered limb fell to his side. Houston barely managed to make his way out of the range of fire before collapsing to the earth.   In the hours that followed, the Red Sticks were finally routed; hun­dreds of fighters lay dead. Fort Mims had been avenged, and the British deprived of a key ally in their attempt to destroy the young United States.   But Houston had paid a high price for his part in this victory, and he was about to learn that perhaps his drive to be in the action at any cost was not the best way to serve his country. Excerpted from Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History by Brian Kilmeade All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
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