The First Texas Navy is a measured, detailed, and comprehensive account of the operations and administration of the 1836-1837 navy of the Republic of Texas, drawn chiefly from official records and other contemporaneous writings. As the author states, if the work had merit, it lies in the incorporation of material from primary sources not previously utilized. 

In 320 pages, the vigorous and concise prose describes how the navy sustained the army of the republic, a beleaguered citizenry, and a poverty-stricken government striving for stability against great odds in a war for independence from Mexico. 

The text is accompanied by extensive discursive comments in numerous endnotes as well as useful appendices showing sea traffic into Texas ports during 1836-1837, reconstructed muster rolls for the four naval vessels during the more important incidents, the official navy manning establishment and pay scales, and discussions of the reliability of several sources.

Eight maps illustrate the work; a detailed index is included for easy reference. Readers wishing to pursue related matters will find the bibliography helpful.

To purchase The First Texas Navy by John Powers, click on this link:   

https://www.woodmontbooks.com/firsttexasnavy

Forsaken Patriot is the story of a remarkable life, a man who was viewed by many as a scoundrel and by others as a patriot. Father of the Texas Navy, he also built a mercantile empire, created the first bank in Texas, and spearheaded development of the port city of Galveston which, in his time, was the richest city per capita in the United States. Yet, while so many of his peers, like Sam Houston, Stephen Austin, even Jean Laffite, went on  to be memorialized, Sam Williams went on to be forgotten. After all he accomplished for  Texas, it is ironic that no street, school, park, county, building or monument in the city or in  the state bears his name. Even the pirate Laffite has an elementary school, several streets  and a city named after him. Unlike the other major players in Texas history, Sam Williams  passed from our memory into the shadows from which he came.

To purchase the Forsaken Patriot by TNA Adm Gordon Blocker click on this link:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1514184281 click on the image of the book.

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**WINNER OF THE 2007 UNITED STATES MARITIME LITERATURE AWARD** In the 1830s, Mexico endured a tragic era of internal political instability. Meanwhile, bold American frontiersmen sought their fortunes beyond the borders of the United States, with many settling in the Mexican territory of Texas. In 1835, these transplanted Americans led a revolt against Texas's embattled rulers in Mexico City. Lone Star Navy chronicles the little fleet of wooden warships, bought on credit by an impoverished band of revolutionaries and sent to sea on a singular mission: to win Texas's independence from Mexico. Beginning with four small sailing vessels, the upstart flotilla became a vital counterpart to Texan armies fighting for an independent republic. Indeed, Capt. Jeremiah Brown's naval battle off Matamoros in April 1836 helped save the fledgling republic from a premature end. But even as it battled for independence on the Gulf of Mexico, the Texas navy came under attack from unexpected enemies. The same fierce individuality that led Texans to shake off their Mexican rulers also stymied their efforts to govern themselves with any consensus. Lauded by its advocates as strategically vital and ridiculed by its detractors as a farcical waste of money, the navy became a flashpoint in a clash of visions. Denied adequate funding, sailors and officers suffered long periods without pay, and their vessels fell into chronic disrepair, but they still defended their small nation's fortunes. The decrepit remains of the battle-scarred fleet finally fell into American hands when Texas, in need of a strong ally, was annexed by the United States in 1845. The Mexican government prophesied that relinquishing Texas would lead to the loss of its other northern territories. And, indeed, the Mexican War and the U.S. acquisition of New Mexico, Arizona, California, and parts of Utah, Colorado, and Nevada soon followed.

To purchase Lone Star Navy by Jonathon Jordan click on this link: http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Navy-Shaping-American/dp/1597970530

Undeterred by the Mexicans' heavier cannon, both Texas warships sailed into the interval between the enemy steamships and their sailing ships. The steamers were on the Texans' port side and were given five broadsides by the Austin and the Wharton without appreciable damage to the Mexican steamers. Then the Texans turned their attention to the more vulnerable enemy sailing ships firing at them from their starboard "They (the steamers) don't intend to let us get any closer to them", Commodore Moore observed caustically. "They are paddling off stern foremost, faster than we can come up to them. Keep her away a little so our broadside can bear". Then Moore ordered, in true Farragut style, "Damn them! Give it to them"!

To purchase The Texas Navies by Roy Sullivan click on this link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Texas-Navies-Col-Sullivan/dp/1449052584

Only Texas, of all the states, can boast of a heritage that includes the army and navy of an independent nation. Throughout the ten turbulent years of Texas independence its military was engaged in constant warfare against enemies within and without. Its regulars were backed up by a militia described as "the most formidable, for their numbers, in the world." Contrary to the image projected by Hollywood and most historians, even in Texas, they were smartly uniformed and equipped with the latest in weaponry. What did these long-forgotten uniforms look like? Texas insignia and flags? Writer-artist-historian Bruce Marshall has discovered the answers in archives in Texas and Mexico, in old diaries and letters and sketches by those who wore or saw them. With his internationally-honored art he has recreated the uniforms in twenty-six full color illustrations, supplemented by fourteen photographs including the only two known of uniformed officers of the Texas army and navy.

To purchase Uniforms of the Republic of Texas: And the Men That Wore Them, 1836-1846 click on this link: Ships Store  .  It will be found in the 'Miscellaneous' category.