Walter P. Lane emigrated from Ireland as a young boy, fought in 
three wars, sailed the Texas coast with a privateer, and traveled to 
California and Arizona in search of gold. What drove this man, who 
in many ways typifies the adventurers who contributed to the 
westward expansion in the United States during the early nineteenth 
century?

    Through his mining of personal papers, memoirs, contemporary 
sources, and archived collections, Jimmy L. Bryan Jr. has produced 
a comprehensive portrait of the man who charged across the field at 
San Jacinto, aided in the removal of Indians and Tejano settlers 
from the East Texas Redlands, stormed Monterrey with the Texas 
Rangers during the U.S.-Mexican War, commanded a brigade of 
Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, supported the return to 
white rule during the turbulent Reconstruction era, and served the 
State of Texas in various public capacities. Bryan shows how the 
adventurism of Lane and his comrades provided both ethos and 
impetus for the westward migration.

    More Zeal than Discretion will appeal to historians and readers 
interested in Texas and the West, the Civil War, and the culture 
of American manhood.

_________________________________________________________

JIMMY L. BRYAN JR. previously edited for publication the 1887 
memoirs of Walter P. Lane. He is an assistant professor of history at 
Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.


Number Thirty-one: Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West
and Southwest 


What people are saying about this book

"Given Lane's importance in the development of Texas and the 
American West, such a biography has been long needed. The author 
has done an outstanding job."—Ralph Wooster