Sons of Texas

By Elmer Kelton

Book Overview

In 1816, Mordecai Lewis, a veteran of Andrew Jackson's Indian campaigns and battles against the British, moves his family into the western Tennessee canebrakes. But Mordecai, a born wanderer, is not satisfied with farming, and with his sons Michael and Andrew and some other backwoodsmen, he leads a foray into Spanish-held Texas to hunt wild horses and return the mustang herd to sell in Tennessee.Crossing the Sabine River, Mordecai's party encounters a Spanish patrol determined to repel all American invaders. After a bloody skirmish leaves their father dead, Michael and Andrew find their way back to their Tennessee farm.Five years later, after the Spanish government in Mexico City has agreed to permit 300 American families to settle in Texas, the Lewis brothers have their opportunity to re-enter Texas. They ride to the frontier town of Natchitoches, Louisiana, where Michael falls in love with Marie Villaret, daughter of a wealthy French landowner, then cross the Sabine to find Stephen F. Austin, a Missouri entrepreneur in charge of the new American colony.But the Lewises are considered interlopers and horse thieves and are dogged by a patrol led by the same ruthless Spanish offer who killed their father five years before Sons of Texas is the first volume in a trilogy that follows the lives and adventures of the Lewis family through the era of the Alamo and Texas Independence under Sam Houston.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076531021X
• ISBN13: 9780765310217
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Texas History the Elmer Kelton Way

The state of Texas owes Elmer Kelton a big debt of thanks for all of the novels, stories, and tales he set in that geographic location. With this book, Kelton again demonstrates himself to be the chronicler of western history. No one does it better, sticking to the facts and removing the "myth" that is the west. This book is the 1st of a 3 book set he wrote, Sons of Texas; The Raiders; and The Rebels. Get all three and enjoy a family history lesson in what it was like to uproot your family and move to a "new" and "foreign" country, and the struggles to survive that transition and make a home. Buy this book. Personal note: Elmer Kelton was the only living western author I was buying when this book was published, and was until his death. I know of no one to take his place. P.S. This book was also published using the Tom Early name.

Wanderlust takes Mordecai and Michael Lewis to the danger-filled, Spanish-ruled Texas

The first of a trilogy, Sons of Texas looks at Texas' gaining of independence from Spanish rule by following the lives of central characters, Michael Lewis and his younger brother, Andrew. Mordecai Lewis, Michael's father, headed the western Tennessee family when the story began in 1816 - a time when a hunter had shot pouch and powder horn. Mordecai was often away and he led a group of local landowners to Texas to bring back a herd of wild horses. Sixteen-year-old Michael tagged along as did Cyrus Blackwood whose family had a reputation for thievery and causing other trouble to their neighbours. Protecting the interests of the Spanish crown at that time was the brutal Lieutenant Armando Rodriguez. Rodriguez captured and killed Mordecai and Michael was left to die by Blackwood that was a beginning of a feud between the families when Michael survived and returned to Tennessee some time later. Michael still found Texas an irresistible draw and together with Andrew left to protect his family from the hostility that the Blackwoods were directing towards him, to find romance and to eventually confront Rodriguez. The feud with the Blackwoods is to be developed further in The Raiders and The Rebels and I'm hoping that the rest of the Lewis family will be featured more. Especially Michael's mother Patience who married Mordecai's brother Benjamin, and the effervescent Annie, Michael's younger sister, who adored Michael for being so like their father. Elmer Kelton has an understanding of the outdoor life and the ability to pass that onto the reader in a clear, entertaining manner that remained at a very high standard throughout.

Elmer Kelton - A true Texas Historian

I have read at least fourty books by Elmer Kelton. I liked them all and this is one of the best. Kelton places his characters in a historical setting that is both factual and entertaining. I have read the first two books of this series and logged on today hopeing to find the third.

True Texas

Kelton is not an award winning author without good reason. Any of his books are good reads with well drawn characters and good story line...the history of Texas is so interwoven in each book. One of my favorite authors.