Dac Crossley's Western Blog

Buying Books in San Antonio

The place to buy my recently-published historical novel, Escape from the Alamo, will be The Twig Book Shop in San Antonio. I’ll be signing books there on Saturday, April 16, 10 a.m. till noon or so.

Take a tour through their excellent web site –

thetwig.indiebound.com/

- and see how to locate them - from any direction.

Drop by and say “hi” at least. I think you’ll be impressed. I’m a big supporter of independent book stores such as The Twig. The big box bookstores are getting grumpy as we push on them from several directions. The little “indies” are beginning to replace the nationals because of the better, friendly service they offer.

Plus – there’s a farmer’s market in the building on Saturday morning, and those are always fun.

n.b. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas have yet to approve Escape for sale in the Alamo Gift Shop. Thus, the Twig Book Shop is the only place in San Antonio where you can find it.

Packing my bags,

Dac Crossley
March 30, 2011

“If you read a lot of books you are considered well-read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you’re not considered well-viewed.” – Lily Tomlin

Going to Texas

They painted “G.T.T.” on the doors of the old abandoned homesteads here in the Southeast, back in the 1830’s and 40’s. The farm was “wore out.” Gone To Texas!

I’m headed to Texas but I don’t plan to paint anything on my door. I’ll be signing copies of my novels.

On Tuesday, April 5, 4-6 p.m., I’ll be at Berkman Books in Fredericksburg, Texas. All you old Kingsville Brahmas headed there for class reunions – please stop in Berkman’s. It’s right down the street from the Inn. At least, say “Howdy.”

Saturday and Sunday mornings, April 9th and 10th, I’ll be at the Alamo Gift Shop and Museum in San Antonio. Just push the tourists out of the way and shake hands. I expect visits from all friends within a 100-mile radius of San Antonio.

And on the morning of Saturday, April 16, you can find me at The Twig Book Shop at 200 East Grayson Street, San Antonio. It’s in the Full Goods building – formerly the Pearl Brewery. There’s a farmer’s market there on that day, and I plan to show up early, around ten. Farmer's markets are always fun. (I'll bet you that this farmer's market will be different from the one in Comer, Georgia. But not better).

I’ll surely soak up some Hill Country and South Texas attitudes, visit with old friends and new, and work out some of the winter’s kinks.

Then it’s back to good old Georgia, where I’ll re-energize the Fresh Water Mussels and follow up our recent musical adventure at Bob’s Small Town Grille in Royston.

Stay tuned.

Any advice for me?

Dac Crossley
March 29, 2011

“Never think you’ve seen the last of anything.” – Eudora Welty.

Springtime in the Desert

The vernal equinox is here, at last! Spring came early for those of us living in the Southeast. The procession of blooms here is well under way. And I wonder about our arid lands, the country of my childhood. Has spring arrived in the desert? Has it rained?

Are those long-legged darkling beetles out of their retreats and scampering across the sands in the Columbia River plateau or down in the Mohave? Standing on their heads in the early morning? (Why? Turns out – a little dew trickles from their backs, down to their mouths).

Have the early spring rains brought out my favorites, those big red mites, searching across the desert floor? Ángeles or Velvet Mites, bright red, feeding on termites when those emerge. Their eggs hatch into tiny parasites which attach to the knees of desert locusts.

Are the kangaroo rats foraging in the dusk, finding seeds, leaping high to evade the attentions of the prairie rattlers?

In the Big Bend – are the bluebonnets up? It’s the Texas state flower, and clusters pop up in fields and roadsides everyplace, but I think those in the Big Bend National Park are taller and a deeper blue than anyplace else.

We would take my grandmother to see the spring wildflowers down in Kennedy County, the old DeSoto chugging along, south of Kingsville where the highway ended. She’d tell us of girlhood days and the burst of desert color on her grandfather’s ranch in LaSalle County, along the Nueces River.

And of course – there's the prickly pear cactus, all over. Little wisps of cotton hiding the cochineal bugs. Those marvelous blooms – the original Yellow Rose of Texas.

Is it raining in the desert this spring? I’d like to know…

Dac Crossley
March 20, 2011

“It beckons, and I reckon I would work for any wage, to be free again, just to be again, where the bloom is on the sage.” – Gene Autry.

Pancho Villa Invades!

The last army to invade the continental United States was that of Pancho Villa, the Mexican revolutionary and bandit. In March of 1916, some of Villa’s troops crossed into New Mexico and launched a nighttime raid on the little village of Columbus and the 13th Cavalry Regiment encamped nearby. Although surprised, the Cavalry rallied and repulsed the raiders, chasing them back into Mexico.

Presumably, Pancho Villa was angered by President Wilson’s decision to support the Carranza government in Mexico and to stop arms shipments to Villa’s troops. Later, Villa claimed he wasn't eevn there.

The US retaliated with the Mexican Punitive Expedition, led by Gen. John J. Pershing. He was an excellent choice; he had extensive experience fighting Apaches and waging war against guerillas in the Philippines. His cavalry penetrated deep into the state of Chihuahua.

