Taming Texas: Captain William T. Sadler's Lone Star Service.

By Stephen L. Moore. (Austin, Tex.: State House Press, 2000. Pp. 387. Paper, $24.95, ISBN 1-880510-69-3; cloth, $34.95, ISBN 1-880510-68-5.)

Stephen L. Moore first presents William T. Sadler's journey to Texas and his establishment of the Fort Houston settlement near Palestine, Texas, in 1835, and then he tums to the beginnings of the Texas Revolution and Sadler's role in it. An important group that emerged to protect frontier settlements and to assure peace and order was the "rangers." Garrison Greenwood, superintendent of the local ranger unit, named Sadler as its captain. Although he had migrated from Georgia to farm, Sadler thus found himself a leader of a company of "this fabled corps of frontier defenders" (p. 38) during the revolution, and Moore describes Sadler's role in major events such as the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto.

After the defeat of the Mexicans at San Jacinto in 1836, according to Moore, Indians were considered the "new threat" in East Texas (chap. 6). Sadler helped put down the Cordova rebellion of 1838, and his activities in related events such as Mabbitt's Skirmish, the battle of Kickapoo, and the tragic Edens-Madden Massacre (in which Sadler lost his wife and infant daughter) are appropriately detailed. But Sadler was not only a frontier settler and soldier; he also contributed to the new republic as a political leader. He was elected as a representative of Houston County to the Ninth Congress of the Texas Republic in 1844, and he would remain in this office during the early years of Texas's statehood.

Moore draws on original letters, notes, and deeds to support his valuable description of Sadler's involvement in the development of early Texas and to situate him in relation to "some of the other lesser known frontier freedom fighters of his time" (p. 3). The book includes numerous photographs, documents, rosters, and lists associated with Sadler's story, as well as good maps that detail his landholdings and experiences. Moore's appendixes include various lists of those who served in the Ranger/Frontier Companies, the Texas Militia, and the Nacogdoches Volunteers, as well as a roster of known participants in the East Texas Cherokee War. One appendix provides information regarding Sadler's landholdings listed in the Texas General Land Office, and another gives an interesting narrative on the origins of the Sadler family in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Genealogical materials on Sadler's descendants in Appendix F reveal the tedious and thorough work Moore invested in his study.

Moore's notes on his research provide both support for his text and vital information for those interested in available primary and secondary materials. In his bibliography he discusses his access to the Sadler family's private holdings and the assistance of various members of that family. The value of the book is also enhanced by a good index of topics and persons. Moore's study of Sadler highlights the importance of the many lesser known persons who assisted early Texas leaders such as Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin.

JERRY HOPKINS
East Texas Baptist University