One of the most popular literary subjects worldwide is the American
Civil War. In addition to an enormous number of history buffs, there
are tens of thousands of collectors of Civil War artifacts. In the last
fifty years, several books have been written concerning the
equipment associated with soldiers of specific Confederate states,
but no book until now has ever chronicled the military equipment used
by Texas soldiers. Texas Civil War Artifacts is the first
comprehensive guide to the physical culture of Texas Civil War
soldiers.
Texas military equipment differs in a number of ways from the
equipment produced for the eastern Confederate states. Most of the
Texas-produced equipment was blacksmithed, or local-artisan made,
and in many cases featured the Lone Star as a symbol of Texas.
Contemporary Civil War literature frequently mentions that most
soldiers of Texas displayed the Lone Star somewhere on their
uniform or equipment.
In this groundbreaking volume, Richard Mather Ahlstrom has
photographed and described more than five hundred Texas-related
artifacts. He shows the diverse use of the Lone Star on hat pins,
waist-belt plates, buckles, horse equipment, side knives, buttons,
and canteens. In addition, the weapons that Texans used in the Civil
War are featured in chapters on the Tucker Sherrard and Colt pistols;
shotguns, rifles, and muskets; and swords. Rounding out the volume
are chapters on leather accouterments, uniforms and headgear, and
a gallery of Texas soldiers in photographs.
This book will prove to be a valuable reference guide for Civil War
collectors, historians, museum curators, re-enactors, and federal and
state agencies.
"Texas units served in nearly every state and every major battle of the
Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Tennessee, and their
artifacts were widely dispersed from New Mexico to Pennsylvania.
Texas Civil War Artifacts will be the primary reference used in
identifying these objects throughout the country. Ahlstrom has
been careful to include only those items with Texas Confederate
provenance."—Buddy D. Patterson, retired director of the Texas
Heritage Museum and Confederate Research Library at Hill College
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RICHARD MATHER AHLSTROM has lived in Texas since 1979.
He graduated with an AB degree from Harvard University and
completed the Executive Program of Amos Tuck School of Business
Administration at Dartmouth College. He is retired from Diamond
Shamrock Corporation, where he was a Senior Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer. He has previously written a book on
prehistoric American Indian pipes. Long interested in the Civil War
and Texas soldiers, Ahlstrom has amassed a personal collection of
Texas Civil War artifacts.
What people are saying about this book
"While there are similar volumes that have examined 'dug' artifacts
on the national level, so little has been done on Texas that
Ahlstrom's volume constitutes a groundbreaking product. The
book offers the viewer an opportunity to see many objects that
are so 'locked-away' in private hands as to not be available outside
the close community of collectors. The chapter on pistols is worth
the price of the book by itself!"—Danny Sessums, Director of the
University Museums, Houston Baptist University
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