Travis (review)

book reviews185 nevertheless going on toward the future"; from Never Call Retreat). Elsewhere the book is organized topically, with a few of the topics having little relationship to the others and some appearing narrow by comparison. One topic which perhaps illustrates both structural weaknesses is the section entitled "Missionary Ridge," which is wedged between one on Gettysburg and another on Grant. Catton was always better at organizing his own works and, what is more, always had his finger upon the pulse of the times he chronicled. Perhaps it is not undue praise to say, as Jensen does, reluctantly but fondly, that Catton was America's Homer; and if one agrees thathe was, then this book is only the minimum tribute to which he is entitled. Joseph E. Suppiger Lincoln Memorial University Travis. By Archie P. McDonald. (Austin: Jenkins Book Publishing Company, 1976. Pp. 244. $12.50.) Today the name of William Barret Travis belongs to international legend. Almost a century and ahalfago thered-hairedyouthperformed his messianic sacrifice at the Alamo. And when Texas commemorates its sesquicentennial in 1986, Travis and the thirteen-day siege that made Texas independence possible will highlight it. In a slender volume consisting of seven chapters (166 pages of actual text) Archie P. McDonald, professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, purports to retrace the saga of the Texas hero. Obviously, in such limited space some aspects of the theme are either omitted or neglected. Notably among these are the nine appeals Travis made for reinforcements and the couriers transmitting them. Moreover, James Butler Bonham, who chose to die with Travis; Jim Bowie, cocommander at the shrine; and Rebecca Cummings, Travis's sweetheart, deserve more emphasis. Travis was a dynamic person endowed with an enormous appetite for living. He practiced law, made love, and fought—all with equal fervor. But from the pedestrian beginning of McDonald's book through its additionalsixplodding chapters,Travisremains simplyanhistoricreference . The mystique and force so vital to his character elude the writer completely. Some academicians confuse the use of the passivevoice and the long, involved (and frequently redundant) sentence with scholarship . Whether or not the author subscribes to this premise, specimens of his writing bear scrutiny. Such phrases as "where the wheelbarrow had been stopped by the guards" and "the box was allowed to continue to the boat to be loaded" are frequent. A sentence in which the passive voice competes with other violations of syntax for attention is this: "He agreed, and as they left it was decided that if they returned at a full gallop that they had seen the enemy." Another illustration typical of the 186CIVIL WAR HISTORY author's unwieldy sentence structure reads: "He called on the people to turn out, and his call found a ready audience when on the following day a number of representatives from surrounding settlements showed up in response to an earlier call from the Political Chief [the capitals are McDonald's] at Brazos which had been based on the unofficial reports of the Governor's [sic] arrest." The book contains a few minor errors in fact. Travis did not make the last appeal on March 3. He sent sixteen-year-old Jim Allen with the final plea for aid to Fannin, at Goliad, on March 5. McDonald accepts the old fallacy that Travis took the cat's-eye ring from his finger and fashioned a necklace for the infant Angelina Dickinson. The diminutive ring, Rebecca's betrothal gift to Travis, was one she impulsively removed from her own hand. Undoubtedly, Travis wore the memento suspended from a string inside his shirt. I examined the ring minutely when I had professional photographers photograph it, along with other Alamo memorabilia. Strapping, six-foot Travis could not have gotten the ring on his little finger. In conformity with the text, a truncated index concludes the work. The index—a mere listing of names of persons and places—offers no breakdown of the material into its component areas such as students would find helpful. McDonald has been credited with some good work. His Travis is a conspicuous exception. Martha Anne Turner Sam Houston State University On the Illinois Frontier: Dr. Hiram Rutherford, 1840-1848...