Description
The Irish embraced a lengthy and distinguished Emerald Isle revolutionary tradition-a distinctive cultural, political, and military heritage reborn during the Texas uprising of 1835-1836. Unbeknownst to most readers, the Irish comprised the largest single immigrant group in Texas during that time, and were among the most vocal and passionate of liberty-loving revolutionaries in all Texas. The largely Ireland-born garrison of Goliad raised the first flag of Texas Independence months before the Alamo's fall. More than a dozen natives of the Old Country fought and died at the Alamo, and the old Franciscan mission's garrison primarily consisted of soldiers of Scotch-Irish descent. Irish Protestants and Catholics made invaluable and disproportionate contributions in the struggle for Texas Independence.
Dr. Tucker utilized primary sources, including rare newspaper articles, journals, and diaries, together with quality secondary accounts, to paint the dramatic saga of the Irish in Texas. The result is a broad-based cultural, economic, social, political, and military history of the Texas Revolution from the perspective of its Irish participants. The Alamo's Forgotten Defenders will stand as a long-overdue corrective to the outdated "standard" views of the story of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution that ignore the distinguished contributions of the Emerald Isle natives, or mention them only in passing.
When read together with the many other outstanding histories available, The Alamo's Forgotten Defenders fills the vacuum in the Alamo and Texas Revolutionary historiography.
About the Author
Phillip Thomas Tucker earned his doctorate in American History from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, in 1990. He spent more than two decades working as a historian for the Department of Defense, and now writes fulltime at his southern Maryland home in Upper Marlboro. Dr. Tucker specializes in breaking new ground in multiple fields of American history and overturning outdated views, myths, and stereotypes. He is the author or editor of more than two dozen books devoted to a wide variety of subjects about the American experience, with a special focus on the Irish, the American Civil War, the American Revolutionary War, and Texas. His book The Confederacy's Fighting Chaplain: Father John B. Bannon was awarded the Douglas Southall Freeman Award for the best book in Southern history (1993).
Book Information
ISBN 9781611215342
Author Phillip Thomas Tucker
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Savas Beatie
Publisher Savas Beatie