Texas Rangers, Ranchers, and Realtors: James Hughes Callahan and the Day Family in the Guadalupe River Basin by Thomas O. McDonald (review)

The Texas Rangers have always been a subject of interest to Texans, historians and laypeople alike. For some, the Rangers were the unvarnished heroes of the Texas frontier, representative of the Texas characteristics like courage, rugged individualism, and tenacity. To others, the Texas Rangers were always racist protectors of Anglo hegemony, killing and abusing Indians, Mexicans, African Americans, and anyone else who stood in the way of Anglo American progress. James Hughes Callahan has been a particularly controversial figure in Ranger history because of his 1855 raid into Mexico, which resulted in the burning of Piedras Negras. Since the 1970s, solid historians have linked the Callahan Expedition to an effort to return to their owners in Texas any enslaved people who had escaped from bondage. In his new book Texas Rangers, Ranchers, and Real-tors: James Hughes Callahan and the Day Family in the Guadalupe River Basin, Thomas McDonald provides compelling evidence that the Callahan Expedition was not a slave-catching expedition.

McDonald, a retired pharmaceutical executive and independent historian, fully discloses in his introduction that he is a direct descendant of Callahan. However, his reappraisal of the Callahan expedition is not hagiography; he is critical of the Ranger captain on several points, particularly his decision to burn Piedras Negras. McDonald has employed an impressive array of primary sources in his effort to understand the complex relationships, economic interests, and social pressures that motivated people on the Texas frontier during the Republic and early statehood years. In doing so, he has produced a valuable monograph that examines the complexities of life on the edge of settlement during those years. The extended family was central to these frontier settlements. Although Callahan came to Texas from Georgia by himself to fight in the Texas Revolution, he married into the large Day family, who were some of the early settlers of Seguin. The Day home served as a mustering point for several Ranger expeditions, and Callahan's in-laws were involved in every major endeavor he undertook from military expeditions to cattle drives and land speculation.

McDonald's lengthy reappraisal of the 1855 Callahan Expedition is the most intriguing and impressive part of this book. It is an excellent example of historical detective work as the author employs archival sources in both Texas and Mexico, as well as previously unpublished sources to unravel a tangled web of circumstances that resulted in the burning of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, by Callahan and his Rangers. McDonald proves that the Callahan Expedition was not primarily an attempt to retrieve runaway slaves in Mexico (although one of his lieutenants had been involved in efforts to do that). Rather, the expedition was aimed at attacking Lipan Apaches in Coahuila who were believed to have been responsible for raids and murder in Callahan's settlement along the Blanco River. Subsequent confusion over his purpose arose from the fact that at the same time Callahan launched his expedition, a citizens' committee in San Antonio was in talks with subordinates of Santiago Vidaurri, the governor of Nuevo Léon, who was attempting to form an independent republic in northern Mexico. Vidaurri and his subordinates had worked with Texans to stop Indian raids before, and Callahan believed he had permission to enter Coahuila in pursuit of Lipan Apaches. However, after crossing the Rio Grande, he fought with a larger Mexican force southwest of Piedras Negras and was forced to retreat to that town. He ordered the town burned to cover his retreat back into Texas.

This book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of Texas history enthusiasts, academic and non-academic alike. In addition to his reappraisal of the Callahan Expedition, McDonald analyzes the complex factors that influenced the decisions of people living on the antebellum Texas frontier. His discussion of Callahan's tragic death and...