None But Texians: presents the accomplishments and struggles of Terry's Texas Rangers as they fought through hundreds of engagements across seven states. This history covers the weapons the Rangers carried; flags they fought under; clothes they wore; songs they sang; and what became of many of them after the war.
#1140099 in Books University of South Carolina Press 2001-07Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.06 x 6.27l; 1.31 #File Name: 1570034125256 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy CustomerThis is a good book. I have not read much of it yet.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Mary Dugangood book8 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Limited appealBy danger rangerI sought out "Between North and South" as one among many sets of letters (as well as diaries) written by northerners in the South around the time of the Civil War; and ultimately I found it to be a disappointment. First; the good parts. The editor; Anne Sinkler Whaley LeClercq (a descendant of Emily Wharton Sinkler) has done a good job of prefacing; bridging between; and annotating Emily Wharton Sinkler's letters to her family; although LeClercq does get a bit excessive with the context; sometimes overexplaining what's coming up in a letter. Indeed; often times the editorial comments between letters can be safely and easily skipped. Nonetheless; if one is going to err; it's better to err on the side of assuming that an early-twenty-first-century audience will need some help understanding how a mid-nineteenth-century woman lived her life. LeClercq has clearly put a good deal of effort into making her ancestor's correspondence available to a wider audience. Emily Wharton Sinkler was a steady; frequent correspondent; meaning that; especially toward the earlier portion of the focal period (1842-1865); readers can get a good sense of the day-to-day life of Sinkler; as events alluded to in one letter are; in many cases; commented on further in another letter.The chief problem here; though; is Sinkler's myopia; for which she can hardly be blamed given that she wrote for family and friends; not for publication. Sinkler's key interests; based on the letters; are getting letters (and chiding those family members who are tardy with such letters of their own); getting and receiving parcels from Philadelphia (her parents' home); visiting with southern neighbors and friends; and commenting on the development of her children; particularly Lizzie and Wharton (Bud). After but a short time; each letter feels almost exactly like the last; with many of the same concerns reiterated many times. Though Sinkler is clearly well-read and -educated for her day; she shows practically no concern with the wider world; so anyone expecting sociopolitical commentary will be sadly disappointed. True; ninteenth-century ideology did discourage women from concern with the public; "male" sphere of politics; but many women of the time nonetheless took an interest in it; Sinkler does not; in at least one case specifically shying away from such subjects as too inflammatory for her northern family members. While the relative absence of commentary about the institution of slavery; of which her family-by-marriage was a significant partaker; says something about the ubiquity and unquestioned status of the practice in many parts of the antebellum plantation South; the absence of commentary isn't very helpful for students of race and race relations. What we do get in this area are a few passing comments about the allegedly comedic aspects of the "blackeys;" as she called them; and their seeming propensity to beg from her around Christmastime. While Sinkler presents herself (to the extent she even bothers to discuss the issue) as a fairly indulgent mistress; LeClercq as editor seems more than willing to let the entire issue slide; barely commenting on it in her extensive editorial remarks. Anyone expecting the veil to be lifted during the years just before and during the Civil War will be disappointed; as the period from 1855-1865 makes up a mere six pages. LeClercq; of course; can only work with extant materials; and she's hardly to blame for the lack of Sinkler letters; but it's still disappointing. The excerpts LaClercq gives us from Lizzie's memoir of the period fairly drip with energy; making the mother's silence-by-necessity all the more regrettable.What; ultimately; we're left with is a rather dry recount of a life of relative leisure in the prewar South. Sinkler herself warns her readers; both intended and unintended; that city life such as that in Philadelphia is doubtless far more interesting than what goes in on her day-to-day existence. True to this; the letters are in some ways like the life; or at least the life as Sinkler herself seems to have seen it.(As a side note; the University of South Carolina Press; though deserving of credit for publishing a series of women's letters and diaries; also deserves a demerit for its sales job in the dust jacket of Between North and South. While the text does note that much time is taken up with domestic concerns; it also suggests that there'll be an extensive discussion of black culture as seen by Sinkler and an account of her teaching the slaves despite the fact that such was forbidden by state law. While such elements are literally in the book; slave education is the focus of only part of one letter; while it is mentioned in passing only a few other times.)While no collection of letters and diaries from this period is without merit; it's doubtful that Between North and South will have a very broad appeal or historical useability. I'd recommend it only for serious (and patient) students of nineteenth-century domesticity; plantation life; or leisure practices; and even then LeClercq's other book about Sinkler; An Antebellum Plantation Household: Including the South Carolina Low Country Receipts And Remedies of Emily Wharton Sinkler / With Eighty-two Newly Discovered ... (Women's Diaries and Letters of the South); is; I would guess; a better place to start.
