San Antonio: A Tricentennial History by Char Miller (review)

In a swift narrative reminiscent of the forays of the Apaches and Comanches, who pushed back against Spanish rule in the late 1700s, urban historian Char Miller chronicles the development of San Antonio, Texas, in his short but important book San Antonio: A Tricentennial History. But do not let the size of this 186-page book fool you. In it, Miller writes about the messy history that reshaped Texas under manifest destiny, situating San Antonio’s significance in the nineteenth century amid four centuries of changing geopolitics.

Issues concerning immigration were pervasive in nineteenth-century Texas. Unlike today, those demographic changes resulted in the transference of power from Tejanos, Texans of Hispanic descent, to Anglos, white migrants from the United States. The influx of Anglos began in the 1820s and increased following Texas annexation in 1845, producing both Anglo nativism and their land grab after the U.S.-Mexican War.

Aside from Anglo immigration, the natural topography was another formidable challenge that beset this southern frontier town; suppliers struggled to find ways to provide goods and services to emerging markets like San Antonio from the Gulf Coast. The civilian and military freight trade in the emerging region was so lucrative that in 1857 the Cart War broke out when two white teamsters challenged Tejanos’ control of the trade. Miller writes that the Anglo-perpetrated violence included stealing freight, destroying carts, and murdering and maiming Tejano drivers.

Because Texas was a southern state, slavery was another problematic issue. In 1860, as many as 182,000 souls lived in bondage, or roughly 30 percent of the state’s total population. Miller writes that even though San Antonio did not have expansive cotton production, the “peculiar institution” was vehemently defended by proslavery rhetoric at a time when slaves were seen as private property.

Water was an integral component to the success of early communities, and San Antonio was no different. The town was founded along the banks of the San Antonio River and San Pedro Creek, but these waterways periodically crested and flooded the town throughout its history, such as in the flood of 1816, which devastated the city. It was not until the creation of the Olmos Dam in 1927 that the city was spared from floodwaters. Just as the much-needed dam was slow to be built because of quarrels among San Antonio’s citizenry, the arrival of railroads was similarly delayed. It was not until 1877 that railroads made their way into San Antonio. These stories and many more are encapsulated in Miller’s twelve chapters.

The book includes abundant images, maps, and photographs, chapter-by-chapter notes, and a concise index. Comprehensive urban biographies of other Texas cities are lacking, but Miller has written a highly digestible book, staying away from academic language. Yet he nonetheless cites noted Texas historians, making San Antonio: A Tricentennial History one of the first palatable books in the field. Readers of state history will also find the volume useful, as will students in U.S. survey classes who hope to glean the early struggles that beset frontier towns as well as the twentieth- and twenty-first-century issues that transformed these places into major cities.