The Punitive Expedition was a prelude to WW I. For the first time, the US Army used trucks for transport and airplanes for communication. It was primarily a cavalry campaign, with different Troops plunging independently into Chihuahua. The 1st Aero Squadron was attached to the Signal Corps, and its airplanes performed well in keeping communications between the separated Troops. A “truck train” of Jeffery (later, Nash) trucks struggled through the desert sands. General Pershing’s mobile headquarters operated out of a Dodge sedan.

The 1st Aero had already learned the importance of its support and maintenance staff; they needed the Jeffrey trucks for transporting wings, engines, spare parts. Their mechanics trained the Quartermaster Corps personnel in maintenance of the Jefferys, a new experience for the Quartermasters. The army stepped into the 20th century.

The Punitive Expedition came close, but it didn’t capture Villa. It did accomplish the prime objective of scattering and punishing his band of bandits. And Villa – well, today he’s viewed as a hero, a Robin Hood – in Columbus, New Mexico.

Here’s a nice readable account of the Expedition: “A Preliminary to War. The 1st Aero Squadron and the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916,” by Roger C. Miller.

Dac Crossley
March 16, 2010

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Emerson

March 5, 1836, the Eve of the Alamo

Here’s a salute to the Mexican Army, which mounted a frontal assault on three sides of the heavily-fortified and well-defended Alamo compound. Most of the Mexicans were raw recruits who’d only recently learned how to fire their Brown Bess muskets. Shoved forward by lancers to their rear and hemmed in by regular troops on the sides, the recruits probably shot more of their fellow soldiers than Texians.

6,000 men had assembled back at San Luis Potosí for the march to Texas. Logistics soon broke down. Rations were short, as was water in the arid countryside. The weather turned nasty. A blizzard raging across the Mexican desert was deadly for recruits from the jungles of Yucatan. Hostile Indians were a continuing problem. Comanches raided the supply dumps that Santa Anna had stashed along the route. Mexican stranglers were found scalped.

A large number of camp followers (women and children both) strained the logistics, but the army wouldn’t have survived long without them. Those soldaderas were cooks, foragers, nurses. General Filisola deplored them, but if they were dismissed half of the army would follow them.

On the morning of March 6, during the final assault on the Alamo, Kentucky long rifles took their toll. Texian cannons blasted away with scrap-iron. The closely-packed Mexican troops fell by the tens, the hundreds. De la Peña watched as “a single cannon volley did away with half a company.”

Scrambling over the bodies of their dead and wounded comrades, the Mexican soldiers scaled the walls and opened the Alamo’s gates. Troops flooded into the compound, overwhelming the defenders. Battle rage and bayonets carried the day.

It was a costly victory, as the Mexican generals reported it, and possibly an unnecessary battle. A shortage of food would likely have led the Alamo defenders to surrender. An adequate cannonade would have reduced the Alamo’s walls. But the battle was fought courageously, and won, by the raw recruits, the activos.

As in most wars.

The best account of the fall of the Alamo is that of Stephen L. Hardin in his book, Texian Iliad. Fellow Texans, if it’s not on your bookshelf, it should be.

Dac Crossley
March 5, 2011

“Bring ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there.” – War Hero Victor “Brute” Krulak.

Pancho Villa's Air Force

Here’s one that caught me unawares. Pancho Villa, that legendary Mexican revolutionary, did indeed have his own air force.

In March 1915, Villa's brother Hipolito arranged with Jack Berger, an entrepreneur who operated a traveling flying show, to supply Villa with planes and pilots. Berger was unpopular with the Wright aviators because he was stingy with paychecks. When he showed up in Dayton nobody believed him until he purchased two airplanes from the Wright Factory.

With two pilots and a mechanic, Berger shipped the airplanes to El Paso and across the Rio to Juarez. They assembled the smaller Wright Model B in Juarez, but before it could get off the ground a strong gust of wind blew it to pieces, injuring its pilot. Back to the factory!

The larger airplane, a Model HS, was hauled by train to Villa’s headquarters in Monterrey. The train was painted a vivid green, and the name on the side of the cars read “Aviation Division of the North.”

The remaining pilot, Howard Rinehart, made several test flights for Villa, who always came to watch but never went up. He did send an officer along, in case Rinehart decided to defect to Carranza.

The pilot wouldn’t fly in the fog, a decision Villa didn’t understand. He could ride his horse in the fog, why couldn’t the airplane fly in it?

Rinehart’s first mission was to carry orders to a regiment 50 miles to the south. On landing, he came under murderous fire from Villa’s own troops.

The final mission for Rinehart was a message to troops in Matamoros. Rinehart hadn’t been paid (Berger was up to his old tricks) and furthermore, his airplane was a target for potshots wherever he flew. On landing near Matamoros, one of his wheels was damaged. Rinehart said he needed to take the wheel across the Rio to Brownville for repairs. Once across the river, he discarded it and took the train back to Ohio.

I’m getting this information from Orville’s Aviators by John Carver Edwards (e-book version). To my surprise, none of it appears in the 983-page biography, The Life & Times of Panco Villa by Friedrich Katz. Guess it wasn’t that important.

March 2nd, Happy Birthday to Texas! And to Sam Houston as well!

Dac Crossley
March 2, 2011

“I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there.” – Herb Caen